Corporates and startups: Can these two become BFFs?

This is part of a content series where Tech in Asia’s marketing team highlights corporate innovation initiatives and successful startup partnerships in the region. To learn more on how we support corporations, check us out here.

Photo credit: Pixabay

“Sometimes when I meet a startup, the kind of things that they share with me within the first 15 minutes amazes me,” says Nicholas Sagau, group general manager of Media Prima Labs, a unit under Malaysia’s Media Prima Digital – the digital arm of the media conglomerate.

Set up two years ago, Media Prima Labs functions as an incubator where Sagau and his team experiment and develop products that can be monetized on Media Prima group’s existing intellectual property (IP). The Labs team create solutions to help Media Prima Digital access the growing mobile space

“The aim was to just go out there, do partnerships and get lots of ideas from the startups,” Sagau recalls. “I would advise corporates to do the same – go out and experience for yourself the kind of ideas and innovation that startups have to offer.”

While corporates struggle to create disruptive technological breakthroughs due to business priorities and longer approval processes, they are established brands in their respective sectors and hold extensive market reach. On the other hand, startups are able to innovate rapidly with their ‘fail fast learn fast’ culture but lack the market access and customer networks. The pair may sound like a dream team, but the coming together of these two drastically different worlds brings a unique set of challenges.

How the partnership started

“If you were to mention Media Prima in Malaysia, I think most people would think of terrestrial TV channels. So I never thought that they would be looking outside their organization for solutions, much less from startups,” says Steve Chong, business developer at Supahands.

Supahands started in 2014 as a virtual assistant company. Now, they specialize in content moderation and data management for machine learning.

“Initially, we had a small pool of clients supporting our business, and we were making a good amount of revenue from it,” shares Chong. “But we were aware that in Southeast Asia, there are fewer wealthy people willing to spend money on virtual assistants compared to the United States. This means our market is pretty limited.”

As such, the startup began to explore working with businesses directly to relieve them of tedious and repetitive data management tasks. “If Supahands were to scale, it would make more sense for us to work with corporates instead of individuals,” explains Chong.

Media Prima Labs was a corporate initiative Supahands considered because the parent company Media Prima is a major player in the traditional media scene in Malaysia.

According to Chong, the collaboration with Media Prima Labs “didn’t pose much of a challenge” because “lots of young people” are part of its staff. “Everyone was pretty much tech-focused and using the same online tools,” adding that the incubator was also receptive to the technological solutions Supahands could offer.

Recruiting more young people was a conscious effort on Media Prima Lab’s end. Sagau points out that of their recent hires in the innovation team, 30 percent had startup experience.” He continues, “They help to bring in the startup culture and I can already see the fast and agile working style rubbing off some of the colleagues. We do hope that one day, the whole corporation can function like a startup.”

Finding the right startup was not easy

In the beginning, Media Prima Labs had explored working with about six to seven startups.

Differences in speed and processes

An open ecosystem

Playing to each other’s strengths