Minimum Viable Newsletter

The Aaron Sarma Newsletter: Issue #1

Sep 23, 2022

TechInAsia Conference — Locked & loaded at Tech In Asia Conference, Singapore

Happy Friday!

Thanks for subscribing to my newsletter. What started off as an experiment on LinkedIn has resulted in this first issue and I hope it’s the start of some great conversations we can have together.

I’ve been thinking about doing something like this for some time as a way to have a conversation with you, to document some of the work I’m up to and to refine some of my ideas on entrepreneurship & innovation.

So off we go! My aim is to send a new edition every Friday as a digest for you over the weekend. I have one ask though - please let me know what you think of the newsletter. Tell me what you liked and what you think I should talk more about. I’ll try to incorporate it in future editions.

Onwards & Upwards!

Aaron

The Weekly Thought

The Art Of The Start

I called this first edition the “Minimum Viable Newsletter” as a play on the concept of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). The MVP helps you get to market quickly to learn, iterate and get product market fit. It’s a concept that can be used in many facets of life too.

This week I’ve been thinking about how many of us have great ideas but don’t know how to get started. As an entrepreneur, starting new things is a part of the journey but I understand how its tough for many walk an unfamiliar path. Here are some thoughts about getting started that have helped me in my journey.

Know your “why”. Before you start something new understand why it’s important to you. If it’s not really important, you wont take action.
Write down what needs to be done. This is key. Many people write mental lists. They are unreliable. Instead get a piece of paper and write down the next 3 steps.
Get started. Sometimes the fastest way to try something new is just to jump in the deep end. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Have an MVP for what you want to build then learn and iterate.

I know it’s not the most profound thought but it’s been weighing on me. I hope it inspires you to try something new this week. If it does, let me know what it is. I’d be more than happy to help you make it a success.

The Week That Was

Female Founders Kick A$$

ScaleUp Malaysia’s Xelia Tong addressing the audience at SLT Malaysia

ScaleUp Malaysia and She Loves Tech hosted the Malaysia edition for She Loves Tech. It was a great event hosted in ArtWeMe in Pavilion KL. We have some really amazing female founders in Malaysia. Side note: 50% of all founders in ScaleUp Malaysia’s portfolio are women. Congratulations to MadCash on winning first place in the competition!
I was at the Tech In Asia Conference In Singapore on Wednesday for a few hours. I participated in “Speed Dating” where I met with 4 startups for 10 minutes each. I loved one idea especially, I hope we can find a way to work with them.
The Vulcan Post wrote about a panel I moderated at Wild Digital SEA Conference two weeks ago with Ahmad Kashfi Alwi from Cradle, Karl Loo from ServisHero and Effon Khoo from Kakitangan. Check out the writeup here.

What I’m Working On

Budget 2023 Is Coming

I’ve been fortunate to have contributed to some opinion articles and shared my ideas in interviews over the last few years with regards to the Malaysia’s Digital Economy. As the budget is will be announced on the 7th of October I’m collecting feedback and I will also be sharing my thoughts on what I hope to see in this year’s budget on various platforms.

There are 6 key areas I’ll be looking at specifically related to the digital economy. They are:

Access to digital solutions for the man on the street
SME Digital Adoption
Talent Development & Retention
Startup Incubation & Commercialisation
Funding Ecosystem
Government Transformation

I’d love to hear your thoughts. What do you think has worked in the past? Why have some initiatives been less successful than others? What should be a priority for the future?

The Week To Come

From The Metaverse to the Lion City

Here’s a few things I will be up to from the time I hit “publish” on this email:

DNA’s Digerati50 Virtual Networking | I just finished attending a virtual networking session organised by Digital News Asia. It featured nearly 100 C-Level leaders who are a part of the Digerati50. Awesome job by Karamjit and his team! I’ll do a recap of the experience in next week’s email.
DealStreet Asia PE-VC 2022 | My partners Xelia, Andre and I will be in Singapore for the PE-VC Conference 2022. I hope to learn from some of the best fund managers in the region and meet some great operators. If you’re in town from Monday to Thursday do drop me a message to see if we can catch up.