Update: What drives Singapore youths?
Travelling back in time, a BusinessWeek article written in 2000 talks about the Singapore government trying to cultivate a Silicon Valley mindset amongst its population and it also profiled Cozzee.com , a local internet startup. Here's an excerpt:
"Having said that, the trends I am seeing in Singapore's Internet scene are heartening. People are slowly breaking away from old, conservative work habits, taking on new risks, and starting their own businesses — perhaps not at the same speed as in the U.S., but it is definitely happening. Cozzee's most surprising employee has been a middle-aged woman who didn't know the first thing about the Internet before joining us. Yet somehow, she instinctively grasps our ideas about Cozzee's potential as an online reverse marketplace that harnesses cutting-edge technology, and she has become a gem of a saleswoman for us."
Fast forward 2006 and it seems Singapore is still mired in the premordial tide pool of internet startups if we count the amount of investment that was pumped into the local IT scene and the returns on this investment. Its no wonder so many local VCs are so conservative and pessimistic about the local industry after having been burned less than 5 years ago.
But here's another article from Silicon Valley's serial-entrepreneur-turned-VC Kamran Elahian on creating a Silicon Valley in Singapore. Some interesting facts involving Phillip Yeo's ill-fated $5 million venture in Kamran's Momenta.
On a somewhat cheerier note, here's some pictures on what could be considered Singapore's Silicon Valley:
Clarke Quay in the Central Business District of Singapore
And Suntec City – marketed as Asia's Vertical Silicon Valley
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Hi Bjorn,
Thanks for the inspiration in your article.
I have written a piece which I thought might be of interest to you.
Finding the Golden Path: Can Singapore be a Silicon Valley?
[...] Author’s note: This article is inspired by the comments from the blog by Bjorn Lee and another article by Kamran Elahian together with an old article from Business Weekly. The article is also currently featured in tomorrow.sg. [...]
[...] Bjorn Lee Inc, Internet Media Evangelist. Space Monkey. Political Animal. From reading his blog entries, here are two recommended entries which captures my attention: What Drives You? and More on Singapore’s Silicon Valley. As a matter of fact, the second article has inspired an upcoming article which I will be posting in a few days time. Of course, from reading his blogs, I believe that he is one who does not let school interfere with his education. [...]
[...] The article has been an interesting article in all fronts for Singapore Entrerpreneurs blog. This article is originally inspired by the comments from the blog by Bjorn Lee and another article by Kamran Elahian together with an old article from Business Weekly. Earlier before reading his article, I was having a chat with a venture capitalist who gave a good argument of how Singapore is like Microsoft in the present, being very entrepreneurial during the 1960-1990s and started to slow down in the 1990s. It was also a confluence of events. The last piece of the puzzle is that I was wondering whether there is really an change in the mindset in the younger generation. Through my work with Start-Up@Singapore, the quality of the business plans and the way how student entrepreneurs present themselves have improved significantly seven years ago before I went overseas. You have to understand that I have just returned from Cambridge, where I did a biotech startup and had some reservation whether I will be enjoying entrepreneurship like the way I did back there. So, finally, something spurred me to write this article. Besides, at that point of time, I don’t see a lot of venture capital activity in seed stage and series A companies in Singapore. Hence it set me into thinking what we should start doing. [...]
[...] The article “Finding the Golden Path: Can Singapore be a Silicon Valley?” has been an interesting article in all fronts for Singapore Entrerpreneurs blog. This article is originally inspired by the comments from the blog by Bjorn Lee and another article by Kamran Elahian together with an old article from Business Weekly. Earlier before reading his article, I was having a chat with a venture capitalist who gave a good argument of how Singapore is like Microsoft in the present, being very entrepreneurial during the 1960-1990s and started to slow down in the 1990s. It was also a confluence of events. The last piece of the puzzle is that I was wondering whether there is really an change in the mindset in the younger generation. Through my work with Start-Up@Singapore, the quality of the business plans and the way how student entrepreneurs present themselves have improved significantly seven years ago before I went overseas. You have to understand that I have just returned from Cambridge, where I did a biotech startup and had some reservation whether I will be enjoying entrepreneurship like the way I did back there. So, finally, something spurred me to write this article. Besides, at that point of time, I don’t see a lot of venture capital activity in seed stage and series A companies in Singapore. Hence it set me into thinking what we should start doing. [...]
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