Meet Paul Meyers at the TOP100 Philippine Qualifier tomorrow, March 15
We, at e27, believe in Asia’s startup ecosystem. As such, we value their insights, put the spotlight on their contributions to their industries, and celebrate the wins that they have.
This spotlight is on Paul Meyers, Head of Operations of muru-D Singapore. muru-D a startup accelerator programme in Australia and Asia that help founders scale smarter and faster, by offering tech entrepreneurs masterclasses, connections to a global network of mentors, investors, and alumni, and seed funding. It is present in 5 cities, and has collectively accelerated over a hundred startups. Its Singapore operations was launched 2015, covering the southeast Asia region, and since then has seen 18 startups graduating their programme with 10 more on the way.
We had a chance to chat with Paul about the trends he’s most excited about, what they’re looking for in a startup founder, and what Philippine startups have to do to become more globally competitive.
On what muru-D is looking for
“We are vertical agnostic. Having said that, we don’t really go for fintech because there are a lot of accelerators out there for that. But we look at different kinds of companies, just as long as they have a product already and some sort of traction. This implies that they’ve had some sort of funding like pre-Angel or pre-Seed.”
On what they are really looking for
“We are looking at companies that are going to positively affect a lot of people. That is not to say that we’re only looking at social enterprises, but we are definitely not going for fluff. The key is for the startup to have a positive impact on the lives of a significant number of people.”
On what it means to be a successful founder
“Founders should be willing to listen and change and learn. Yes, there is the typical startup founder who is smart and has a good idea, but beyond that they have to be nimble. They have to communicate well, know how to play with others, and are open to change and feedback.”
On the importance of having your own engineering team
“If your tech team is outsourced, then the changes are not going to happen rapidly. When we do weekly revising, everything has to happen quickly.”
On what trends and tech he’s most excited about
“Food production. Food is really important. Whether it’s growing, transporting, or preventing waste, using technology to make food production efficient excites me and is very important especially in southeast Asia. Another one is energy – batteries, storage – I think this is important because it affects a lot of industries.”
On what the Philippine startup community needs
“The Philippines still has a ways to go but it needs to develop an angel ecosystem where there are educated angel investors to help the startups. I’ve done business in the Philippines for 15 years and there is no lack of ideas, but I think the key is to get a good angel ecosystem in the Philippines to help them grow faster.”
On what he likes about the Philippine startup community
“There is a lot of positive energy about trying new things. The community is skewed a bit to the young side and there is a real sense of adventure and energy that I appreciate in the startup community here. There is no lack of ideas and I don’t think people are hesitant to try new things.”
Meet Paul tomorrow at the TOP100 Philippine Qualifier and find out more about muru-D and his thoughts about the startup ecosystem. He is part of the judging panel together with Gobi VC, QBO Philippines, LaunchGarage, and Kickstart Ventures.
Get your tickets now and join us at QBO Innovation Hub, 2PM SGT.
We couldn’t be more excited! Techstars, B-Planet, and Airmaker will also be at the Roadshow tomorrow. Register now to meet these investors and community leaders! Get your name on the list:
TOP100, presented by WeWork, is a programme powered by e27 that empowers insights, connections, talent and funding opportunities for early-stage tech startups in Asia. In order to shine a spotlight on the chosen 100, we travel through 23 APAC cities in 2 months, span 7 market categories, and partner with community leaders and ecosystem expertise to curate the ones to keep an eye out for. Learn more or apply now at e27.co/echelon/top100
TOP100 Qualifier Roadshows begin across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar from March 6th, 2018, before taking on the rest of APAC. The TOP100 2018 Official Startup Application Round for joining the Qualifier Roadshow has ended, but we are still accepting applications for Discretionary Admission.
The post The Philippines needs to develop a good angel ecosystem; muru-D Singapore Head appeared first on e27.