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INVESTMENT<br />
Start-ups<br />
KEVIN YEUNG<br />
Co-founder of Feeding Hong Kong<br />
“It is easy to be enamoured by the explosive returns that<br />
successful start-ups deliver. The press love the fact that<br />
Tencent is worth US$150bn and Pony Ma is the richest<br />
man in China. Investors need to understand that internet<br />
start-ups represent the highest risk investments out there.<br />
With a staggering failure rate of over 90%, they should<br />
never be your primary investments. I’ve never chosen<br />
to invest in tech by itself, instead I always choose teams<br />
of smart, ambitious and tenacious people who work well<br />
together. I like to invest in people who possess strong<br />
problem-solving skills. In start-ups, the only constant is<br />
uncertainty. Teams need to grow fast, iterate ideas and<br />
solve problems constantly. My latest start-up is Archangels<br />
Access. My friend and partner Gabriel Fong wanted to<br />
join forces to use our wealth of experience and networks<br />
to help selected Asian start-ups succeed. It’s our view<br />
that start-ups will forever remain risky investments but<br />
we believe that we can help avoid pitfalls and help them<br />
become significantly more efficient as we fast-track their<br />
growth.”<br />
DOUGLAS JAFFE<br />
CEO at Solution Access<br />
“When assessing a start-up, I look at its product and<br />
immediately think to myself, ‘could I personally sell that<br />
to someone?’ This is more than theoretical in our case,<br />
as we have brought portfolio companies to Asia and<br />
acted as their distributor. Getting your hands dirty by<br />
actually going on sales calls, closing deals and managing<br />
customers gives you real insight into the viability of a<br />
product or service. Even if the start-up’s product is still<br />
in the development phase, having this idea in the back of<br />
your head is important. It’s a lot easier to be passionate<br />
and excited about your start-up if you can see yourself<br />
selling it. I think many start-up investors tend to think<br />
their investment is a one-way ticket. They are the investor<br />
and think this entitles them to something. Good earlystage<br />
investors have committed to a journey with their<br />
company and leave egos and neuroses at the door when<br />
interacting with their company’s founder and team. A<br />
good investor goes above and beyond to help and this can<br />
include introductions, advice and referrals. A useful startup<br />
investor gets on a call and asks how she can help. Startups<br />
are born with one foot in the grave and nudging<br />
them into viability takes patience, encouragement and<br />
genuine support.” R<br />
SIX SUCCESSFUL ASIAN START-UPS<br />
Rakuten<br />
Established: 1997<br />
Founder: Hiroshi Mikitani<br />
Listing date: 2000<br />
Current market cap: US$13bn<br />
Sina Corp<br />
Established: 1998<br />
Founder: Charles Chao<br />
Listing date: 2000<br />
Current market cap: US$3.5bn<br />
Tencent<br />
Established: 1998<br />
Founders: Ma Huateng, Xu<br />
Chenye, Zhang Zhidong<br />
Listing date: 2004<br />
Current market cap: US$125bn<br />
Kevin Yeung<br />
Douglas Jaffe<br />
Alibaba<br />
Established: 1999<br />
Founder: Jack Ma<br />
Listing date: N/A (private)<br />
Valuation: US$150bn (Source: Bloomberg)<br />
Baidu<br />
Established: 2000<br />
Founders: Robin Li, Eric Xu<br />
Listing date: 2005<br />
Current market cap: US$53bn<br />
Youku Toudou<br />
Established: 2003<br />
Founders: Gary Wang, Marc Van der<br />
Chijs, Victor Koo<br />
Listing date: 2010<br />
Current market cap: US$4.5bn<br />
44 RESERVE<br />
THE
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