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First 2013 Demo Day to be brought to investors by Global Brain Corporation

7143906481_915f4c7f07_mSingapore, 23 May 2013 — JFDI.Asia Pte Ltd today announced the final line up of start-ups for the Demo Day of its first 2013 seed accelerator program. The presentation, sponsored by Global Brain Corporation of Japan, already has over 100 investors confirmed to attend including 500 Startups’ Geeks On A Plane.
Startups pitching for seed funding for the first time will include: Scrollback, a micro-forum platform for open communities; Collabspot, which helps salespeople collaborate within Gmail; Krake, a data harvesting engine that brings the benefits of big data to individuals; Klinify, a patient record management platform that fits clinics’ workflows; Duable (讀able), using computational linguistics to customize learning language; OurHealthMate, a payment gateway to secure family healthcare; and UserScout, an end-to-end research process management tool. Returning to the stage after a year of growth, JFDI alumni Fetch Plus and Flocations will share their progress and invite dialogue with Series A funders.
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AIM – one of the Secrets of Startup Success

Lean Startup Methodology will get you nowhere without an AIM, JFDI.Asia’s Meng Wong tells Hugh Mason. Domain expertise gives you an AIM, then the lean METHOD can help you apply an INSIGHT to break through and do something new.

Puke Alert – this video contains totally groovy motion stabilization artefacts

Startup Clinic in Bangkok

imageYesterday I met with a group of entrepreneurs and held Startup Clinic workshop at HUBBA for the whole day. It was a crash course of JFDI’s 100 days. We had great time. I really enjoyed the topics of conversation, and shared some of the oft discussed ideas at JFDI.Asia, writes Ray Wu

Want JFDI Startup Clinic to come to your city? Read the rest of blog to see the curriculum and content.

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Frogtest: Opening the box on Tate & Tonic

One of the strongest applicants to JFDI.Asia’s bootcamp that couldn’t join us this time around was Tate & Tonic (http://tatetonic.com), so when Singapore’s best-dressed serial entrepreneur and JFDI mentor John Tan walked in to Open House on Friday with a Tate & Tonic box, we couldn’t resist opening it. In Singapore’s fast-evolving e-commerce marketplace, the Tate & Tonic promise to guys is “Looking Good, Made Easy” – so is there hope for Collabspot.com counder Jeremi Joslin and sartorially-challenged CEO Hugh Mason?

Friends are electric

photo (10)I found myself driving the future this morning. Not today’s future, but the future I had imagined when I was a teenager. The passion that made me want to become an engineer came flooding back and I felt lifted up by the excitement of what a group of 100 or so startups around me are trying to do.

Politics is the same as it was 3,000 years ago. Artists still struggle to express the human condition. But technology changes things and opens up new possibilities. JFDI.Asia is based in Singapore’s future factory at Block 71, Ayer Rajah Crescent and I am now old enough to admit without shame that I love being part of it, writes Hugh Mason.

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How Startups Grow Up – with Tom Lokenvitz

Like JFDI.Asia, all electric transport company smove.sg is going through a transition from being a start-up to a growing company. CEO Tom Lokenvitz shares the challenges of changing culture, prioritzing what creates value and working out what’s relevant from an MBA to life as an entrepreneur.

Practising a Pitch … The Peter Browne Way

It’s day 49 at the JFDI.Asia 2013A bootcamp and the start-up teams are beginning training with Peter Browne, former actor and now founder of Intangible Productions. Peter teaches start-up teams how to feel relaxed and confident in front of an audience and how to deliver their pitch for maximum impact.

JFDI.Asia alumnus Tribehired closes S$696,000 seed investment

Investor Picture2JFDI.Asia Alumnus Tribehired.com, a social recruitment website, today announced that it had closed a S$696K (US$560K) seed funding round led by TNF Ventures (TNF) through the Technology Incubation Scheme under the National Research Foundation (NRF) within the Singapore Prime Minister’s Office. The round was supported by Singapore-based angel investors Ben Ball and Ben Chew.

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Welcome to the Innovation Campus


8490963961_a1c4697d17_oToday, after months of construction work, we finally launch the Joyful Frog, our 4,800sq ft innovation campus at Blk 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent! Founders, funders, freelancers, and friends of innovative business are very welcome to join as members and residents. Seasoned entrepreneurs get a home-from-home to meet, work, and relax alongside first-timers, international mentors and teams selected for our accelerator program.

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Start-up secrets I wish I had known – Cameron Priest, tradegecko

One year after he brought his start-up tradegecko to JFDI.Asia, co-founder and CEO Cameron Priest is back on the program, this time as a mentor. Armed with seed funding and hard-won experience, he shares the insights he wished he’d known when he was starting up with JFDI.Asia CEO Hugh Mason.

His top three tips?

  • Get a landing page up there early
  • Start charging customers as soon as you can
  • Build confidence with investors by showing them you are tracking metrics and hitting targets