Albert's thoughts manifested in written form...

We joined Startup Asia Singapore.

It’s my first time out of the country alone. Well, technically, I wasn’t really alone. I was with my partner, Nicole, and I loved every bit of it. In fact, I’m still loving it here! If I were to pick one thing that I love the most about Singapore, it would be the fact that despite them being very technologically advanced, the air is very breathable! I could even compare the air here to the fresh “bukid” air of Steven’s farm in Bonbon. :)

I learned so much here. :)

Day One

We attended the pitching rehearsals at Singapore Management University.

We arrived a bit late for the rehearsals so we were not able to take that much pictures. But the school was very cool!!! We rehearsed in one of their classrooms that looked exactly like the picture below.

After hearing a few pitches from the other teams, we quickly realized that we were in the same room with founders of companies with also very interesting and innovative ideas. This was going to be a very exciting week!

Day Two

We headed for the final rehearsals at the event venue, Singpost Centre. We pitched on stage, and we were coached by Sir Jeffrey Paine of Founders Institute Singapore and Battle Ventures.

Here are his notes.

We knew we had a lot more to work on. :)

Day Three

This was quite a relaxing day for us. We were pitching on the second day of the event, so we were able to go around and talk with really cool people - founders, media people, investors, and geeks. :)

This was right before the event started. People were at the back checking out the booths. If you notice, the staircase on the upper left of the pic has the word “FAITH” on it. Yup, our venue was in a church. :)

The first set of startups (there were 19 of us in total) pitched today. We quickly realized that the panel of judges were VERY TOUGH. They asked very tough questions, and challenged the ideas of the founders in a very straightforward way. For example, one judge said something like, “I used something similar to your service before, and its just very annoying.” Oooooh…. How would you answer something like that? Oh well. Just smile and wave. :)

After the first day, I was able to talk again with Sir Jeffrey Paine (the one who coached us), and I asked him a few questions on how to raise funds from investors. His answers were just brilliant! Among many other great tips, he told me that the easiest way to get funding is to get users first. So many of his advises made so much sense. I wish I talked to him a long time ago. I even felt that all my expenses for the trip were already worth it after talking with him for about 15 minutes. :)

Day Four

Today is PITCH DAY for us. And we are so glad that we did well. Thank you, Lord! :)

Link to the Startup Asia Article of SpellDial

Teamie won first place. :)

Shivanu from Teamie, Me, Min Ku of Waffle, and Kwangmin of Waffle.

Though we didn’t win any prize, the lessons we learned, the people we met, and the experience we had fully outweighed all the investment we put in for this trip.

To all our friends and family who supported us, thank you so much!

Special shout outs to Willis Wee and the Penn Olson Team, David Cua, Jen Sarmiento, Tito Em and Tita Lollette, Sir Rod, Ate Ana, Pastor Doug and Jonina, our parents, my brothers and sisters, Chuck, and everyone who prayed for us!

We thank you very much!!!

Above all, we thank God for answering our prayers. :)