MDA Misses The Mark At UnConference 2009 | Young Upstarts http://www.youngupstarts.com/2009/05/18/mda-misses-the-m...

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MDA Misses The Mark At UnConference

2009
Posted by Daniel on 5/18/09 • Categorized as Events & Happenings

eJamming presenting during Unconference

2009 startup 10-minute pitching sessions

How it has grown.

UnConference Singapore, organized by e27, is literally growing from strength to strength.

Last year’s UnConference featured just 17 startups, but Saturday’s event saw over 31
startups from 10 countries participating in what must be Singapore’s biggest and most
highly-anticipated annual event for the local tech and web startup community.

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Not only has the event grown in size - over 400 delegates compared to almost 300 in 2008
- but the quality of startups that participated and pitched on Saturday has also risen.
Bangkok-based online collaborative music platform eJamming and Singapore-based RF
location-based technology provider Human Network Labs, for example, were startups that
were extremely well-received by a judging panel and the audience.

The event was kicked off by a keynote from Scott Rafer, CEO of Lookery, and followed by
a panel discussion on “Innovation in Asia: Where is it heading?” with Rafer, co-founder of
OpenWeb Asia Gang Lu, co-founder and CEO of Buzzcity Lai Kok Fung and Wong
Hoong Ann, founder of HungryGoWhere.com. Despite it going off in a tangent due to
some of the questions posed by a generally excellent moderator in Benjamin Joffe of +8*,
the session went well and provided some insight into some the panelists’ experiences in the
web, tech and mobile spaces.

The biggest letdown of the entire UnConference, in my opinion, took place during the
session after the panel discussion, presented by the Media Development Authority of
Singapore.

First, it didn’t help that many in the audience had seen that chest-beating presentation - the
role and supposed successes of the agency’s Interactive Digital Media (IDM) Research &
Development (R&D) Programme Office’s in helping to fund and guide Singapore-based
startups - many times before in previous events. So perhaps it wasn’t surprising that
members of the audience started leaving just five minutes into the session (it is an
UnConference after all, and people have the right to). The speaker, a relatively junior MDA
executive, knew she was losing the crowd, and began to fumble.

If she had managed to get any attention from the crowd, it was of the wrong kind.

[ Picture removed by request.]

Yes, the crowd was distracted by her legs that were just covered by a very short skirt. Not
just pulses and heartbeats; even Twitter was aflutter. What would you have expected from
a mainly-male geek audience in the consumer tech and web space? The lady seated next
to me remarked that the speaker would have done better if she had “dressed a little more
appropriately”. I trust my fellow delegate’s judgment - she was there at the UnConference to
seek funding for her online fashion content publishing startup.

Long legs aside, the key gripe would have been the fact that MDA seemed wholly incapable

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of defending its own programmes. It was obvious that she was clearly outmatched and
overwhelmed by a knowledgeable audience. At one point, co-founder and CEO of Buzzcity
Lai Kok Fung stood up and challenged her about their role as a facilitator in connecting
Singapore startups to larger, established companies such as Singtel as she claimed in her
presentation. He argued, some will say rightly, that if a startup had a great product, Singtel
would listen whether or not MDA was in the picture to facilitate any exchange. After some
half-hearted defence by the MDA representative, Lai finally relented and remarked “I
apologize for doing this to you, I should be taking this up with (MDA deputy CEO) Michael
Yap instead”. I couldn’t but help notice some members of another government agency
present (seated in the same row as me) rolling their eyeballs.

UnConference 2009 is a once-a-year event when many of the best startups from Singapore
and the region gather to share knowledge. It is also attended by those who finance startups
- business angels, private equity fund managers, venture capitalists and the like - that the
startup scene is eager to pursue, as well as educators, regulators, technology and web
professionals and yes, aspiring entrepreneurs. In what must be considered a poorly-
delivered presentation by a junior executive who isn’t empowered to answer and defend the
agency’s role in the scheme of things, could MDA have erred by badly underestimating the
nature and importance of UnConference, and the quality of its delegates, in the Singapore
startup scene?

Another question that begs asking: Is the agency fast enough to adapt and keep pace with
the extremely fluid startup scene in Singapore? It has been almost three years since the
IDM R&D Programme Office was set up in October 2006. Despite the many tweaks to its
programmes over the past three years, some industry observers have privately commented
that it may be losing its plot. Take for example, iJAM is a joke - I can’t put it any better than
this poster.

There is already talk that some local startups, attracted by better terms and cheaper costs,
are strongly considering moving their operations to Malaysia. MDA’s IDM R&D Programme
Office needs to seriously relook into its programmes, otherwise we may soon start to see a
deluge of startups (and we don’t have many of these to start with in the first place) leaving
our shores. Bear no misconceptions about this - members of Malaysia’s MDEC were
present at the UnConference actively courting the startups.

UnConference 2009 presented a perfect opportunity for MDA IDM R&D Programme
Office to stand up and be a thought leader in the local startup community. It didn’t. All the

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more’s the pity.

[Share this post]

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2009
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Tagged as: E27, MDA, Singapore, startup, Unconference 2009

48 Comments
1. Yuhui
May 18, 2009 • 1:47 pm

From the way this article is written, I get the feeling that MDA reeks of a “heck care”
attitude towards the ground, i.e. the poor preparation of the presenter, its seeming
lack of consideration for unConference, etc. Of course, my viewpoint is based on
2nd-hand reports like this one, since I wasn’t at unConference myself.

(Note: I’m not blaming the presenter herself for the lacklustre performance, since I’ve
a feeling that she’s capable of doing much better.)

2. Daniel
May 18, 2009 • 3:42 pm

Hi Yuhui,

Thank you for your comments.

In fact, your observation is a correct one. It’s not about the presenter, she did what
she could given the circumstances. Of course, the audience could’ve done better and

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given her the benefit of the doubt, but that’s another story.

It’s just that MDA’s IDM R&D PO seems to be merely going through the motions. In
my opinion, they misjudged the potential of Unconference 2009 and could have used
this platform to truly articulate their role and cement their place within the startup
community.

3. J
May 18, 2009 • 3:56 pm

thanks for the great overview of unconference. it was a pity i wasn’t there to
experience it or “check out” the skirt/s.

it seems that the overall vibe and presence is getting larger which is a good thing
since it is A platform where entrepreneurs can mingle, meet, and perhaps do
something together in the future. sounds like it will get better as years go by.

regarding mda - i tend to agree with you regarding their approach to things, perhaps
not very well prepped for such publicity activities, probably time to issue a “note best
memo” around the IDM office.

4. Bill Claxton
May 18, 2009 • 4:15 pm

I was there, and was one of those who left after 5 minutes. Not that I didn’t want to
give this presenter a chance, and I did anticipate some tough Q&A, but I had seen the
presentation before with none other than Michael Yap delivering it.

You can view approximately the same presentation on Slideshare

(http://www.slideshare.net/shahib/shaping-the-future-of-media-interactive-media-
games). Slide #16 is the one that got Lai Kok Fung animated.

I think there are problems in the original presentation that have to do with Michael
Yap’s “reality distortion field” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_distortion_field).
Mike is charismatic and extremely likeable, some say visionary. But he projects things
in a way that doesn’t invite questions, and it’s often hard to get a word in edgewise.
This slide presentation is his typical shock and awe approach, heavy on infographics
and light on real insights about the emerging ecosystem of digital media. How will
MDA bridge the IT and media production worlds, for example?

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At Unconference, I was sitting with Nick Palevsky an angel investor, filmmaker and
critic (http://www.theauteurs.com/notebook/posts?author_id=34) who is usually in
Bangkok, USA or Europe. He is brimming with insights, so naturally I wanted to take
the time to catch up with him.

Unfortunately, I missed the fireworks during Q&A. But I heard from others that the
young lady fielded her questions quite well. Upskirt shots aside, I felt a bit bad that
she got the feedback that should have been reserved for Michael. I suppose most of
the MDA crew is at Cannes pitching SG films this weekend (http://www.festival-
cannes.com). Go team!

Low point of the Unconference for me was the fact that keynote Scott Rafer couldn’t
“get it up” or get some Mac-helper to show him how to get his slides to appear. Where
is Peter Du when you need him?

High points for me were the pitching sessions by eJamming

(http://www.ejamming.com), HNL (http://www.humannetworklabs.com) and OrSiSo
(http://www.orsiso.com).

5. Daniel
May 18, 2009 • 4:27 pm

Hi Bill,

Thank you very much for the links, it is very useful.

Actually it was Slide 17 in that document that got Lai Kok Fung’s goat.

I believe it would have been a lot more interesting if MDA had shared case studies on
how they managed to help startups achieve their goals - Buuuk as No. 1 local iPhone
app etc. Those slides may be good to present to their management, but rather
unsuited for Unconference’s audience.

And I agree with you - HNL, OrSiSo and eJamming have excellent potential and I’m
most keen to track their progress!

6. Sean Seah
May 18, 2009 • 5:06 pm

Sorry to say this, but I seriously think that their pitches should be much much better

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given the fine technologies some of them have.

ITwin gave the most convincing pitch IMHO. However, I think the pricing strategy for
their product can be improve.

I left to speak to the other startups right after the scott rafer’s talk ( abit disappointed
though for the projector problem ). Am glad i did that as the rest are just things that
has been repeated time and time again. Talk about the market in asia, how it is
changing, where are the money, the mobile is growing…blah blah blah. Duh….plenty
of that on the web to read ya?

I believe SG government has done alot to help local startups and perhaps doing too
much. Maybe the startups also needs to start thinking whether they have been
dependent on the government too much and learn to run a real business out of
taxpayer’s money?

7. Priscilla
May 18, 2009 • 6:37 pm

Hi Daniel,

Got here through Bjorn, thanks for the observations.

I find it strange that the photos floating around are all coming from THAT angle and is
actually quite surprised and disappointed that there weren’t more feedback on the
programme itself.

And I wouldn’t say the event is a loss cause, because I think I’m much more
approachable when it comes to engaging the individuals/startups. That was the main
motive and I felt that the event has been fairly helpful.

These are my personal opinions, there are some points you made about MDA which
are inaccurate. But I’m gonna have to refrain from speaking for MDA.

8. Wong Meng Weng

May 18, 2009 • 9:15 pm

Michael Yap was not there, and we can’t blame Priscilla for not giving his talk as well
as he would; furthermore, when fielding policy questions, a junior executive has
message constraints that a senior executive does not, and beating her up for

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decisions that she did not make is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Also, people can wear what they want. If she had showed up in something very
formal, people would gripe “how come MDA comes to an unconference dressed as
though it is a conference? Inappropriate.” Can’t win. And so what if she has nice legs?
Third-wave feminism sensibly points out that you shouldn’t scorn women for being
homely and you shouldn’t scorn women for being attractive. There’s altogether too
much free-floating criticism out there doing harm to the body image of sensitive young
women.

That camera angle, btw, is what you should expect for any subject, male or female,
young or old: any experienced photojournalist knows that there are only three camera
positions that can connect a speaker with the material onscreen, and the one that you
keep seeing is the only logical choice given the setup.

9. Daniel
May 18, 2009 • 10:59 pm

@Priscilla: I appreciate your discretion and perfectly understand that you cannot
comment on behalf of MDA. I’ve hoped that this post would’ve sparked more
comments about MDA IDM R&D PO’s programmes as well. This post is less a
condemnation of its programmes than a genuine call for MDA to drive its leadership
within the local startup community.

@WMW: I hardly scorn women for their good looks, after all, I married one. There
was, however, feedback from the women in the audience regarding her choice of
dressing. Maybe they were just jealous. In any case, it would have been ideal for a
more senior member of the agency who would be able to field some of the questions
that poor Priscilla had to field.

10. Wong Meng Weng

May 19, 2009 • 12:22 am

I like the hacker/geek/entrepreneurship subculture because it tends to reject the usual

small-minded, backbiting meanness that one sees in the mainstream. I pity the
delegate who was sitting next to you, whoever she was; it is easy to say things from
the safety of the audience, and I have to sympathize with Priscilla: it is hard enough to
stand up on stage in a male-dominated industry without taking friendly fire from your

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own team about, of all things, what you’re wearing.

It is particularly ironic that your colleague was starting an online fashion content
publishing company. Perhaps it’s not too late to start an online fashion criticism
community instead?

Are we interested in what people are wearing or what people are inventing? Are we
trying for Silicon Valley or Hollywood? One of the other presenters wore a baseball
hat for his pitch. Would he have done better if he had worn a suit? Let’s ask Andy
Bechtolsheim if he remembers what Larry Page and Sergei Brin were wearing when
they pitched him.

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and
those who matter don’t mind.” I personally was delighted that Lai Kok Fung didn’t
censor himself one bit.

Yes, maybe MDA could have come in with a different angle, or skipped that
presentation altogether, and given some other, more updated presentation that the
audience hadn’t seen before, but they paid, so they spoke, and it was Michael Yap’s
deck, but he wasn’t there, and Priscilla was, so she gave it, and if you’re not getting
anything out of the session, do what Bill did and follow the law of two feet and go out
in the hallway and find someone else to talk to.

In addition to co-sponsoring the entire event and possibly seed-funding some of the
startups there, what else do you want MDA to do? I do think that if MDA gets some
serious constructive criticism they will listen to it. I’m sure Priscilla will pass on the
comments from the audience to her boss, and eventually something will come of it. At
least, I hope so.

To address the two substantive points in your post, I agree the iJam website looks
abandoned. Whoever runs it should fix it ASAP – it’s the broken window theory.

And on the Malaysia note, I was pleasantly surprised to see the MDeC people at the
unconference. I cannot recall seeing any representatives from MDA/IDA at any of the
similar events I have attended in Malaysia. But maybe the two countries have an
understanding that I am not privy to.

The funding schemes available in Malaysia are similar to Singapore’s, with the added
benefit of being nondilutive. (SITF is unusual among iJam incubators in that it does

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not take equity but awards the grant without dilution.)

And there are more hackers in Malaysia than Singapore, partly due to sheer
population size and partly to a superior – by that I mean less structured and less
conformist – educational system.

But then, Cyberjaya hasn’t turned into Silicon Valley either.

11. Daniel
May 19, 2009 • 12:54 am

Hi Meng,

Thanks for this - you bring up many points I was hoping my blog post would spark.

What do I want MDA to do? Perhaps I’m aiming a bit high, but I’d love to see a
version of Founder Institute in Singapore (http://www.youngupstarts.com/2009/05
/02/thefundedcom-launches-new-breed-incubator-founder-institute/).

Not sure where you got the inference that the lady seated next to me was a colleague
- she wasn’t. In any case, she’s from the world of fashion and not of the geek/hacker
subculture. From my extremely limited understanding of that world (mainly from
Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model), things can get very catty indeed.

12. Wong Meng Weng

May 19, 2009 • 1:13 am

Yeah, I completely agree we need an incubator that’s not just cheap real estate; we
need incubators with mentoring, etc, as described in the panelists’ session.

For several months now I’ve been trying to find a way to do a YC-style incubator in
SG, and if the stars align, I could see it happening. For the last few weeks I have
been working to help bring iqube.se to Singapore but funding remains a problem.
Anybody have $3M handy?

Otherwise, folks are welcome to join http://groups.google.com/group/mengcubator

/about

13. J
May 19, 2009 • 3:33 am

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I personally like SITF’s angle of not taking equity.

14. AaronChua
May 19, 2009 • 8:07 am

Hi Daniel

This is Aaron from IDMPO, Pris’s colleague. Thanks for bothering to write about how
you feel about MDA. We are definitely open to listening. After all, listening beats
talking.

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque/2008/04/listening_beats_talking.html

Just want to clarify a bit about i.JAM. I fully agreed that i.JAM, the website, is a failure
and we are now revising it to be more like CrunchBase, rather than a Digg for ideas
because we are not good at building communities. However, i.JAM, the entire
programme for startups, has been well received. On average, we got about 120-150
applications per quarter. In terms of funded projects, some of the companies like Time
Voyager, Fresbo, Tyler Projects etc have also been doing well. Of course, there will
also be a lot of failures but that is what we are expecting anyway.

On your idea of a Founder Institute, I wonder if you are aware that we have appointed
10 incubators to help us with the adminisration of the i.JAM grant as well as to provide
mentorship to the startups.

http://www.idm.sg/partners/incubators/

SiTF is one of our appointed incubators.

The reason we used incubators, rather than administering the grant ourselves, is to
build up the incubation capacity for the country so that even when the IDMPO is gone,
some of the incubators will continue because they have found a sustainable model.
We intentionally funded different types of incubators because we are not sure what is
the right model and the best way to learn is to experiment.

Anyway, I think this comment is already too long. Always glad to have conversations
with people who cared about the startup community. If you want to chat, my blog is
always open and there is a small community building there as well.

Cheers

15.
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Daniel
May 19, 2009 • 9:01 am

Hi Aaron,

Thanks for your comments.

I’m aware of IDMPO’s efforts in driving the sector since 2007 when it was first
announced (http://www.youngupstarts.com/2007/01/10/media-development-authority-
announces-rd-initiatives-to-spur-growth-of-interactive-digital-media-sector/), as well as
the appointment of 10 incubators to administer your grants
(http://www.youngupstarts.com/2008/10/30/idmpo-makes-it-ten-with-sitf/).

I understand the reasons behind using incubators, but I do urge you to check out
Founder Institute (www.founderinstitute.com) as it operates very differently from our
incubators.

I agree that building a community is extremely difficult, and an even tougher for a
small and specialized niche like web and technology entrepreneurs. As for the iJAM
website, I’m sure there are works in the pipeline to overhaul or replace it.

Also, thanks for appreciating that we’re all in this to drive the startup community.

16. AaronChua
May 19, 2009 • 9:59 am

Hi Daniel

Thanks for responding. How about a coffee session to talk more about this Founder
Institute concept and see if we can make this a reality?

You got me email.

17. Sean Seah

May 19, 2009 • 10:42 am

I believe besides SITF, there are other incubators who does not dilute the startup as
well. I applause for SITF for taking a clear stand on their purpose of facilitating the
grant.

Honestly speaking, the point is not whether there is long term benefit to the

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incubatees when the incubator take stake in the company. If there is a incubator who
can open doors to me from day one, I dun mind giving stakes. In fact, if needed to be,
i will ask him to take, right?

@Aaron, IMHO, whether it is DIGG style or CrunchBase style, i felt it boils down to
“Why do I spend my time there?”

@meng, I am in for your “Mengcubator” group. Wait to see its growth. Sorry, no 3 mil
on hand, but can give other form of supports if you need.

18. J
May 19, 2009 • 4:45 pm

@mengwong iqube looks interesting with the right premise and an interesting list of
portfolios, although its hard to figure out whether they have notable successes but the
list is indeed encouraging and great for the nordic region. why is there a need for
$3m? maybe we can explore more about this if you are keen.

@aaron like i told you a while ago, mda’s premise is the right one to take, the idm
program is initiated in the right spirit and has created an impact, a good one if i may
say so. the issue lies not with mda, nor the amount of money, it is the range of
mentors and their breadth and depth. it is a relatively simple fix to get ijam portfolios
back up from the ground and running and making sure the tax payer’s money is well
spent and entrepreneurial passions are well directed. i have seen great passion and
talent in singapore and am entirely encouraged by the dedication of our folks. i know
for a fact we can achieve something.

19. aileen sim

May 19, 2009 • 11:27 pm

Hi Daniel,

This is Aileen from First Meta.

Disclaimer: We are an IDMPO supported company and Priscilla happens to be a very

good long-time friend of mine.

I unfortunately wasn’t able to attend her session so I shall refrain from commenting on
her presentation or material.

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Generally, I play nice and try not to be critical on blogs but I honestly think this post in
itself “misses the mark”.

Firstly, ENOUGH WITH THE SKIRT ALREADY!

She’s from MEDIA Development Authority and it UNconference for god’s sake! If guys
are allowed to wear torn jeans and slippers, how can you fault Pris for wearing a short
skirt, and even more ludicrous, for having gorgeous to-die-for legs? I think you noted
too that scorn came from other women. It wasn’t as if she was dressed like a hoe.
Quite the contrary, I happen to think that Pris looked great - stylish and chic (judge my
fashion sense if you like) and not at all inappropriate. If we want all our women to
wear power suits or look boring maybe we should call the next one Reconference or
something.

Unconference was a great event. (Kudos to the e27 team!) There was a lotta good
content - excellent, excellent keynote by Scott Rafer, exciting presentations and
demos by the start-ups. But, despite your supposed acknowledgment of the
importance of Unconference, somehow all of that deserved only 3 short paragraphs.
Instead, you decided to devote 1/4 the post to legs and “inappropriate dressing”,
another 1/2 AND the title to whiny ramblings on how the agency failed with no
constructive comments or suggestions whatsoever.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t ever criticize government programs (heck, i’m all for
challenging decisions and authority), nor am I making a judgment on the
success/failure of the program. Neither am I saying that one should have all the
answers before commenting. It’s just that there are naysayers out there who are
openly critical yet contribute nothing themselves, and I really can’t see how such
negativity would be good for anyone.

Next time anyone wishes to criticize, I hope they can ask themselves “what am I
doing/what can I do for the industry?” Or at the very least, consider the impact of your
criticisms - is it gonna get people to focus on the REAL, important issues (not
mini-skirts!)

Lastly, I hope you can do the industry a favor and give the real people and content at
Unconference the attention and coverage it deserves, so people who weren’t able to
attend can benefit from the event too.

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Aileen

20. Mobile industry observer

May 19, 2009 • 11:30 pm

@Bill - thanks for sharing the slides. I am one of those who walked out an missed the
controversial presentation…

MDA got help mobile startup go-to-market with SingTel meh??

A quick look at SingTel’s site - http://www.ideas.singtel.com/appmanager/ideas

/web?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=web_genre_access

Looks like the only stuff that is launched and promoted by SingTel that is developed
locally, PhoneSafe/PhoneBackup (TenCube) and Locator (V3 Teletech) - both have no
affliations with MDA. (most other VAS are developed in house by SingTel, or by global
provider such as Acision, or with local big partner such as SBS - love IRIS!!)

What exactly has MDA done to bring mobile companies to market with SingTel?
(Not that getting lauched with Singtel means success to begin with, far from it)

Dr. Lai is right - the good stuff will get places anyways, whether they are MDA
supported or not. In fact, it seems MDA’s artificial (and seemingly abitrary) funding
hasn’t made a dent so far - they can’t be better than free market in picking the
winners, their getting involved might actually biased the equation to favour funded
players and destroy the free market efficiency. Seems like capitalism 101 here…

Slide 9 says 100M funding committed in 09 - can we find out exactly where this
money is spent? (Anyone from MDA?) That’s a serious amount of money, i’m from a
rather large player and we dont have anywhere near that kind of budget to push
things. If we had that kind of money, 100M will be enough for us to rewire the whole
mobile industry in singapore. The slide kind of wears it like a badge proudly about
spending that kind of money - it’s really odd to me, shouldn’t we be proud of $ created
instead of $ spent? How much revenue has the 100M generated??

Sorry have to remain anonymous due to my employment with one of the big brand
mobile platforms, but my heart is very much with startups.

Anyways, MDA isnt the most interesting subject, unot sure why all the discussion is

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focused on that, must be the legs. Unconference was Excellent - lots of exciting stuff,
way to go!

I was also rather shocked at the rather strong malaysian presence.. Paul Graham
wrote about paying startup to move - this is what should have been done with the
huge MDA budget: buy up a piece of SV/beijing/bangalore/isreal, seems like the
malaysians are doing it first - and to us no less, they are shopping at the
neighbourhood store!

http://www.paulgraham.com/revolution.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/maybe.html

2 cents.

21. Daniel
May 20, 2009 • 7:01 am

Hi Eileen,

Coverage on the startups present at the UnConference are coming in a later post - I
didn’t want to mix the two. In any case, I’ve previously written about some of them
e.g. Countspin, OrSiSo, including those who were present but didn’t pitch, such
Foldees.com and Elevyn.com.

And as for your comment:

“Next time anyone wishes to criticize, I hope they can ask themselves “what am I
doing/what can I do for the industry?” Or at the very least, consider the impact of your
criticisms - is it gonna get people to focus on the REAL, important issues (not
mini-skirts!)”

I agree that criticisms should get people to focus on the right issues. If you have read
the comments that have followed the blog post since, you would have realized not
much of it was about legs. The conversations about funding schemes that followed?
THAT was my intention.

I apologize if I offended any female sensibilities, but I do not apologize for throwing up
what I believe could be soul-searching questions for our local startup funding
schemes.

22.

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D
May 20, 2009 • 10:44 am

@Mobile Industry Observer - (hey that’s MIO, u work for singtel!?) thanks for
mentioning us - erm we happen to be applying for IDM grant so we can take the
business to the next level, i think we really would put it to good use. We have sent in
proposal for a new product and are still tweaking our plans based on IDMPO
feedback.

Not that i think the most efficient way of developing a startup nation is to pick
company to give money to - while i agree that that’s probably not the best use of
taxpayer money, it’s really much much better than nothing. We been in our start-up
mode for almost 4 years now - and we are seeing more startups then ever - and some
early successes! There will always be debate abt what is the best way, but at least
they are doing something.

(absolutely agree with the “can’t pick winners” - i posted a similar comment here -
http://www.motochan.com/2009/05/15/sg-uncoordinated-initiatives-
for-entrepreneurs/
i say - 1. build super fast and free wireless network, 2. incentivize telcos to charge 5%
for billing, 3. subsidize smartphones. Dun need to fund any company, they will happen
by themselves, just look at Japan and Korea)

@Pris - i think ppl are just generally drooling over you lar.. celebrity always generate
gossip one lar.. dun mind so much, who ask u got legs up to ur neck.. hehe.

@Daniel - haha smart choice of post title, look at the controversy (and traffic) it has
generated!

23. Davis
May 20, 2009 • 10:24 pm

Daniel,
I don’t think you even need apology to the leg reference.
What you trying to bring across is that there should be proper wear when one is
presenter and all eyes are on him, and that at least of professionalism in presenter’s
attire because there may be conservative MDA , government, serious investors
around watching she present. If she doesn’t want to attract unneeded attention over

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her leg then simply stop revealing her SEXY leg or whatever fresh, booies she want to
reveal. She can go to whatever party and even be naked for everyone care, but when
in this occasion, she should not wear something revealing to attract attention.

Stop mocking Daniel and all the males to say that they shouldn’t be distracted by
appearance but content matter. There’s must a reason why male get excited over
flesh and that is why she wear sexy as attraction, as who in the right frame of mind
will wear this way under cold-air con. She show her leg as a distraction and could
have prevented it if she wear proper. Why Daniel and others never focus on other
females’ leg but only hers. Something must be telling. Just wear proper as though
having formal meeting with boss, it is not as though one ask her to wear eskimo’s
clothing.

If her appearance doesn’t matter but her content do, why not even wear bikini then
after all she is not that conservative and is very open-minded, and want to show off
her “asset” and slim figure.

If she want to be taken seriously , wear to the occasion and avoid been the target of
indecent wear unless she want to bring attention and negative remark.

For information, if she wear this way to meet potential investors in China , please
don’t cry wolf ….

If she can’t even wear something right for the occasion and for her role, maybe she
shouldn’t present.

24. Shuqin
May 21, 2009 • 10:26 am

Davis,

Were you there in the first place? I was among the audience (front few rows) and I
would think at all angle, her legs cannot be seen because she was behind the
podium.

The audience chose to focus on their so-call distraction. Why chose? Because it is
impossible to be distracted unless you go online and check out the images floating
around twitter, very much alike perverts taking cheap upskirt shots of unknowing
victims. With those camera angles, it doesn’t take much to know that a proper length

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skirt will appear short too.

Similarly, this post chose to focus on a problem that wasn’t even present at the
presentation itself. Daniel, getting website hits or wanting to “generate discussions” at
Priscilla’s expense is despicable.

“underestimating the nature and importance of UnConference, and the quality of its
delegates, in the Singapore startup scene”

Quality of participants is definitely not consistent. As shown by this post and a

percentage of participants so intrigued by a flash of legs.

Surf around and you will see posts that are positive about the presentation and MDA’s
efforts. I guess those writers have more integrity than attempting cheap tactics to gain
publicity.

25. Daniel
May 21, 2009 • 11:14 am

Hi Shuqin,

You can accuse me of generating hits or traffic at Priscilla’s expense and lacking
integrity. That is your discretion.

However, anyone who knows me, or who actually follow my blog, knows otherwise. I
do not have to defend myself to you, or anyone else for that matter.

26. albert
May 21, 2009 • 3:47 pm

i don’t understand the point that you’re trying to make, if any at all. In the first place,
what was the mark they missed? Idmpo was set up to encourage r&d and to
encourage startups. It was never meant to give individuals, startups, companies big or
small, money for free. O come’on, look at their grants. I must comment that the
process easy to applicants, exactly the pt to help startups! I don’t see spring being
slammed for that tough process companies have to go through to get a meagre sum
of money.
Any startup which is wholly dependent on government for survival is fundamentally
flawed. So why the sentiment that not much is done? If these efforts aren’t deemed

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enough, then what is? Any effort on their part, no matter how small is still a attempt.
We won’t know until we reach the end if it indeed had been helpful.
The fact that dr lai kept blasting questions on her, which he himself said were meant
for the boss, didn’t go down well with me either. Was that not too mean to a clearly
innocent soul?
Has anyone given feedback to the office? I think those who hasn’t, but took the
opportunity to condemn the officers who tried their best, shame on you.

27. Eric Teo

May 21, 2009 • 4:01 pm

Hi all

I must say that the article is an interesting read. UnConference is certainly going from
strength to strength…

I feel that this “skirt” incident and Pris’s presentation has been blown out of proportion
and I do hope that this will not take away the fact that MDA / IDMPO has been very
supportive of our local startup scene.

My company is one of the startups funded by MDA and MDA has greatly helped my
company by providing ideas, networking opportunities and giving us a platform to
excel. There is tremendous support network at MDA and i felt that they have been in
general excellent facilitators of our startup community. In fact, we have met our
current investors via the i.Match programme.

28. Daniel
May 21, 2009 • 4:19 pm

@albert: Since some readers have a tendency towards selective reading and
interpretation, let me spell it out. I am challenging MDA to rethink some of its existing
schemes.

I’m not sure but where was it that I wrote MDA should give startups more “free”
money? No, in fact I’ve previously argued that startups here require support in areas
other than financing (http://www.youngupstarts.com/2009/03/09/singapore-needs-
a-support-ecosystem-for-its-startups/). Areas they could look at:

1. Fix the i.JAM website. As in one of the comments, MDA already admitted it’s “a

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failure”.
2. Seeing how to improve the mentorship program - we need better mentors to guide
our startups for better chance of survival.
3. Keeping our startups within our shores.

@Eric Teo: I am very glad that the MDA scheme has helped your company. In fact, do
share with us your experience as I am sure many aspiring startups seeking advice
from MDA would like to know.

29. Daniel
May 21, 2009 • 4:42 pm

I’m removing the picture by request.

30. Nedved
May 21, 2009 • 5:42 pm

Well, this article would be more interesting if the picture was not removed. (why
removed ). Ok, back to the point, Daniel, agree, I do think the website should be fixed.
However, for your views on IJAM, I have different opinions.

1) you are talking about the mentorship program. For my project, mentor provides
great assistances. I believe MDA has certain standards selecting qualified mentors.
My mentor has business degree from Harward and has years of experience in
providing seed fund to start up companies in US. He did give us a lot of good
suggestions all along the way.

2) Though we are currently also facing survival problem in our marketing phase, i will
not throw all this to MDA. After all, they are not baby-sitter. MDA provides us the start
up fund and also arrange three times of meet up session with some big companies,
like SPH etc. I appreciate that.

Well, my case may be different from yours, however, i would feel appreciated to the
guys who gives me the money, provide me a good tutor, and help me do networking.

31. Mobile industry observer

May 21, 2009 • 6:54 pm

Eh. Seriously. 100M go where? Anyone care to comment?

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I dont get it. Take 100M throw into singapore river will also make a splash….

32. Observer
May 21, 2009 • 10:41 pm

I currently hold a job at a bank and is thinking of starting my own business. I’m new in
the sector and I find the presentation by the young lady helpful to my needs. I’m also
looking into SPRING for similar grants but I am more impressed by MDA’s offerings.

just my 2 cents.

33. Davis
May 21, 2009 • 11:12 pm

yeah.. I think the leg issue is blown out of proportion just because people say
something about leg. The thing is it doesn’t matter whether her sexy “leggy” or booies
can be seen in certain angle , the whole point of what Daniel driving is that presenter
has to wear something appropiate for the occasion and especially as representative
of government body. That is the main point that Daniel driving although Daniel put
some humourous touch to it rather than express it directly, much to the offence of
some females. If this is UnParty2009, perhaps I might just join in ,haha.

Aside, I wonder too if MDA is doing target support (just like target search in Mas
Selamat’s case), that is to focus more attention and resource on particular potential
startup, hence some startups might receive more support than the rest. Needless to
say, this approach means that only a few startups will benefit from it. There is nothing
wrong with this approach as many private companies/VC use this approach too (eg
Intel) , and beside MDA and assigned mentors might just have their KPI to meet. So it
may be a matter of quality over quantity. Now the question is what MDA is driving to
achieve ? Invest in “some” baskets in hope of getting success story, or Invest in most
baskets to simulate innovation ecosystem hopefully to build a innovative culture. What
I see is that MDA try to do both despite having limited constraint and resource, and
endup compromising their “support and role”. It is very challenging for MDA to do
both, so to speak, perhaps it is better for MDA to focus to hedge on a few potential
technological startups (etc gothere.sg, comiqs etc) and market them well and giving
them support and using them as a base to build innovative ecosystems, and hopefully
more innovative startup will appear that attract investors. Another main important
thing is to build role model not of company and businessman but also of individual

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rockstar “technologist/developer/programmer” and recognise them publicly in

mainstream headline rather in “small newspaper” (but whether that will result in
complacency is another thing, …).

34. Steven
May 22, 2009 • 12:45 am

Hi Daniel,

After reading this discussion, i feel that your subject is unfair to MDA. Comparing the
subject and your content, it will be good if you can provide more relevent contents for
us readers.

My project is granted by them and i would say they provide good advice and follow up
on our projects. IDM which you highlighted seems to be going in a good direction.
Think again, what OTHER industries should Singapore go into to catch up with the
leading countries? Green, Gaming, Media, Gaming, High Tech, Health care? From my
point of view, looking at startups, most suitable choices are gaming and media.

Few good points to take note.

1) Slides - I have read through the slides and feels the direction of helping
Singaporeans to go into media is getting us in pace with the world. The world is
getting smaller due to media and it has proven to be a scalable business ie facebook
which generates alot of revenue.

2) Grants - MDA is one of the very few companies (til now the only one i found) that is
willing to provide generous grants (to be approved by strict panel). Capital is often a
major obstacle in business. In Singapore context, living standard is quite high and few
can afford to startup with no capital. By the time one has saved up sufficient capital, it
could be ages.

3) Creativity - Major obstacle. Government is trying hard to boost creativity in

Singapore mindset. Over the past years, we have been “workers” for good big
companies that government has helped alot to bring them in and created many jobs.
On the other side of this “worker”, Singaporeans’ general thought after studies is to
find a job instead of going into startup. MDA on this side of the picture is giving
Singaporean a good jump start and with good guidance which i appreciate alot by my
mentor from IDM. My mentor has provided me great insight and scalability.

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I will like to conclude that MDA is doing a great yet tough job in helping us to do
startup. To change our old mindset from just pushcarts/shops and to reach the mass
global market. To help us overcome monetary obstacle with good scheme. To provide
good guidance and foresight of our business with their exposure and knowledge. We
should give MDA credits for been one of the most supportive singapore bodies.

35. Renkei
May 22, 2009 • 1:09 am

My team is one of the beneficiaries from the MDA IDM’s programme. I read your post
this morning and honestly giving details and a photo on what a presenter is wearing
do not seem at all necessary or an important topic. Is this even related to the real
intention of this conference and I do urge all of us to think back, haven’t we all been
juniors when we first started working and it is from opportunities given to us where we
learn from mistakes and grow up?

Coming back to the MDA IDM’s programmes. To do some justice, my team have
really benefitted from the mentorship programme and honestly as a startup, who will
ever know what works and what don’t. However, it is through the MDA IDM R&D
programme where we are given the chance to express our ideas and given the
opportunities to begin our startup journey.

If ideas are good, without some form of facilitators, do you think you can simply just
knock on companies’ doors and just ask for a time slot to present your idea within a
short period of time? That is not how a corporate world works in real life. In fact, MDA
adds alot of value by helping companies select the potential and relevant projects to
be presented and this is time saving for these corporates.

There is never a sure way to success and from the efforts put in by MDA IDM office
where they have continously review their process and progress is already showing
their committment to the start up space in Singapore.

36. Daniel
May 22, 2009 • 6:33 am

@Nedved, Renkei, Steven and Eric Teo: I’m delighted that MDA-funded, Singapore
startups like yourselves are now beginning to speak up on their behalf on this matter.
If you believe strongly on this, do drop me an email and I’d love to interview you for

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my blog and we can also talk about how MDA funding has helped your company.

This is the same for other startups who have benefited from iJAM’s Microfunding
scheme.

37. Shaun Markus

May 22, 2009 • 8:25 pm

There seems to be a witch hunt againt MDA here - “biggest letdown of the entire
UnConference” is quite a harsh comment from a pretty influential blog.

First of all, kudos to Priscilla for managing her comments with a neutral and
professional reply.

Pertaining to the remark of ’missing the plot’ and of i.Jam being a joke, are we being a
tad impatient here?

There needs to be a healthy number of startups (of quality), in order for MDA to better
craft something appropriate for subsequent growths.

Its heartening to see few companies leapfrog this process, but its only prudent that
the institution starts ground up, to be inclusive and mindful of the entire vertical.
Would skipping this risk alienating aspiring Startups? On the other hand, if given that
scenario of the Valley now, would it really propel us to international standards or make
a mockery of our startups, and taint the rest of the community? As it is, finding sound
web companies here are getting tougher as technology is evolving at breakneck
speed.

Learning is not a product, it’s a process. There must be loads of planning, a starting
point, a learning curve, and tonnes of experimentation along the way, to finally the end
result – and no matter how successful, its usually not what we set out to achieve
initially. Its through this process, we find something that works for us and not yet
another copy of the Valley – its about finding our niche, and crafting something that
works for us here.

The Valley took decades before it reached today’s matured innovation culture that
subsequently naturally attracted investment money and the best minds. I would say
we need to give Singapore’s authorities and the environment here time,
understanding and support – to test and develop what will actually work for us here.

38.
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Daniel
May 22, 2009 • 9:34 pm

Hi Shaun,

Considering that the rest of the UnConference was a smashing success (other than
the long registration queues at the start and the technical problems with Scott Rafer’s
presentation), MDA’s presentation was the one that was left in the dust. But this is not
a witchhunt - I rather look at it as a way to identify areas that can be improved.

iJAM - the website, not its microfunding schemes - is a joke lah. Come on, even
Aaron admits it.

As for the rest - you’d be surprised, but I actually do agree with some of your points:

1. Kudos to Priscilla, she has reacted very well to this despite the potential
embarrassment this post may have caused her. She has contacted me, and with the
most professional manner, requested for the image to be taken down (which I have) -
because she didn’t want the conversation to be detracted from the true issues on
hand. She now has my utmost respect.

2. Entrepreneurship is a learning process. There are many paths to an end goal.

What I am doing here is not to put down the work that MDA has done, but to
challenge them to continuously access, and improve, their schemes to make sure that
they give our startups the best chance of success. Impatience? Perhaps. The
question is do we really have time to muck around?

Oh, thanks for calling this an influential blog. Nowhere near as yet, but am working
towards it.

Keep the conversations coming, guys. This is all excellent feedback that needs to be
heard.

39. Nicholas Chan

May 23, 2009 • 5:16 pm

Nicholas from Azione Capital here.

As one of the first 3 incubators approved under the MDA iJAM programme, I would
like to speak in my working capacity on how we have worked together with the MDA

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IDM Programme Office since its inception over the past 2+ years in reshaping the
various initiatives and seeing how the agency has tuned its “large company” focus
into one that (in my view) quite successfully addresses a number of chronic issues
faced by startups in Singapore, namely the easy access of a comfortable amount of
initial seed capital to actually get things started, market access via startup
consortium-type arrangements and constantly creating publicity opportunities for
startups.

In my personal experience, the iJAM programme is one of the first programmes (in my
14 years as an entrepreneur) that makes available to the general public a relatively
substantial amount of seed capital with a minimal amount of hassle to a budding
ground-zero entrepreneur to undertake a potentially high-risk, lose-all project; not
even in the dot-com days of the late 1990s was there a similar programme that
specifically provides such a facility to any company which is not already 2 years old
and have demonstrated a relatively stable monthly cashflow.

Additionally, via the iJAM programme, a startup can now choose from a diverse set of
mentors he/she feels would be best able to assist in their startup (be it academics or
experienced entrepreneurs) thus addressing an often neglected portion of
government assistance of expert advise on-tap.

Contrary to popular belief, just because the mentors are not famous or vocal does not
mean they are incapable of adding substantial value to startups; one cannot disregard
their achievements in their own respective fields of which some startups would benefit
greatly from, and not forgetting that each incubator has its own unique capabilities
(For example, Azione Capital co-invests anything from $9,000 - 40,000 into each
startup funded by the iJAM microfunding scheme, conducts regular market expansion
exercises around the South East Asia region every 2 months for any portfolio startup
that is ready, hands-on involvement and direct support to the startup from the
directors, senior associates, associates and advisers), with other incubators choosing
to focus on zero-equity arrangements or adopting a focus on specific sector focus.

Other follow-on programmes like the iMATCH programme came along shortly after
iJAM reached its limits (of early stage financing) and from my understanding, other
new programmes are soon to follow to address other gaps within the startup life cycle.

Without a doubt, every programme has its shortcomings and the various programmes

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under the IDM Programme office is no exception; MDA as a government agency has
demonstrated by its actions that it is willing to listen and to change to better address
the needs of startups by making incremental adjustments after obtaining feedback
from industry, incubators and the startups and evolving every few months. That in
itself is quite an achievement considering the fact that most other government
agencies works on “set in stone” annual plans. One cannot claim in the same breath
that the iJAM programme (and the other supporting programmes from the MDA
positioned for startups) has not provided a much needed boost in encouraging many
budding technopreneurs to come out of the woodwork without at the same time
rejecting the vast numbers of new startups that we have seen forming in the past 2
years, some with relative success too.

From my experience and the experience of various startups within my portfolio, MDA
has also did what it could in connecting the iJAM to the big boys, the ones that
typically wouldn’t even consider giving you the time of day if your revenue numbers
does not match theirs. It would be absurd to expect more (ie. Forcing the big boys into
deals), particularly as I certainly would not want my startups to grow to be soft and be
spoonfed with free money and, worse still, to become uselessly vocal and concerning
themselves with noisemaking rather than on value creation.

Just sharing my 2 cents as an incubator, I do hope this provides an alternate view

from “the other side”.

Nicholas Chan (in Kuala Lumpur)

Executive Director, Azione Capital Pte Ltd

40. J
May 26, 2009 • 2:22 am

@daniel as like you I would love to hear and read about the experiences of the iJam
companies since IDM’s iJam inception, do pursue that angle, would love to read it on
your blog at some point. In my view, yes the Valley takes a few generations to build
but I do believe Singaporean based talent and companies have the chops to compete
on a global level. If we think we as an ecosystem is new and needs years to catch up,
I am afraid we are not doing enough.

I am encouraged to see iJam companies coming here to defend their Mentors, but I
am sure there are others who are not so fond of theirs as well. MDA definitely has

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done a lot for the community and I share the view with Daniel, we are here to improve
the culture, system and hopefully processes to guide and direct the talent to shine at
the highest level and believe me some of you are ready. What is left is a little more
spark.

41. Jack Speare

May 28, 2009 • 11:47 am

Wow, the link font is WAY too bright.

Also, no youtube clips of the event? Check minus

42. Daniel
May 30, 2009 • 3:51 pm

Hi Jack Speare,

Thanks for the feedback, I’ve darkened the url links. You’re right, it was too bright
before.

As for videos, I don’t usually take videos at events - I can’t multitask enough between
taking notes, Twittering and taking pictures. But I’m sure if you Google around, you
should be able to find some.

Trackbacks
1. Harish Pillay 9v1hp: MDA losing it’s focus? | Techie News
2. The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Daily SG: 19 May 2009
3. unBrief Lessons from unConference 2009 | Armchair Theorist
4. After unConference Singapore 2009 : Singapore Entrepreneurs
5. The Singapore Daily » Blog Archive » Weekly Roundup: Week 21
6. The Startups That Rocked UnConference 2009 | Young Upstarts

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