This past week saw the end of Echelon 2011, an Asia-focused startup “un-conference” run by e27 we wrote about back in May. Based in Singapore, e27 has been running tech events since 2006 and is dedicated to “Silicon Valley-style, community-driven advocacy of technology innovation in Asia.”
Their last event, Echelon 2010, attracted more than 700 participants and this year’s conference was even better attended. The focus of the event was, of course, the Launchpad presentations. Eleven companies were selected earlier this year from participants at four satellite conferences in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Hong Kong and Singapore itself. Indonesia and Malaysia alone accounted for almost half of the winners, with Singapore and Korea each sending two representatives, India one and one also from Taiwan: Cardinal Blue.
Taipei- and Mountain View-based Cardinal Blue, which is best known for its Tribute Balloon and Friend Stock applications, was also included in the latest batch of 21 companies to join 500 Startups, the prestigious startup accelerator based in Mountain View. While their presentation (starts 6:30 in) last week focused on its Tribute Balloon app, its most recent work is moving in the direction of productivity software, aiming to help users “work together in real-time using photos and chat.”
One of the most interesting things about Echelon is the predominance of companies from areas not known for startups, or even tech in general. Although the mix of finalists could have been affected by the satellite conferences’ locations in Southeast Asia, it is heartening to see so much interesting app development in countries usually off the radar screen. Bouncity and Sixreps, for example, are both from Indonesia. This year’s top prize, however, went to the Singaporean developers of PlayMoolah, an app designed to teach children financial literacy through minigames. As you might expect from Singapore, the focus is less on financial speculation or investment than encouraging careful money management and saving.
Aside from the Launchpad, there were also several guest speakers, including Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby. Sivers’ keynote speech was well received, judging by the online feedback. As ZDNet Asia reported, his speech was full of solid principles for startups that can nonetheless be hard to implement: focus on your basic business premise, and don’t get distracted by the prospect of fame or riches. Don’t just follow trends; instead, try to come up with products and services that “help make people’s lives better.” Most importantly, remember that your customers are people and keep your relationships with them as natural and direct as possible.
While reactions to Sivers were positive, many seemed to feel the Launchpad developers themselves had a ways to go before becoming real competitors to Silicon Valley. As attendee @fabianlua wrote, “Maybe this shows that Facebook’s success is a problem for innovation. #echelon2011 startup launchpad full of niche Facebook clones so far.”
{ 1 trackback }