Even winter has an exit. Learn about both from 500 Startups, Migme, and more at TIA SG 2016

During winter, startup founders go from shovelling shit to shovelling snow. But when will Spring, and the promise of a sweet exit be realized?

While talks on an impending tech bubble has been ongoing for the past few years, it peaked last year as venture capital soared to a record-high. When it comes to speculation on what 2016 has in store for us, we’ve just about heard everything.

On one hand, we have the sceptics who insist we’re in a tech bubble, and it’s a matter of when – not if, it’ll burst. On the other camp are people like venture capital Andreessen Horowitz who believes that we aren’t.

No one can say for sure what’s in store for the tech scene. But if you want to make smarter, educated guesses and learn how to armour up to survive the winter, here are three sessions at Tech in Asia Singapore 2016 that will help prepare you for what’s to come this year – the good and the bad.

No winter lasts forever

In 2016, every hire, every sales call, every piece of funding is going to become much more critical. Building a startup was always hard – but if tough times are coming, how are you going to survive the winter?

Don’t worry. We’ve assembled a panel of savvy, established founders and investors who will share some tried and tested tips on how to survive this rough patch:

Carmen Yuen of Vertex Ventures, Akiko Naka from popular networking Japanese site Wantedly, and Sid Talwar partner at venture capital firm Lightbox will share their nuggets of wisdom from their past experiences, their outlook on the year, and advice on how to tackle the impending winter.
Moderating the panel discussion is Grace Sai, co-founder and CEO of The Hub, a community and coworking space for entrepreneurs in Singapore.

SEA Funding in 2016: What Founders Need to Know

People speak about changes in the funding climate in US and China. How is this affecting Southeast Asia? The data for Southeast Asia maybe surprising to many! How should entrepreneurs, angel and seed investors react? Khailee presents some compelling data behind venture capital activity in the region and the latest changes in mood, as well as strategic options to take advantage of the evolving funding climate.

It’s been making headlines for launching a string of region-specific funds including 500 Durians for Southeast Asia, 500 TukTuks for Thailand, 500 Kimchi for Korea, 500 Luchadores for Mexico, 500 StartupWallah for India and the latest being a US$10 million fund for Vietnam.

What exactly do they see in 2016 that bolsters their confidence so? In this session, Khailee Ng, a favourite at our Tech in Asia conferences, will tell us.

It’s the exit, not the end

Exiting is the goal for many entrepreneurs, but it only represents one checkpoint on a long road. How does the business change afterwards? How does the job of a CEO change? Post-exit, what is waiting for you? Two entrepreneurs who have successfully taken their beloved companies through to exit will share their inside story.

Listen to how online cosmetics store Luxola was acquired by Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), and Migme listed publicly on ASX from their respective founders Alexis Horowitz-Burdick and Steven Goh. Interviewing and leading the discussion is Gwendolyn Regina Tan who is spearheading Mashable’s global expansion into Asia.

If an exit is on your mind, get a first hand account on the critical steps you will need to take, and the responsibilities to prepare yourself for.

Tech in Asia Singapore 2016 is happening in less than 2 weeks time, on April 12 and 13. In our flagship conference, we’ll be hosting over 80 incredible speakers – from Silicon Valley rockstars to pioneers and leaders in Asia’s tech scene. Want to stay ahead of your industry peers? Get your passes to join us today!

Catch up on the rest of our Main Stage speaker introductions for TIA SG 2016 here:

Adi Tatarko, CEO of Houzz
Patrick Grove, founder and CEO of Catcha Group
Takeshi Idezawa, CEO of Line Corporation
Danielle Levitas, SVP of research and analysis at App Annie
Caesar Sengupta, VP of product management, Google
Shashank ND, founder of Practo and Shailendra Singh, MD of Sequoia Capital India
Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook