【7 Lessons from 7 early-stage founders】

And that's a wrap! Startups are hard, very hard. There's a million different reasons why a founder will fail. Although every founder will never walk the same path as an another, it's my hope that you can at least distill some form of practical insight or inspiration from the experiences of the founders highlighted. Here's a quick snapshot of the lessons covered:

#1 - Establish a working relationship with your co-founder before tying the knot ft. Alan Chan of Omnichat (AW#16)
#2 - Don't in love with your product ft. Kevin Wong of Origami Labs (AW#15)
#3 - Talk to your investors ft. Hai Ho of Triip (AW#18)
#4 - Hire slow, fire fast ft. Hai Nguyen of Canavi (AW#20)
#5 - Don't compete for the sake of compete ft. Chris Xue of Novelship (AW#16)
#6 - Optimize on leveraging strengths instead of improving weaknesses ft. Chelsea Sim of Botbot.AI (AW#18)
#7 - Zoom in, zoom out ft. Jackson Aw ft. Mighty Jaxx (AW#20)

Beyond shared tactics or playbooks, it is also my hope that other founders' experiences resonate with your own, and let you understand that you are not alone.

At AppWorks, we now have over 1,300 founders in our community, filled with like-minded peers, mentors, and even business partners--perhaps the strongest founder community of its kind in GSEA. Applications for AW#22 will be closing next Monday, January 4. If you're a founder targeting AI/IoT, blockchain/DeFI, or SEA, do remember to apply.

It's been a pleasure serving you readers. If you enjoyed the content in any way, please do show your support by following our page and engaging with our posts.

It's now my pleasure to pass on the reins to my colleague Jack An, who will serve as your editor for the month of January.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday and happy new year!

Cheers,
Jun

【Lesson #5 - Don’t compete just for the sake of competing】

All is fair in love and war, or so they say. Oftentimes founders will move heaven and earth just to find out what their competitors are doing and how they can get a leg up--sometimes to the point where they lose sight of WHY they've started the business in the first place. In my chat with Chris Xue, Co-founder/COO of Novelship (AW#16), he reveals how in his quest to build Asia's leading online marketplace for limited edition sneakers and streetwear, he became blindsided by an over-optimization on squashing competition, while stressing why in hindsight a customer focus will ALWAYS trump a competitor focus.

***

Beating out your competitors is an almost primal instinct. It’s also a topic that investors always ask about—”how are you different from xyz? How will you compete against them? What makes you the winning horse?”

Certainly, a lot of that emphasis had misguided our own efforts in the past. After relaunching our platform two years ago, we had an almost infatuation-like obsession with outflanking our enemy, tracking their every move, poaching key accounts, and outbidding them in ads, at least up until COVID came around.

The logical thing to do was go into hibernation. Who would want to buy hype sneakers in the midst of an economic downturn. Staying open would’ve meant higher burn, decreased runway, and less ammunition to fight against competitors when the economy recovers. All of our peers closed shop; even our investors encouraged us to shut down for a few months.

It was certainly compelling, but then we started thinking about our customers, and the thousands of sellers that depend on our platform to support their livelihood, whether it’s terms of paying bills, covering tuition, or supporting their own families. Upon that revelation, we applied to become an essential business and was eventually given a license to continue operating.

Unsuspectingly, buyers also continued buying, if not more. With no other platform running, Novelship became top of mind for customers. Growth accelerated, placing us miles ahead of our competitors.

Don’t get me wrong—competitors are important. It helps keep you sharp and innovative, and also proves that there’s demand for your product/service. But don’t compete just for the sake of competing. It blinds you, and keeps you from truly listening to and understanding what your customers want.

It’s ok to be aware of what your competitors are doing, but don’t let that be the sole driver in your decision making. It’s more important to understand how the competitors’ moves ultimately add value to the users, then you can sensibly determine whether or not to go down that path.

Applications for AW#22 are now open to founders targeting SEA, AI/IoT, or Blockchain/Defi -> https://bit.ly/2LOzhYU

【Demo Day #16 精彩回顧 - Novelship】
購買高單價潮牌時，最怕的就是買到盜版仿冒品，尤其透過網路電商購物時，更加深了這方面的風險。來自新加坡的街頭潮流時尚電商 Novelship，發現了這樣的痛點，他們為消費者保證商品來源、把關付款流程、並確保快速到貨，讓消費者能夠安心享受電商帶來的便利性之外，同時也解決盜版商品疑慮。上線兩個月內，Novelship 獲得 250 位賣家的青睞、為這些賣家增加 50% 的獲利，且為他們節省了 80% 的運費。

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