Entrepreneurs Dialogue

The objective for this virtual forum is to facilitate discussions among entrepreneurs on Malaysian startup challenges and ideas, and to build a culture of sharing and community. 



Please use the startup lifecycle guide below to identify any challenges you've experienced within each stage or for any ideas to improve the current state. 

0

Corporate World....Lend me your ears!

Prathaban Raju 10 ár síðan 0
My biggest difficulty is getting access to people who are willing to listen and give you a chance to share your product or service in the "BIG Corporate World". Calls are not returned, SMSes and e-mails are not replied and getting a face to face appointment is next to impossible. In my industry is is unacceptable if a call is left unanswered or a person left waiting without a response as we are governed by a code of ethics.
1. Is this common culture when it comes to presenting your service to large corporations i.e staff >50?
2. How do i get my elevator pitch converted to a response (positive or negative...just give me a reply)?
3. Being heard by corporate agencies is tough enough, How do we get noticed by Government bodies and their agencies?
0

Most programmes and accelerators are suited only for software startups, with insufficient funding and limited facilities for hardware products.

Ray Teng 10 ár síðan updated by MaGIC Team 10 ár síðan 2
Hardware development requires labs being sourced, as most accelerators lack proper facilities and tools for hardware. Eng noted the impracticality of buying tools and equipment, due to the expense involved, sharing that sourcing for labs and buying equipment inflated costs for hardware startups, while facilities are also not easily accessible in Malaysia.
0

Foreign students can't stay back to work

IKargo Mgmt 10 ár síðan updated by Wong Wei Loon 10 ár síðan 7
After studying in Malaysia for 3-5 years, most foreign students are not able to stay back to work and contribute to the startup scene. We are losing good resources
0

Just curious, any result on the discussion?

Wong Wei Loon 10 ár síðan 0
After the meet up, any result or conclusion?
0

Forward enquiry: Apply for loan

MaGIC Central 9 ár síðan 0
Good day Sir / Madam,

I'm Punitha from Klang. I have heard about mymagic through one of my friend. The moment I came across your website,I have gained more knowledge about your amazing activities. According to my friend, there are some loan facilities available in your organization. I need more details about it. Could you please provide me more information on how to apply fro the loan, where, who can apply and what are the terms and conditions apply. Thank You for your time. Hope to hear soon from your side.

Thank You,
0

So, what's the action plan from the dialog?

Chen Shiang Khoo 10 ár síðan 0
Sorry can't attend the meeting, like to know what's the action plan from the dialog.
0

We need a #Failcon to document failures as well as successes

Warren Leow 10 ár síðan 0
Too often the ecosystem drinks its own Koolaid and forgets that we have as much if not more to learn from previous failures than the few successes. 

Knowing history allows higher chances of predicting the future.
0

Difficult to get loans from banks as Technology companies are perceived to be of higher risks.

TeAM 10 ár síðan updated by Prathaban Raju 10 ár síðan 1
0

Lack of Silicon Valley Opportunities and Programs

Dav Hoi 10 ár síðan 0
I think the country lack of these and it is very more important to have more of it.

To make Malaysia a 'truly' world class tech startup country, we need to sponsor and send more talented people over to the United States for the best entrepreneurship training and education.

A few great example of those who have benefited from such programs would be Robin Li of Baidu, Jack Ma of Alibaba, Masayoshi Son of Softbank plus many more.

Malaysia tech startup scene is too focus on developing the local and regional niche markets due to low competition and market proximity. However, the tradeoffs can be huge as well such as far less lucrative regional markets, low equity valuation and lack of uniqueness / superiority of the startup applications.

I believe to be truly world class, one needs to look forward and start from appropriate overseas market as well.

A perfect example would be Petronas Oil and gas businesses which contributes 33% of Malaysia's overall GDP. Malaysia is blessed with quite a lot of oil and gas reserves however compared to OPEC nations and other oil superpower nations, we are actually very small.

If Petronas only focus on developing local oil and gas fields and sell to local markets, Malaysia's economy would have literally collapsed long time ago and the GDP would have only increased with very little percentage year-on-year. 

Therefore, overseas development and markets are actually a lot more important than local ones in this respect and it cannot be overlooked in anyway.

However, many of our policy and decision makers in this country can be extremely myopic minded due to their outdated ideologies and traditional mindset. 

Something needs to be done immediately in order to right this wrong and hopefully somebody here can do something about it.