Difference between revisions of "1819T2 Hong Kong/Reflection/Day3"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
(5 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
Line 31: | Line 31: | ||
| | | | ||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
|} | |} | ||
</center> | </center> | ||
Line 43: | Line 39: | ||
{| class=wikitable style="width: 100%;" | {| class=wikitable style="width: 100%;" | ||
|- span style="color:#0035D7; text-align:center; background:#89bdd3; font-weight: bold;" | | |- span style="color:#0035D7; text-align:center; background:#89bdd3; font-weight: bold;" | | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap;width: 110pt;" | Student Name || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |WIT || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |TourGuy|| style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |Goop || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" | Intelligent Sensing Limited || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" | | + | | style="white-space: nowrap;width: 110pt;" | Student Name || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |WIT || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |TourGuy|| style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |Goop || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" | Intelligent Sensing Limited || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |Is entrepreneurship still alive in HK? |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Ayesha Aziz ALKAFF || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Ayesha Aziz ALKAFF || Elaine, the representative from WIT, shows a strong commitment in finding out about where they can establish a market that face similar problems as HK. They are facing steady and consistent growth and I admire that they're not too greedy to see profit, they are smart in their decision making too. They also attempt to establish as many markets as possible, like the educators (curriculum), the children (books), and parents (consultation), || The speaker seems earnest and hardworking, passionate about startups. As the idea if tour guy is really new, it's still in the preliminary stages of development. However, it shows great promise with a solid team. As their previous idea failed regarding the accessibility of wheelchairs, they are able to learn from their past mistakes and grow as a culture. The human library is a really interesting idea, and I can see the appeal of it, especially in Hong Kong, with the tourism industry booming || Goop was an incredibly insightful visit for me. While an anonymous social app is not as new of a concept, what they did different is encapsulate the anonymity within a closed context. This allows users to feel more confident in sharing their thoughts.The real value of money lies in internalising the ecosystem - community wallet that gives you perks based on what community you belong to. He also shared that the key to knowing community is to identify core bunch of people, in this case student union of hk. || My impression of them is that they know what they're doing extremely well. They're an educated group of founders, with much technical depth on the topic, with many of them in the healthcare field. Although they're relatively new, it is clear that they have incredible potential in the market, with a clear idea on where to target, which is the health institutions, that know the value of the products. || Not many people are into start-ups, many of the youths in Hong Kong don't even know what start-ups mean. However, it is apparent that slowly but surely, educational institutions are investing more into startups and bolstering them with the right tools and resources. This can be seen by the start-ups receiving funding and space from the university, who gets these resources from the government. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Bernadine LYE Su Hui || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Bernadine LYE Su Hui || The company effectively studied and realised the gaps in the market- low birth rates and parents spending less time with children, creating an effective solution to facilitate language learning for children. || “Human library” is an interesting concept I have never heard of before. Tourguy’s product is a great example of adapting existing concepts to different industries (in this case, travel). || Goop’s product is a blend of multiple social platforms by encapsulating anonymity in a community context. Goop’s plans to venture into the Indonesian market is an interesting move backed by the youth of the social media market in Indonesia. In social media censorship, it is interesting to note how Goop manages to Balance privacy protection and content censorship on the platform by using community reporting. || It was interesting to see the real life applications of IDP used by the company in multi-prototyping with a 2-phase prototype (wrist/wrist+fingers). The company’s BP monitoring product is innovative and timely, especially with the rise in wearable devices. In Singapore, this could be useful in monitoring for Smart Healthcare - a step towards our Smart Nation initiative. || Co-working spaces, such as iDendron (HKU) and Pi Centre (CUHK) are popular launch pads for aspiring entrepreneurs to afford workspaces at a low cost. Also, with internet and technology nowadays, the presence of physical infrastructure may not be as necessary. The Hong Kong government also recognizes the trend of doing startups and have been promoting startups for more than 5 years. Government and private funding is also available for Hong Kong startups, providing opportunities for entrepreneurship to thrive despite the high costs. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | CHANG Jia Li || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | CHANG Jia Li || I enjoyed working on the research for WIT and I like how Elaine handled the Q&A session. She is very humble and forward looking. Given their research and trends in Singapore, I strongly believe they would be able to start their business. || The idea of Tour Guy is very interesting and it really help people who needs help or advice. Something different from the rest! The owner is very determined and forward looking. || Jeff is so knowledgeable and the way he handled Q&A is WOW! So much charisma! The team really know the market well and I like the idea of the app where it is anonymous and really fit the needs of the users. It’s helpful and fun! || The market that they are focusing is very small in Singapore. The professors are very technical and highly skilled. It will be convenient for the stakeholders such as nurses and patients. Interesting solution and shocking result! || Entrepreneurship is still alive because it is a fulfilling yet challenging journey. Even if the business fails, it is important that you do not give up, be forward looking, passionate in doing entrepreneurship and the solution must meet the needs of people. This means that a lot of research must be done before doing up the solution. Despite all the expensive pricing in housing and high living expenses, it still can’t be compared to the sense of accomplishment in starting a business. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Chantalle NG || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Chantalle NG || The early childhood market is an extremely lucrative. This start up has seen the potential market and targeted it. Through the presentations, it could be seen that the entrepreneurship spirit is indeed present in Hong Kong, where many young companies are looking out for potential markets/ service gaps and creating a business to meet these needs. It was a good interaction to exchange views on how the image of Hong Kong is in the eyes of Singaporeans, and I think such research is necessary before penetrating into a new market. || It is nice to see start ups creating new services for people with disabilities. The team has brainstormed many different ideas before finally deciding on one. Which I feel is crucial before investing time, money and effort from. || The founders of GOOP managed to identify a gap for user anonymity. It is something that students are interested to use. Also, it is notable that even though they did not expect their app to gain so much traction, it can be seen that they’ve put in a lot of thought planning for the future. || Innovative designs created from innovative algorithms put them on the front line, gaining trust from Doctors in the field. Their products are also user friendly such as the sleep-time BP monitoring. It reflects on how quality and user-friendliness is very important: || When your initial idea does not pan out do not give up. Case in point, only after 4 months, the company approached their problem statement from a different angle. Ultimately coming up with something that works, using the human library concept to start something new in Hong Kong. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Cheryl KOH Zhi Ying || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Cheryl KOH Zhi Ying || Entrepreneurship is still alive because it is a fulfilling yet challenging journey. Even if the business fails, it is important that you do not give up, be forward looking, passionate in doing entrepreneurship and the solution must meet the needs of people. This means that a lot of research must be done before doing up the solution. Despite all the expensive pricing in housing and high living expenses, it still can’t be compared to the sense of accomplishment in starting a business. || For startups, it is always crucial to not fixate on your initial business idea and prototype, but to remain open to feedback from market validation. || To have a successful social startup, you need not be good at technology, but rather know how people make communication, and be able to identify the core bunch of users. || When introducing niche use products, one should try to leverage on existing common smartwear to ease adoption. || Despite the high cost of living in Hong Kong, many are still interested in starting their own business, as evident from the high number of organic startup applications in CUHK and HKU. This is as students enjoy the freedom that comes with being their own boss, and desire being able to earn their own income through their own efforts. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Debbie LEE Shan Ying || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Debbie LEE Shan Ying || Relies mainly on foreign investment to drive profits, and it is important to conduct thorough market research about target audience before entering. Quantitative measures of determining success are important, such as number of downloads, customer usage || Important step out of your circle aka comfort zone to find out more about what is happening, do not be trapped in the bubble that you are in so that you can get fresh ideas pumping in regularly || Important to branch out to explore new products. Currently only allows for annonymised chats but will be looking into giving users identities so that the app will have identified chats like Telegram, and also the annonymised option which differentiates it from its competitors. Branching into new markets such as Indonesia because there is understanding that HK market is limited || Interesting that the doctor exhibited strong passion to develop technology and bring it to the public, not being profit focused but rather trying to solve common issues. How product pricing is done is based on consultation with medical staff and industry || It is alive as mentioned by the speaker in Goop as people would try to be their own boss, as doing so gives them an opportunity to earn way more than a fixed wage in an office job, which will hopefully help them break out of the “poverty” cycle and ultimately afford their own homes (very tough to do so here). |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Derrick LEE Ming Yang || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Derrick LEE Ming Yang || WE invest in CHILDREN'S TOMORROW. can only differentiate themselves from a childcare centre by curriculum. no special or unique tech. || Very similar to professor hwee xian/pink's project on mapping wheelchair friendly routes in Singapore. Recommended to look into smart BFA's way of crowd sourcing help by attaching sensors to wheelchairs of participants. || successfully built something that user wants. Classic example of success via luck. Biz model can look into allowing students to find house mates/sublet houses/rent houses. Can be a way to monetize also. || Cool technology, planning to use humanity tendency to give meaning out of convenience. E.g. people measuring heart rate to keep track of weight loss. They want people to start measuring BP on the go. || increase in cost of living will definitely put off the idea of starting up on your own. good way to filter out who are the ones who are truly interested and inspired to create something on their own vs those who wants to be a founder just for namesake. true entrepreneurs will go out of their way to fund themselves and their product. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Gary CHUA Rongjie || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Gary CHUA Rongjie || The company has a lot of potential. Especially using AI and analytics to provide data on language assessment. This will allow competitive societies like HK and SG to fine tune early childhood education. || Human libraries is quite an innovation, especially focusing on helping the society. As HK is an ageing population, having an app to crowdsource volunteers is unique. || Although the founder mentioned that money wasn’t the main driver for the creation of Goop, the strategy to monetise the app and earn revenues are vital for survival. It’s interesting how they differentiate themselves by not directly competing with big players like Facebook but complement it by having university exclusivity and anonymity. || What was most important for the founder of the company was to make theoretical studies a reality. Thus they ventured to create the prototype for their blood pressure monitor, focusing on a seamless experience and better sensing. || The founder mentioned that start ups are hard. But it’s his passion that drives him. This relates to how entrepreneurs in HK keep themselves driven. It’s always about making the idea happen and not being afraid to fail. Through this, they’re fully invested in it. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | GOH Jin Qiang || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | GOH Jin Qiang || Cognitive assessment helps to improve WIT current education solutions by having worldwide positive education exposure and understanding their student learning curve. || The reason to startup is you want to chase after your own dreams. By doing so, you must be passionate in the things you do. || By segmenting customer needs allow Goop to have a clearer focus and create a unique experience in their application. All in all, dream big, start small, act now. || Commercialising a research or an idea require more than just a viable product. It’s important to understand the profile of the marsket segment rather than just trying to solve a problem. || Although, it is important to have a financial backing for any startups, Hong Kong method of paving the way for startups by having mentors for consultation plays an important role in their success. Having such support allow entrepreneurs to understand other failures, learn from their experience to have a head start in the fail fast, fail forward approach. Therefore, this approach help startups to graduate from the pre-incubation faster and receive more funding to reduce their financial problems. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Gwendolyn GOH Wen Hui || I think the mission of WIT Enterprise is really inspiring as they aim to equip children with bilingual skills that would help them in the future. Team 3’s research also showed a pre school called Taidii, which is the world’s first robotics for pre school that uses RFID, fingerprint, QR CODE etc. || tour guy introduced the concept of human library. Instead of a traditional library with books, tour guy invites knowledgeable people to share their experience instead. People are able to “borrow” these knowledgeable people to ask them questions. || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Gwendolyn GOH Wen Hui || I think the mission of WIT Enterprise is really inspiring as they aim to equip children with bilingual skills that would help them in the future. Team 3’s research also showed a pre school called Taidii, which is the world’s first robotics for pre school that uses RFID, fingerprint, QR CODE etc. || tour guy introduced the concept of human library. Instead of a traditional library with books, tour guy invites knowledgeable people to share their experience instead. People are able to “borrow” these knowledgeable people to ask them questions. || Goop became popular as it a anonymous social app, hence people became more confident and comfortable with sharing their thoughts. Planning to expand in Indonesia as people are migrating from Facebook to Instagram, however it’s not a great way to connect with friends. This is a great time to expand into Indonesia where people are only starting to migrate to Instagram. Realised that creating an ecosystem is the best way to monetise the app. || Intelligent sensing mentioned things like flexible textile pressure sensor and electronic skin that provides touch sense for robots. The company however faced difficulties matching consumer’s price points and hence are focusing their target on Hospitals. || Although I do believe that being a entrepreneur might be tough due to the circumstances in hongkong that is similar to that of Singapore, I do not believe its a dying trait. We’ve visited several companies during our period of stay and witnessed entrepreneurs in co working places. It is understandable that being a successful start up is tough, but it does not mean that the entrepreneurship spirit is dying. |
+ | |||
|- | |- | ||
Line 88: | Line 85: | ||
| style="white-space: nowrap;width: 110pt;" | Student Name || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |WIT || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |TourGuy|| style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |Goop || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" | Intelligent Sensing Limited || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |Entrepreneurship | | style="white-space: nowrap;width: 110pt;" | Student Name || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |WIT || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |TourGuy|| style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |Goop || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" | Intelligent Sensing Limited || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |Entrepreneurship | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | HO Wei Hong || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | HO Wei Hong || If you are expanding overseas, find similarities in the overseas market to see which community you can possibly place you product in. || It's ok to fail but how you learn from it and refine your ieaa || Identify your potential core users to know where to market your products. || If nobody does it then who? You prove your idea is worthwhile by actually doing it || I felt that it is alive as long as there are still people who have a strong passion and belief in their ideas to make a difference. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | HOW Zhiteng || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | HOW Zhiteng || As an entrepreneur, it is important that you aim to solve problems and create value for your customers. WIT's target audience is rather niche as there's not many bilingual countries as of now. However, I believe the trend of having a second language in other countries is a potential leverage for WIT. || TourGuy is a good example of why you should never give up. Despite failing, he picks his feet up and try again. || Goop's co-founder, Jeff, has a strong entrepreneurship spirit. He was very receptive to our questions and feedback. His spirit inspires me. || Great technology with a great research team. However, ISL should seek better channels to sell their products (i.e. through medical institutions instead of retail). This can significantly reduce the customer acquisition cost and having to educate their customers. || In my opinion, I think that Hong Kong right now is not the best place for young entrepreneurs. There are many more opportunities in other countries with a stronger support for young entrepreneurs. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | LIM Yi Bin || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | LIM Yi Bin || Research is meaningless without proper application of new found knowledge || Countless failures create a wealth of experience for you to rely on. || In the creation of a product, the fastest way to create something useful would be to take a neutral stance and empathize with the users themselves. || Collaboration with industry experts may allow new start ups to gain faster traction instead of doing everything in house || As seen from our visits to the incubation centres. Entrepreneurship is very much alive and everybody wants to be the next big hit. Standing out among the competition is proving to be difficult but with support and funding from various sources, many graduates in Hong Kong are taking a step forward towards making their vision a reality |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Mathilda NG || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Mathilda NG || The company is promoting bilingualism to children and it is very useful in this day and age with globalisation. Word of mouth is very effective in order to promote any service or product. || It is a relatively new start up and the idea is bringing the concept of human library to HK. The idea is pretty innovative as it aims to address people's prejudices by helping them talk to those they would not normally meet, in this case the elderly people. || They have a simple and interesting concept and they were able to achieve it through the understanding of their target audience and simple interface. |
+ | || They have a very strong knowledge of their technology and what they are doing. The products that they have came up with is also very useful as well as it caters to the healthcare sector. || The idea of entrepreneurship in HK is still very relevant as many see it as an opportunity to break away from the regular salary paying jobs in order to achieve something much more in their lives. | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Mohammad Hazmie Bin JAAFAR || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Mohammad Hazmie Bin JAAFAR || WIT CEO almost secured a partnership with one of the biggest Singapore's early childhood company called "My First School". Their progress in just 1.5 years is astounding. Their assessment criteria to track children's development must be effective. My sister is a teacher in My First School. If WIT successfully get the contract, i would love to see the change that they will bring in. || I always thought this is a brilliant idea! I personally would like to be guiding tourist around Singapore. Sharing the local experience with them so that they have a taste of Singapore in the point of view of a local. Touristy place are over commercialized and expensive. Therefore, having a cheaper idea to travel around in a country will be ideal. || I feel that i can relate to this company the most. Their breakthrough is through sending EDM. Trying out their luck with a friend that leading a student union. I tried doing the same, but for Singapore Uni, it does not work as well. I spoke more to him after the sharing session and i realised that he have done the dirty work. "You got to have your hand dirty" said Jeff. 6 months he continuously push his limit. No rest day. Grinding for this to work and it did. || Dr Hui and team are a group of intellectual researchers that is coming out a revolutionary 24 hours BP monitoring wearable. In my opinion, this can be breakthrough medical technology that could change how hospital nurses function in running their daily routine. When things can be automated and the BP data can be retrieved from the database, nurses no longer need to do their rounds to check on patient's BP. || I asked the Jeff from Goop about the average starting pay of a fresh graduate. He said roughly its about SGD 2.5k to SGD 5k Its pretty much like the amount Singaporean Graduate will get. However, when i asked him why he still chose this path despite the uncertainty, he said, this is the path that he is passionate about. Rental is really expensive and as result, he dare not think about building family yet because he knows that he will not be able to support them. I believe the long term goal he has in achieving his entrepreneurship journey will make him more fulfilled than just working 9-5pm job. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Muhammad Hafizuddin Bin ABD RAHIN || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Muhammad Hafizuddin Bin ABD RAHIN || I believe that education is the most important driver towards development. WIT’s aim of getting young students to be bilingual, is definitely a good push towards further development. || The Tour Guy representative showed a lot of energy and excitement towards his idea. And even though the company has only started about 2 months ago, there have been many developments that could point the company towards success || Goop is run by 2 very young entrepreneurs. The idea of having a community based communication tool in a form of an app is a rather simple but interesting idea. I believe that in order for them to be successful, the app needs to have more unique functions that attract and sustain users. || Intelligent Sensing’s speaker was very passionate about the wearable technology industry. The main problem that was brought up was about consumers not willing to buy such wearables at the current price. I believe that with more research and testing, the company would be able to find out new innovative functions that would appeal more. || Entrepreneurship in Hong Kong is by no means dead. Over the past few days, even though we only visited a few companies, we were still exposed to co-sharing environments where there were many companies who were very energetic and buzzing with good business plans and ideas to thrive in a place like HK. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | ONG Li Ting || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | ONG Li Ting || I learnt that to penetrate into another market, it is essential for companies to perform conduct market research and select a promising market. With the acquired information, it is important to know how to convert it to wisdom and when to take action. Word of mouth plays a big part for the success of the company. Planning and advice are critical. || It was interesting to find out how Tour Guy actually connects with the disabled travelers especially when it comes to understanding the needs and requirements of these travelers. Dealing with the disabled is another aspect of entrepreneurship that is not common to see. I had a fruitful session at CUHK and coming up with the high fidelity prototype for Tour Guy. || I had a great time listening to GOOP presentation on its anonymous messaging application. It was inspiring to find out that the founders were very determine with their ideas and executed it even though their degrees would have provide them with promising pay. The idea was really great and I hope to see it in Singapore soon! || Targeting a niche market carries a lot of risk and I learnt that in order to not fail, it is extremely important for the company to know very well of its target audiences. Be sure to know the company’s unique selling point and value proposition. Conduct niche marketing by bringing the product closer to the target audiences || In my opinion, it is still alive. We live in an era of knowledge where more and more people receive education and information/skills are more easily accessible and attainable. With the rise in digital engagement, business in Hong Kong can start to connect with people online. More companies/universities/government are giving out funds, scholarships and grants, which makes starting a business more attractive. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | ONG Lin Sheng || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | ONG Lin Sheng || Wit's initiative of having a comprehensive products and services cater for children is something we can look at in Singapore. Perhaps they could make use of AI and machine learning to analyse children's emotions and needs || Interesting concept of a human library, having tourist to interact with locals instead of going to attractions could be a trend in near future. This reminds me of a combination of Airbnb and Tinder, the founder mentioned that most elderly are free and willing to interact with tourists but I'm just wondering if there are any communication and technology barrier involved. || I think having an anonymous chat within your own university is great, but in SMU, we are all comfortable with Telegram and would be a great challenge for Goop if they want to convert us. I am also amazed by how they use 1 semester with 4 man team, less than $1000 and to build this start up. |
+ | || I can totally see the founder showing his passion on his project, using IoT to let people keep track of their health. But I personally feel that having a wearable device would be a hassle if I need to charge it everytime and if it's not waterproof || Ultimately I think new graduates would want to be entrepreneurs, but there are people who just want to play safe and work in a company while others would prefer to venture out. Entrepreneurship is still alive because the GenZ people are all about being unique and having fresh new ideas | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | ONG Yan Kai || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | ONG Yan Kai || It was really humbling how honest Elaine was in seeking opinions regarding how they should brand themselves as they enter the Singapore market. Humility goes a long way in listening to the needs of business users. We are happy to have provided them with our research findings and we wish for success in their expansion. || It takes a lot of courage and determination to persist in a start-up that tackles a social problem (helping people with disabilities) rather than a business one. || It was very inspiring to learn from a young man of our age who has achieved significant success. Jeff shared his valuable experience in areas such as pitching and closing of deals over the phone. I am glad to have learnt from him. || A good solution in one place may not be as good in another. It is always important to understand well the demographics of the target market before bring in the product. || Entrepreneurship is certainly still alive in HK. Despite the issues that graduates face, HK remains as one of the most dynamic start-up destinations in the world. The huge support from the government and universities provide ample support to aspiring entrepreneurs. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Shaun John CHEETHAM || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Shaun John CHEETHAM || Wit provides education services for preschool children. What stood out to me was that they are looking to help kids with their bilingual learning need. This is something that I think would be very helpful in a country like singapore since most children are taught two languages in school. Hopefully they are successful in expanding their reach and entering more markets like SG. || Tour Guy’s founder was quite inspiring he showed resilience and persistence despite his failures. Showing that failing doesn’t mean that time and effort has been wasted, instead he has shown that every failure is a potential learning point. Their current idea of matching people with tour guides in the city is quite refreshing as it taps allows for more authentic experiences and friendships to be formed. || Goop is a brave startup that’s looking to take on the giants like Facebook and telegram. They started with the novel idea to allow people to be able to communicate within their own communities but anonymously, and have succeeded in building strong communities of daily users. Now they want to monetise in a way that allows them to compete with mega apps like WeChat, their founders definitely have the passion and knowhow. || Intelligent Sensing are looking to create devices to help in the monitoring of blood pressure. They mentioned how most people measure their heart rate through wearables like Apple Watch, but the measuring of blood pressure is not mainstream even though it would provide the users with valuable data. I agree with the team that most people wouldn’t even think about recording and measuring their blood pressure unless it’s already included with other features in an easy to use item like a wearable. || Entrepreneurs in Hong Kong don’t have it easy, with a relatively high cost of living and ever increasing housing prices venturing out to start one’s own business is tricky and tough to say the least. But with entrepreneurs in most countries, being able to deviate from the norm of getting a job in a big company, requires determination and passion. From the incubators we have visited I think that entrepreneurs here clearly don’t lack that drive to create something of their own despite the risks, costs, and potential hardships. |
− | |||
|- | |- | ||
Line 131: | Line 129: | ||
| style="white-space: nowrap;width: 110pt;" | Student Name || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |WIT || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |TourGuy|| style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |Goop || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" | Intelligent Sensing Limited || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |Entrepreneurship | | style="white-space: nowrap;width: 110pt;" | Student Name || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |WIT || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |TourGuy|| style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |Goop || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" | Intelligent Sensing Limited || style="white-space: nowrap;width: 300pt;" |Entrepreneurship | ||
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | SIM Li Jin || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | SIM Li Jin || With the changes happening to around the world, multilingualism is something that could be a huge beneficial to communication, and should start as early as possible. "we invest in tomorrow from infancy to infinity" || Setbacks will happen, and be adaptive to it. "adapt to changes" || Things go viral can result in success. "Fake it till you make it" || By chasing your passion, you would one day be able to see the outcome of it. "if nobody do it, then who do it?" || Entrepreneurship is still alive, with the support of the government and fundings that are available |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Stanley LIN Weijie || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | Stanley LIN Weijie || Could be a potential trending idea for young Singaporeans couple. Moving towards the digital age, being able to know the progression of our children will help put parents at ease || If it works, it would be a brilliant idea as it helps to create job opportunities in Singapore. Like GrabFood and Grab drivers where they leverage on normal people to provide their services. This would help to keep the overall fixed cost low. || Easily duplicated concepts/idea with a unique point of anonymous chat. Currently they are only surviving on advertisers. However if they would expand, they might face intense competition with ten cents, QQ and WeChat. || Innovative idea to keep track of an individual’s health. However, pricing might be an issue if R&D cost are too high. E.g. not every Singaporeans owns an Apple Watch which cost at least $1,000! || Hong Kong standards of living is generally higher as compared to Singapore. Therefore, it is not easy to be an entrepreneur as failure is not an option. However, if hk governments were to heavily fund new startup just like how Singapore’s governments did. It should not be an issue for new entrepreneurs |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | SZE Shao Tang || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | SZE Shao Tang || Great concept but kids this young need the face to face interaction to learn more organically || We will iterate as many times as we need until our business works || Hong Kong seems to have a lower resistance to new social media platforms than Singapore, seeing how fast the adoption rate was for Goop. In SMU, groups like askSMU and Buffet Clearers seem to fill in this demand but perhaps the idea could be used for companies to strengthen bonding and create flatter power structures by allowing employees to interact without fear of offending bosses || This company shows us that making a product and commercialising are 2 different challenges altogether. For example, would elderly people want to wear watches? Perhaps products should be developed by considering the user first || Entrepreneurship is well and alive because from today's visits and from movements such as Occupy, there is a sense of idealism among Hong Kong youths amid growing economic and political challenges to make life better for their generation |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | TAY Wei Xuan || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | TAY Wei Xuan || We invest in tomorrow. From infancy to infinity. || It is important for startups to fail fast and fail often. Although Tour Guy failed their first idea which is to help the disabled to travel, they managed to switch their perspective quickly while still keeping their interest in travel, changing into an Airbnb style of hiring tour guides instead. || "I want to do something fun and challenging." || The current state for smart wearables may not be as attractive for the younger generation in Singapore as they value quality, functionality, and practicality for such devices. || As long as there is a great idea, and that there is a demand for the great idea, with the right timing, entrepreneurship will not be a problem regardless of location. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | TEO Wei Shen || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | TEO Wei Shen || While I did not take away much from the presentation by WIT, I believe that the sector they have chosen for their business is of increasing importance and will be relevant to Singapore given Singapore's increased focus on early childhood education in recent years. || Many companies we have visited often advise the need to have passion, and TourGuy is no exception. It also does not kill to have ideas - they can be improved with each iteration. || Goop's success, in my opinion, came because they constantly look out for gaps or unfulfilled opportunities. || The company taught me that in order for a product (especially medical devices) to be successful, we have to prove that the technology works first. || I think the dream of being an entrepreneur in Hong Kong is still alive, despite the many insurmountable challenges placed upon them. For example, they have learnt how to adapt to expensive housing by making use of the co-working spaces as their accommodation, among others. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | TIONG Nai Shi || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | TIONG Nai Shi || Children are our society’s future and I feel that Hong Kong is a prime location for this company as their target group the young. This would definitely benefit Hong Kong children as they are multilingual, not only learning Mandarin and English like us in Singapore but also Cantonese. || When your initial idea does not pan out do not give up. Case in point, only after 4 months, the company approached their problem statement from a different angle. Ultimately coming up with something that works, using the human library concept to start something new in Hong Kong. || Sometimes when you find out where there is a gap, or what is missing, in what is currently available in the market the results might just surprise you. Just like when the founders of GOOP got a sudden spike in new users a few weeks after they launched their app. || First thing that came to mind when hearing about this company was that it would be in line with Singapore’s Active Health social movement. Given the increasing popularity of wearable devices such as Apple Watch etc. their product would be widely popular with the right marketing. || I feel that entrepreneurship is still alive despite the many difficulties faced by people in Hong Kong. This can be seen with the many co-working spaces that are widely popular in Silicon Valley popping up all over Hong Kong. This can be seen also in HKU’s Idendron where only being in operation for 2 years, they have already garnered over 40 companies. From the visit we could see how many of the members in the space were highly motivated, not paying any attention to us, or being distracted, despite us making a huge commotion when arriving. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | YONG Fu Xiang || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | YONG Fu Xiang || Working with established renowned local partners(eg: my first skool) to form credibility is key to expanding business to overseas. || Open your mind before your mouth. Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change. || Staying anonymous can help in driving content creations. || Creativity is intelligence having fun. || Students these day are driven by the passion and interest in technology, and at the same time, not wanting to work in a "typical" company for long term. To help reduce office rental cost, hot-desking in co working space provides affordable office space rental for students with entrepreneurship. Starting a startup at young age also have lower risk. In conclusion, with relevant support, entrepreneurship is still alive in the country. |
|- | |- | ||
− | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | YUEN Chui Shan || | + | | style="white-space: nowrap; " | YUEN Chui Shan || WIT strives to research on innovative ideas to equip preschool children’s educational needs and is currently looking for ways to enter the Singapore market. || If youre going to do a startup, you’ll face alot of challenges and have chances of failure. || An social app that brings students in an university to communicate with one another anonymously. || Sensing technology (eg. electrical, optical, mechanical) and cardiovascular related physiological parameters such as blood pressure and heart rate are used to measure a human’s health condition, and also to ensure that he/she maintains a healthy lifestyle. || Founders for startups are constantly still striving to ensure that entrepreneurship stays alive by providing their idea as a free service, or through constant marketing to gain potential sponsor’s trust. |
|- | |- |
Latest revision as of 01:36, 3 May 2019
HOME | | COURSE | | ITINERARY | | ROLE | | TEAM | | ORGANIZATION | | REFLECTION |
![]() |
Day 3 |
Day 1 |
Reflections
Student Name | WIT | TourGuy | Goop | Intelligent Sensing Limited | Is entrepreneurship still alive in HK? |
Ayesha Aziz ALKAFF | Elaine, the representative from WIT, shows a strong commitment in finding out about where they can establish a market that face similar problems as HK. They are facing steady and consistent growth and I admire that they're not too greedy to see profit, they are smart in their decision making too. They also attempt to establish as many markets as possible, like the educators (curriculum), the children (books), and parents (consultation), | The speaker seems earnest and hardworking, passionate about startups. As the idea if tour guy is really new, it's still in the preliminary stages of development. However, it shows great promise with a solid team. As their previous idea failed regarding the accessibility of wheelchairs, they are able to learn from their past mistakes and grow as a culture. The human library is a really interesting idea, and I can see the appeal of it, especially in Hong Kong, with the tourism industry booming | Goop was an incredibly insightful visit for me. While an anonymous social app is not as new of a concept, what they did different is encapsulate the anonymity within a closed context. This allows users to feel more confident in sharing their thoughts.The real value of money lies in internalising the ecosystem - community wallet that gives you perks based on what community you belong to. He also shared that the key to knowing community is to identify core bunch of people, in this case student union of hk. | My impression of them is that they know what they're doing extremely well. They're an educated group of founders, with much technical depth on the topic, with many of them in the healthcare field. Although they're relatively new, it is clear that they have incredible potential in the market, with a clear idea on where to target, which is the health institutions, that know the value of the products. | Not many people are into start-ups, many of the youths in Hong Kong don't even know what start-ups mean. However, it is apparent that slowly but surely, educational institutions are investing more into startups and bolstering them with the right tools and resources. This can be seen by the start-ups receiving funding and space from the university, who gets these resources from the government. |
Bernadine LYE Su Hui | The company effectively studied and realised the gaps in the market- low birth rates and parents spending less time with children, creating an effective solution to facilitate language learning for children. | “Human library” is an interesting concept I have never heard of before. Tourguy’s product is a great example of adapting existing concepts to different industries (in this case, travel). | Goop’s product is a blend of multiple social platforms by encapsulating anonymity in a community context. Goop’s plans to venture into the Indonesian market is an interesting move backed by the youth of the social media market in Indonesia. In social media censorship, it is interesting to note how Goop manages to Balance privacy protection and content censorship on the platform by using community reporting. | It was interesting to see the real life applications of IDP used by the company in multi-prototyping with a 2-phase prototype (wrist/wrist+fingers). The company’s BP monitoring product is innovative and timely, especially with the rise in wearable devices. In Singapore, this could be useful in monitoring for Smart Healthcare - a step towards our Smart Nation initiative. | Co-working spaces, such as iDendron (HKU) and Pi Centre (CUHK) are popular launch pads for aspiring entrepreneurs to afford workspaces at a low cost. Also, with internet and technology nowadays, the presence of physical infrastructure may not be as necessary. The Hong Kong government also recognizes the trend of doing startups and have been promoting startups for more than 5 years. Government and private funding is also available for Hong Kong startups, providing opportunities for entrepreneurship to thrive despite the high costs. |
CHANG Jia Li | I enjoyed working on the research for WIT and I like how Elaine handled the Q&A session. She is very humble and forward looking. Given their research and trends in Singapore, I strongly believe they would be able to start their business. | The idea of Tour Guy is very interesting and it really help people who needs help or advice. Something different from the rest! The owner is very determined and forward looking. | Jeff is so knowledgeable and the way he handled Q&A is WOW! So much charisma! The team really know the market well and I like the idea of the app where it is anonymous and really fit the needs of the users. It’s helpful and fun! | The market that they are focusing is very small in Singapore. The professors are very technical and highly skilled. It will be convenient for the stakeholders such as nurses and patients. Interesting solution and shocking result! | Entrepreneurship is still alive because it is a fulfilling yet challenging journey. Even if the business fails, it is important that you do not give up, be forward looking, passionate in doing entrepreneurship and the solution must meet the needs of people. This means that a lot of research must be done before doing up the solution. Despite all the expensive pricing in housing and high living expenses, it still can’t be compared to the sense of accomplishment in starting a business. |
Chantalle NG | The early childhood market is an extremely lucrative. This start up has seen the potential market and targeted it. Through the presentations, it could be seen that the entrepreneurship spirit is indeed present in Hong Kong, where many young companies are looking out for potential markets/ service gaps and creating a business to meet these needs. It was a good interaction to exchange views on how the image of Hong Kong is in the eyes of Singaporeans, and I think such research is necessary before penetrating into a new market. | It is nice to see start ups creating new services for people with disabilities. The team has brainstormed many different ideas before finally deciding on one. Which I feel is crucial before investing time, money and effort from. | The founders of GOOP managed to identify a gap for user anonymity. It is something that students are interested to use. Also, it is notable that even though they did not expect their app to gain so much traction, it can be seen that they’ve put in a lot of thought planning for the future. | Innovative designs created from innovative algorithms put them on the front line, gaining trust from Doctors in the field. Their products are also user friendly such as the sleep-time BP monitoring. It reflects on how quality and user-friendliness is very important: | When your initial idea does not pan out do not give up. Case in point, only after 4 months, the company approached their problem statement from a different angle. Ultimately coming up with something that works, using the human library concept to start something new in Hong Kong. |
Cheryl KOH Zhi Ying | Entrepreneurship is still alive because it is a fulfilling yet challenging journey. Even if the business fails, it is important that you do not give up, be forward looking, passionate in doing entrepreneurship and the solution must meet the needs of people. This means that a lot of research must be done before doing up the solution. Despite all the expensive pricing in housing and high living expenses, it still can’t be compared to the sense of accomplishment in starting a business. | For startups, it is always crucial to not fixate on your initial business idea and prototype, but to remain open to feedback from market validation. | To have a successful social startup, you need not be good at technology, but rather know how people make communication, and be able to identify the core bunch of users. | When introducing niche use products, one should try to leverage on existing common smartwear to ease adoption. | Despite the high cost of living in Hong Kong, many are still interested in starting their own business, as evident from the high number of organic startup applications in CUHK and HKU. This is as students enjoy the freedom that comes with being their own boss, and desire being able to earn their own income through their own efforts. |
Debbie LEE Shan Ying | Relies mainly on foreign investment to drive profits, and it is important to conduct thorough market research about target audience before entering. Quantitative measures of determining success are important, such as number of downloads, customer usage | Important step out of your circle aka comfort zone to find out more about what is happening, do not be trapped in the bubble that you are in so that you can get fresh ideas pumping in regularly | Important to branch out to explore new products. Currently only allows for annonymised chats but will be looking into giving users identities so that the app will have identified chats like Telegram, and also the annonymised option which differentiates it from its competitors. Branching into new markets such as Indonesia because there is understanding that HK market is limited | Interesting that the doctor exhibited strong passion to develop technology and bring it to the public, not being profit focused but rather trying to solve common issues. How product pricing is done is based on consultation with medical staff and industry | It is alive as mentioned by the speaker in Goop as people would try to be their own boss, as doing so gives them an opportunity to earn way more than a fixed wage in an office job, which will hopefully help them break out of the “poverty” cycle and ultimately afford their own homes (very tough to do so here). |
Derrick LEE Ming Yang | WE invest in CHILDREN'S TOMORROW. can only differentiate themselves from a childcare centre by curriculum. no special or unique tech. | Very similar to professor hwee xian/pink's project on mapping wheelchair friendly routes in Singapore. Recommended to look into smart BFA's way of crowd sourcing help by attaching sensors to wheelchairs of participants. | successfully built something that user wants. Classic example of success via luck. Biz model can look into allowing students to find house mates/sublet houses/rent houses. Can be a way to monetize also. | Cool technology, planning to use humanity tendency to give meaning out of convenience. E.g. people measuring heart rate to keep track of weight loss. They want people to start measuring BP on the go. | increase in cost of living will definitely put off the idea of starting up on your own. good way to filter out who are the ones who are truly interested and inspired to create something on their own vs those who wants to be a founder just for namesake. true entrepreneurs will go out of their way to fund themselves and their product. |
Gary CHUA Rongjie | The company has a lot of potential. Especially using AI and analytics to provide data on language assessment. This will allow competitive societies like HK and SG to fine tune early childhood education. | Human libraries is quite an innovation, especially focusing on helping the society. As HK is an ageing population, having an app to crowdsource volunteers is unique. | Although the founder mentioned that money wasn’t the main driver for the creation of Goop, the strategy to monetise the app and earn revenues are vital for survival. It’s interesting how they differentiate themselves by not directly competing with big players like Facebook but complement it by having university exclusivity and anonymity. | What was most important for the founder of the company was to make theoretical studies a reality. Thus they ventured to create the prototype for their blood pressure monitor, focusing on a seamless experience and better sensing. | The founder mentioned that start ups are hard. But it’s his passion that drives him. This relates to how entrepreneurs in HK keep themselves driven. It’s always about making the idea happen and not being afraid to fail. Through this, they’re fully invested in it. |
GOH Jin Qiang | Cognitive assessment helps to improve WIT current education solutions by having worldwide positive education exposure and understanding their student learning curve. | The reason to startup is you want to chase after your own dreams. By doing so, you must be passionate in the things you do. | By segmenting customer needs allow Goop to have a clearer focus and create a unique experience in their application. All in all, dream big, start small, act now. | Commercialising a research or an idea require more than just a viable product. It’s important to understand the profile of the marsket segment rather than just trying to solve a problem. | Although, it is important to have a financial backing for any startups, Hong Kong method of paving the way for startups by having mentors for consultation plays an important role in their success. Having such support allow entrepreneurs to understand other failures, learn from their experience to have a head start in the fail fast, fail forward approach. Therefore, this approach help startups to graduate from the pre-incubation faster and receive more funding to reduce their financial problems. |
Gwendolyn GOH Wen Hui | I think the mission of WIT Enterprise is really inspiring as they aim to equip children with bilingual skills that would help them in the future. Team 3’s research also showed a pre school called Taidii, which is the world’s first robotics for pre school that uses RFID, fingerprint, QR CODE etc. | tour guy introduced the concept of human library. Instead of a traditional library with books, tour guy invites knowledgeable people to share their experience instead. People are able to “borrow” these knowledgeable people to ask them questions. | Goop became popular as it a anonymous social app, hence people became more confident and comfortable with sharing their thoughts. Planning to expand in Indonesia as people are migrating from Facebook to Instagram, however it’s not a great way to connect with friends. This is a great time to expand into Indonesia where people are only starting to migrate to Instagram. Realised that creating an ecosystem is the best way to monetise the app. | Intelligent sensing mentioned things like flexible textile pressure sensor and electronic skin that provides touch sense for robots. The company however faced difficulties matching consumer’s price points and hence are focusing their target on Hospitals. | Although I do believe that being a entrepreneur might be tough due to the circumstances in hongkong that is similar to that of Singapore, I do not believe its a dying trait. We’ve visited several companies during our period of stay and witnessed entrepreneurs in co working places. It is understandable that being a successful start up is tough, but it does not mean that the entrepreneurship spirit is dying.
|
Student Name | WIT | TourGuy | Goop | Intelligent Sensing Limited | Entrepreneurship |
HO Wei Hong | If you are expanding overseas, find similarities in the overseas market to see which community you can possibly place you product in. | It's ok to fail but how you learn from it and refine your ieaa | Identify your potential core users to know where to market your products. | If nobody does it then who? You prove your idea is worthwhile by actually doing it | I felt that it is alive as long as there are still people who have a strong passion and belief in their ideas to make a difference. |
HOW Zhiteng | As an entrepreneur, it is important that you aim to solve problems and create value for your customers. WIT's target audience is rather niche as there's not many bilingual countries as of now. However, I believe the trend of having a second language in other countries is a potential leverage for WIT. | TourGuy is a good example of why you should never give up. Despite failing, he picks his feet up and try again. | Goop's co-founder, Jeff, has a strong entrepreneurship spirit. He was very receptive to our questions and feedback. His spirit inspires me. | Great technology with a great research team. However, ISL should seek better channels to sell their products (i.e. through medical institutions instead of retail). This can significantly reduce the customer acquisition cost and having to educate their customers. | In my opinion, I think that Hong Kong right now is not the best place for young entrepreneurs. There are many more opportunities in other countries with a stronger support for young entrepreneurs. |
LIM Yi Bin | Research is meaningless without proper application of new found knowledge | Countless failures create a wealth of experience for you to rely on. | In the creation of a product, the fastest way to create something useful would be to take a neutral stance and empathize with the users themselves. | Collaboration with industry experts may allow new start ups to gain faster traction instead of doing everything in house | As seen from our visits to the incubation centres. Entrepreneurship is very much alive and everybody wants to be the next big hit. Standing out among the competition is proving to be difficult but with support and funding from various sources, many graduates in Hong Kong are taking a step forward towards making their vision a reality |
Mathilda NG | The company is promoting bilingualism to children and it is very useful in this day and age with globalisation. Word of mouth is very effective in order to promote any service or product. | It is a relatively new start up and the idea is bringing the concept of human library to HK. The idea is pretty innovative as it aims to address people's prejudices by helping them talk to those they would not normally meet, in this case the elderly people. | They have a simple and interesting concept and they were able to achieve it through the understanding of their target audience and simple interface. | They have a very strong knowledge of their technology and what they are doing. The products that they have came up with is also very useful as well as it caters to the healthcare sector. | The idea of entrepreneurship in HK is still very relevant as many see it as an opportunity to break away from the regular salary paying jobs in order to achieve something much more in their lives. |
Mohammad Hazmie Bin JAAFAR | WIT CEO almost secured a partnership with one of the biggest Singapore's early childhood company called "My First School". Their progress in just 1.5 years is astounding. Their assessment criteria to track children's development must be effective. My sister is a teacher in My First School. If WIT successfully get the contract, i would love to see the change that they will bring in. | I always thought this is a brilliant idea! I personally would like to be guiding tourist around Singapore. Sharing the local experience with them so that they have a taste of Singapore in the point of view of a local. Touristy place are over commercialized and expensive. Therefore, having a cheaper idea to travel around in a country will be ideal. | I feel that i can relate to this company the most. Their breakthrough is through sending EDM. Trying out their luck with a friend that leading a student union. I tried doing the same, but for Singapore Uni, it does not work as well. I spoke more to him after the sharing session and i realised that he have done the dirty work. "You got to have your hand dirty" said Jeff. 6 months he continuously push his limit. No rest day. Grinding for this to work and it did. | Dr Hui and team are a group of intellectual researchers that is coming out a revolutionary 24 hours BP monitoring wearable. In my opinion, this can be breakthrough medical technology that could change how hospital nurses function in running their daily routine. When things can be automated and the BP data can be retrieved from the database, nurses no longer need to do their rounds to check on patient's BP. | I asked the Jeff from Goop about the average starting pay of a fresh graduate. He said roughly its about SGD 2.5k to SGD 5k Its pretty much like the amount Singaporean Graduate will get. However, when i asked him why he still chose this path despite the uncertainty, he said, this is the path that he is passionate about. Rental is really expensive and as result, he dare not think about building family yet because he knows that he will not be able to support them. I believe the long term goal he has in achieving his entrepreneurship journey will make him more fulfilled than just working 9-5pm job. |
Muhammad Hafizuddin Bin ABD RAHIN | I believe that education is the most important driver towards development. WIT’s aim of getting young students to be bilingual, is definitely a good push towards further development. | The Tour Guy representative showed a lot of energy and excitement towards his idea. And even though the company has only started about 2 months ago, there have been many developments that could point the company towards success | Goop is run by 2 very young entrepreneurs. The idea of having a community based communication tool in a form of an app is a rather simple but interesting idea. I believe that in order for them to be successful, the app needs to have more unique functions that attract and sustain users. | Intelligent Sensing’s speaker was very passionate about the wearable technology industry. The main problem that was brought up was about consumers not willing to buy such wearables at the current price. I believe that with more research and testing, the company would be able to find out new innovative functions that would appeal more. | Entrepreneurship in Hong Kong is by no means dead. Over the past few days, even though we only visited a few companies, we were still exposed to co-sharing environments where there were many companies who were very energetic and buzzing with good business plans and ideas to thrive in a place like HK. |
ONG Li Ting | I learnt that to penetrate into another market, it is essential for companies to perform conduct market research and select a promising market. With the acquired information, it is important to know how to convert it to wisdom and when to take action. Word of mouth plays a big part for the success of the company. Planning and advice are critical. | It was interesting to find out how Tour Guy actually connects with the disabled travelers especially when it comes to understanding the needs and requirements of these travelers. Dealing with the disabled is another aspect of entrepreneurship that is not common to see. I had a fruitful session at CUHK and coming up with the high fidelity prototype for Tour Guy. | I had a great time listening to GOOP presentation on its anonymous messaging application. It was inspiring to find out that the founders were very determine with their ideas and executed it even though their degrees would have provide them with promising pay. The idea was really great and I hope to see it in Singapore soon! | Targeting a niche market carries a lot of risk and I learnt that in order to not fail, it is extremely important for the company to know very well of its target audiences. Be sure to know the company’s unique selling point and value proposition. Conduct niche marketing by bringing the product closer to the target audiences | In my opinion, it is still alive. We live in an era of knowledge where more and more people receive education and information/skills are more easily accessible and attainable. With the rise in digital engagement, business in Hong Kong can start to connect with people online. More companies/universities/government are giving out funds, scholarships and grants, which makes starting a business more attractive. |
ONG Lin Sheng | Wit's initiative of having a comprehensive products and services cater for children is something we can look at in Singapore. Perhaps they could make use of AI and machine learning to analyse children's emotions and needs | Interesting concept of a human library, having tourist to interact with locals instead of going to attractions could be a trend in near future. This reminds me of a combination of Airbnb and Tinder, the founder mentioned that most elderly are free and willing to interact with tourists but I'm just wondering if there are any communication and technology barrier involved. | I think having an anonymous chat within your own university is great, but in SMU, we are all comfortable with Telegram and would be a great challenge for Goop if they want to convert us. I am also amazed by how they use 1 semester with 4 man team, less than $1000 and to build this start up. | I can totally see the founder showing his passion on his project, using IoT to let people keep track of their health. But I personally feel that having a wearable device would be a hassle if I need to charge it everytime and if it's not waterproof | Ultimately I think new graduates would want to be entrepreneurs, but there are people who just want to play safe and work in a company while others would prefer to venture out. Entrepreneurship is still alive because the GenZ people are all about being unique and having fresh new ideas |
ONG Yan Kai | It was really humbling how honest Elaine was in seeking opinions regarding how they should brand themselves as they enter the Singapore market. Humility goes a long way in listening to the needs of business users. We are happy to have provided them with our research findings and we wish for success in their expansion. | It takes a lot of courage and determination to persist in a start-up that tackles a social problem (helping people with disabilities) rather than a business one. | It was very inspiring to learn from a young man of our age who has achieved significant success. Jeff shared his valuable experience in areas such as pitching and closing of deals over the phone. I am glad to have learnt from him. | A good solution in one place may not be as good in another. It is always important to understand well the demographics of the target market before bring in the product. | Entrepreneurship is certainly still alive in HK. Despite the issues that graduates face, HK remains as one of the most dynamic start-up destinations in the world. The huge support from the government and universities provide ample support to aspiring entrepreneurs. |
Shaun John CHEETHAM | Wit provides education services for preschool children. What stood out to me was that they are looking to help kids with their bilingual learning need. This is something that I think would be very helpful in a country like singapore since most children are taught two languages in school. Hopefully they are successful in expanding their reach and entering more markets like SG. | Tour Guy’s founder was quite inspiring he showed resilience and persistence despite his failures. Showing that failing doesn’t mean that time and effort has been wasted, instead he has shown that every failure is a potential learning point. Their current idea of matching people with tour guides in the city is quite refreshing as it taps allows for more authentic experiences and friendships to be formed. | Goop is a brave startup that’s looking to take on the giants like Facebook and telegram. They started with the novel idea to allow people to be able to communicate within their own communities but anonymously, and have succeeded in building strong communities of daily users. Now they want to monetise in a way that allows them to compete with mega apps like WeChat, their founders definitely have the passion and knowhow. | Intelligent Sensing are looking to create devices to help in the monitoring of blood pressure. They mentioned how most people measure their heart rate through wearables like Apple Watch, but the measuring of blood pressure is not mainstream even though it would provide the users with valuable data. I agree with the team that most people wouldn’t even think about recording and measuring their blood pressure unless it’s already included with other features in an easy to use item like a wearable. | Entrepreneurs in Hong Kong don’t have it easy, with a relatively high cost of living and ever increasing housing prices venturing out to start one’s own business is tricky and tough to say the least. But with entrepreneurs in most countries, being able to deviate from the norm of getting a job in a big company, requires determination and passion. From the incubators we have visited I think that entrepreneurs here clearly don’t lack that drive to create something of their own despite the risks, costs, and potential hardships. |
Student Name | WIT | TourGuy | Goop | Intelligent Sensing Limited | Entrepreneurship |
SIM Li Jin | With the changes happening to around the world, multilingualism is something that could be a huge beneficial to communication, and should start as early as possible. "we invest in tomorrow from infancy to infinity" | Setbacks will happen, and be adaptive to it. "adapt to changes" | Things go viral can result in success. "Fake it till you make it" | By chasing your passion, you would one day be able to see the outcome of it. "if nobody do it, then who do it?" | Entrepreneurship is still alive, with the support of the government and fundings that are available |
Stanley LIN Weijie | Could be a potential trending idea for young Singaporeans couple. Moving towards the digital age, being able to know the progression of our children will help put parents at ease | If it works, it would be a brilliant idea as it helps to create job opportunities in Singapore. Like GrabFood and Grab drivers where they leverage on normal people to provide their services. This would help to keep the overall fixed cost low. | Easily duplicated concepts/idea with a unique point of anonymous chat. Currently they are only surviving on advertisers. However if they would expand, they might face intense competition with ten cents, QQ and WeChat. | Innovative idea to keep track of an individual’s health. However, pricing might be an issue if R&D cost are too high. E.g. not every Singaporeans owns an Apple Watch which cost at least $1,000! | Hong Kong standards of living is generally higher as compared to Singapore. Therefore, it is not easy to be an entrepreneur as failure is not an option. However, if hk governments were to heavily fund new startup just like how Singapore’s governments did. It should not be an issue for new entrepreneurs |
SZE Shao Tang | Great concept but kids this young need the face to face interaction to learn more organically | We will iterate as many times as we need until our business works | Hong Kong seems to have a lower resistance to new social media platforms than Singapore, seeing how fast the adoption rate was for Goop. In SMU, groups like askSMU and Buffet Clearers seem to fill in this demand but perhaps the idea could be used for companies to strengthen bonding and create flatter power structures by allowing employees to interact without fear of offending bosses | This company shows us that making a product and commercialising are 2 different challenges altogether. For example, would elderly people want to wear watches? Perhaps products should be developed by considering the user first | Entrepreneurship is well and alive because from today's visits and from movements such as Occupy, there is a sense of idealism among Hong Kong youths amid growing economic and political challenges to make life better for their generation |
TAY Wei Xuan | We invest in tomorrow. From infancy to infinity. | It is important for startups to fail fast and fail often. Although Tour Guy failed their first idea which is to help the disabled to travel, they managed to switch their perspective quickly while still keeping their interest in travel, changing into an Airbnb style of hiring tour guides instead. | "I want to do something fun and challenging." | The current state for smart wearables may not be as attractive for the younger generation in Singapore as they value quality, functionality, and practicality for such devices. | As long as there is a great idea, and that there is a demand for the great idea, with the right timing, entrepreneurship will not be a problem regardless of location. |
TEO Wei Shen | While I did not take away much from the presentation by WIT, I believe that the sector they have chosen for their business is of increasing importance and will be relevant to Singapore given Singapore's increased focus on early childhood education in recent years. | Many companies we have visited often advise the need to have passion, and TourGuy is no exception. It also does not kill to have ideas - they can be improved with each iteration. | Goop's success, in my opinion, came because they constantly look out for gaps or unfulfilled opportunities. | The company taught me that in order for a product (especially medical devices) to be successful, we have to prove that the technology works first. | I think the dream of being an entrepreneur in Hong Kong is still alive, despite the many insurmountable challenges placed upon them. For example, they have learnt how to adapt to expensive housing by making use of the co-working spaces as their accommodation, among others. |
TIONG Nai Shi | Children are our society’s future and I feel that Hong Kong is a prime location for this company as their target group the young. This would definitely benefit Hong Kong children as they are multilingual, not only learning Mandarin and English like us in Singapore but also Cantonese. | When your initial idea does not pan out do not give up. Case in point, only after 4 months, the company approached their problem statement from a different angle. Ultimately coming up with something that works, using the human library concept to start something new in Hong Kong. | Sometimes when you find out where there is a gap, or what is missing, in what is currently available in the market the results might just surprise you. Just like when the founders of GOOP got a sudden spike in new users a few weeks after they launched their app. | First thing that came to mind when hearing about this company was that it would be in line with Singapore’s Active Health social movement. Given the increasing popularity of wearable devices such as Apple Watch etc. their product would be widely popular with the right marketing. | I feel that entrepreneurship is still alive despite the many difficulties faced by people in Hong Kong. This can be seen with the many co-working spaces that are widely popular in Silicon Valley popping up all over Hong Kong. This can be seen also in HKU’s Idendron where only being in operation for 2 years, they have already garnered over 40 companies. From the visit we could see how many of the members in the space were highly motivated, not paying any attention to us, or being distracted, despite us making a huge commotion when arriving. |
YONG Fu Xiang | Working with established renowned local partners(eg: my first skool) to form credibility is key to expanding business to overseas. | Open your mind before your mouth. Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change. | Staying anonymous can help in driving content creations. | Creativity is intelligence having fun. | Students these day are driven by the passion and interest in technology, and at the same time, not wanting to work in a "typical" company for long term. To help reduce office rental cost, hot-desking in co working space provides affordable office space rental for students with entrepreneurship. Starting a startup at young age also have lower risk. In conclusion, with relevant support, entrepreneurship is still alive in the country. |
YUEN Chui Shan | WIT strives to research on innovative ideas to equip preschool children’s educational needs and is currently looking for ways to enter the Singapore market. | If youre going to do a startup, you’ll face alot of challenges and have chances of failure. | An social app that brings students in an university to communicate with one another anonymously. | Sensing technology (eg. electrical, optical, mechanical) and cardiovascular related physiological parameters such as blood pressure and heart rate are used to measure a human’s health condition, and also to ensure that he/she maintains a healthy lifestyle. | Founders for startups are constantly still striving to ensure that entrepreneurship stays alive by providing their idea as a free service, or through constant marketing to gain potential sponsor’s trust. |