ISSUE 13 October/November 2016
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
CONTENTS
"A majority of startups should be investing their [time] in SEO, unless they have a good reason not to," said Joshua Steimle, an SEO guru, when we were chatting about this issue of Jumpstart Magazine. One of the biggest challenges that startups face is raising awareness of their business. Online, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the best ways to get "free" traffic through high ranking of relevant phrases. With 93% of online searches starting with a search engine, and 70% of all clicks going to organic traffic (not paid search) - why not be where the action is? SEO has evolved to be a pretty complex field, with nonstop updates on what's ok and not, and constant tweaks from the search engines making it hard for anyone not specialized in this area to keep up. In this issue, we have attempted to simplify the topic and encourage startups to begin or continue working on their SEO tactics, particularly by creating quality content and getting links from reputable sites. Creating quality content is pretty straightforward. Go for content that's well-written, well-researched, insightful and will get shared. Where most companies get lost is how to get others to link to them (linkbuilding). To help you get started, we've included some ideas on how you can get good links in Hong Kong. Unlike other major startup hubs, SEO is way behind in Hong Kong, and for it can be a huge opportunity for startups that invest a bit of effort in this area.
CLASSIFIEDS...........................2 Community shoutouts
NEWS BRIEFS..........................3 Startup happenings in Hong Kong
SEO FOR STARTUPS.............4-5 What HK startups should know
Enjoy this issue and happy ranking!
DIRECTORY..............................6
Yana Robbins Editor-in-Chief
Do you recognize these HK entrepreneurs?
MEET OUR TEAM
Everything you need to get started
Editor-In-Chief: Yana Robbins Contributors: Josh Steimle Amadou Doumbia Vishwas Thakkar Regina LarkĂś Rainbow Chow Dinh-Long Pham Cover Designer: Joyce Ngo Special Thanks: James Kwan Stefanie Myers Ludivine Taverne Iris Leung Shirmai Chung General Inquiries: info@jumpstartmag.com Editorial: editors@jumpstartmag.com Advertising: advertise@jumpstartmag.com
LINKBUILDING............... ......8-9 Jumpstart is available at over 350
DON'T GET PENALIZED............10
locations, including:
Are you doing these "bad" SEO things?
Airport Lounges: CNAC Lounge Dynasty Lounge Royal Orchid Lounge Emirates Lounge United Lounge Plaza Premium Lounge EAST Plaza Premium Lounge WEST Morning Calm (Korean Air) SQ Lounge
MEET SCP AERIALS...........12-13 Everything you wanted to know about drones
COWORKING IN HK............18-19 The most up-to-date list you'll find
VENUE GUIDE....................20-21 Check out these spaces for your next event
MEET TIOSTONE .....................22 www.jumpstartmag.com facebook.com/jumpstartmag twitter.com/jumpstarthk
They turn discarded glass into bricks
JUMPSTART KIDS.............24-25 Why every entrepreneur should think like a kid
CAPTION CONTEST................ 29 Win a 2-night stay at Ovolo Hotel
Copyright Š 2016 Jumpstart. The contents of the magazine are fully protected by copyright and nothing may be reprinted without permission. The publisher and editors accept no responsibility in respect to any products, goods or services that may be advertised or referred to in this issue or for any errors, omissions, or mistakes in any such advertisements or references. The mention of any specific companies or products in articles or advertisements does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by this magazine or its publisher in preference to others of a similar nature which are not mentioned or advertised. Published articles do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Jumpstart Magazine. Printed by Magnum Print Company Limited. 11B E-Tat Factory Building, 4 Heung Yip Road, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong.
Classifieds Unlikely IT. I speak tech, but I also speak human. Affordable and friendly IT services for SMEs. Web development, IT consulting, software and systems. erin@unlikelyit.com MARK&TING - Boutique Marketing Agency for small companies with BIG potential. YOU save time, WE get results, 'nuff said. www.markandting.com Need words? Let’s talk. Whatever your business, we can help you to speak up, stand out and sell. Creative thinking and writing for brands. thequickwordcompany.com City Hydroponics takes farming into the city. Turn your rooftop, balcony, or even indoor space such as a bay window into a productive urban farm. www.cityhydroponics.hk
Want to break-up the lunch routine and meet great people in your office area? Connect easily with professionals around. 1 year FREE Premium for early users! www.b2lunch.net Busy getting your startup off the ground? Let us take care of your media and communications strategy. Independent consultants specialising in media relations, social media strategy, marketing material production and writing & editing services. Law and finance background. Let us help you tell your story. Nicolette Jaeger / Aparna Bundro. 9444.8142 / 9665.2765 Develop MINDFULNESS, RELAXATION and FOCUS to enhance EVERYDAY living. Genuine Kung Fu classes taught in the heart of Central by our team of dedicated instructors. mindfulwingchun.com.hk Have an announcement to share? Inquire about print or weekly newsletter classifieds.
Join Countryside Adventure Tours to see the country parks and the Geopark. Get out of the urban jungle, see the other side of Hong Kong! www.adventuretours.hk info@adventuretours.hk Grapevine Daily is the solution for financial recruiters to find the latest available professional candidates in Hong Kong. Sign up here: www.grapevinedaily.com Get noticed in China through WeChat and Weibo content marketing with Alarice International. Call us today for a free consultation. www.alarice.com.hk All That Junk, a junk boat events and entertainment company, is looking for brand partners and sponsors for our events. If any businesses are interested, contact alicia@allthatjunkhk.com.
info@jumpstartmag.com
Read This!
The Cheat Code: The Secret tweaks, hacks and tips to get noticed and get ahead by Brian Wong Twenty-four year old successful entrepreneur Brian Wong believes that most people -- even creative people -- have a tendency to follow a script; to do things the way others do them simply because that way works. But anyone can easily shortcut his or her way to success by doing things just a little differently from everyone else. Read Wong’s 71 bite-sized and virtually effortless short-cuts to get a leg up on the competition, garner attention for yourself and your ideas, and accelerate your success. Available starting September 2016. Available at:
2
JUMPSTART October/November 2016
Shape China 2016: Asia 2030 October 14 - 16, 2016 SHAPE China will gather the Global Shapers Community to define the future of Asia! Be part of conversations and projects that will bring us together for the next 15 years. www.shapechina.com
Community News Briefs Upcoming Events
Fund-raising
First Elevator World Tour will be held at ICC, Hong Kong's Tallest Building on October 13, 2016. 100 best startups in the region will deliver their pitch in an actual elevator as they compete for a $100,000 USD investment.
Tink Labs raises $125M to put its free-to-use smartphone in more hotel rooms worldwide.
Invest Hong Kong will play host to the first Hong Kong Fintech Week which will run from November 7- 11 at PMQ in Central as part of a new drive to position the city as the premier center in Asia for fintech companies and startups looking to grow their businesses and to lure accelerators, incubators and investors to innovate fintech in the city. www.hongkong-fintech.hk
Accelerator News SOW Asia announced participants in their wellbeing and active ageing program; chears.hk, acesobee.com, easycare.hk, ohh-dear.com, tailor-m.com, smartgeriatric.com and Human Washer Ltd. Zeroth.ai, Hong Kong first AI accelerator will begin their program this November 2017.
Product Launches One year after its successful Kickstarter campaign, Hong Kong-based startup Zeraph is launching its first product in North America: the Flo Contact-free Smart Thermometer. zeraph.co
Crowdfunding Highlights
The Hive opened a new location in Bangkok, which occupies the 5th floor of the Chavanich Building in one of Bangkok’s fastest growing neighbourhoods. Garage Society launched its Phuket branch this September. Brinc has recently expanded its co-working to include facilities in Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
New Coworking Spaces
Kello, the sleep revolution device, has launched a supersuccessful crowdfunding campaign with 1,500 backers in 48-hours on Kickstarter. At the time of printing, they raised 230K USD with 22 days to go. getkello.com
Several new spaces popped up around Hong Kong including, The Work Project in
Jumpstart Kids crowdfunding campaign was 170% funded on Nextchapter. The book How to Be a Good Babysitter, written by and for kids, will be available at the end of October. jumpstartkids.hk
Competitions & Deadlines
Kickstarter crowdfunding platform has launched in Hong Kong. At a time of printing, there were 23 live projects.
Alibaba Jack Ma, the founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group has been named special adviser on youth entrepreneurship at United Nations trade body.
HK Coworking Spaces Expanding in Asia
Baumhaus Opens in TST Baumhaus, a popular indoor playground for kids in Wanchai, has announced the opening of their second location in TST.
SCMP
Instant Money Transfer
South China Morning Post announced the closure of HK Magazine after 25 years in print.
Hong Kong’s TNG Wallet launched an app for cross-border instant money transfer. More info: tng.asia
Causeway Bay; Garage Society in Sai Yin Pun and Campfire Creative Space in Wong Chuk Hang.
$1 Million Global Competition seeks applications from startups that create positive social change. Deadline: November 20, 2016. www.theventure.com. Calling FinTech startups! The deadline to apply for Supercharger 2.0 is October 20th. fintechsupercharger.com Calling talented developers, coders and startups! Put your skills to the test and take part in AIAblockchain Challenge to determine how blockchain will be commercially applied to the insurance industry. Deadline: Nov 20, 2016. See page 6. Want to get your masters? Chevening scholarships are offering one-year fully-funded masters to aspiring HK leaders. Deadline Nov 8, 2016. Chevening.org/apply
3
WHAT
HONG KONG
STARTUPS SHOULD KNOW
ABOUT SEO by Joshua Steimle
"Most people using search engines don’t click on paid ads — they click on the natural or organic results, the ones you get through SEO."
When I began planning to move to Hong Kong in early 2013 to open an office of my digital marketing agency, I expected to find a lot of competition from other SEO firms. I certainly expected to find many more competitors here than in Salt Lake City, Utah, where I was moving from. After all, the entire state of Utah is home to only 3 million people, whereas Hong Kong has over 7 million. And, while Salt Lake City hosted a Winter Olympics and is a rapidly growing hub for businesses like Microsoft, Intel, as well as many homegrown startups, it’s hardly a world city like Hong Kong, which is regularly mentioned alongside other cities like London, Tokyo, and New York. Still, Utah has hundreds of SEO firms, some with hundreds of staff. That's why I was surprised to find that Hong Kong, on the other hand, had just a handful of firms that even claimed to provide SEO services. Since 2013, many agencies and individuals have popped up claiming to offer SEO services in Hong Kong, but the industry remains underdeveloped for a metropolitan area of this size. Likewise, the talent pool is also small. It’s rare to find an individual with more than 2 to 3 years of SEO experience.
Why is Hong Kong Behind When it Comes to SEO? What accounts for the state of the SEO industry in Hong Kong? There appear to be two reasons: 1. a fear to be first 2. the desire for quick returns Mountain climbers enjoy taking risks, but business people don’t, and that goes double in Hong Kong. It’s safe to do what everyone else is doing, and risky to lead. People are rarely fired for not doing something that might have worked. Companies in Hong Kong want to see someone else do SEO first. This dynamic is compounded by the fact that SEO takes time to generate results and is an inherently longterm marketing tactic. Hong Kong business have not been slow to engage in search engine marketing (SEM), which involves purchasing paid search advertising through services like Google AdWords. If you want to generate sales and leads quickly you can set up an AdWords account in minutes, display your ads the same day, and generate sales just as quickly. Contrast that with SEO, which takes a minimum of several weeks to start getting traction, and 6 to 12 months to get substantial results. “Wait, wait, wait...hold on!” you say. “If SEO takes sooo long, why would anyone do SEO? Why not just do SEM all the time?” SEO and SEM Some speak of SEO vs. SEM as though it were a choice between one or the other, but they are different marketing tools that serve different purposes. Where possible, it’s ideal to invest fully in both. But when budgets are constrained and one must choose, it’s important to know about three primary differences between SEO and SEM. Speed. We already mentioned one difference, which is the time to generate results. If you need results fast, go for SEM. If you’re confident in your business over the long term, start today with SEO.
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JUMPSTART October/November 2016
Cost. SEM costs less at the beginning, since SEO doesn’t generate any leads or sales at first. However, there is a point at which the cost per lead or sale with SEO dips below SEM, and with ongoing SEO that cost will continue to decline while the cost of SEM will most likely hold steady. Volume. Most people using search engines don’t click on paid ads-they click on the natural or organic results, the ones you get through SEO. If you only invest in SEM, you may be missing 70% or more of the sales you could be getting. There’s one more difference between SEO and SEM, which is that the benefits of SEM stop the day you turn off your ads. SEO, on the other hand, can sometimes produce benefits for years, even if you allow the service to stop. But beware, this doesn’t mean you can do SEO for a year and then plan to let it go for a year or two and then simply pick up where you left off. This will give your competitors a chance to catch up and pass you by, and it may be difficult or impossible to catch up. To win at SEO you need to start first, and do ongoing work to stay ahead. How to Do SEO Right SEO is essentially four activities: •
Technical setup. Is your website set up the right way?
•
Content. Your content tells the search engines what your website is about and how good it is compared to your online competition.
•
•
Inbound links. Links that point to your website, also called incoming links or backlinks, are an important factor in how Google ranks your website. Analytics. What gets measured gets better.
Once a website is set up the right way, the ongoing SEO activities are primarily creating content, building links to that content, and analyzing results. Creating Great Content People consume good content. People will pay for great content. Even if you give your content away for free, make it so good people would pay for it. If you’re not sure what that means, look at what kind of content people buy, like magazines, newspapers, books, audio books, and movies. If you want to build a library of great content that will make your SEO unbeatable, answer questions your customers have. Which questions? Ask your sales and customer service teams. If you’re just starting up then you can guess at what questions your audience might have that are related to your products and services, or you can use websites like Quora to see what questions people are asking. Publish your answers as blog posts or in a FAQ section on your website. Put extra value in your answers by including professionally designed infographics, interesting statistics, and advice from recognized experts and influencers. Make each answer a valuable resource others will want to link to because it’s so good.
93% of online searches begin with a search engine Source: Imforza
70% is Google's share of the search engine market Source: Netmarketshare.com
70% of links users click on are organic Source: imforza
60% of all organic clicks go to the organic top 3 search results Source: Hubspot
75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results Source: Hubspot
50% of search queries are 4 words or longer. Source: Wordstream
57% of B2B marketers say SEO has the biggest impact on lead generation Source:Newscred
70% of APAC businesses feel their content
marketing efforts are limited, basic, or inconsistent Source: Hubspot
62% of APAC businesses are creating
more content in 2016 than they did in 2015 Source: Hubspot
47% of small business owners handle marketing efforts on their own. Source: Infusionsoft & LeadPages, 2016
>50% More than half of Google’s searches come from mobile device Source: Searchengineland
5
Enter the AIA Blockchain Challenge
Share that content through your social media channels and email newsletters. Building High Quality Links The old way of building links was to go for quantity. Even now I can find SEO services online that promise “I will build 6000 contextual niche related links!” The price? A grand total of HK $40. DO NOT hire these services.
The AIA Blockchain Challenge is designed for startup teams, talented developers and techsavvy students to make their mark on InsureTech through the power of blockchain technology. The 8-week digital challenge is looking for demonstrable prototypes built on distributed ledger technology that can offer a better solution to current processes in the insurance industry.
If you do hire these services you will likely receive a penalty from Google, your website will be removed from their index, and then you will have to pay someone to track down those 6,000 links and email the owners of all those websites to get the links removed. Some companies find this too expensive, so they simply abandon their website and create a new one. Regardless, this is not what you want.
Submissions should be in the form of a prototype, app, website or software that shows end-user design and product functionality. The challenge also requires applications to highlight why its use of blockchain is superior to the status quo.
The right way to build links is to do it naturally. If you have a page on your website that focuses on a particular topic, find high quality websites that also focus on that topic, or a related topic, and see if there is an opportunity for them to link to your website as a resource. The best links often come from editorial sources like online magazines and newspapers. Obtaining one of these links can be challenging and often involves work that looks more like public relations than SEO, but a single link from a high traffic, credible website may be worth more than hundreds of medium quality links.
Teams have until 20 November 2016 to complete their submissions but the specific challenge platform will be unlocked on 29 September. In addition to cash prizes, the top entries will be selected to take part in a unique integration with AIA, one of the largest insurers in the world. For more information and to register, aia-accelerator.com/aiablockchainchallenge
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JUMPSTART October/November 2016
Measuring Results Google Analytics is free and provides more insights than most companies know what to do with. But even if you do nothing but look at which pages of your website are most popular and what path people are taking to research your offerings, you’ll gain valuable insights that can boost leads or sales dramatically.
When and How Should You Outsource SEO? Will your business die without SEO? Then build an in-house SEO team. Otherwise, you should probably outsource. Your time is too valuable. If you plan to hire an agency to do your SEO, follow these tips to make sure you hire the right one: Ask for case studies. It may be hard to find an SEO company that has worked with a company like yours before, especially if you are doing something innovative that is rare or has never been done before. Nevertheless, get case studies and ask for details. Check references. If an SEO agency can’t provide you with the contact info of three satisfied customers, is that an agency you want to hire? View sample reports. How will your SEO firm show you that they’re getting results for you? Ask for one or more reports for other clients the firm is working with so you’ll know what to expect, and you can be sure it will match your needs. Ask who will be working on your account, and how many other accounts they manage. We recently hired an SEO expert who was tasked with managing 150 clients at his previous employer. It’s not hard to do the math and see this meant he couldn’t dedicate much time to each client. A better number is 15, although larger accounts can justify a dedicated account manager. There is a lot more you can learn about SEO, but if you apply the simple tips I’ve shared here, you’ll avoid the biggest, most common mistakes, and you’ll see your company grow. Josh Steimle is the CEO of MWI, a digital marketing agency with offices in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Singapore, and the US. He is a TEDx speaker, has written over 200 articles on digital marketing and entrepreneurship for publications like Forbes, Inc, Time, Mashable, TechCrunch, and is the author of Chief Marketing Officers at Work.
Jumpstart’s Directory of Entrepreneurs
Siebe Gerbranda CEO and Co-Founder of AskCucu, anonline rental housing platform for people moving to China www.askcucu.com
Jenni Higgins Managing Director at Higgins and Higgins, a creative architectural studio higginsandhiggins.com
Aaron Tsoi Co-Founder of DEMAND. STYLE, the home of fashion crowdfunding demand.style
Adrien De Courval CEO and Founder of B2Lunch, an app that connects professionals together at lunch time b2lunch.net
Fé Valvekens Founder and Creative Director of A day with Fé, an activewear line adaywithfe.com
Lou Chan Co-Founder and managing director of GuestReady.com, a global Airbnb management service www.guestready.com
Find 200+ profiles Online!
Steve Hodson Founder and Principal Specialist at Runlevel7, technology management support for startups www.runlevel7.asia
Delphine Lefay Co-Founder of OnTheList, invitation-only private sales for premium brands in Hong Kong www.onthelist.hk
Judy Mizoguchi Founder of Whiz Kids Productions HK, a performing arts program for kids
Eunice Wong Co-Founder of Quikspaces, sharing economy for office spaces www.quikspaces.com
whizkidsproductionshk.com
JOIN OVER 250 PROFILES ONLINE Orla Breeze Co-Founder of KidsSafetyNet - The Simple Solution to Online Safety kidssafetynet.com
Philippe Joly Entrepreneur, Author, and Digital Expert. Founder of global messaging provider clickSUMO clicksumo.com
David DuPouy Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur. Co-Founder of Founder Squad, a worldwide network exclusively for founders to help each other foundersquad.hk
Join our growing directory of entrepreneurs, freelancers, and investors. Create your free profile today.
jumpstartmag.com *New profiles will appear in our weekly newsletter and select profiles will be included in the next issue*
7
Linkbuilding for startups What is Linkbuilding? Linkbuilding refers to the process of getting external pages to link to a page on your website. It is one of the many tactics used in search engine optimization (SEO). Source: Wordstream.com
While it’s common knowledge that a large number of quality links are essential for strong search engine rankings, many companies large and small are unsure how to proceed. According to a recent survey, only 62% of marketers engage in linkbuilding, which is the process of having external pages link to your website, and these stats are for the US where SEO practices are far more established than in Hong Kong. My guess is that only a tiny fraction of Hong Kong startups currently engage in this activity. The good news is it's easy to learn the basics, and with little competition, you can potentially have higher Google rankings than more established companies. Most of us are already working around the clock on our startup and may look to outsourcing linkbuilding activities. Unfortunately, outsourcing it to the wrong team can be a costly mistake, so it pays to have an understanding of how link building works and what not to do. Several years ago, a internationally-renowned US retailer came under fire for "black hat" link building. They were outsourcing link building overseas to a company who had a decent track record of getting a large number of sites to link to them. However, these websites had nothing to do with the retailer as they were created using spammy techniques. Soon
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JUMPSTART October/November 2016
enough, Google caught on and this company’s URL was nowhere to be seen on the search engine. It took the company months to clean up their act and get their URL to show up on Google again. Even though Google is clear on which activities will lead to getting penalized, it doesn’t stop companies from using shady tactics to rise above search engine rules. There are unfortunately no shortcuts when it comes to linkbuilding. It takes time, creativity and effort. Unless you’ve just launched a newfangled product and are getting lots of PR coverage, you will have to build one quality link at a time. Without digging too deep into link building rules, the key thing to remember is quality over quantity. The rule of thumb is to get links from sites that have your potential audience and to avoid spammy techniques. The good news is there are plenty of “easy” places to get links in Hong Kong. There are a number of directories that welcome submissions and many media sites are more than happy to feature a high quality guest post. If you make it your goal to get a couple of links a month, your ranking should improve in no time. Here are some simple-to-complex linkbuilding ideas, depending on your level of commitment.
If you have a few hours during your morning coffee: •
Directories: Add yourself to various startup directories. You should only submit to directories which review all submissions (and reject low quality sites). In other words, directories which maintain editorial control. (source: ahrefs.com)
•
Testimonials: Write a couple of honest and useful testimonials for startups you admire in Hong Kong and see if they will feature them on their site
•
Blog Commenting: Add high quality comments on quality blogs.
If you have an evening or two to dedicate •
Guest blog on other websites
•
Run a contest
•
Host an event and submit it to various websites to promote
•
Create/submit a press release
Tools Ahrefs.com. Track your backlinks, keywords, brand mentions and know what your competitors are doing. $7USD for 7 days Moz.com. The SEO toolset that's trusted by the SEO professionals: keyword research, link building, site audits, and page optimization insights, and an active Q & A community. 30 Day Free Trial If you have a few days to properly strategize •
Run a crowdfunding campaign
•
Create a scholarship
•
Create a useful resource that people would want to link to and publish it on your website as a part of your content marketing strategy. This could be Hong Kong’s list of best coworking spaces or a guide to Hong Kong’s tech ecosystem.
To send you on your way, below is our suggested list of quality Hong Kong websites where you can put your linkbuilding skills to the test. Getting a link on each of these websites will require a different strategy -- some are straightforward where you’ll be able to add yourself to their directory, but for others you may have to do more legwork, such as write a guest post, offer a product giveaway, co-host an event or submit a press release. • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
www.startbase.hk www.whub.io www.greenqueen.com starthub.hk www.momcooperative.com/hk www.sassyhongkong.com jumpstartmag.com fintech.hk www.rusbc.com.hk/directory www.webwednesday.hk liv-magazine.com www.southside.hk www.ecozine.com meetup.com e27.co www.awa.org.hk www.britcham.com www.playtimes.com.hk www.folklorehk.com/blog www.expatliving.hk www.butterboom.com/hk
Google Search Console (previously Google Webmaster tool) is a free and must-use tool for webmasters. It helps you monitor and maintain your site's presence in Google Search results. You can do things like submit a newly created page for crawling and remove content you don't want shown in search results; demote sitelinks; check who is liking to you, and more. Keywordtool.io. Find our what your audience is looking for with the free version of Keyword Tool, which generates up to 750+ longtail keyword suggestions for every search term. Monthly subscription is $88 USD.
Final pro tip: When contacting these media sites, companies and directories, always think about the value that you can add in terms of offering an interesting story angle or high quality guest post.
entrepreneurs.asia entrepreneurhk.org startmeuphk.com www.startupshk.com
9
Don't get Penalized with these BAD SEO Tactics By Vishwas Thakkar
One of the most frequent questions I get asked at conferences and seminars is how to improve website rankings quickly.
manipulate their algorithms. The ideal keyword ratio that I would suggest is 1:100, which is one keyword per 100 words.
The advice I usually give to those looking to have their websites ranked faster is: Do not use shortcuts and avoid points that search engines do not like, since there’s a good chance your site will be penalized. If that happens, the recovery time can be a lengthy one.
Cloaking
Since people usually only share their 'best practices' and leave out any negative outcomes, I’ve compiled a list of ‘worst practices’ that will likely get a website penalized.
Crawlers are not only alerted to this misconduct, but it’s also hostile towards users and potential customers that are navigating your website. Keep the same version of a page for both search engine crawlers and users alike.
Duplicate Content Unoriginal content is something you should avoid. The reason is simple: If search engines already have the same content in their index, there is no reason to index your web page since it has nothing new to offer. When the Google Panda update was first introduced back in February 2011, the quality of content became an important element for good SEO. Keyword Stuffing Repeating the same keywords in your text over and over again for the sake of optimizing your copy is very bad SEO practice. This is not only a negative for readers, as the text will not sound natural when reading, but is also a signal for search engines that you are trying to
10 JUMPSTART October/November 2016
Cloaking, which is hiding the real destination of a link and showing different versions of a page to crawlers, was a common practice of the past but it’s hardly going to fly in the SEO world today.
Paid Links It takes a considerable amount of time to build a successful website or blog and links should be built naturally over time instead of via shortcut. Paid links may reap benefits in the short term but will have negative effects in the long run. Buying links of any kind is bad practice as Google will find out sooner or later and you’ll end up losing your rankings. Worst case scenario, your website may get penalized and removed from search rankings for good. Invisible Text This means implementing white text, such as a list of keywords on a white background. This method makes
Google to Penalize Pages with Intrusive Popup Ads Starting January 2017 This summer, Google announced that starting on January 10, 2017, "pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as highly." Here are some examples of techniques that make content less accessible to a user: •
•
•
Showing a popup that covers the main content, either immediately after the user navigates to a page from the search results, or while they are looking through the page. Displaying a standalone interstitial that the user has to dismiss before accessing the main content. Using a layout where the above-the-fold portion of the page appears similar to a standalone interstitial, but the original content has been inlined underneath the fold.
For more info, visit: webmasters.googleblog.com
keywords completely invisible to visitors while search engines can still detect and index them. This should be avoided, since it will lead to keyword stuffing and being penalized by Google. Extra pro tip: Be careful with ad placement ‘above the fold.’ The ‘fold’ is the portion of your site that is shown without the user having to scroll down on desktop. If you have large images or ads at the top of of your website and a user needs to scroll down to access your content, be aware that Google runs a page layout algorithm that reduces rankings for sites that don’t make content available ‘above the fold.’
what startups does Hong Kong really need? Submit ideas, find ideas, vote on ideas jumpstartmag.com/ideas
Meet the Infiniti Lab Teams About INFINITI Accelerator 2.0
Kraftwerk
Visionaries 777
Kazoo Technology
www.vz777.com
kazootechnology.com
hellokraftwerk.com
Based in Hong Kong with LEGO as its founding customer, Visionaries 777 designs and develops virtual, augmented and interactive software leveraged by global brands.
Kazoo Technology, a Hong Kong-based startup, is developing a technology that can transmit digital information between mobile devices using just their touchscreens. With this technology, any smart phone or tablet can be turned into an instant card reader. The product removes the inefficiency of manual input, allowing touchscreens to interact directly with objects.
Based in the US and Germany, kraftwerk has developed a highly efficient compact fuel cell that uses natural gas to produce clean energy. Currently, kraftwerk is developing a fuel cell range extender solution to apply to electric cars, with the aim of making alternative energy more accessible and efficient. It will rapidly bring down the costs of an electric car by a factor of four with a range of 2,000 miles and a charging time of just one minute.
Currently, Visionaries 777 is developing an interactive car configurator application designed to re-think existing car showrooms, enabling users to visualize, customize and interact with their ideal car from the inside out. They are planning to test and market this new product in Hong Kong.
"We are planning to scale our business by developing interactive software tools based on augmented / virtual reality and other interactive technologies, which will be licensed to visionary global businesses." Frantz Lasorne, Co-Founder of Visionaries 777
"To scale our business we are working on an easyto-use platform for our current line of product. The platform will allow users, particularly corporate clients, to place orders for multiple cards with custom graphics. We are developing a flexible software development kit that users can download and integrate into their iOS or Android app to read the cards. The SDK will be charged on a license basis. We are still working on the details but it will be available in due course."
"The fuel cell we have created is uniquely suited to portable applications. It is compact and ruggedized. Since we go to market with a grid-independent power solution for sensors, we plan to scale our business by developing a fuel cell range extender for battery solutions. The technology can replace or supplement batteries in drones, e-bikes and electric cars."
A joint initiative between INFINITI and startup incubator Nest, INFINITI Accelerator 2.0 is a 12-week, full-time program designed to help start-ups from across the world grow and scale rapidly. The theme of this year's program is "smart cities," and nine different startups who share INFINITI’s vision to improve the future through technology are taking part. Throughout the 12 weeks, the startups receive tailored training and mentorship on the critical components of product development, branding, marketing, financial management and legal advice. The program will culminate in an Investor Demo Day on October 12th, where startups will pitch to influential investors for funding.
How do you plan to SCALE your startup?
Martin Pentenrieder, Co-Founder and COO of Kraftwerk
Kendall Lo, Co-Founder and CEO of Kazoo Technology 11
Interview with the CEO of SCP Aerials Tell us about SCP Aerials. What inspired you to start it? We began experimenting with drone filming about five years ago after winning a bid to film the world’s biggest multi-sport adventure race in Inner Mongolia. The Chinese government had invited the world’s top endurance athletes to race through the deserts and grasslands of the region and we were brought in to film it all. The terrain was vast and the scenery was stunning. Many on my film team were keen amateur endurance racers themselves and we were really excited to try to capture the amazing vistas and show how tiny the athletes appear when confronted by huge sand dunes and rivers. Exploring in this type of wilderness is the very essence of adventure racing so it was really important to capture it.
Also, we all love playing with new technology and we were sure that if we could make it work for this project we could find lots of other uses for it in the future. What are your main projects to date? We have worked on everything from Hollywood movies and TV shows to stadium concerts and construction sites. The application of drone technology is so wide-ranging that there are many areas where it can be useful. Currently, one of our biggest clients is the luxury property sector, as we can capture unique angles for video and photography that help to market new developments. We have also just started offering 360-degree immersive drone filming, which looks
really exciting in VR goggles, and are also developing a drone surveying business to create “orthomosaic” maps of plots of land to help with surveying and industrial inspections. Another development we are experimenting with is using infra-red FLIR cameras on drones to help identify structural damage and find injured persons in wilderness environments. Drone filming is a fast-growing business and a well-established industry in Hong Kong. Can you give us an overview of the industry and how it has grown? When we started five years ago I couldn’t find anyone else doing this in Hong Kong,
By Ludivine Taverne
so we were learning a lot through trial and error. Since then, drones have become household consumer products and are often in the news. Drone manufacturers such as DJI have grown into hugely successful companies and, as a result, drone technology is available to everyone. There are now many people offering to fly drones for money but very few of them are doing it professionally, with government permission, qualifications and insurance. We do a lot of work with DJI and have been meeting regularly with the aviation department here in Hong Kong to help develop regulations that can safely manage the growing industry. Hong Kong is the biggest drone hub in the world. Is the competition for drone filming tight? There is lots of competition as there are lots of people who have drones, but there are very few professional companies doing this properly and safely with permits and insurance. Also, there are very few companies that have our bigger, more sophisticated drones that are customised to carry heavy movie-grade cameras, or the 360 immersive camera rigs that we offer. It is certainly important for us to keep innovating to stay ahead, but it is even more important to keep operating safely. There are raising concerns about safety or privacy with drones. How do you address these? We have been meeting regularly with the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department over the past few years to help communicate the type of requests that we get in a bid to help develop more comprehensive regulations. There are now fairly clear rules about drone use in Hong Kong on the aviation website, although currently it seems that not everyone is aware of them
12 JUMPSTART October/November 2016
or takes notice of them. The key thing we have learned over the years is to make sure that you are clear with all your potential clients about what is possible and legal and what is not, and to think creatively about how you can still achieve interesting results while still working within the rules. As a reference, we have probably turned down around half our job offers since we began due to safety concerns. What were the main challenges you’ve encountered/ solved? The biggest challenge is often not the flying itself, but making sure that your entire operation is organised enough to cope with being under the pressure of a real film shoot. There is a huge difference between flying for fun as a hobbyist somewhere beautiful and quiet, and working on a movie set with hundreds of people around you and multiple directors all shouting different instructions at the same time! It is really important to draw up a basic safety checklist and keep it on hand so that
your team can focus on making sure everything is in place before take-off each time. What is your most memorable moment so far? I recently returned from an adventure documentary shoot in the jungle in Papua New Guinea. I was staying in a remote village and was able to capture some amazing shots of the scenery. The shots looked great so the TV crew were happy, but what was even more fun was showing the footage to the local people who had never seen anything like this before.
governments is deciding how to adapt regulations to fit with these many developments. We are about to take delivery of the newest DJI drone that will help us fly almost any camera, and we are having fun developing our 360-degree immersive filming rig. When you are wearing VR goggles and watching the drone footage, it really feels as though you are flying!
What are 3 things you want consumers to remember about your company? We love being creative, love capturing amazing shots, and also love being safe. Find SCP Aerials on hotreels.tv
What is the future of drone technology according to you? Drones will continue to become smaller, fly for longer and hopefully continue to become safer. There is also a growing industry for companies offering piloting training, qualifications and insurance to wannabe operators. Another big movement now is new technology that allows more autonomous pre-programmed flying. The big challenge for
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15
There's NO tomorrow without entrepreneurs Why Entrepreneurs Matter
Have you ever thought what your world would be like if Google wasn’t around to search random queries like “How long in walking distance is New York from LA?” Or if AirAsia wasn’t founded and you could only afford taking one international trip a year versus five? Or even if Facebook was non-existent and you had to rely on good-old pen & paper to stay in touch with friends? For anyone living today, these are questions you probably couldn’t have even dreamed of 10 years ago. But they exist thanks to the help of entrepreneurs. Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Tony Fernandes and Mark Zuckerberg. These are just a few of the people who have forever changed the world we live in, and highlight just what we can do, when an entrepreneur is given the chance to thrive. Entrepreneurs are the foundation of human progress around the world. Coming from all walks of life, they can revolutionize everything from the way we communicate to the way we travel, and of course the way we live. So why isn’t entrepreneurship better valued? Why is it, in some countries, people are forced to follow the status quo rather than bring their dreams to life?
With more and more countries, especially Asia, opening up their economies and building industries, it’s important to remember that entrepreneurs matter, and for the most part, are the leaders of tomorrow. They ask the most important question: What if? When everyone else around them is content with things the way they are, or would rather just complain about an issue, entrepreneurs are always asking the important questions, and it usually starts with “What if?” What if you designed a better way to tell time? What if there was a simpler way to tracking your savings? Asking these questions is how startups are born. They’re also how people are brought together. Entrepreneurs have the power to build communities with their innovations. When the 'What if’ spark hits them, and they transform it into a business, entrepreneurs are then able to bring together like-minded people who may have otherwise never met. Businesses like Airbnb, GuavaPass, Uber — they’re all built on the idea of like-minded individuals sharing their resources to each other’s benefit, and making lasting connections. What is the most important thing about these communities? They become the
number one channel for securing a startup's growth. Think about it. Un-biased, third-party recommendations always win over prospective customers. Who better to champion your business than your current community? As the old saying goes: there’s no gain without risk. Whether you're deciding to buy a certain house, start a new business, or just decide where to go for dinner, there’s an element of risk in everything we do, and everybody has a different threshold for it. Naturally, humans are more prone to being risk-adverse. For entrepreneurs, that’s normally the opposite. Entrepreneurs welcome risk. They’re usually the first persons in a group to bet everything they have for big potential rewards. But what drives this? Usually its vision. When everyone else around them is thinking about tomorrow’s consequences, entrepreneurs think about the results five years from now. This doesn’t mean entrepreneurs are reckless. They take calculated risks, reviewing decisions from every angle. After taking on the banking world with Paypal, Elon Musk decided to take on automakers with Tesla. Tesla was, for all intents and purposes, losing money every year since launch. That’s 13 years
(founded 2003) in a money-losing business! But he stayed focused. As the cost of fuel rose, and drivers started seeing the long term benefit of electric cars, Tesla’s market share skyrocketed, and expects to make its first profit in 2016. Ask yourself, how would you feel about starting a business you had to wait more than a decade for to turn a profit? Imagine you’re a business that has operated in the same fashion for years, perhaps even centuries. Then all of a sudden, an entrepreneur comes along with a more efficient way to doing your business; winning your customers in the process, and eating away at your market share. You’d be forgiven if your initial feelings were anger and dread, but your next thought should be: what are you going to do about it? Competition is a natural part of any business. But what makes entrepreneurs so unique is not just their ability to compete... Entrepreneurs can virtually rewrite the rules of business overnight. Businesses may frown upon these “disruptors," but they can’t ignore them and certainly can’t get rid of them. Airbnb has almost completely re-defined modern travel. How? They gave today’s travelers what they crave most: experiences. In the process, they’ve
opened up the world to people who may otherwise have never traveled. Hotels have vehemently fought against the platform. But has it stopped Airbnb? Not one bit. Smart hoteliers adapted, creating hotel brands that reflect today’s traveler’s profile instead of making a standard product with copycats in various cities. When entrepreneurs influence change, usually it’s the customer that wins. And without customers, what’s the point of business? It might take just one person to start a business, but... It takes an army to grow a business. Entrepreneurs know their limits, and know when it’s time to call experts. Have a great business idea? How are you going to bring it to life? No one expects you to have all the answers. What’s important is identifying all the key areas in which your business needs support to grow, and looking to others that can put you on the right path. For a business to succeed, multiple skills have to be called upon: accounting, business registration, production, sales, marketing... the list goes on! Of course in the beginning, entrepreneurs will usually have to conduct each one of these tasks, and that’s where programmes like Mojo Nomad
come into the picture, providing all the necessary daily life needs such as accommodation, reliable Internet, self-service laundry and a communal environment among other entrepreneurs to foster a startup’s growth. Soon enough, as the orders start coming in and demand outpaces the 24 hours an entrepreneur has in day, they’ll begin to source others to freelancers or full-time employees to help the business grow. Though being an entrepreneur is not for everyone, it is, however, important for every person to understand the value these bright minds bring to our world. Without their thinking, risk-taking, or even vision, there would be no progress. Entrepreneurs do matter. Without them, how else would we reach our future goals? Amadou Doumbia is an Americanraised, Hong Kong-based writer, communicator, and all-around lover of travel & food. He speaks four foreign languages and loves recommending new and exciting things to people whenever they go somewhere new. When not managing his day job, you’ll probably find him at a happy hour or at the park with his Maltese Terrier, Maxxy.
Directory of Hong Kong's Coworking Spaces Antzpower. 9/F, e-Trade Plaza, 24 Lee Chung Street, Chai Wan
Garage Society. 9/F, 33 Des Voeux Road Central
Brinc PMQ. 7/F of Staunton. No.35 Aberdeen Street, Central
Garage Society. 19/F, 299QRC, 299 Queen’s Road Central
Blueprint. 16/F, Cornwall House, Taikoo Place, 979 King’s Road, Quarry Bay - moving to Dorset House April 2017
Garage Society. Sai Yin Pun, Coming Soon!
Campfire. 4/F, Cheung Hing Industrial Building, 12P Smithfield Road, Kennedy Town Campfire Creative Space. Wong Chuk Hang - Opening October '16 Castle WE. 2/F, International Industrial Building, 501-503 Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok 4 Cats Co-Business Community. Unit 1101, 11/F, Eastern Centre, 1065 King’s Road, Quarry Bay Central Park. 11/F, Daily House, 3537 Haiphong Road, Tsim Sha Tsui Cocoon. 3/F, Citicorp Centre, 18 Whitfield Rd, Tin Hau The Coffee House. 10/F, Aberdeen Industrial Bldg, 236 Aberdeen Main Road Coffice. Unit 1101,11/F, Tower 1, Cheung Sha Wan Plaza, 833 Cheung Sha Wan Road, Lai Chi Kok
The Good Lab. 1/F, The Sparkle, 500 Tung Chau Street, West Kowloon The Good Lab. 5/F, Le Prabell Hotel, 372 Portland Street, Mong Kok HaHaHub. 18/F, Block B, Tung Luen Industrial Building, 1 Yip Shing Street, Kwai Chung The Hive. 21/F, The Phoenix Building No.23 Luard Road, Wan Chai The Hive Kennedy Town. 6/F, Cheung Hing Industrial Building, 12P Smithfield Road, Kennedy Town The Hive Sai Kung. Tai Mong Tsai Road, Sai Kung Hong Kong Commons. 25/F & 27/F, Workington Tower, 78 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan The HKFYG Jockey Club Social Innovation Centre. 11B-E, Genesis, 33-35 Wong Chuk Hang Road The Hub. 1/F, Fortune Building,150-158 Lockhart Road, WanChai
Idea Lab @HKSTP. 2 Science Park West Avenue Hong Kong Science Park, Shatin, New Territories Incu-Lab Space. Unit 2102, 148 Electric Road, Tin Hau Three Keys Craft Space. 907 Paramount Building, 12 Ka Yip Street, Chai Wan The Loft. 12 Ng Fong Street, San Po Kong, Kowloon Metropolitan Workshop. Workshop 301, 313 Castle Peak Road, Kwai Chung Makerbay. Yau Tong Industrial Building Block 2, Sze Shan St, Yau Tong Makerlab. Unit H, 2/F, Tung Kin Factory Building, 200-202 Tsat Tsz Mui Road, North Point Missolink. Unit B, 12/F, King Yip Factory Building, 59 King Yip Street. Kwun Tong, Kowloon Ooosh. Rm 803, 8/F, Lai Cheong Factory Building, 479 Castle Peak Road, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon Paperclip. 3/F, Nam Wo Hong Building, 148 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan Playground.work. 1/F, 244-248 Des Voeux Road Central
Cowork CHM. Unit B, 4/F, Mackenny Centre, no. 660 Castle Peak Road Cowork CHM. Flat 2, 7/F, Kiu Kin Mansion,No 566 Nathan Road, Mongkok, Kowloon The Crafties. 1/F, Sing Kui Commercial Building No. 27 Des Voeux Road West, Sheung Wan Cyberport Smart-Spaces. Units 1205-1208, 12/F, Cyberport 2, 100 Cyberport Rd, Telegraph Bay The Desk. G/F, 511 Queen’s Road West, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong. DimSumLabs. 14/F, 100 Jervois St., Sheung Wan
Fashion Farm Foundation. Unit A, 9/F & 10/F, D2 Place, 9 Cheung Yee Street, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon 18 JUMPSTART October/November 2016
Central Park
Eaton House. 5/F, Champion Tower, 3 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
UpTown Co-workshop
Eaton House
Retro Spot. Unit 4H, Tung Kin Factory Building, 200-202 Tsat Tsz Mui Road, Quarry Bay
Uno Co-working. 10/F, Dawning House, 145 Connaught Road Central
Smithfield Collective. 5/F, Cheung Hing Industrial Building, 12-P, Smithfield Rd, Kennedy Town
Uno Co-working. Rm 706707 JD Mall, 233 Nathan Road Jordan
TGN KT Innovation Hub. 118 Wai Yip Street, Kwun Tong, Kowloon TGN CWB Workhub. 23/F, Island Beverley, 1 Great George Street, Causeway Bay TGN Central Workhub. 8A Winning Centre, 46-48 Wyndham Street, Central TGN TST Workhub. 4/F, Yes & Right House, 1-3 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon Uno Co-working. 6/F, Central 88, No.88-98, Des Voeux Road Central
Uptown Co-workshop. Block A, 2/F, HK Industrial Building, 444-452 Des Voeux Road West WeWork. 535 Jaffe Road Causeway Bay WeWork. 33 Lockhart Road Wanchai The Work Project. 15/F, Soundwill Plaza II-Midtown, 1-29 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay The Wave. 10/F, 4 Hing Yip Street, Kwun Tong The Wynd. Room 10/F, Room 1003, Yu Yuet Lai Bldg. 43-55 Wyndham Street, Lan Kwai Fong
For an up-to-date list of coworking spaces, photos pricing and a map, visit www.jumpstartmag.com or scan the QR code.
A safe environment exclusively for founders to help each other, in HK and around the world. Because only founders truly understand other founders.
foundersquad.hk 19
Kwai Chung
Kowloon
The Loft +852.3905.1000 host@theloft.com.hk theloft.com.hk
15
200 sq ft
Block B, 3/F, Tontex Industrial Building, 2-4 Sheung Hei Street, Kowloon
The Loft coworking space occupies a sprawling 8,000 sqare feet, providing a relaxed atmosphere for people in creative industries. The interior is designed to be comfortable and inspiring for our loft members. m Amenities: Projector, screen, white board, wifi, air-conditioner, reception service, kitchen amenities. Price: $500/HKD per hour. Discount for members. et erat quis
Metropolitan Workshop +852.3955.8550 enquiry@metroworkshop.com.hk www.metroworkshop.com.hk Workshop 301, 313 Castle Peak Road, Kwai Chung, Hong Kong
60 10,000 sq ft
Metropolitan Workshop is a venue with 10,000 sq ft across grounds which offers coworking space, private rooms, virtual workshop and mailbox services to address different needs for our clients. Amenities: Gym facilities, pantry, projector & screen, meeting rooms, Wifi, reception service, secretarial service, desks & chairs, shared fax, printing service, outdoor leisure area and balcony, private shuttle bus, shower room, stage with stadium seating (opening soon). Best Used For: Networking events, seminars, creative workshops, team building events Price: From $100 HKD per hour
Kennedy Town
100
Uptown Co-Workshop Just a stone’s throw away from the HKU station ( Exit E2), Uptown Co-Workship is a cool and chic place where creative minds and start-ups can get together, igniting innovative ideas and make significant connections.
Price: Event area $800 HKD/hour. Meeting room from $150 HKD/hour.
+852 3169 0000 www.hkuptown.com admin@hkuptown.com Block A, 2/F, HK Industrial Building, 444-452 Des Voeux Road West, HK
800 sq ft
Amenities:
Wi-Fi, air conditioning, pantry, TV, coffee machine (complimentary coffee & tea), meeting room, projector & screen, microphone & speaker, white board, printer and photocopy machine.
Best Used For: • • • •
Workshops Press Conference Launch Parties Startup Business
VENUE GUIDE Chai Wan
Three Keys Craft Space +852.2682.8102 www.threekeyshk.com hello@threekeyshk.com 906-907 Paramount Building 12 Ka Yip Street Chai Wan, Hong Kong
Three Keys Craft Space is a hub for individuals and small groups built by makers, for makers. A maker is anyone who creates, ranging from a woodworker to an illustrator to a website designer. In our 3,500 square foot coworking space, our staff, technicians, multiple workshops and open studio area encourage members to bring their ideas to life.
3,500 sq ft Amenities: • Outdoor balcony • Kitchen • Shower • Wifi • Meeting room
The space was created with the goal of having people from different creative backgrounds work together under one roof. Three Keys hopes their members are able to improve their own craft and in turn cultivate the creative community by providing a place for people to connect, collaborate, and work.
Central
Press Start Hong Kong +852.9283.2312 www.pressstart.com.hk events@pressstart.com.hk 3/F, 18 Gilman’s Bazaar, Central, Hong Kong
25
350 sq ft
Situated at the heart of Central, Press Start Hong Kong is an event space with a collection of over 130 board games of all shapes and sizes and a flexible venue configuration that can be customized to meet your event needs. Our 350 square-foot space hosts 25 people comfortably, and the projector and chalkboard wall make this a perfect space to organize team-building social events.
Amenities:
The Press Start team can offer our event planning services to create a games-centric event to best suit your group, with various event formats available, and we are on site to introduce, teach and facilitate. Our network of catering partners also provides food and drink to augment your event experience. For enquiries on event formats, detailed price guide and catering options, please write to us at events@pressstart.com.hk.
Best Used For:
Projector and screen, magnetic chalkboard wall, refrigerator, movable and foldable furniture, custom lighting, 130+ board games.
Team-building events and offsites, private parties, game nights, board game socials.
Shaping the streets of Hong Kong You may have never heard of them, but you've certainly stepped on their product. Ever gone for dim sum in the streets of Hong Kong? Remember the green concrete bricks of PolyU or the yellow ones of Shau Kei Wan pedestrian path? Guess what? All the bricks are ecoconcrete bricks made from recycled glass. Even better, these bricks contain a layer of titanium dioxide that, through chemical reactions, reduce nitrogen oxide emissions (a major greenhouse gas) by 20%! We had the pleasure of meeting Terence Wong, Co-Founder of Tiostone, the social enterprise behind this groundbreaking initiative who changed the streets of Hong Kong and the way glass waste is managed. Back in 2005, the government financed a project on glass recycling at PolyU. The two Co-Founders, Terence and Dixon [Chan] decided to grab this opportunity by building a small factory and creating prototypes
of recycled glass bricks to show that a new paradigm was possible in Hong Kong. Since there were no glass collecting facilities, they had to go straight to the dumpsters and landfills to find glass bottle. They struggled to find clients for their glass bricks and almost bankrupted twice. Yet, they managed to survive. In 2010, they finally convinced the government to change their specifications. Hence, the government became their primary client, buying their product for the pedestrian roads and other public areas of Hong Kong. The good news is that, in 2017, the government will charge a fee to suppliers importing glass and the money will be used to finance the collection of glass bottles. While 300 tons of glass waste are generated daily in Hong Kong, Tiostone definitely has a lot of work to do! Today, Tiostone’s success story
Every day, Hong Kongers produce some 300 tons of waste glass, and just 3 percent of it gets recycled.
22 JUMPSTART October/November 2016
continues as they opened a factory in Myanmar and diversified their activities. In fact, they are now recycling construction waste and never stop researching and testing new types of waste that they can recycle. We wanted to share with you the inspiring story of two entrepreneurs who started with nothing but their willingness to fix an unfortunate environmental reality in their country. The path was not easy, but they kept fighting for their colored glass bricks. Today, they've paved a pathway for better recycling in Hong Kong. by Dinh-Long Pham, Accelerator Officer at So In So Good
Why every
ENTREPRENEUR should think more like a
Do you remember those days when you could dream big and felt that only the sky was the limit? You imagined yourself becoming whatever you wanted, be it an astronaut, a rock star, or a magician. You voiced every idea and never felt nervous about being judged for sounding too crazy. I remember those days. It was some time before I turned twelve.
This summer, I had the privilege of teaching five fantastic youngsters aged 8-11 at Jumpstart Kids, a summer camp for kid entrepreneurs organized by Jumpstart Magazine. Initiated by Yana Robbins, Founder of Jumpstart Magazine, the two-week course was aimed at giving kids the necessary skill sets to start their own business.
24 JUMPSTART October/November 2016
Five kids from different backgrounds gathered at the Paperclip Startup Campus in Sheung Wan and learned all about market research, budgeting, business etiquette, marketing, crowdfunding, and much more. The goal to write, publish and fund a book on a topic that the children would need to identify, research and market, was a challenge that the Jumpstart Kids took on with great enthusiasm. They were especially excited after they heard that Bookazine had already approved the book for sale at eight of their shops in Hong Kong, and that the money raised would go to a charity of their choosing. Successful entrepreneurs came in and shared their startup stories to inspire the kids. We quickly realized these creative children inspired us grownups just as much. The kids taught us how to work together as a team, how to get excited about an idea and stick to it, and how to do so without any selfdoubt. The decision to publish a book on “how to be a good babysitter” was made on day one. It was a topic all of them could relate to, and everyone felt engaged and contributed content.
KID
Natasha was fantastic at presenting the book idea both behind and in front of the camera, and Kale’a impressed us with her background knowledge and attention to detail. Anise did excellent write-ups and illustrations of the progress made. Enric and Martin came up with many attributes of a good babysitter and kept everyone’s spirits high. All of them were fearless when it came to cold-calling potential book sponsors, and their beautiful handwritten letters got the attention of marketers. As entrepreneurs in the making, they were kind to each other regardless of whose turn it was to write the daily blog post or when they decided on Hong Kong Dog Rescue as the charity they wanted to support. They respected each others' opinions without judgment. Every idea was a good idea, and everybody was heard. Entrepreneurs should think more like these kids because their world knows no fear of failure. Instead, limitless creativity and spontaneity fill their
days. They succeed because they are kind, considerate and modest, but self-confident at the same time. Kids have a way of sharing their ideas with this magical sparkle in their eyes that no investor could ever resist. They would pick themselves up if things did not work out the way they had imagined, like recording videos for their crowdfunding campaign over and over again. They keep going, and they keep trying. They learn fast by asking the right questions and don’t waste any time overthinking each and every aspect of a project. They are just doing it, breathing it, living it, sharing it, spreading it. One step at a time. And did I mention that their crowdfunding campaign for the publication costs of the book was fully funded within 72 hours? So next time you encounter a moment of doubt, consider what the Jumpstart Kids and your 8-year-old self would think.
The 38-page book How to Be a Good Babysitter by Jumpstart Kids will be published in mid-October 2016. The English/Chinese publication includes 60+ tips and fun illustrations and is meant to be an introduction for 7-10-year-olds on how to play with a baby/toddler, how to behave as a babysitter and what they should or shouldn't do. Read more about Jumpstart Kids and their book project here: www.jumpstartkids.hk Regina LarkĂś is Content Strategist at Jumpstart Magazine. Most recently she supported clients like The Economist with programming, speaker acquisition, and research. Regina is always on the lookout for inspiring entrepreneurial stories and makes sure to share them with the startup community.
"How to Be a Good Babysitter" will be available at Bookazine and other shops from the end of October. All proceeds will go to supprt the Hong Kong Dog Rescue.
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www.dealnship.com | info@dealnship.com 25
Sustainability for Social Enterprises What Social Enterprises really need
Eighteen months ago, I founded a social enterprise (SE) called MicroForests. I'm regularly asked what others can do — be it the government, big international companies, or friends — to help MicroForests grow. Usually the first answer is funding. However, funding has a limit - once it runs out, it runs out. As an SE we need to be self-sustainable and must make our business model work. We've been fortunate enough to have startup support from some great funders in the past year, but I don’t want to continuously ask for money; that would mean we're a charity and not a business.
empowering, and dignified work, as well as high quality products. As I write this, we just delivered 100 of our Green Hampers (festival baskets) to clients, which is our healthy gift alternative during the festival season. The order came in one week before Mid-Autumn Festival. Our team worked non-stop, but ultimately we delivered. These hampers alone put us into profitability - just like that! It's normal for the buyer to place such an order each season, but for us it was an enormous deal. So how do we do more of this?
So what do social entrepreneurs like us need? We need business. Unfortunately, this means we need contacts with purchasers, which we don't often have. Other SEs also feel the same: help us create sustainable businesses by incorporating us into your supply chains. We don't want the whole contract, just a part of it. A small change in your company can go a huge way for SEs like us.
At a recent conference, a speaker from Europe shared a simple solution. They were a real estate construction company looking to help social enterprises. Merely by writing into the tender that a small percentage of the work had to be sourced from a SE, they were able to bring SEs into a big project. It's a small but significant step. Just think how much five percent of a large company's or government's spending could positively impact SEs. Not only would that help SEs, but perhaps drive it would also traditional businesses into this sector, inspiring them to engage better with the community.
At MicroForests, our intention is not to grow to become a large global enterprise. Our goal is simply to provide steady, flexible work opportunities to our beneficiaries: mothers and their families. We want to be known for honest,
26 JUMPSTART October/November 2016
Will this harm SEs if big businesses come into the mix? Absolutely not. We encourage traditional businesses to adopt social practices just as we increase the impact and scale of our SE. I implore companies that support Hong Kong to actively include us as part of their supply chains and services. Such companies can assign a group of bright young leaders among their staff to help out. Not only are they presented with a rewarding leadership challenge, but they will also learn how to increase social impact from within. By incorporating positive social impact into the supply chain, the mothers and families with whom we work— or whomever the population is that benefits from SEs— can reach their full potential. by Rainbow Chow, Founder of MicroForests
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Caption Contest #7
“Your Caption Here” We provide the image, you provide the funny caption.
Enter by emailing info@jumpstartmag.com with subject line “Jumpstart Caption Contest.” Deadline for submission is November 15, 2016. The prize for the winning entry will receive a
2-night stay at Ovolo Southside Valued at $6,600 HKD
CONGRATULATIONS to Caption Contest Winner Michael Feldman for his winning entry.
"The only way a Pokemon Go addict can kick the habit"
The winning caption will be announced in the next issue of Jumpstart and on jumpstartmag.com. Please read “Caption Rules” on jumpstartmag.com for terms and conditions, and by submitting a caption all entrants agree to these rules.
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