The Essential : 3D Printing Idea

I heard this 3D Printing idea about 2 years ago. But I did not pay much attention back then because I was busy with oil and gas projects in Luanda, Angola. 

3D printing has been for quite sometimes but mainly for industrial purposes only. Gradually, 3D printer manufacturers come with different shapes and sizes. Now they are talking about desktop 3D printers in which at personal level you might have one in the house. 

On personal level, I don't see a need to really harness the commercialization of 3D printers for every household, yet. Perhaps, hobbyists or small business owners are relevant group of people to opt for this 3D printing revolution. 

Back home, I know a few people tried and failed to really install the idea and usage of 3D printing. They recognized two main hurdles in 3D printing; educating the public and the cost of printers and material. 

Thus, I set a challenge to carry our a simple online survey to touch the surface of our awareness on 3D printing.  You can access the survey at here 3D Printing survey. 

The survey would help to to find out the level of knowledge and awareness of 3D printing in general and to gauge the potential demand and interests in 3D printing.  We might run the survey for a month. 

Your kind responses are highly appreciated.

Cheers!

The Essential: A tax planning story.

I just need to share this story.  Why? Overwhelmingly surprised and in the same time, feeling highly appreciated.

I was contacted by my previous clients from Dublin a couple of days ago asking about the tax planning for their businesses. Previously, I remember advising them on the tax especially related to the entitlement of offshore tax haven thingy since they had some projects in exotic islands including Gibraltar. For a record, it is not something to do with the tax evasion though. This is completely LEGAL. Promise. 

Normally for big and global companies, strategizing on tax regimes is a must top 3 business or corporate strategies. Ask Intel or Apple.  

The offshore tax system or regime could be quite a complex concept. When I was working with one of the prominent investment banks in Canary Wharf, London, we had a dedicated team looking after tax and compliance matters including offshore tax. Certainly you may hear about offshore tax countries like Gibraltar, Isle of Man, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Channel Islands. 

For me, they 'labelled' as offshore tax havens as those countries could 'afford' to offer a lower tax regime. Their economies do not need that massive capital flow anyway. Just fishermen and a place to safeguard their money, virtually. 

They have a good running business as hoteliers and a construction company. It just that taxes related to constructions are quite extensive to certain extends withholding was around 25%, to be kept on shore especially in Ireland.  

Needless to say about double tax treaty agreements between offshore tax haven countries in which I think still have some rooms to be manipulated. At the end of the day, it is a choice of strategy. 

Since some efforts made to get tax haven countries to sign tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) and mutual legal assistance treaties (MLAT), my previous clients were a bit unsure whether their plan of actions are legally ok. 

Well they just need to be cleared on tax planning part as well as the difference between tax shelter and tax evasion. 

The Secret: "Holacracy" or "Holacratic" Part 1

The secret? Holacracy? Holacractic? It sounds Spanish, isn't it? Hola!

It is a new type of organizational structure that mostly associated with social technology. In short, it means no job titles, no managers and even no hierarchy. There is no who reports to who kind of environment. 

How about salary? Same across the company? That would be an interesting topic, right? I will cover that part in the later post. 

In essence, more technology based companies especially among start ups to adopt the notion of "Holacracy". +Zappos Page seems to be the front runner advocating such idea. I'm not sure whether this term is already registered in the dictionary since I have spelling error alerts on "holacracy" and "holacractic".

What I would understand is "holacracy" advocates a leaner organisational structure with equal distribution of responsibility and authority. +Tom Thomison suggested the idea of "holacracy" offers clarity in term of work, where the work lives, and how the work is performed — by what role, through what authority. 

He believes that with clarity, you could better manage your resources effectively. Subsequently, you would be able to make better decision using the right resources for any particular work. 

You can read his full article, "Holacracy = Clarity" at Holacracy.org.

In my opinion, only certain types of organization and types of work could really adopt the whole idea of "holacracy". Fresh technology companies or start ups with limited resources might find holacratic useful. 

In fact, I reckon it is a flexible structure in which usually I find it in project based works. In the project team, although we have a project manager, every body else in the team basically would share and complement each other towards the completion of the project. 

I could not imagine any government agencies adopt "holacratic" structure. If they do, say good bye to "bureaucratic", NOT! And I think we don't even finish implementing meritocracy. 

The Essential: Launch product or Business Model; which should come first?

Yes this is a dilemma among entrepreneurs and start up companies. Do you need to launch the product or get the business model right first?

I have to put different hats if I want to answer this question. And there two ways to approach this question. 

FIRST WAY

I would understand start up companies are eager to bring investors or venture capitals on board. They need some capital injection in order to test, validate and scale up their products. Some need funding for more valid reasons. 

Of course, if you present your ideas to venture capitalists, they normally would ask your business model. Revenue stream, your target market, market research etc. 

If you are in this situation, you should come out with a business model. PERIOD. 

Usually they would not be interested much about your products or ideas. They just want to know whether it would make a business sense out of your product. Then, they choose what sort of strategy templates they would need to use to commercialize, scale up and exit when the time is due. 

It is very rare to find a venture capital that really invest in people and your passion. VCs that really believe in your visions and dreams and betting on your potentials are not many. 

Or probably I didn't meet them yet.

SECOND WAY

On the other hand, if you already have a beta version or almost ready product, I would suggest you to launch it first.

See the outcomes, get the feedback and make adjustment necessarily. The feedback would be more reliable. 

The biggest advantage is you would know whether your product is suitable for the market. With hindsight, you would be able to tweak your product to meet the market demand and expectation. 

Once you receive all the feedback, then you would be able to craft the right business model. The business model has to be there. The data is more solid and presentable for venture capitalists to take you seriously.

The only different is you put forward your product first and then figure out the business model that would work best for your settings. Nothing wrong with it. 

Ergo, depending on your situation, choose which way to go first. As for me, early market validation is better. It would give you a good traction and evidence for VC, at least. 

The Mystery Part 1: Doubtful thought

I did not sleep well last night. 'Not sleep well' means I slept less than FOUR hours. Something is bothering me to the core. Self-doubt is starting to linger around. Physically I could imagine my blood is being drained by timeless hopefulness.

I can’t help myself to receive bad and negative comments about my start-ups. Some said I am wasting my time trying something that is not proven working. Some said I don’t have directions at all. All and all, it is a bad business idea. Of course, I welcome all the comments but it would be better if you could offer me solutions.

Typically, I always check my plans and ideas with several trusted friends before really press the pedal. We had more than four hours discussion about the market, the lifestyle, culture and habits of our people. And we ended up with two big questions:

1. What is the problem that I am trying to solve?
2.  What is my revenue model?

I genuinely thought that my start-up on streaming related products and services would offer a good selection of lifestyle for society that really embraces the goodness of mobile technology. Like what +Livestream and +Ustream are doing. 

My potential products and services would allow you to watch your favorite TV programs anytime and anywhere - as long as you have internet connections. Hell, I can create another version of +Keek4u or +Livestream or +justin.tv or +Pheed. 

Does it relevant to have +WeChatApp , +WhatsApp , +Kakao Talk , BBM, +Skype , FaceTime, iMessage, +Hangouts and Viber in the market ? Is there a room for another one? 

Why not?