THE HANGAR Booster Programme highlights: What is Fundraising?

Contributed by Tan Li Qi Rebecca

Funding (or rather sufficient funding) is usually the top priority for start-ups. Even if there is an intention to bootstrap at an earlier stage of growth, raising funds is often required for scaling in the long run. The question is, how should founders pitch to get funding successfully?

This week, I popped into one of the workshops of THE HANGAR Booster Programme and learned interesting tips from Dr Ivan Choong, Associate Director at NUS Enterprise, who is also part of the Portfolio team.

The fundamental question…

THE HANGAR Booster Programme highlights: Problem Discovery

Contributed by Tan Li Qi Rebecca

As an entrepreneur, you may have many questions in your mind.

• Is the problem I intend to solve a critical one?
• Is my solution what customers want?
• Will people want to pay for my product or service?

In week 2 of THE HANGAR Booster Programme (June run), we invited Kris Childress, our Mentor-in-Residence at NUS Enterprise, to share with start-ups how to rediscover problems with fresh eyes!

First, what is problem discovery?

You may have heard this jargon thrown around quite frequently without understanding what problem discovery…

THE HANGAR Booster Programme highlights: Unit Economics

Contributed by Tan Li Qi Rebecca

Wondering whether to step on the accelerator or jam the brakes?

Unit economics, which describes a start-up’s revenue and costs in relation to an individual unit of production, can help a start-up to decide the next step for its growth.

With many key metrics to track and so many different hats to wear, start-up founders can find it overwhelming to quantify their progress. …

THE HANGAR Booster Programme highlights: Marketing 101

Contributed by Tan Li Qi Rebecca

“Marketing in start-ups is too important to do it wrong”, says Thibaut Briere, Founder of Growth Marketing Studio.

Yet, many start-up founders may not understand what marketing really is.

In the first week of THE HANGAR Booster Programme, we invited Thibaut to debunk the common myths of marketing.

Myth #1: “If my products or services are good, they will sell themselves.”

Actually, that’s not the case.

Look at the mere number of start-ups that deliver quality products and services but are still struggling to survive and expand.

…

Contributed by Rebecca Tan Li Qi

“It’s not important how you start, but how you finish”, says Errol, co-founder and COO of Jublia.

How many times have we seen start-up founders beaming with so much passion when they begin, only to see them exit the market looking seemingly defeated? While start-ups may fail at certain points in time, the failing experience will most likely to help them to emerge stronger and become more resilient.

In the first week of THE HANGAR Booster Programme, we have specially invited Errol to share with us some life lessons from his years of starting…

Contributed By Rebecca Tan Li Qi

“GRIP start-ups are already attracting almost 4x external fundings compared to NUS direct investments.” — Professor Freddy Boey, Deputy President (Innovation & Enterprise), NUS

Wow, I thought.

In fact, according to the NUS Graduate Research Programme, $3.3 million dollars of investments have gone into these deep tech start-ups, which has in turn generated close to $12 million dollars in external grants and investments.

This is GRIP, the Graduate Research Innovation Programme.

The NUS Industry Liaison Office held their latest NUS GRIP Run 5 Lift-Off Day on 3 June 2021. 15 teams showcased their deep-tech…

This story was first published in Issue 029 of Enterprise SPARKS, our quarterly newsletter, here (pages 4–5).

We concluded the first run of the Startup SG Founder -
Venture Building Programme in NUS last December, and spoke to three participants from the cohort who shared their experience with us.

Aiden Koh, MediVR

Tell us about your project:

MediVR provides a virtual reality (VR) medical training simulation platform that improves the standardisation and rigour of clinical training. We focus on providing medical students the means to hone their clinical skills anytime, anywhere, and in a multi-user environment. …

This story was first published in Issue 029 of Enterprise SPARKS, our quarterly newsletter, here (pages 7–8).

March 2021 marks five years since the opening of THE HANGAR by NUS Enterprise, the university’s on-campus incubator for student, staff and alumni start-ups. Since 2016, the facility has helped more than 220 ventures take flight, quickly becoming the go-to place for aspiring entrepreneurs to accelerate their ideas.

We take a look back at how THE HANGAR has grown, and the unique features that make it ground zero for NUS’ emerging technologies and companies.