Stay away from corporate know-it-alls, Migme’s Steven Goh warns startups

Steven Goh of Migme (far left)

It’s called the Panel Without Fear for a reason, and yesterday at Tech in Asia Singapore 2016, Migme CEO and co-founder Steven Goh especially gave Daredevil a run for his money when he went off on a good old-fashioned rant about know-it-alls in the startup ecosystem.

The panel consisted of Steven, Orami group CMO and co-founder Shannon Kalayanamitr, Braintree’s head of Asia Tyson Hackwood, and managing director and chief innovation officer for DBS bank, Neal Cross.

“Don’t listen to them”

Neal and Tyson were talking about their respective companies’ work with startups when moderator Leighton Cosseboom asked for Steven’s take.

The large volume of people who don’t know what they’re talking about get in the way of little people who can make it.

“Don’t deal with big companies,” Steven said. “The beautiful thing about the internet is it gives you access. The last little fella can come up with an idea and be as great as the big guys.”

Steven deplored the noise that young founders have to put up with in an industry where everyone, from VCs to “influencers” to mentors to media, have an opinion, informed or not. “The large volume of people who don’t know what they’re talking about get in the way of little people who can make it,” he said. “How many of those influencers have built a company themselves before? For God’s sake, don’t listen to them.”

Shannon chimed in, describing how, back when she was a co-founder of Moxy, the ecommerce company that fused with Indonesia’s Bilna and finally became Orami, was approached by large corporates early in its life cycle, when it started fundraising. Much shuffling of feet ensued, and the startup decided to pull out of all deals. “We’d still be dead in the water,” she said.

Neal, representative of the large corporates in this little stage drama, was nevertheless behind that sentiment, although he did make sure to stress that DBS’ accelerator programs don’t take equity in the startups that take part in them.

See: Migme bought Indonesian ecommerce startup for $710k in cash

“The biggest problem is everyone has an opinion,” he said. “You’ve got to qualify yourself quickly. We really try to educate the bank to respect the startups, be direct with them, and not just waste their time.”

Advice for young founders

Steven’s candid streak continued when the panel was asked for its insights for young founders. “Don’t listen to 90 percent of what you hear and don’t raise money from 90 percent of people you see here.” Migme’s co-founder suggested that founders’ first fundraise should be from their friends and family – nothing’s better to teach you about spending wisely than having to sit there at Christmas dinner and explain where your family’s money went.

Steven appeared dubious of all kinds of startup support programs that dominate the headlines these days (including our own headlines). “Have you seen a success story funded by any of those programs?” he asked. “[This trend] breeds the wrong kind of entrepreneur. Forget about all the noise and the rubbish.”

The rest of the panel’s replies to that question were equally specific. Neal said, “If nobody said no to you, just do it.”

Tyson’s suggestion for young founders was to use co-working spaces for networking and inspiration. “Without that, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” he said.

Shannon stressed the importance of picking your space and not listening to others when making decisions.

A few more insights that came out from the panel:

DBS will release more money for startup programs

Neal is fortunate to be able to set his own goals as DBS’ chief innovation officer. Hence his CEO’s response when Neal asked him what the bank’s strategy was regarding innovation and the bank’s relationship to startups: “I hired you.”

DBS has released around US$7.5 million for startup programs and plans to release more this year, Neal said. Additionally, it’s planning to open a lab in Singapore’s Sandcrawler building, where Lucasfilm’s regional headquarters is located.

Braintree’s battle is against cash

Tyson, who left Paypal to work on Braintree and returned when the latter was acquired by the former, said that Paypal recognized the best way to work with Braintree was to not get in the way.

“For any corporation getting involved with a startup: if you bought it for a reason, let it run for that reason,” he said. He added that Braintree benefited immensely from Paypal’s networks and relationships, which it introduced to the smaller company.

When it comes to winning the payments space in Asia, Tyson said he doesn’t think there needs to be one winner. “For me the greatest thing we’ve got to fight against is cash,” he said. “We’re in online payments, everything we do has to come through a payment system. In this region, it’s just a lot of cash payments. We should convert that in some kind of digital form, make it easier, and more secure. That’s how we win.”

Orami wants to be queen to Alibaba’s king

Asked for her take on the Alibaba – Lazada deal that rocked the Southeast Asian ecommerce space this week, Shannon was a big fan. “It’s great for the ecosystem,” she said. Those guys can be kings, she added, but Orami will be the queen, as its key audience is women.

With a team of 500 people, a presence in Thailand and Indonesia, and inroads into India and China through partners and investors like Gobi Partners, the company is on its way to bigger and better things.

See: What the Alibaba-Lazada deal means for Southeast Asia’s startups