2019 – Startup Impact Year

“The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.” —Rainer Maria Rilke

There is no doubt that tech entrepreneurs are revolutionising the way we live, and this for the past 20 years. Some may call it a bubble. However, I strongly believe that there are still several ways in which technology can affect our daily lives. 

The Hong Kong startup community is not lagging behind, counting 8 unicorns now, with 3 new unicorns in 2018: Klook, TNG and BitMEX. 

Passion is the Future of Work

Millennials want purpose more than money. The rise of millennials is changing the way work is defined. Today, this is not only true for them but also for people across all generations. Most people refuse to accept any work other than what they believe is a good fit for who they are and where their interests lie. They don’t want a work-life balance, just a good life-balance. This attitude is at the heart of most startup workplaces.

“Capital is being superseded by creativity and the ability to innovate – and therefore by human talents – as the most important factors of production. Just as capital replaced manual trades during the process of industrialisation, capital is now giving way to human talent.” —Dr.Klaus Schwab, Founder of The World Economic Forum.

Startups have an edge as they are driven by their mission and vision and are in the best position to build the strongest, most talented and dedicated team – #StartupPassion. 

A New Era for the HK Startup Community

During the past five years, the Hong Kong startup ecosystem has grown exponentially thanks to its access to boundless talent, a connected and strong community, diversity of customers, access to accelerators and incubators, and collaboration with corporates. During this period, WHub has been a key player in providing access to all these key factors.

To access its next stage of growth and continue to do so exponentially, the startup community requires the following:

• Leadership: It takes strong leaders at the top to plant the flag to have a broader community rally around those goals. Now, with eight Hong Kong unicorns, we are counting on these successful entrepreneurs to plant the flag. It is not a surprise that two of these unicorns are on the board of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong, an independent, not-for-profit association built by and for the community,
• Capital: The ability to raise money is often pivotal in the success or failure of high-growth startups. 2018 is a key year in Hong Kong with the first regulated startup investment platform democratising fundraising for growth-stage tech companies, and 
• Collaboration: There is so little you can achieve alone. Collaboration across regions is key as the best startup ecosystems nurture each other (China, India and South East Asia).

WHub and its sister company AngelHub are evolving and growing with the startup community to continue providing entrepreneurs the resources they need to make an impact and scale fast.

Invest in the Future

The average age of an S&P 500 company is under 20 years, down from 60 years in the 1950s. This trend is accelerating, due to the new disrupting tech companies. Half of the S&P 500 companies will be replaced in the next 10 years. It is now time to invest in the future, a domain that was previously reserved only for a selected few and is now available to individuals, thanks to startup investment platforms like AngelHub. 

Some wonder if tech is just another financial bubble. But consider how technology has not only evolved but is currently a persistent part of your daily life. Innovation is key in entrepreneurship and it takes time. There are still several sectors that can evolve thanks to new technologies such as:

• 3D printing – It has the potential to create complex products without the need for complex equipment, with many different kinds of materials such as plastic, aluminium, stainless steel and so on. 3D printers will overcome the obstacle of speed, cost, and size.
• The Internet of Everything – With sensors becoming cheaper and with increasing computing power, everything will become smarter, thereby enabling more communication and new data-driven services. 
• Big Data for decision making – With more data existing today than ever, we can make better and faster decisions, more real-time decisions and, therefore, test and iterate faster at a cheaper cost.

Gender Equality Matters More Today

The world is becoming increasingly automated. With Artificial Intelligence entering our daily life through our phones and robotics being involved in industries across the board, job requirements are constantly evolving.

However, studies show a disturbing trend: fewer women around the world are working, and automation is having a disproportionate impact on gender equality. Not only are women being paid lesser than men for the same job (9% in France, for instance), they are actually more likely to work in industries with lower average pay and less likely to be hired in high-paid positions.

These low-qualification, low-paid jobs are exactly the places that will be taken over by automation while lowering the need for a human workforce.

At the current pace, the World Economic Forum estimates it will take 202 years to bridge the gap that women face at the workplace. This is why we need to take immediate action and ensure that we give women the opportunities they deserve to access high-qualification jobs.

Greater Bay Area, It is Time to Care

With China landing on the moon’s far side, nobody can ignore it anymore, and Hong Kong even more so. The GBA aims to link 9 cities in the Guangdong province with the Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions to form the Greater Bay area.

The stock market value and activity level of the Chinese dragons, Baidu Tencent and Alibaba, are growing faster than the American giants – the GAFA. With Tencent surpassing Facebook in total value, Alibaba’s profit being almost four times larger than Amazon’s, and Tencent’s WeChat application counting more than 1 billion users, it is time to look at Hong Kong not as the spring board to China, but from China to the rest of the world. When you are given an opportunity, grab it with both hands.

“Some people already call Shenzhen the Silicon Valley of China. Imagine placing Silicon Valley next to New York City?” —Paul Chan, Financial Secretary, HKSAR Government

Big Data, Privacy, Regulation and Cybersecurity

2018 in numbers is as follows:

• Internet users: 4 billion – up 7%,
• Social media users: 3 billion – up 13%, and
• Mobile phone users: 5.135 billion – up 4%.

It is not surprising that 90% of the data in the world today was created during the last two years.

Unfortunately, it seems that we are willing to trade privacy for convenience. Who cares about data policy or reads terms and conditions? The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) released in Europe in 2018 set the initial tone in protecting customers’ privacy. 

There are many negative impacts that could emerge from new technologies such as privacy issues and potential surveillance, individual profiling, identity theft, more targeted advertising, information, and news that prevent us from thinking or accepting anything outside of our comfort zones.

The regulatory and legislative landscapes will significantly shape how shakers, movers and builders adopt and develop new technologies in businesses while protecting customers, sometimes even from themselves. 

RegTech and cybersecurity are definitely two under-looked sectors that will emerge in 2019; especially as China sees data as something to control, Europe as something private, and US takes a more liberal approach.

A few things we can expect in 2019: 

• The GDPR compliance will become more uniform to increase customers’ trust,
• Companies must get ready for other privacy laws, and
• With the three major economies having a different approach to data, it will get more difficult for companies to collect, store and use data in the future.

There is no digital transformation without cybersecurity enforced by a modern, up-to-date and, hopefully, uniform regulation.

“It is said that life is pregnant with the future.” —Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer and philosopher.