Throwing money at the problem is not the solution. But somehow, when members of our venture capital community, academics and government officials got together earlier this week to discuss the problems faced by local start-ups organised by the Entrepreneurship Review Committee (ERC), they figured getting some money from the government was a great idea.
However, the problems faced by our start-ups are not limited to funding.
The Independent has spoken to several start-up founders and their major concerns are:
1. A crowded market in Singapore for their products/services;
2. Lack of knowledge/know-how on expanding to overseas markets;
3. Inability to monetise their products or execute their business plans effectively;
4. Lack of access to talent who are willing to take risk with start-ups businesses; and lastly;
5. Inability to raise money from local financial institutions
Our take: learn to walk before you start to run. Provide adequate training and support for the start-ups, take them on overseas missions (don’t just limit these to the usual suspects) and start by awarding some contracts to home-grown companies first.
Give them a chance to succeed in Singapore, the money will follow.
