Your comments
Clustering tech companies together with university ain't going to create the next Silicon Valley. Forget about jump starting Cyberjaya as one. Australia's has Chatswood and IMHO, it is still far away from Silicon Valley. In Auckland, NZ... the city council tried to place all the tech companies nearby each other hoping to create the "knowledge wave". Not sure if there will be considered successful. Attracting giants like Google, Microsoft,etc to Malaysia should not be considered successful milestones if they only open up a "SALES and MARKETING" or "TECH SUPPORT FOR OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY" office. If R&D, tech transfer.. then yes.
Let's not look to far out to Silicon Valley or Singapore. From my perspective. Malaysia need to solve two problems. First being the HARDWARE part and followed by the SOFTWARE part.
In terms of INFRASTRUCTURE(the hardware), this part is easy. Malaysia already have a mini success in term of Damansara Uptown. Everything "Malaysia" is there to make the place attractive.
- halal/non-halal food is within walking distance. Thinking is the hardest thing to do and also consume a lot of calories. Need to surround brains and attract brains with good food. Uniquely Malaysia. Almost all kind of foods you can get there, Japanese, Mamak, Westerns, Koreans. You name it. You get it. Get bored of the food there then anything else is within driving distance.
- gym/massage(non-halal of course!) facilities to relax those muscles after hours of programming or get some endorphins into the blood streams.
- pubs for people get crazy and wind down. Perhaps struck a deal or two with potential founders and investors.Alcohol can make strangers lose their guard and become friendly. If no, then nearby hawker stalls or McDonald can facilitate as well.
- clinics and dentists are nearby as well. Almost all kind of banks are there. Both foreign and local.
- access to nearby shopping malls(1Utama, Tropicana, etc) to do quick grocery shopping.
- places of worship like mosque ... again.... just walking distance.
- access to highway and residential areas ... again...strategically placed.
For now, Cyberjaya's mitochondria should be Shaftsbury. It has the primordial ingredient similar to Damansara Uptown.. hope they won't screw up the place.
To solve the BRAIN(the software), oh boy, this is going to be hard.
- Increasing more university students in STEM intakes can help... but everyone knows that Malaysia's education system is rotten to the core and we are still using Prussian education system left over by the British. Perhaps a complete overhaul of the education system WITHOUT a nationalist as Education Minister will help. For this, it is beyond me.
- Government effort alone won't make it happen. You need both hands to clap(i.e involve more private sectors). The great private sectors are minding their own business. Killing it silently, creating jobs, paying taxes and making good profits. No need for hyped up stories in tech press or sucking up to tech press. Only the struggling private companies are making noise. Well, I guess the adage "empty vessels make the loudest noise" is true after all.
- Malaysia is still a land of WHO-YOU-KNOW and not WHAT-YOU-KNOW. Those doing real TECH start ups( special algorithms, unique IPs) as opposed to just normal start ups ( food delivery, selling underwear, clothes on subscription basis, loan agencies with a website aided by massive grant from tax payer money ) are mostly in the limbo class because they only have WHAT-YOU-KNOW. Please do differentiate TECH-startup from startup and assist more TECH-startup to take off.
- Most investors still prefer to invest in the "traditional" sectors such as oil, real estates, etc. For them investing in startups is risky and when they do invest in startups... their mindset is akin to a retail investor in stock market. They want their money back as fast as possible. These kind of investors are actually harming the goal of making a unique Malaysia "Silicon Valley".
- It seems that there are a growing number of parasites in the Malaysia's ecosystem. These parasites are draining money out of the system for themselves. Some masquerade as do-good.com non-profits organization but continue to leech crazy profits from government organizations that suppose to help entrepreneurs. Some have no shame at all and become VC wannabe with tax payers money. The recent announcement of $$$ allocation to MaGIC has spurned a great interest of these parasites. MaGIC is the fresh meat in town to leech.
In a nutshell, Malaysia do have competitive advantages. It is up to those trying to make a unique Malaysia's Silicon Valley or transplant Silicon Valley to Klang Valley..... to exploit the advantages, to steer toward the goal by making non-fatal mistakes along the way and hopefully...get there.
Let's not look to far out to Silicon Valley or Singapore. From my perspective. Malaysia need to solve two problems. First being the HARDWARE part and followed by the SOFTWARE part.
In terms of INFRASTRUCTURE(the hardware), this part is easy. Malaysia already have a mini success in term of Damansara Uptown. Everything "Malaysia" is there to make the place attractive.
- halal/non-halal food is within walking distance. Thinking is the hardest thing to do and also consume a lot of calories. Need to surround brains and attract brains with good food. Uniquely Malaysia. Almost all kind of foods you can get there, Japanese, Mamak, Westerns, Koreans. You name it. You get it. Get bored of the food there then anything else is within driving distance.
- gym/massage(non-halal of course!) facilities to relax those muscles after hours of programming or get some endorphins into the blood streams.
- pubs for people get crazy and wind down. Perhaps struck a deal or two with potential founders and investors.Alcohol can make strangers lose their guard and become friendly. If no, then nearby hawker stalls or McDonald can facilitate as well.
- clinics and dentists are nearby as well. Almost all kind of banks are there. Both foreign and local.
- access to nearby shopping malls(1Utama, Tropicana, etc) to do quick grocery shopping.
- places of worship like mosque ... again.... just walking distance.
- access to highway and residential areas ... again...strategically placed.
For now, Cyberjaya's mitochondria should be Shaftsbury. It has the primordial ingredient similar to Damansara Uptown.. hope they won't screw up the place.
To solve the BRAIN(the software), oh boy, this is going to be hard.
- Increasing more university students in STEM intakes can help... but everyone knows that Malaysia's education system is rotten to the core and we are still using Prussian education system left over by the British. Perhaps a complete overhaul of the education system WITHOUT a nationalist as Education Minister will help. For this, it is beyond me.
- Government effort alone won't make it happen. You need both hands to clap(i.e involve more private sectors). The great private sectors are minding their own business. Killing it silently, creating jobs, paying taxes and making good profits. No need for hyped up stories in tech press or sucking up to tech press. Only the struggling private companies are making noise. Well, I guess the adage "empty vessels make the loudest noise" is true after all.
- Malaysia is still a land of WHO-YOU-KNOW and not WHAT-YOU-KNOW. Those doing real TECH start ups( special algorithms, unique IPs) as opposed to just normal start ups ( food delivery, selling underwear, clothes on subscription basis, loan agencies with a website aided by massive grant from tax payer money ) are mostly in the limbo class because they only have WHAT-YOU-KNOW. Please do differentiate TECH-startup from startup and assist more TECH-startup to take off.
- Most investors still prefer to invest in the "traditional" sectors such as oil, real estates, etc. For them investing in startups is risky and when they do invest in startups... their mindset is akin to a retail investor in stock market. They want their money back as fast as possible. These kind of investors are actually harming the goal of making a unique Malaysia "Silicon Valley".
- It seems that there are a growing number of parasites in the Malaysia's ecosystem. These parasites are draining money out of the system for themselves. Some masquerade as do-good.com non-profits organization but continue to leech crazy profits from government organizations that suppose to help entrepreneurs. Some have no shame at all and become VC wannabe with tax payers money. The recent announcement of $$$ allocation to MaGIC has spurned a great interest of these parasites. MaGIC is the fresh meat in town to leech.
In a nutshell, Malaysia do have competitive advantages. It is up to those trying to make a unique Malaysia's Silicon Valley or transplant Silicon Valley to Klang Valley..... to exploit the advantages, to steer toward the goal by making non-fatal mistakes along the way and hopefully...get there.
Penang-based rich media mobile ad creator startup MobileAds (previously known as RichMobileAds) has received an undisclosed strategic investment from Seattle-headquartered HasOffers. MobileAds CEO and founder Alvin Koay couldn’t share the exact figure but did say it is a bridge round to its series A.
Read more: 8 startup funding rounds in Asia last week http://www.techinasia.com/8-startup-funding-rounds-asia-week-june-16-2014/
Read more: 8 startup funding rounds in Asia last week http://www.techinasia.com/8-startup-funding-rounds-asia-week-june-16-2014/
Customer support service by UserEcho
I've seen how a techie got screwed by the founders(financial types) after he created the initial website for them for free in KL. Techies need to be more street smart and don't end up getting short changed.