Starter Kit For Startups

The Entrepreneurs By Monocle Magazine S$29.95 Available in bookstores

MONOCLE - THAT LIFESTYLE magazine for chic jetsetters - has just added a new title to its print portfolio focusing on startups and entrepreneurs. Titled The Entrepreneurs, it's inspired by Monocle's popular podcast of the same name that's been running since 2011, and aims to provide new perspectives on ''launching, sustaining and selling'' a business, writes editor Tyler Brule. Like most of Monocle's titles, The Entrepreneurs bears all the hallmarks of its flagship title, from the boxy design format and slick graphics, to its broad coverage of globetrotting bohemians with dream jobs, seemingly on the cusp of world domination one latte at a time. But like that flagship title - which calls itself a ''global affairs'' magazine but doesn't really trouble itself with unglamorous issues such as climate crimes and human migration - The Entrepreneurs offers a mostly glossy and superficial image of entrepreneurship that makes the idea of starting your own business look easy and appealing.

In its pages are stories of business people who did it their way - a Japanese eyewear designer who makes just 150 frames a month because ''success was never about money''; an e-scooter startup whose employees end their week by climbing to the office rooftop ''for sundowners''; Singapore's Karen Tan who turned a disused cinema in Golden Mile Tower into an arthouse attraction.