500 Startups Managing Director Khailee Ng and Tim Chae on Penetrating Southeast Asian Markets

Khailee Ng and Tim Chae, two business-builders turned venture capitalists, gave a talk about how startups can best penetrate Southeast Asian markets and make their offerings available to locals. 

500 Startups is a worldwide company that invests in and aids startups by helping them expand their business and offering advice.

Khailee Ng, a native of Malaysia, created his first web product at 15 and started his own business at 24. The current managing director of 500 Startups, he says he feels the most alive when he is helping create new businesses. While expanding his current business to global markets, he also acts as a liaison between Silicon Valley and emerging markets. If you are interested in seeing what creative ideas Khailee is working on, check out his website at: http://khailee.com

Tim Chae, also a featured speaker, is a partner of 500 Startups. At 10 years old, he immigrated to the USA and started his first business at the age of 13. In 2009 he won the  NFIB/ McKelvey Youth Entrepreneur award and at 19 became a venture capitalist. He currently works as an investor, advisor, and connector in the Silicon Valley network, while also offering mentoring services to startups and giving them expert feedback. His work involves cultivating a competitive and active startup environment in Korea.

The two spoke onstage about strategies for pursuing the rapidly expanding Southeastern asian market, specifically in Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The first goal for expansion into any of these countries is major metropolitan areas. In cities, the infrastructure will already be sufficient to support nearly 100% smartphone penetration and most of the population will have either a phone, tablet, or computer. The cities to focus on are Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi. 

Another interesting piece of advice given by Khailee about entering markets in Southeast Asia was to not worry about whether or not your product is unique. Even if one company is already successful in some countries, there are still many potential users that don't use it in the target country. Nearly all successful companies have clones that spring up hoping to capitalize on the success of the first mover. However, oftentimes the first mover in an industry will not be the most successful. In the case of social media sites, Facebook only rose to prominence after Myspace fell. And Myspace was created in response to social networking site Friendster. 

The talk ended with a presentation of 5 different startups, which included a social network for celebrities, a secondhand clothing online customer-customer retailer, a cosmetics delivery company, and a service to find local, verified, English tutors in Korea.

One of the things I wish they had talked about more is the importance of programming. For example, what programming languages should entrepreneurs learn for the future, which are best for web/mobile development, which ones have helped them the most. To be honest, nearly every startup is built upon the backs of developers. Funding is important, but creating the product is the first step. 

Startup RecordFarm.com also spoke with Tim and Khailee afterwards to discuss potential future business opportunities.