- Innovex 2022 is an event in which well-known international innovation institutions, venture capitals and corporate representatives come to discuss the importance of innovative thoughts and trends
- 陳立涵, Managing Partner of BlackStorm Consulting, was invited to share his insights
- The forum was on the topic of soft power & innovation. It encompasses the trends in the startup ecosystem, creation of unicorns and upcoming industries such as sports science innovation, MedTech – medical technologies and more
- Paddy covered three pivotal points that every startup looking to scale should take note of
May 24, 2022: 陳立涵, Managing Partner of BlackStorm Consulting, was cordially invited to share his insights on the topic of the evening — Soft Power & Innovation. Organised by Innovex, a Taiwan-based online platform that helps startups connect to global partners anytime, anywhere. BlackStorm Consulting is a Singapore-based business scaler that specialises in corporate strategy, profit management and market entry in Southeast Asia.
Speaking on “Soft Power & Innovation”, Paddy tapped on his experience as a business and technical strategist, which has helped business propel greater heights for the past 15 years. As both a serial entrepreneur and investor, he also advises business leaders on strategic planning and positioning, helping them to increase profitability and pivot their business to gain a competitive advantage in their respective industries. Paddy shared how technology can serve as a catalyst to help scale startups within Taiwan and in Southeast Asia. Paddy also shares the differences between the Singapore startup ecosystem and the Taiwan startup ecosystem. Paddy ended the panel discussion with a masterful insight into how a startup can adapt to the market that it wishes to enter.
Singapore or Taiwan
Through his years of experience, Paddy shares his recounts of several startups that he has mentored or consulted for. He shared that Taiwan has an expertise in the technology-based ecosystem with its abundance of developers and technological infrastructure available within Taiwan. This allows the startups to develop faster with better testing capabilities and a larger demographic as compared to Singapore. In contrast, Paddy also shared that the Taiwanese startups that he interacted with oftentimes look into entering Singapore to penetrate the larger Southeast Asian market due to the similarities between Taiwan and Singapore’s culture. Once these startups have a foothold in the Singapore startup ecosystem, they realise that Singapore’s ecosystem supports a zero-capital gains tax which further incentivises investors to invest in Singapore-based startups.
Technology is a Catalyst in Taiwan
Paddy shares that Taiwan has a global reputation for technology spanning back from more than 50 years ago and that technology is tied to Taiwan’s image. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most businesses and mist industries had to leverage on technologies to get by and reach their customers. Paddy highlights that companies have to do more than just use technology to survive, he argues that technology should be used as a catalyst to help companies to scale globally. He urges companies to not ignore the technological aspect of businesses and to focus their efforts on synergising traditional business models especially in non-tech industries such as property with modern day technologies such as property-tech, where developers can leverage on technologies to host Virtual-reality viewings of real estate which allows the real estate company to scale and reach out to more clients.
Adjusting to the Market
To end the panel discussion, Paddy shared his experience in helping numerous startups enter different markets globally. He shared that whilst a startup should always desire to scale globally, they have to be flexible enough to adapt to the local market that they are entering. Paddy emphasises that the startup has to have a clear action plan and defined market before entering a new country. He shared that when a startup mistakenly enters a market, it’s less of what a startup can undo, but more of what a startup has to do in order to get out unscathed.
Watch the full video of the event.
To contact Paddy for his advisory, reach out to him on Facebook/Linkedin.
About BlackStorm Consulting
BlackStorm Consulting (http://blackstormco.asia) is a Singapore-based boutique growth consultancy firm that specialises in corporate strategy, profit management and investment management. We scale businesses in Southeast Asia.
Our clients and connections are internationally present and range from small and medium sized businesses, MNCs, to government agencies.
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