Where’s the Thai startup community at now?

By David Shelters. The original version of this post was published on ThaiStartup.net. Republished with permission.

When I made the decision to make Thailand my home five years ago there was no discernible startup community. While we had well-organized and well-attended Bar Camps and a few social events for geeks such as Beer Camp, there was no sense of community, which led to little community-inspired activity.

My experiences at these Bar Camps showed me that a large number of talented and creative Thai geeks and experienced expats are around in Thailand. For the most part, their engagement stopped unfortunately at the conclusion of the conferences.

At the second Bar Camp hosted at Sripatum University, I commenced my Finance for Geeks presentations during which I identified the Series A Funding Gap in Thailand. I explained that the gap existed because of the lack of angel investors and early-stage venture capital.

Angel investors are usually successful tech entrepreneurs, and there weren’t any in Thailand at that time. Also, the 1997 financial crisis eliminated risk tolerance among VC firms in the country. Today, foreign investors who want to enter the country are still detered by the risks.

But in the past year, great progress has been made. Here, I will highlight certain areas which are determinants of a strong start-up ecosystem:

1. Thailand has an expansive pool of tech talent

This has always been our ace-in-the-hole. Since 1997, Thailand has invested heavily in tech education and has been successful in producing a vast reservoir of tech talent. Unfortunately, such talent have few options after graduation other than working for large MNCs.

2. Experienced entrepreneurs are serving as mentors and role models

The existence of an experienced expat community has resided here for quite a long time. The difference is that it is now more organized and there are promising Thai startups to mentor. These startups are experiencing some success — winning competitions, securing investment funds and gaining recognition abroad. They in turn are also serving as inspirational role models and willing mentors to aspiring Thai entrepreneurs.

3. Both physical and online forums for cross-fertilization of ideas

Coworking spaces, Thumbsup and other online media and groups such as Startup Club and Tech Entrepreneurs are proliferating.

4. Corporate engagement

Mobile operators DTAC and AIS have led the way with the establishment of accelerator programs for mobile application developers. Startups like Builk, led by Khun Patai, is making a good impression in the construction industry, resulting in heightened corporate attention towards the startup community in general.