PRESS RELEASE
Smart City Solutions Galore at SITEC’s StartupQuest Selangor
Shah Alam, 6th June 2016 – The inaugural StarupQuest Selangor (SQSEL) celebrated its first three winners in a ceremony at the end of the two-day startup creation competition themed “Smart City Living: Towards a Smarter Selangor” at the Selangor Digital Creative Centre (SDCC).
Held over the weekend of the 28th and 29th of May, SQSEL saw a total of 60 participants pitching ideas, and culminating in a grand total of nine teams of strangers grouping up to compete and develop a working prototype for their ideas.
The panel of judges in charge of determining the results were Dr. Lau Cher Han, Chief Executive Officer of the League of Extraordinary Developers (LEAD), Kamal Zainul, Chief Financial Officer of Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, and Goh Boon Peng, Chief Executive Officer of local crowdfunding platform MyStartr and Manager of SITEC’s E-Commerce Education programmes.
L-R: Judges Dr. Lau Cher Han, Kamal Zainul and Goh Boon Peng
“While most of the ideas were the usual suspects, I stand surprised as the participants were not simply coming from the perspective of where they think there is a need, but are actually looking to solve a validated problem,” said Dr. Lau.
“There were a few ideas that are highly scalable, and are in a niche industry that has no clear market leader yet,” Dr Lau added.
“Cradle has long been a strong advocate for the startup scene in Malaysia. We believe that the local startup ecosystem can benefit from the involvement of more industry players through programs such as StartupQuest Selangor by SITEC,” said Kamal.
“Ensuring a healthy growth of local startups as well as promoting success is definitely a shared vision,” he added.
About StartupQuest Selangor
Team “Mother Trucker”, who wants to develop a Food Truck tracking app
SQSEL was inspired by wildly popular international startup events, such as Startup Weekend and Global Startup Battle, and seeks to facilitate the growth and success of startups in Selangor.
Organised by the Selangor Information Technology and E-Commerce Council (SITEC) with the support of the League of Extraordinary Developers (LEAD), and Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, SQSEL aims to reach out to Malaysians, with a particular focus on Selangor, in order to encourage the public, especially students, to be involved in the startup scene, and at the same time be involved in directly having a stake in the growth of Selangor.
StartupQuest starts with a mandatory pre-SQSel Entrepreneur Workshop held over 2 days in the preceding weekend. SQSel is special in that anyone, even the inexperienced are able to pick up valuable skills and knowledge such as website creation, app creation, pitching tips and BMC (Business Model Canvas) in order to propel them to better structure and plan to convert ideas to actual working prototypes.
In the programme itself, participants will be able to pitch their ideas to the rest. All participants are then able to vote for the ideas they believe strongly in. This process ensures that ideas are first-stage validated by the community. Votes are then tabulated and progenitors of the most popular ideas get to call out for team mates who can bring various strengths to the table.
After teams are formed, they are given the time, space and resources to work on their concepts to produce a working prototype and to present their prototype to the judges.
Mentors
Participants worked in teams focused on creating prototypes of their ideas, with the guidance of the following mentors:
- Jam Lam – UI and UX designer for ServisHero
- Gary Boon – Founder of Wofollow.com
- Ally Kuah – Founder of Wofollow.com
- Chua Kai Suan – CEO of Mices Technology
- Eric Tan – CTO of TheLorry.com
- Shee Tze Jin – Founder of WeMaker
- Kenzo – Co-Founder & CTO at Bizstory
- Vivan Raaj – Trainer
- Benson Chang – Founder of Tableapp
- Rickson Goh – Founder of Tourplus
- Jerry Hang – Founder of Getdoc
- Chris Ching – Co-Founder of Getdoc
- Bryan Soong – Founder & CEO at Bizstory
- Dr. Lau Cher Han – CEO at LEAD
Mentors Benson Chang (TableAPP) and Jerry Hang (Getdoc)
About the Intensive Full Stack MVP Bootcamp
Aside from receiving six months of free access to working space at SDCC and cash prizes, the first place winner is also entitled to free access to a 5-day Full Stack MVP Development Bootcamp that will accelerate their product development from prototype to working market product.
Conducted by the League of Extraordinary Developers, the exclusive 5-day Full Stack Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Development Bootcamp costs RM 1,800 per person.
The Bootcamp will provide guidance and instruction by LEAD mentors for those intending to develop their mobile or web application into a workable product, as well as the means of monitoring their product.
Attendees to the bootcamp will also gain access to Dr Lau’s private group, with over 100 members consisting of startup founders, chief technical officers, software engineers, UI/UX designers, mobile app developers, digital marketers, and growth hackers, as well as 1-on-1 consultation sessions with Dr Lau after the bootcamp.
Winners
L-R: Goh Boon Peng (Judge); Jonathan Khoo, Andrea Soo, Wong Khuan Siong and Money Toh
The first place of the May session of SQSEL went to Ezzy Auto, led by Jonathan Khoo, with Andrea Soo, Money Toh, and Wong Khuan Siong. EzzyAuto is an alert-based service that would help users to keep track of when to service their vehicle, as well as connect them conveniently to workshops offering their needed service. Users can also make more informed decisions of their workshop choices through a user-based rating system and information such as workshop location, offered services and more. The winning team brought home a prize of RM650, as well as a free pass each to LEAD’s 5-day Full Stack MVP Development Bootcamp.
L-R: Kamal Zainul (Judge); Elise Cheang, Eliel Cheang, Cheang Meng Wai and Kong Meng Yeow
SPORTABLE, led by 17-year old A-Level student Eliel Cheang with father Cheang Meng Wai, 14-year old student and sister Elise Cheang, and 19-year old university student Kong Meng Yeow, took the 1st Runner-up position with their comprehensive management platform that connects sports coaches and sports enthusiasts. Said management system seeks to reduce the burden of administration, operations and marketing on the coaches’ side and to make the entire payment and management process seamless for both students and coaches. The team brought home RM350, as well as a 50% discount each for LEAD’s 5-day Full Stack MVP development bootcamp.
L-R: Jones (COO of LEAD); Lisa How, Chong Quat Wah and Wong Khai Meng. Muhammad Aiman is not pictured as he had to leave early due to an emergency.
Taking 2nd Runner-up is GetThere, a transportation tech system led by Lisa How with Chong Quat Wah, Muhammad Aiman Mohd Zin, and Wong Khai Meng. The team’s app aims to help users streamline their use of public transport by connecting them to information on the available public transportation systems available and allows users to mix and match public transport services, hence allowing them the ease of timing and planning their trips quickly, efficiently and in a fuss-free manner. GetThere took home RM250, as well as a 20% discount each for LEAD’s 5-day Full Stack MVP development bootcamp.
About the Organisers
The Selangor Information Technology and E-Commerce Council (SITEC) was established by the Selangor State Government, with a mandate to develop Selangor as a regional e-commerce hub, as well as to uplift the startup community in Selangor. Since its inception in May 2015, SITEC has kick-started over 30 initiatives, events, conferences, workshops, and gatherings towards its mandate, as well as organising E-Commerce Classes and the Online 100 Program.
The League of Extraordinary Developers (LEAD) aims to build a better ecosystem for startups, and brings together developers who are interested in technology, from everything from web and mobile development, design, data science, and internet of things (IoT), to trending technologies such as AngularJS, ReactJS, and Sketch. It is also for beginners who are considering a change of career into tech startups, or developers who aspire to become startup co-founders.
For any clarification or queries, please do not hesitate to contact Jam at info@sidec.com.my; Ann Lee at startup@sidec.com.my.