I was recently invited to a business forum called “Cutting Edge.” The keynote speaker was a fellow Singaporean Jenny Lee, who is the only female managing partner at GGV Capital. The firm is a USD6.2 billion behemoth that manages capital across 13 funds and has a fantastic record of backing 52 unicorns – startups that have passed USD 1 billion in valuation.
Jenny made the Forbes Global 100 VC Midas List in 2014, ranked as the #1 woman and #10 overall in 2015 and was recognised by The New York Times and CB Insights among the top 100 venture capital investors worldwide in 2016. In 2018, she was ranked 87 in the Forbes World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list.
Here’s the top 10 insights I learnt first-hand while listening to her:
#1 – Governments have rules. Entrepreneurs don’t. The greatest entrepreneurs on the planet have to “suspend disbelief” while working on products and services that will disrupt industries, impact humanity and change the world.
#2 – The 3 Fits. VCs are on the lookout for founders/entrepreneurs who “fit” the following criteria: market, product and investor. It’s basically a sweet spot between the market readiness/opportunity, the actual product itself and the like likeability factor between the founder and the VC.
#3 – The 3 DDs. Assuming there’s interest, VCs will be conducting due diligence on 3 minimum areas: business, legal and financial.
#4 – Understand your market deeply. As an example, Jenny mentioned that 95% of China’s smartphone base uses android. So, someone who develops an App for iPhone and peddles it in China wouldn’t be very smart. Additionally, although big trends seem to come from USA, cycles in China change faster. As an example, a new social app hits the USA every once in 5-10 years. In China, it’s once in 2-4 years because China has a much larger social demographic.
#5 – Scale 100 times. An entrepreneur would have a bigger chance to attract a top VC if he were to develop autonomous cars “in the air” compared to autonomous cars on the road. Infrastructure on roads is finite. Air space (with different altitudes) is infinite.
#6 – Resilience matters. There was a time when Alibaba almost went bust, with remaining funds lasting only a maximum of two months. This caused them to bootstrap heavily, execute some uncomfortable layoffs and launch a “back to China, back to core” initiative. This allowed them to extend their runway from 2 months to 18 months, and the rest is history.
#7 – AI doesn’t steal jobs. Contrary to popular belief, AI – or artificial intelligence, doesn’t steal jobs. It creates them. In the ride-sharing industry alone, players like Didi, Grab, Uber and Go-Jek have created upwards of 7 million jobs. Tech creates jobs.
#8 – Large caps give big clues. To get an overall feel of a country, look at the large caps and where they are heading. As an example, looking at Tencent and Alibaba will provide clues on how China and its tech scene is developing.
#9 – Growth over valuation. Don’t worry too much about getting a record valuation when you raise cash. Winning is done at the end, not at the start. Focus on growing the company.
#10 – Live simply. Love what you do. Sleep well. Focus on what matters and give 100% when it does. Walk away when it doesn’t.
