Dec 11, 2018

PropTech, Taipei and the Endgame!

This is my last newsletter before 2019 – so if you don’t have time to skim it now, save it for the holidays!

Proptech in Asia

Attended my first MIPIM conference and it was a great first hand look at how the old property economy is crashing head first into tech. What is commonly referred to as “the last old economy industry to be disrupted by tech,” PropTech is definitely taking hold and here are top 5 things I want to share:

China and the US will lead in Proptech in 2019. Not a huge surprise but interesting to hear and see.
A residential building will become the “Google Docs of living” because the data generated by the people living inside is more valuable than the rent.
Of the top 25 Metros in Asia here are the top 5 for investors top choices: Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Sydney and Shanghai.
“Don’t talk about blockchain in property. Real estate companies in Asia aren’t even on the Cloud!”
Proptech services will be more automated (bye-bye agents and lawyers).

Follow Dimsum Ventures on Twitter, LinkedIn or join the new HK meet-ups starting in January 2019 via Whatsapp.

Techstars StartupWeek Taipei

Was in Taipei last week for the Techstars Startup Week at the Taiwan Tech Arena representing RISE. Great stuff happening there and here is a round-up of things I learned:

I met the founder of Futureward at Web Summit and got a chance to see their space which is a very cool space.
SparkLabs Taiwan just raised a nice US$4.25mm fund and is accelerating startups inside Taipei’s ecosystem.
Taiwan Startup Stadium and Star Rocket are cool helpful organizations based at the top of a tech supermall.
If you ever want to test drive Taipei - you can always join Anchor Taiwan - a program to help startups learn and leverage Taiwan.
Two things that help make Taipei a startup superhub is its coffee culture and night markets - these rival Japans but at a fraction of the cost. Never underestimate lifestyle awesomeness as the soul of a startup ecosystem even if one of those pieces is “stinky tofu.” ;-)

Met some great people in Taipei and Oko. ;-)

My Overall Picks of the Week

Most likely you already saw this along with 290 mm others in the first 24 hours.

I’m reading Taking the Work Out of Networking: An Introvert’s Guide to Making Connections That Count by Karen Wickre. And I swear my new iPad Pro is lighter than my iPad Mini.

I adored Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the design, animation and messaging is so perfect. Before the end of December I will also see Aquaman, Bumblebee and maybe Mortal Engines.

Finished all 3 seasons of The Man in the High Castle, it’s an extremely slow slog even at 10 episodes-a-season, but the idea of what if Nazi Germany won World War 2 and sprinkled with lots of sci-fi is still good fun.

New non-tech podcasts that are great: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, Travel Genius and the Empire Film Podcast. And don’t forget my pop culture podcast The Hyper Room - Season 2 planning for Q1 2019 by popular demand.

My Future of Work Picks of the Week

To really show you how into PropTech I am, I have moved into the Campfire Home co-living space in Kowloon. I’m into my first 30 days and I love it. Maybe because I work a lot and the divide between home and office are already blurred and partly because I travel a lot and like a co-workspace where everything is handled for me. I feel more and more of these will open in cities like Hong Kong where the rent is so $$$$$ and AirBNB faces more regulation. I’ll do a proper video of this space to show you what it looks like.

Next stop: Kanazawa

Very chill co-live/co-work space in Kowloon side where I am typing this out.

Last trip of 2018 is next week to Infinity Ventures Summit in Kanazawa, Japan where I will be talking about ecosystems and RISE. IV always chooses these amazing locations for their conferences and I’m always excited to be part of them, Japanese hospitality and all that!

...and finally my 5 Photos from my Camera Roll