This is a keynote presentation that I shared for the launch of the MaGIC Startup Academy in Malaysia. The theme is challenging startup conventions, or thinking in ways which are different than what is commonly accepted. It comes from my observation that startups - while doing things that are new and different - are often expected to follow a set path to success. The presentation is divided into three parts: 1) The growth of the New York tech ecosystem and how it was unique from Silicon Valley 2) The opportunities for the Malaysian tech ecosystem (and all up-and-coming tech ecosystems) through the lens of a Challenger mentality 3) Nine ways that I've challenged conventional thinking in startup marketing and growth

1. CHALLENGING
STARTUP CONVENTIONS
CEZARY PIETRZAK
MaGIC Entrepreneurship Center
Kuala Lumpur,
October 15, 2014
@cezinho

2. SELAMAT PAGI!
@cezinho

3. MY BACKGROUND
@cezinho
2000 - 2004
2005 - 2008
CEZARY & CO
2008 - 2012
2012
2013
2014

4. WHAT I’LL SHARE TODAY
The story of New York tech
Malaysia and the Challenger approach
Contrarian views on growth
@cezinho

5. THE STORY OF NEW YORK TECH
@cezinho

6. IN 2008, NYC WAS NOT AN EXCITING
PLACE FOR TECHNOLOGY
Few startups
Few co-working spaces
Few accelerators and incubators
Few VCs and angel investors
Very little tech culture
No external support
@cezinho

7. BUT THE BANKING CRISIS TURNED
INTO A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
Wall St. developers mixed with non-technical people
First-time entrepreneurs became the norm
@cezinho

8. IN JUST A FEW YEARS, NYC BECAME THE
#2 STARTUP HUB IN THE WORLD
Entrepreneurs took charge
Startup excitement spread everywhere
VCs, accelerators, co-working spaces followed
New York passed Boston and Seattle in funding
Even the local government got involved
@cezinho

9. WE STOOD OUT THROUGH OUR
CONFIDENCE, ATTITUDE AND HARD WORK
We were self-reliant
We helped each other out
We succeeded with limited resources and experience
We weren’t afraid of starting during a recession
“If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere”
@cezinho

10. WE PLAYED TO OUR STRENGTHS
Diversity in people
Diversity in industries
Welcoming attitude
Fantastic place to live
Geographic proximity
Rise of tech-enabled businesses
@cezinho

11. AND WE NEVER ASPIRED TO BECOME
SILICON VALLEY
Infrastructure is not our core focus
We’re OK discussing revenue
We don’t only talk about startups :-)
@cezinho

12. SIMPLY PUT, WE WEREN’T AFRAID TO
BREAK CONVENTIONS
convention (n):
a way in which something is usually done,
especially within a particular area or activity
@cezinho

13. MALAYSIA + THE CHALLENGER APPROACH
@cezinho

14. MALAYSIA TODAY REMINDS ME OF
NEW YORK TECH IN ITS EARLY DAYS
A few big exits
A new crop of startups
Rising number of VCs
Thriving startup communities + hubs
@cezinho

15. THE ECOSYSTEM HAS AN
EXCELLENT FOUNDATION
Rapid economic growth
Central location in Asia
Multilingual and diverse culture
High Internet and mobile penetration
Low overhead to start a business
Tax breaks for startups and investors
Low advertising costs
MaGIC…and Cheryl Yeoh!
@cezinho

16. BUT DOUBTS AND QUESTIONS
REMAIN
Lack of talent
Lack of money and resources
Too much competition from Singapore
Lack of trust in local companies
Difficulty expanding to Southeast Asia
Second-mover disadvantage
Founder disagreements
@cezinho

17. TO SUCCEED, IT MUST TURN
NEGATIVES INTO POSITIVES
@cezinho
Learn the skills you lack
Use what you have and always give first
Collaborate with other startup hubs
Gain local validation via association
Use cultural know-how to your advantage
Exploit competitor weaknesses
Do your homework ahead of time
Lack of talent
Lack of money and resources
Too much competition from Singapore
Lack of trust in local companies
Difficulty expanding to Southeast Asia
Second-mover disadvantage
Founder disagreements

18. LEAN ON ITS STRENGTHS
#1 airline in Asia (AirAsia), growing tourism, world-class destinations
@cezinho
Travel
E-commerce
Retail
Finance
Automotive
external validation (Rocket Internet / Zalora), rising stars (Christy Ng)
extremely large shopping malls, rise of BLE / iBeacons
access to foreign capital, top-tier Islamic banking, strong currency
rise of auto tech and car apps, existing industry (Proton, Formula 1)

19. AND EMBRACE THE
CHALLENGER MENTALITY
Try harder
Make sacrifices
Be nimble and adaptive
Become a thought leader
Don’t please everyone
Develop a clear identity
@cezinho

20. CHALLENGERS ARE ALL UNDERDOGS,
BUT THEY COME IN DIFFERENT FLAVORS
@cezinho
Democratizer
David
& Goliath
People’s
Champion
Human
Connector
Maverick
Missionary
Informed
Zagger

21. WHICH CHALLENGER STORY
ARE MALAYSIAN STARTUPS TELLING?
“Quiet Success”
Strong
Resilient
Focused
Subtle
Unassuming
@cezinho

22. CONTRARIAN VIEWS ON GROWTH
@cezinho

23. MY VIEWS ON GROWTH OFTEN
RUN AGAINST STARTUP CONVENTIONS
“What important truth do very few
people agree with you on?”
Peter Thiel, Co-Founder of Paypal
@cezinho

24. PUT PEOPLE AT THE CENTER
OF YOUR COMPANY
People ≠ users
People define your product
People also have lives outside of your product
People are important in both B2B + B2C
@cezinho
! #1
NOT USERS

25. ANSWER THE “WHY?”
WITH DEEP HUMAN INSIGHTS
Be empathetic
Observe your customer’s behaviors
Focus on meaning, not information
Use quantitative data to inform, not dictate
Develop right-brain skills
@cezinho
NOT DATA
! #2

26. INVEST IN RELATIONSHIPS
Relationships require commitment
Relationships have multiple layers
Mobile relationships are even more challenging
But when nurtured properly, relationships are lasting
@cezinho
NOT SALES
! #3

27. FOCUS ON ONE:
CUSTOMER, NICHE, MESSAGE
You can’t be everything to everyone
Clearly define your customers
Start small, expand later (think: monopoly)
Repeat messaging multiple times until it resonates
@cezinho
NOT MANY
! #4

28. CELEBRATE GREAT IDEAS
Ideas are grossly undervalued relative to execution
VCs are the biggest culprit of this trend
As a result, there is surplus of poorly-built startup clones
Great ideas get people excited, execution only gets you money
@cezinho
NOT EXECUTION
! #5

29. CREATE A MINIMUM
BEAUTIFUL PRODUCT
Mediocre is no longer good enough
Build something customers will love
Use each opportunity to “wow”
Beautiful ≠ overbuilt
@cezinho
NOT MINIMUM VIABLE
! #6

30. THINK FIRST,
TEST LATER
“Test it” is the answer to everything today
But testing is often a symptom of weak hypotheses
Many people do testing incorrectly
Testing tools are imperfect
@cezinho
NOT TEST FIRST
! #7

31. CREATE A GROWTH PROCESS
There is no silver bullet for growth
Process is an input, tactics (‘hacks’) are an output
Process is scalable, repeatable and industry agnostic
Great process is captured in a playbook
@cezinho
NOT A HACK
! #8

32. MAKE GROWTH
A TEAM SPORT
No one person can grow a startup alone
Marketing + design + engineering must all work together
The independence of these functions is only growing
Growth must have buy-in at the CEO level
@cezinho
NOT SOLITARY
! #9

33. IN SUMMARY, NINE DIFFERENT WAYS
TO VIEW GROWTH
@cezinho
People
Insights
Relationships
One Focus
Ideas
Minimum Beautiful
Think First
Growth Process
Team Growth
Users
Data
Sales
Many Activities
Execution
Minimum Viable
Test First
Growth Hack
Solitary Growth

34. WE’LL DISCUSS THESE GROWTH THEMES
DURING MY TWO WORKSHOPS
@cezinho
Today
Wed Oct 15th
2:00pm - 6:00pm
“Building a foundation
for growth”
Tomorrow
Thu Oct 16th
2:00pm - 6:00pm
“Creating a repeatable
growth process”

35. MALAYSIA BOLEH!
@cezinho

36. LEARN ABOUT
MARKETING + GROWTH + MOBILE AT
CEZARY.CO