Startup Roots Singapore - Global Fellows Program

Building
EngineerList,
the
Startup
Roots
Way

For the community, by the community - one engineer at a time.

Supercharging
emerging
tech
ecosystems,
one
engineer
at
a
time.

26
July
2011

Tuesday, July 26, 11

There’s
no
better
time
to
be
a

tech
startup
software
engineer...


There’s
a
ferocious
war
for

talent
raging
on
in
Silicon
Valley.

Gold,

glory
and
girls
are
up

for
grabs!


NO
T!
But
only
if
Uncle
Sam
loves
you
your
country.


What
matters
most?


People!


The

problem
does
not
lie
with

funding.

Good
money
goes
after
good
people.


Startup-‐friendly
software
engineers
are

a
unique,
minority
breed.

good-‐quality
code
fast
>
great
code
slowly
;it
&
alignment
w.r.t.
risk,
vision,
commitment,
personality
able
to
work
with
little
direction
and
deal
with
ambiguity
fast
and
adaptable


We
focus
on
software
engineers

because
they
are
the
leaders
of

innovation
on
the
internet.

Mark
Zuckerberg
=
engineer
(100%)

Sergey
Brin
&
Larry
Page
=
engineers
(100%)

Jack
Dorsey
&
Ev
Williams
=
engineers
(66%)

It’s
easy
to
hire
MBAs
to
tell
a
tech
startup
how
to
make

money
once
it
has
users,
rather
than
vice
versa.


Production
or
conversion
of
talent

via
education
cannot
happen
quick

enough.
g
din
fun y
New
model
needed
to
idit
liqu
create
sustainable

y
vit
cti
pipeline
of
smart
&

du
startup-‐friendly

ro
r
p
software
he
engineers hig
,
ages
high
w v e
from
et, , mo t
rk ers
Stree

ma g ine Wall
e nt l y
en fro
m

t al nd ert

H ot -‐frie
conv
up r
art y
o
f
st
Valle
e
o
t ag the
S hor ec osystem
h
at

+ of
esh
blood” exits
de

Lack
of
“fr
=


Overview
Derrick
Ko
James
Chan Zai
Zhuang Software
Engineer,

Investment
Manager,
Product
Manager,
Anafore Pivotal
Labs
Neoteny
Labs

• Singapore
chapter
• At
end
of
program,

of
parent
chapter
fellows
either
join

in
Silicon
Valley startups,
go
back

to
school
or
are

inspired
to
start

• Fellowship
new
companies
program
for
elite

software

• Platform
to

connect
curated

• Intern
for
10
list
of
talent
with

weeks
at
best

curated
list
of

startups
in

startups
Singapore
• To
date,
8
speaker

• Interns
are
series
([ireside

selected
for
quality
chats)
have
been

with
process
akin
organized,
with

to
typical
startup
strong
attendance

• During
fellowship,
fellows
• Access
to
tech
events

recruitment and
advisers by
community
attend
regular
Speaker
Series

for
added
perspectives
&

exposure


Inaugural
Startup
Roots
SG
Fellows

• 10
weeks
from
May
2011
• Applications
-‐ 60+
applications
from
NUS,
NTU
and
SMU
-‐ 8
accepted,
of
which
6
joined
as
fellows
(10%)
• Startups:
25
participating,
of
which
5
accepted
fellows
• Speaker
Series
-‐ 8
sessions
held
as
of
26
July
2011
-‐ Guest
speakers
include
experienced
investors
(Joi
Ito),
entrepreneurs
(Darius

Cheung,
Derek
Sivers)
and
engineers
(Carl
Coryell-‐Martin,
Bunnie,
Ian

McFarland,
Jeff
Jonas)
• Feedback
-‐ Fellows
are
loving
the
experience;
will
spread
the
word
to
their
peers
-‐ Startups
are
asking
if
we
have
more
where
they
(fellows)
came
from
-‐ Community
is
saying
they
can
see
very
positive
changes
in
fellows


My
Paper
-‐
25
Jul
2011

Talks,
Networking Fun
&
Camaraderie


While
encouraging,
current
model
lacks
momentum

Singapore-‐based
talent
source
limited;
net
needs
to
be
cast
wider;

model
needs
to
be
scaled
up
for
full
potential
to
be
realized


In
designing
Startup
Roots’
Engineer-‐in-‐Residence

initiative,
we
drew
inspiration
from
near
and
far.

Social
Engineering
Guru

We
attempted
to
crystallize
the
best
of
all
worlds,
to
achieve
win-‐
win-‐win
for
all
stakeholders
involved.


• To
fellows,
Startup
Roots
is...
-‐ On-‐the-‐job
technical
training
-‐ Startup
work
experience
&
exposure;
see
what
works,
what
doesn’t
-‐ Excuse
to
come
to
Singapore
for
3
months
and
check
Asia
out

• To
startups,
Startup
Roots
is...
-‐ Reverse
recruitment
network
-‐ Risk
mitigation
of
potential
new
hires
-‐ Cost-‐eficient
source
of
talent

• To
ecosystem,
Startup
Roots
is...
-‐ A
way
to
get
involved,
contribute,
give
back
-‐ By
the
community,
for
the
community
-‐ Source
of
new
human
capital,
possibly
even
new
deal
low


Startup
Roots

Select
&
award
3
batches
/
yr:
prestigious
Spring Outcome
1:
Summer At
worst,
we’ll

fellowship
that
Fellow
gets
hired
solve
the
hiring

comes
with
Fall
by
participating
problem
faced

cash startup by
startups.
3
x
10
weeks

Startup
Roots Outcome
2:
Singapore
Fellow
goes
back
to
Future

Fellowship school
or
back
to
evangelists

home
country for
platform
+

Speaker
Series Outcome
3:
Fellow
Minds
co-‐ Feed
early-‐stage

Global
fellow
spends
3

months
with
1
startup;
founder
in
other
deal
[low
to
angels.

fellow
or
from
venture
investors

startup
“job
fair”

matchmaking ecosystem,
starts
and
incubators
in

new
company ecosystem


Early
Talent
Distribution
has
been
built

and
around
the
world:
• Other
tech
universities
• Hackerspaces
• Geek
events
like
Pycon,
Rubyconf,

Barcamp,
etc
• Any
country
with
good
concentration

of
software
engineers
(ready
for
hire)


Fellowship

• Per
Fellow
-‐ Fellowship
cash
of
S$7,500
in
total
for
3
months

-‐ Startup
pays
them
a
minimum
recommended
monthly
stipend

-‐ Startup
repays
S$10,000
if
Fellow
gets
hired;
recycled
into

fellowship
kitty

• Fundraising
• Minimum:
S$500,000
to
bootstrap
66
fellows

• Ideal:
S$1,000,000
for
more
fellows
+
operating
budget

• Sources:
private
individuals,
foundations
and
public

stakeholders


Options
for
longer-‐term
Sustainability

• “First-‐look”
round
-‐ $15,000
per
company
per
batch
of
fellows
-‐ If
fellow
is
hired
during
irst-‐look,
company
pays
greater
of
(3
x
monthly

gross
x
#
hired
less
S$15,000)
or
nothing
(if
prior
computation
is
≤$15k)
-‐ If
fellow
is
selected
for
internship,
and
hired
after
10
weeks,
no
extra
fee

needed
-‐ “Willing-‐buyer,
willing-‐seller”

• “Main”
round
• Company
that
paid
for
irst-‐look
and
didn’t
ind
a
match
will
join
rest
of

companies
in
main
round;
2nd
chance
• Participating
company
that
didn’t
pay
for
irst-‐look
repays
$10,000
for
each

fellow
it
hires

• Voluntary
Pledge
by
Fellows:
$X
or
Y%
of
$Z
cap
gains
over
career
• 25%
of
pledge
from
each
fellow
put
back
into
common
pool,
split
equally

with
every
fellow
past,
present
and
future
• Or
pledged
back
for
more
fellowships!


In
a
nutshell,
Startup
Roots
Engineer-‐in-‐
Residence
is...

• A
means
to
systematically
groom
and
maximize
high-‐
potential
talent
in
software
engineering;

• A
sustainable
platform
to
concentrate
smart
passionate

and
hungry
individuals
in
a
single
city;

• “Mechanization
of
serendipity”;

• The
red
pill
for
life’s
rat
race
that
is
our
Matrix;

• An
investment
in
individuals,
with
a
good
chance
to

become
a
self-‐forming
Foundation
over
10
-‐
25
years;
and

• The
source
for
awesome
startup-‐friendly
engineers
=

EngineerList
of
the
world!


Why
this
is
important

• Asia
is
the
future.
Singapore
is
a
good
testbed
for
an

alternative
model,
with
its
Blexible
pro-‐talent

immigration
policy,
concentration
of
budding
&
good

tech
startups
and
high
quality
of
life;

• In
under
2
years,
we
think
we’ll
have
(outside
of
the

Valley)
the
best
source
of
smart
startup
friendly
hackers;

• Global
virality:
Fellows
build
startups
in
Singapore
or

spread
the
movement
to
their
home
city;
and

• A
model
for
emerging
tech
ecosystems
around
the

world!


Call
to
Action

• [Ideation
reDinement]
Do
you
believe
in
this
model?
Are

there
ways
to
improve
this
further?

• [Investment]
Would
you
consider
contributing
$
(however

little
or
much)
to
our
Global
fellowship,
to
help
us
build

EngineerList?

• [Investor
referral]
Do
you
know
of
stakeholders
who

would
see
value
in
this
and
consider
“investing”
in
the
non-‐
proit
fellowship?

• [Distribution]
Do
you
know
of
interesting
pockets
of
talent

that
we
can
tap
on?

• [Grassroot
action]
Can
you
help
us
spread
the
word?


Startup Roots Singapore - Global Fellows Program

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