Working in a startup hub internationally

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kraf...@umn.edu

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Aug 30, 2016, 1:25:29 AM8/30/16
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Hey everyone, my name is Will Kraft, and this is my first post on OpenFrog! I just finished interning at a stealth-mode consumer startup in San Francisco, United States last summer. After that experience, volunteering in Guatemala in January, and studying in Spain during the spring semester I became really interested in working with startups internationally. I emailed Mr. Mason at JFDI last week because I read about how successful JFDI has been, and given Mr. Mason's experience moving to Singapore from the UK, I figured I could learn a lot from his experience!

He recommended I check out OpenFrog, and it looks like a really helpful resource! Does anyone here have any experience or tips for working in a startup hub in a country that's different from the one in which you grew up? Especially for those who are currently working in Singapore but not originally from Singapore—what have been the biggest challenges you've faced?

Hugh Mason

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Aug 30, 2016, 2:58:14 AM8/30/16
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Thanks for posting here Will

On 30 August 2016 at 04:11, <kraf...@umn.edu> wrote:
Does anyone here have any experience or tips for working in a startup hub in a country that's different from the one in which you grew up? Especially for those who are currently working in Singapore but not originally from Singapore—what have been the biggest challenges you've faced?

I blogged about this here: http://www.jfdi.asia/blog/2010/08/29/5951 some years ago but could add a load more things I got wrong since then!

drllau

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Sep 6, 2016, 2:55:59 PM9/6/16
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Someone once said, the difference between a journey and just a trip are the travellers you meet along the way. Every country is pushing their model of startup, from the bootcamps to Y-combinator to Startup Chile model (6+ months). Some places are definitely international in scope (eg Chile have a policy of ~30% international teams to season their locals) whereas others are most definitely local (eg many academic spinouts). It is hard to quantify culture but some signs to look for (speaking as sweat equity)
 - do the co-founders set the pace of being there crack of dawn and plugging away late at night or is it a mayana attitude 
- OPM ... how do co-workers treat other people's money versus their own
- sense of mission ... let's face it, startup is more a marathon than a sprint so you need a higher purpose to keep the hires motivated than just making $$, at least if in for the long-haul through the funding valleys of death

Some warning signs ... 
- be careful if all public monies, this may be transient political winds rather than sustainable ecosystem
- difference between commitment v involvement ... would people be doing it anyway rather than just for the fad du jour
- basic business environment ... if you can't trust your customers, colleagues, contracts then you're be either fighting fires or spinning wheels, especially if you've never encountered corruption previously

will....@xxfwd.com

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Sep 9, 2016, 3:38:10 AM9/9/16
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Hi Dr. Lau, thanks for your really detailed advice! I hadn't thought too much about how important the government's long-term commitment to developing a startup ecosystem is, but especially when it's the driving force behind the ecosystem's development—as seems to be the case in Chile—it totally makes sense that a change in political winds could cause a startup ecosystem to struggle.

The article whose link was in Mr. Mason's post makes clear that the only way to really understand another culture is to spend a lot of time living in that other culture, but because a startup is a lot work regardless of where it's from, your point that knowing the time that founders dedicate to their startup is a good way to get a feel for the strength of the culture of a startup ecosystem makes sense!

will....@xxfwd.com

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Sep 9, 2016, 3:38:11 AM9/9/16
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Hi Mr. Mason, thank you for your reply! I apologize for the delay—I honestly must have completely missed the email notification, and I didn't see your message until I got a notification for drllau's post below.

That's a great article that you forwarded to me, and it's exactly what I was hoping to learn about your experience moving to Singapore. The section about the idea of face was particularly interesting, and I have a quick question about directly asking what a Singaporean wants from a meeting. When asking someone, "What do you want from me?", even politely, are there situations when that has been perceived as rude by the person you ask? What's the best way to deal with those situations?

If there are any resources you've found helpful for understanding face, I'd definitely read them!

Hugh Mason

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Sep 9, 2016, 5:53:15 AM9/9/16
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On 9 September 2016 at 10:42, <will....@xxfwd.com> wrote: 

If there are any resources you've found helpful for understanding face, I'd definitely read them!

Face does seem to be both fascinating and confusing to Westerners because the closest thing we have to it is 'dignity' which is actually quite different. When I ask local friends to explain about it to me they find it very difficult because it's so normal to them. Perhaps someone reading this will feel able to comment.

Meanwhile, there is a fascinating book about cultural differences in general which I found very helpful:

kraf...@umn.edu

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Sep 9, 2016, 8:31:25 PM9/9/16
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Thanks for posting those links! I bet the only way to truly understand face is to actually experience living in a culture where face is heavily involved in all social interaction, but these articles seem really helpful for understanding it. The International Man link highlighted a key difference in Eastern and Western approaches to a common situation that I hadn't thought about by pointing out that refusing an offer for a ride would cause someone to lose face, and the Wikipedia article about face had a really good overview of face!
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