Merry Christmas & Happy New Year everyone. May 2007 bring you good health, happiness & prosperity.
I have recently returned from Edinburgh after completing my Ph.D in Global VC and am now based permanently in Kuala Lumpur. I have also restarted my consulting practice under the name of Ventura Partners Sdn Bhd, offering Growth, VC and IPO services. In case you are wondering, 'Growth' is about helping companies to strategise for exponential growth in business, revenues and profits. I believe there are many great companies with tremendous potential that need just that little bit of the right strategy to reach their true potential. With my 'worldly wise' experience and hopefully equally worldly wise strategy, I hope to assist some of these companies to be really great companies.
Enough about me. So why am I starting this Blog and what is it about?
While there are many entrepreneurial & VC blogs in cyberspace, none of them are South East Asian based. Virtually all of them are American and while I have found many of them informative and interesting, the lack of a SEA blog is a vacuum that should be filled. There is so much happening in this part of the world & there are so many entrepreneurial ventures, yet there aren't any blogs where we can share our thoughts and opinions on entrepreneurship, VC and policy.
I started the first ever networking event in Malaysia in 1999 (called
cocktail@3Capital), we were the first firm to offer VC matching services and I am also the first individual in Malaysia to get a Ph.D in Venture Capital. So I might as well be the first to start a Blog to cover all these fields as well. (Well at least I believe I am the first, please correct me if I am wrong). Being first means putting my head on the line, but I am passionate about entrepreneurship, so I am willing to take the risk & hopefully this blog will be a real success and something that will benefit entrepreneurs and investors.
In terms of content, this Blog is about entrepreneurship, innovation and investing; from the idea concept, through growing pains, expansion and finally the Initial Public Offering. All topics at any stage of the process will be open for discussion.
Of particular interest will be issues related to building and growing an entrepreneurial venture, funding the venture through Angel investors or Venture Capital, international or regional expansion and issues related to listing the venture on a stock exchange. Policy issues will also be discussed especially issues that both foster and encourage entrepreneurship as well as policies that curtail or slow the growth of entrepreneurial ventures.
While it is expected to be primarily a site for Malaysian entrepreneurs, we naturally encourage and seek regional and global viewpoints.
I have also incorporated a 'chat box' so that readers have a discussion forum for short comments, ideas, bouquets or brickbats. All I ask is that we keep everything constructive & avoid any personal attacks.
So lets start the ball rolling and hopefully we can develop an interesting venue for all things entrepreneurial.
Carpe Diem!
Siva