The East Wind is blowing: SE Asian startups should target China

SINGAPORE startups have been trying hard to replicate the success seen in other parts of the world, while largely writing off one of the world's largest markets - China. To become the next "unicorn", startups should pay more attention to the troika of Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent ("BAT" for short) and major technological trends in China.

As a successful entrepreneur in China who has now made Singapore my home, I am puzzled by the approach taken by young entrepreneurs here. Like many others around the world, these startups raise seed capital from a clever "app" or disruptive business, build up a local revenue base and then seek expansion regionally. The China market is seldom their priority. This is odd because of the size of the missed opportunity.

Despite Singapore being the one country among the ten Asean nations where a majority of citizens has a reasonably good understanding of Chinese culture and language, why do so few local startups give serious thought to leapfrogging directly to the Chinese Internet economy? In recent years, China has emerged as an innovation superpower driven by a globally-minded generation of entrepreneurs.