If you are new to the local ecosystem, Meng recommends that you familiarize yourself with a range of entities and resources.
- Blogs include e27, James Chan, YoungUpstarts, and SG Entrepreneurs which runs a Google calendar of events
- The Media Entrepreneur’s Guide to Singapore is a downloadable PDF of a book that lists who’s who and offers some advisory essays
- Meng’s Map of Singapore’s funding sources and Gamer’s Guide to Startups offer a few resources
- Sigint is a local reddit / Hacker News for startups
- EnterpriseOne is a government one-stop-shop for starting a business and obtaining grants and incentive programs.
- SPRING is one of the major agencies offering funding support to startups, notably SEEDS and TECS.
- The Media Development Authority has a department called IDMPO which runs a lot of programs, notably iJam and iMatch.
- The Infocomm Development Authority is the government’s CTO and runs a number of industry development programs also.
- BANSEA and SVCA are industry associations of local angel and VC investors.
Resources below this line are less universal.
- IIPL is an IDA investment arm that will co-invest (follow, not lead) VC rounds with the aim of bringing foreign startups to SG.
- International Enterprise Singapore is responsible for helping a Singapore startup grow overseas.
- The EntrePass is a visa category for foreigners who want to move to SG to start companies. In practice it is by from the only way to do so.
Hugh recently set up a google group for folk from outside Singapore interested in doing business here, and also posted a load of grunge video interviews with local entrepreneurs to give a sense of what business life is like here.
If you are a budding entrepreneur, see also: So You Want To Be An Entrepreneur.
