Slides I whipped together for the US DoS event at Ho Chi Minh City on 29 Aug ahead of DEMO ASEAN.

1. @SiliconStraits #MekongTIGERS #HCMC #techtalks
Observations at the Intersection
of Ideas, Talent & Capital
James Chan / @m0t0chan
Founder & CEO, Silicon Straits
29 August 2013
10minutes

2. Engineer by training
Social engineer
Investor
Entrepreneur
Geek
Photographer
Father & Husband
Carnegie Mellon
Stanford
Silicon Valley
MIT Media Lab
Infocomm Development Authority
Infocomm Investments
Walden International
Neoteny Labs
Silicon Straits
Silicon Straits Saigon

3. USA is the undisputed leader of startup
ecosystems in the world.
Pro-talent, university excellence, vibrant community

4. It takes decades and generations of entrepreneurs
to get to where it is today.
Defense → Semiconductors → Web → Social/Cloud → ?
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/11/startup-ecosystems-take-time.html
“...new startup ecosystems developing in Europe, Asia and elsewhere.
It can happen and it will happen. But it takes time. And you can’t
fast forward because we are talking about experience which can’t be
manufactured. You simply have to put in the time.”

5. Sure, let’s give it time. BUT it doesn’t mean
the rest of the world needs to sit on our hands.
Turn on, boot up, jack in.
→ →
co-working spaces
fabrication labs
maker movement
angel investment networks
venture debt grassroots community movements
equity-matching initiatives
“bridge-building” de-regulation
talent attraction
education
pay it forward
evangelism
media
research funding
non-dilutive grants

6. SAIGON
UEN: 201005970E
Ideas
Capital Talent
CO.LAB
NETWORK
Our own ideas
Other people/
companies’ ideas
Entrepreneurs
Designers
Engineers
Product
Managers
Advisors
Our own $
Other people’s $
Government $
This is how I view startup ecosystems.
Intersection!

7. UEN: 201005970E
Accelerating startup ecosystems in emerging
markets aren’t that different from pitching tents.
All or most poles need to go up
at about the same time, but that’s hard...

8. UEN: 201005970E
The right mix of “Patient” & “Impatient”
Capital is needed.
That’s hard to juggle well too.
V.S.

9. UEN: 201005970E
The right mix of “Patient” & “Impatient”
Capital is needed.
That’s hard to juggle well too.
V.S.
Patient Capital Impatient Capital
+ Angels

10. UEN: 201005970E
I can’t change the world, but
I can change the environment I’m in.
Embrace serendipity & neoteny.
Amplify positive deviance.

11. Silicon Straits is building a better platform for designers,
engineers & entrepreneurs to get together, be
inspired, make things and start/grow companies.
venture capital,
incubation & advisory
software foundry co-working &
business services
Design + UI/UX
RoR, iOS, Android CO.LAB
2,000 sq ft
Blk 71@SingaporeSAIGON
invest in teams of entrepreneurs,
engineers & designers and value-add
for growth/scale
help entrepreneurs, engineers &
designers bring ideas into reality
location for entrepreneurs,
engineers & designers to work & play
UEN: 201005970E
US$5M seed fund;
24 investments from 2010
to 2012 in US & Asia Pacific
NRF TIS incubator; S$100K
investment matched with
S$500K for S$600K in total
NETWORK

12. “Man is by nature a social animal.
Society is something that precedes the individual.”
UEN: 201005970E
Building better startup ecosystems begin with the spaces we work in.

13. UEN: 201005970E
Idea: Startup ecosystem vivarium, at the building-scale
1st Floor
Retail, F&B, informal “watering hole” - i.e.
artisanal coffee, local hole-in-the-wall,
groceries, product/services showcase
Virtual office concierge,
co-working, events venue - business
support, get work done, formal meetings
Co-working, fabrication lab - get work
done, hardware prototyping
1* or 2* motel - for out-of-city
entrepreneurs
2nd Floor
3rd Floor
4th Floor
6th Floor and
above
Startup offices - private office spaces
for more established companies
5th Floor
Incubators & investor offices -
people who hand out $ and add value
Perfect model for public-private
partnership
Now, imagine a network of them
across a diverse region with human
& capital flow between them.

14. Silicon Straits is an innovation tribe in Asia Pacific.
Tech distribution, sales, product
marketing; US, Asia Pacific; SiS
Int’l market cap US$100M
F&B (Thai Express),
e-commerce,
gaming; Singapore,
Southeast Asia;
S$100M cash exit
E-commerce;
Japan, emerging
markets;
Netprice mkt
cap US$70M
IT services, angel
investment; India; 1 of 3
co-founders that sold
Kanbay for US$1.25B to
CapGemini
Hyper-connector; US,
Japan, Middle East;
Director, MIT Media Lab
CO.LAB
co-working members,
event participants, tech
community
SAIGON
24-strong web/mobile
development team in
Ho Chi Minh City
NETWORK
25 investments across
North America, Europe
and Asia Pacific
30+ investors from US,
Japan, Singapore,
Middle East and Europe
CTO COO
Like the internet, “small pieces loosely joined”,
a collection of like-minded individuals

15. It’s a long and often lonely journey, but it’s most important
that we’re on that path and lovin’ it.
Join our tribe, drop us a note,
start your (journey) today.
Positive deviance
Cross-programming in real
estate development with
startup ecosystem spin
Embrace &
celebrate failure
Skew the opportunity costs
Pay it forward
V.S. Nepotism
Socially
engineering a
startup culture
Exited founders with
liquidity jump-starting
virtuous cycle by giving back
At the
convergence of design,
hardware & software
Building bridges across the region
Public private partnership (PPP)

16. www.siliconstraits.com
@siliconstraits
james@siliconstraits.com
71 Ayer Rajah Crescent, #06-11/12, Singapore 139951
147 Ton Dat Tien Street, Tan Phong Ward, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City
@m0t0chan
Thank You!
www.facebook.com/siliconstraits
Level 25 North Tower, One Raffles Quay, Singapore 048583