Podcast: Understanding the Startup and its Ecosystem

22^nd June 2022

Bunthan Sophavina

Mr. David Shelters has more than 27 years of entrepreneurial experience as a founder, CFO, and board advisor to numerous tech start-ups in America and Asia. Mr. David recently joined Mekong Strategic Partners in Cambodia as Entrepreneur-in-Residence, advising the portfolio companies of the SADIF Fund. He also lectures business modeling and strategy at the National University of Management. He is an active startup community builder, serving as a mentor and pitch judge for numerous local incubator programs and startup competitions. Mr. David is a John Wiley published author who has written extensively on start-ups and startup ecosystems with three full-length books to his credit. Recently he was invited to be a contributing writer by best-selling author Amir Hegazi for Ecosystem Arabia. Throughout the book, Mr. David is credited and recognized as a global thought leader in the startup ecosystem development space.

"A startup is an SME, but not all SMEs are startups." Mr. David Shelters explains in the podcast the difference between startups and SMEs. He mentioned four keywords on which to focus to grasp the essence of a Startup.

• Temporary: be able to exit to progress to the next stage.

• Search: until they find the right product solution, startups must make market assumptions, test products, and solicit feedback.

• Repeatable: the business model is long-term and generates recurring revenue.

• Scalability: the business model is scalable or expandable.

Because a startup differentiates from a regular business, individuals who want to establish a startup should seek an internship or a job at a startup company, according to Mr. David's recommendations. Discover the true definition of a startup, its organizational structure, and how to spot the right product solution. In addition, they must have a solid entrepreneurial at heart and not be afraid to fail to succeed.

After living in Cambodia for the past two years, he recognizes that the country's startup ecosystem is lagging behind other countries. Most startups are still in pre-seed and series A, and in the next few years, they are expected to level up to series A or B. He also mentions that COVID-19 could benefit startups in Cambodia since it does not affect early-stage startups much. It does give Cambodia time to develop its own local startups rather than have foreign companies take up the startup market. Cambodia should seize and optimize the opportunity to develop local startups and ecosystems.

Mr. David is also the author of several books about startups:

• Start-Up Guide for the Technopreneur: Financial Planning, Decision Making, and Negotiating from Incubation to Exit

• Bootstrapping Strategies for Tech Startups

• Building Startup Ecosystems: Introducing the Vibrancy Rating

For additional information about this week's episode, find the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/Techo.Startup.Center/videos/1232872420801236