[Executive Edge] Will your business idea change the PH?

If you think your business idea can uplift the Philippines and conquer the world, you should consider submitting an application to Ideaspace Foundation.

The incubation arm of the MVP group of companies has already funded several ventures that are getting global recognition, such as SALt, which aims to improve light access in the world through a lamp powered by ‘tap water and table salt,’ and Nyfti, which produces a cool, foldable bicycle.

There are several incubators and accelerators operating in the Philippines today, but Ideaspace Foundation is still the only one that has an official annual period. Ideaspace is now accepting applications for its third cohort of startups and will continue to do so until the deadline on January 15, 2015.

Ideaspace’s selling points

Filipino entrepreneurs who apply to Ideaspace put themselves in the running for two kinds of benefits, both of which are designed to transform your business idea into a business reality

The first, of course, is money. Each startup selected receives an initial investment of Php 500,000 – via a huge checked signed by Manny V. Pangilinan himself, since Ideaspace is the incubation arm of the MVP group of companies – and may get additional funding from the foundation or from third-party investors.

Ideaspace also provides its portfolio companies with in-kind benefits. These are arguably as important as the initial cash investment that Ideaspace gives because without the proper mentorship, guidance, and training, entrepreneurs would not be able to make the best use of the seed money.

As Ideaspace Foundation executive director Diane Eustaquio noted previously, the in-kind benefits are diverse and include: introductions to outside investors; mentorship from world-class experts; entrepreneurship courses at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), in addition to Ideaspace’s own in-house development program; operational support in the form of office space, free Internet, and incorporation, legal, and intellectual property assistance; and connections to possible strategic partners.

Getting into Ideaspace

Given the extensive benefits that Ideaspace confers, competition to get into the program is understandably stiff. From the several hundred applications that Ideaspace is bound to receive in January 2015, only 10 will be chosen.

PortfolioMNL, which is one of Ideaspace’s investment companies and serves as a portfolio site for Filipino creatives looking for work, hosted a bootcamp for Filipino entrepreneurs interested in submitting a strong application to the competition.

Here are key tips, pointers, and takeaways from the two-day bootcamp:

• Build a complementary team

Most Filipino entrepreneurs know that a good co-founding team needs a mixture of complementary skills, usually business and technical. Ideaspace executive director Diane Eustaquio emphasizes that the team also needs to have complementary personalities.

“Your team is very important,” Eustaquio said. “Your team should not only be complementary in terms of skillsets, but also in terms of personalities, since they will be spending so much time together.”

• Show some market validation

While Eustaquio said that teams don’t necessarily need to have significant revenue or user numbers, they should show some market validation. In other words, they need to show that they are solving a real problem and that they are the best people to solve it.

“If you wanted to stand out from 600+ ideas, you needed to be crystal clear in what you are, what you do, who your team is, and who your product is for,” Eustaquio said, adding that the exact name of the startup, at this stage, is only a minor consideration. 

• Show self-awareness

In a tough competition like Ideaspace, the inclination may be to only boast about your strengths as a co-founding team. Eustaquio advises that teams also show self-awareness of their weaknesses.

“We’ve found that the teams with the highest level of self-awareness make for the strongest co-founding teams,” Eustaquio said. “Hopefully the longer application form this year will give an indication of how self-aware they are.”

• Be ready to commit to your startup

If selected to Ideaspace’s next cohort of startups, the incubator requires that each co-founding team have at least two full-time members. This means that they may need to quit their day job, so they can devote their time toward the task of scaling their company.

“If they can’t quit, they are not ready,” Eustaquio said. “A startup is a very consuming, possessive master. If they can’t dedicate full-time to it, it’s just not going to work, especially as our program is very intensive.”

• Be determined

Perhaps one of the most inspiring signs that Ideaspace has noted is that teams that applied but did not get into Ideaspace in the past are again reaching out to the program.

“Out of the 190 top teams who made it to the second round from the last two years, at least 20 have reached out and seem to be reapplying,” Eustaquio said. “That’s a good sign – usually teams come in at last minute, wanting to improve their ideas.”

Eustaquio notes that determination is good because competition for Ideaspace’s next round seems to be stiffening. “The applicants are more serious. Today’s program – they are asking really good questions,” she said, such as how a solo founder can find great co-founders for their team or how to incorporate a startup in the Philippines.

Eustaquio continued, “Two years ago, we had very basic questions, ‘how sure am I that you will not steal my idea?’ Maybe it’s helping that Ideaspace already has a track record. The questions are more mature, and that’s a very positive sign for the Philippine startup ecosystem.” – Rappler.com

Rappler business columnist Ezra Ferraz is also the chief content officer at ZipMatch, a tech company backed by Ideaspace Foundation, Hatchd Digital, IMJ Investment Partners, and 500 Startups. He brings you Philippine business leaders, their insights, and their secrets via Executive Edge. Connect with him on Twitter: @EzraFerraz 

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