STARTUP MAGAZINE: Jumpstart Issue 5 (Jan/March 2015) Hong Kong

JUMPSTART Jan/Feb/March 2015 1

Issue 05

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR The average adult spends 2 hours and 19 minutes on apps a day, which is 13.6% of our total waking

hours. In fact, we spend more time browsing our favorite apps than any other single activity (other than sleep and work), engaging in a pursuit that didn’t even exist a few decades ago. What does this mean? It means, quite simply, that apps are big business. In fact, they’re such big business that they’re projected to hit 45 billion USD in revenue in 2015. To honor the humble app, we’ve dedicated this issue almost entirely to all things mobile apprelated. Read on to learn about the trend of “unbundling apps,” how to monetize on apps, remarketing, and a special Valentine’s Day feature all about dating apps.

The Sharing Economy is making big waves around the world. Not sure what it is? Well, believe it or not, you’re already participating in it, by using Uber, loaning a camera to a friend, or renting a bike in Tai Po. Find out more about this fascinating subject on page 16 then turn to page 26 to learn how to barter for your business.

CONTENTS 02

04 06

UPCOMING EVENTS

ARE WE IN AN APP BUBBLE? UNBUNDLING OF NATIVE MOBILE APPS

If you’ve got $5 to spend, it’s time to head over to Fiverr to invest in a jingle or stop-motion video for your business. We investigate the phenomenon of Fiverr.com and just how it can help both business owners and savvy entrepreneurs.

Enjoy this issue, and have an Appy New Year!

Yana Robbins Editor-In-Chief

Editor-In-Chief: Yana Robbins

Website Manager: Rosalyn Smith

Editors: Lucy Banks

Marketing Associate: Jim Coke

Designer: Bobbie Miltcheva

Marketing Assistants: Sandra Wu Heather Granruth

Contributors: Kate Farr Iris Leung Rachael MacKenzie Dr Bernard Leong Cat Johnson Josh Guest Rahul Varshney David Smalley Rico Wyder Aaron Shapiro Jesse Lakes Dani Gagnon Susanne Schutz

General Inquiries: info@jumpstartmag.com Editorial: editors@jumpstartmag.com

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Copyright 2014-15 Jumpstart. The contents of the magazine are fully protected by copyright and nothing may be reprinted without permission. The publisher and editors accept no responsibility in respect to any products, goods or services that may be advertised or referred to in this issue or for any errors, omissions, or mistakes in any such advertisements or references. The mention of any specific companies or products in articles or advertisements does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by this magazine or its publisher in preference to others of a similar nature which are not mentioned or advertised. Printed by Magnum Print Company Limited. 11B E-Tat Factory Building, 4 Heung Yip Road, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong

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MICRO-GIG MARKETPLACES

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WHY MOBILE WEBSITE IS A BETTER INVESTMENT

16 18 19 24 26 29

EXPLORING HONG KONG’S SHARED ECONOMY THE ACCIDENTAL DESIGNER OF THE TWITTER LOGO DATING AND ‘APPINESS SEO FOR VIDEO BOOTSTRAP YOUR BUSINESS WITH BARTERING CAPTION CONTEST

CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS

UPCOMING EVENTS

Feb 10, 7-9:30 PM Turn your Offline Business to Online Get insights on using eBay to do cross border trading, eBay policies, logistic solutions, best marketing strategies and free selling tools. entrepreneurs.com.hk, $250 HKD Feb 11, 7-9 PM Pitching to Professionals This interactive workshop will give you practical tips to sharpen your message, calm your nerves and apply these new skills to specific scenarios relevant to entrepreneurs and startups. @ Wynd, $150 Feb 24, 7-9 PM Learn to Source from China Learn how to find suppliers, buy from a Chinese factory, bargain, set-up contracts and run the business remotely from Hong Kong or anywhere. @ General Assembly, $300 HKD Feb 24, 7-8:30 PM Startup in Hong Kong: All You Need to Know Workshop will cover selecting company structure, taxation, invoicing, bookkeeping and social media. @centreo.hk Feb 25, 2-4 PM SEO/SEM for Business Learn how to get to the top of search engine rankings and how to generate more traffic for your website. @ Paperclip, $300 HKD March 5, 7:30 - 9:30 PM Photoshop for Non-Designers Introductory workshop on basic capabilities, tools and techniques on improving presentation using Photoshop. @ General Assembly, $250 HKD March 6 + 7 User Experience Hong Kong A two-day learning event with presentations and lectures covering marketing, design, technology and business. uxhongkong.com

COMMUNITY CLASSIFIEDS New! Multi-Use Space in Central A versatile, customisable 600 sq ft workshop, suitable for cosy private events, artist shows, workshops and pop-up viewings. www.thekandid.com New! Writing & Photo Editing for SME’s Editing, writing, photo editing and photo restoration services: wmediaservices.com Marketing for SME’s Expert help with marketing your business and crafting compelling, shareworthy stories about why what you do matters to the world. Kay Ross Marketing, kayross@hkstar.com Law & Technology Services for SME’s A new platform combines law and technology to empower SME’s .

Free account: dragonlaw.com.hk Small Biz Website in 7 Days Will launch an SEO Optimized website for a small business in 7 days + teach you how to maintain it. info@9amconsulting.com.

Copywriting Services for SME’s Looking for creative copywriters, or editors who can polish your words until they sparkle? www.editorsinkhk.com

Post free classifieds online or email us to be included in the next issue: info@jumpstartmag.com

New! Online Furniture Company Contemporary and affordable designs for office or home studio. www.luminouscave.com Hong Kong Travel Services Connecting explorers & locals for customized outings in HK. Samthelocal.com New! Handmade Marketplace Online marketplace for selling and buying handmade and personalised goods made in Hong Kong. www.sooqcentral.com Co-Founder Needed An app start-up is seeks co-pilots with sales and/or technical background to help with expansion. alexhung@appsolutecomm.com New! Cider Company A pure apple juice cider from France is now available in in Hong Kong. www.lachouettecider.com New! Food Delivery Company Organic, gluten-free, nut-free, white sugarfree, vegan, soy-free options. www.foodcraft.hk NEW! Marketing Package Professional Landing Page + AdWords campaign + Google Analytics. easyfoursite.hk

Accounting & Bookkeeping Helping small businesses and start-ups with on-going bookkeeping and accounting, HR and office admin support. www.officeangels-asia.com Tin Hau Office Space Contemporary architect-designed lightfilled office with 180 degree views of Hong Kong Harbour in trendy Tin Hau. Contact Cherry Wong: 852.2877 9282 Digital Filmmaking Workshop 2-day filmmaking workshop taught in English by a professional filmmaker.

March 21-22, $2,000 HKD. Filmschool.hk New! Fashion Classes Academy of Design is a new specialized school focusing on fashion courses. www.aod.education New! Photography Workshops for Kids 2-days Photography Workshops suitable for children 12 to 16 years. March 7/8, March 14/15. $1,800 HKD www.juniorsnappers.com New! Pearl Jewellery Business Handmade collection made from genuine pearls sourced from Japan and HK. www.petitpearl.com

MARKETINGDESIGN ECOMMERCE SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION SMALL BUSINESSSEO FOOD VIRAL EVENTS TECHNOLOGY CLASSES

STARTUPS ENTREPRENEURSHIP

IDEAS

COWORKING MONETIZATION CROWDFUNDING INSPIRATION

FREE Admission to Int’l ICT Expo April 13-16 at HKCEC Showcase of the newest ICT solutions for all industries, especially SMEs. www.hktdc.com/ex/ictexpo/13 Submit startup events for FREE on Jumpstartmag.com

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Are we in an

APP Bubble?

By Iris Leung

Although IBM can lay claim to the world’s first smartphone, it wasn’t until the 2007 arrival of the iPhone that the mobile revolution really began. From that point on, the smartphone wasn’t just for the business-oriented, but for anyone who wanted to wield a powerful handheld computer.

With the advent of such a consumerfocused device came opportunity for startups, and apps of all stripes began flooding into the space, contributing to what some have called “The Great App Bubble.” Symptoms of an alleged mobile app bubble, for those unfamiliar, include apps that aren’t making money, are downloaded but never used, or worst - sit and collect dust in an already overcrowded app distribution platform.

To put things into perspective, we’ll use Apple as an example. The App Store first opened its digital doors in July 2008 with just 500 apps, and has surpassed the 1.2 million mark in six years. While these numbers show off the value of Apple’s app mass, they also represent a thoroughly saturated market where simply developing an app no longer equates downloads.

Besides having to sift through an already crowded marketplace, users are also now faced with a myriad of apps each more efficient, high-quality and user friendly than the next. “People are now

spending money to build apps with proper UX development and design and proper focus groups, there’s now an evolution into a higher standard of app,” said Angelina Draper - a tech journalist and the host of ‘28 Tech,’ an RTHK show on how technology impacts our everyday lives.

As an avid app user, Draper relies heavily on reviews, ratings and keeps an eye on the release dates, citing “time optimization” and “problem-solving” as two main reasons to hit download. With 15,000 new apps submitted to the App Store each week, selections now plentiful and with ample choice comes great expectation. “You now have more people coming of age who are digital natives and won’t think twice to use a ‘To-Do’ list app versus jotting things down, and they expect a level of performance from an app. It’s an evolution of the space and of people,” she said.

The competition currently vying for user attention in the mobile space is fierce. But does an oversaturated space always equate a bubble?

Simon Squibb, CEO of Nest Investments which invests heavily in the mobile app space, doesn’t think so. “It’s not so much a bubble, but an evolution of the opportunity of mobile. There was a time where you could launch an app on the App Store, but what has changed now is the saturation point. That means you

have to be more innovative, more creative and use more tools in your toolbox such as marketing,” he said listing relationship marketing and building a social media fan base as two key ways to help your product stand out.

According to Squibb, a great product is essential but will not carry a startup to the top, as a restaurant with great food may not be successful without a clever marketing strategy. “The tech should go hand in hand with the marketing, and those who are doing that should be able to avoid any kind of bubble reference,” he said. “Ultimately, as the market matures and as mobile becomes a way of life for people, the differential is going to be the brand and ensuring people get the difference between the new app on the market and yours.”

“It’s not so much a bubble, but an evolution of the opportunity of mobile. “

While large app publishers may have substantial budgets allocated towards marketing campaigns, smaller outfits will have to get creative. According to Ben Cheng, the founder of development studio Oursky, being featured by the App store or developing for a niche category are two strategies a startup can use to stand out. However, he laments that the “app land grab” days are on its way out.

In the past, any developer or freelancer could create an app in a new category and swiftly pick up downloads, but that now proves to be difficult as iOS and Android are no longer the unconquered platforms of the past.

Cheng, who believes that the end of the “app land grab” is an indicator that the mobile app bubble has already burst, urges startups to develop a good monetization strategy. “Given all the lowhanging fruit is already taken, my advice would be to build an app with a real business model behind it. Don’t just build an app hoping people will use it, then figure out the business side. If you are doing a new startup in the mobile space today, know that mobile is just a platform and that it’s important to build a business behind it,” he said.

As more startups flock into the mobile space, so are investors. According to a report released by Digi-Capital in mid 2014, investments into the mobile app space have doubled since the third quarter of 2013 to US $10 billion - the hot spots being m-commerce, games, utilities, travel and transport.

While these numbers are encouraging, Cheng is still dubious about the sustainability of some of these businesses. “There’s a lot of angel investment and venture money going into the app space right now, but in the future, you’ll see a lot of app companies that are not sustainable, as in the business model can’t support the app. Then you’ll start seeing some apps becoming obsolete or the company behind them shutting down,” he said.

Whether you think the bubble is still growing, has already burst or is merely a facade for a rapidly evolving mobile space - there’s a lesson to be learned here for startups. A great tech product no longer speaks for itself without an effective marketing strategy, and a venture cannot be sustainable without a working business plan.

The motto “If You Build It, They Will Come” no longer paves the path to success and startups should be more vigilant if they want to stay afloat.

Iris Leung is a tech journalist covering entrepreneurship and ecosystem news in Greater China and is a contributor to Forbes Asia. She has Masters of journalism degree from the University of Hong Kong.

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“By breaking up the app and making it single focus, the discovery process becomes simpler, with fewer keywords and a tighter description for the application, helping it to break out against competitors in the market.”

In 2014, some companies started to unbundle their native mobile applications and break their own major application into a few smaller ones. For example, Facebook has built applications in addition to their official big blue application: Paper, Messenger and Pages, not to mention acquired additional apps from the market, such as Instagram and Whatsapp. At the same time, other companies such as Google and Evernote have launched single focused applications to the apps marketplace, independent of the mobile operating system (iOS and Android).

What is the rationale behind this move?

MOBILE STRATEGY:

Unbundling of Native Mobile Apps and its impact on Asian companies

It’s intriguing, because we are observing it happen everywhere, from major corporations to startups. What is the impact to the mobility strategy for the company moving ahead? In this article, I’ll be sharing some thoughts and insights on this kind of mobile strategy and how it might impact Asian companies as a whole.

Why are companies beginning to unbundle and break up their major mobile application into smaller ones? Here are just a couple of reasons:

Customer experience and usage on mobility has changed Given the short amount of time that a customer spends on a mobile application, the focus is centered on moving the user towards a simple workflow, directing the user to a smooth, complete transaction with the mobile app. In simple words, one needs to view the mobile app as an additional channel for the customer to interact with the business. Depending on the core competency and the business objective of the company, the mobile app should facilitate the transaction seamlessly and without friction for the customer.

The bloated app stores: No equivalent of Google for mobile applications search:

How does this affect the way in which Asian companies think about their mobile strategy? And how should one think about the unbundling of apps?

Whether you are a major corporation or startup, you have no choice when it comes to bloated app stores controlled by the mobile platforms (iOS and Android).

The Cambrian explosion of apps in the marketplace, coupled with clones and spam apps circulating within the stores, makes it difficult for discovery and curation of major mobile apps. Of course, platforms seek to circumvent this by using featured apps and top downloads, but discovery has become increasingly difficult. An easy analogy is to think of the days when Microsoft became the dominant operating system, with many web and desktop applications flooding their ecosystem. The arrival of Google to the market changed the dynamics.

Mobile search is currently at that stage where there is no equivalent of Google, so there is no way to handle how a user searches on a mobile device. By breaking up the app and making it single focus, the discovery process becomes simpler, with fewer keywords and a tighter description for the application, helping it to break out against competitors in the market.

Think single purpose and focus on core competency:

Evolution from multi-purpose web apps, to multi-purpose mobile apps, towards a single purpose app.

The best way to explain this is that it’s a unique feature which originates from the mobile ecosystem. The multipurpose mobile apps demonstrate how developers have shifted from the desktop to mobile platform. However, usage patterns from consumers demonstrate that the best usage happens when a user generates transactions from multipurpose to single purpose apps. That evolution also means that the native mobile apps are becoming service layers.

They only notify you when you have requested a certain set of contextual based notifications from a service that might compute from hardware, such as sensors and data (e.g. location), coupled with machine learning algorithms.

(Google slide 40 and 41 of Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends for 2014).

If you want your users to continuously utilise your apps, the mobile native app needs to be single focus, and the transaction generated from mobility must align with the business objective. For example, if you run a chain of restaurants, the app must ensure that you can make a booking seamlessly, then help the customer to discover the nearest location, whilst also allowing the customer to book or pay seamlessly, without hassle.

Stop being a control freak and don’t try to be everything to everyone.

Most Asian business owners tend to be control freaks and totally miss the point about why they are building an app. Some of them even ended up trying to build their own versions of Google, Facebook and Paypal. Actually, this is a common aliment with Western companies too. This is why companies have to understand that mobility is an additional channel, where the business can acquire, grow and retain customers. It might be better for them to tap into the developer tools from other major services, in order to get a mobile app to market quickly.

Competition with independent developers grows.

If a major corporation does not roll out an app quick, they risk being irrelevant when compared to independent developers, who are unbundling the integrated services of a corporation and building their own niche. One of the challenges for business owners in major corporations is to reduce the roll-out time for apps, and to drop from six to one month. The reason why big companies became so slow is because they are heavily reliant on vendors who develop their apps and the quality control that is being placed

on desktop software is being transferred in a silly way to mobile development.

With the trend of single purpose apps becoming dominant, most Asian business owners need to ship things out quickly, to iterate and improve, instead of worrying about the future too much.

There is a silver lining in this. Recently in the Apple WWDC 2014 conference, they announced a feature called “App Bundle” which allows users to download a bundle of apps that will automatically install separate apps into the phone. A similar feature will probably happen in Android and other operating systems.

The app bundle allows any company to bundle a series of single purpose apps to be compiled and quickly set the customer ready for the usage.

Dr Bernard Leong is currently the Vice President (Digital Services), Singapore Post. Other than his corporate role, he’s also an entrepreneur in residence for INSEAD Business School and a mentor of Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI. Asia). He is an angel investor who has invested in interesting companies (Lunch Actually, Prizle and Ideal Workspace), runs his personal blog bernardleong.com and a weekly podcast called Analyse Asia (analyse.asia).

The opinions and thoughts expressed by Bernard Leong and his guests are strictly of their own and do not represent the views of the organizations which they work for or invest in.

Marketing Strategy Search Engine Optimization Affiliate Marketing Google Adwords Wordpress Websites Email Marketing Event Marketing Supporting Startups & SME’s in USA and Hong Kong

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Retargeting

for Greater User Retention

U

ser decay is an unfortunate—but inevitable—reality of app marketing. Assuming there are no major changes to the mobile ecosystem, virtually every app experiences some level of declining engagement as time passes, for a litany of reasons.

However, when shakeups do occur, such as the release of a new device or operating system, the rate at which users are lost can accelerate—drastically.

As users acquire new devices (say, the record-breaking numbers that purchased the iPhone 6) or adopt new operating systems, many view it as an opportunity to “clean house.” When you consider that the average number of apps that consumers use each month is a paltry twelve, it’s easy to see why so many apps fail to make the jump to the new OS. But this year is different. Huge leaps forward in app marketing technology— specifically the increased viability and reach of retargeting—are helping app marketers more successfully excite and reconnect with their once-loyal users.

The arrival of retargeting Sophisticated retargeting can be attributed to the industry-wide acceptance of Advertising Identifiers (aka IDFAs) across the mobile ecosystem, along with Facebook and Twitter’s rise to prominence in the app marketing industry.

In the last year, the app marketing industry coalesced around IDFAs as the primary means of tracking performance on iOS, with advertisers, publishers, and other players all eagerly putting the industry’s fragmented tracking and attribution processes behind them. IDFA’s maturation, coupled with advancements in programmatic media buying like real-time bidding (RTB), now

makes it possible to display advertising to users who could potentially abandon an app.

On top of this, because of the incredible popularity of their mobile products, Facebook and Twitter are able to identify massive amounts of app users, regardless of what device they’re currently using, by tracking persistent logins. This makes retargeting possible even after users have upgraded to a new operating system or new device.

Before the change At its highest level, retargeting is about avoiding the loss of once-loyal users. To do so, app marketers encourage specific

actions, such as making an in-app purchase or completing a registration page. For example, a user who hasn’t made a purchase in a long time might receive a 10 percent discount on an ingame upgrade. These retargeting tactics can help drive monetization events and should be a part of every app marketer’s arsenal.

But beyond the everyday, changes to the mobile marketing landscape can be extraordinarily beneficial to app marketers well versed on retargeting strategies.

In anticipation of a new OS or device (let’s say the new iPads) app marketers should consider re-engaging as many dormant users as possible before their users upgrade. Campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, and RTB networks can all be targeted at lapsed users.

Effective retargeting messages include: • new features or content that former users may be unaware of • reminders of the reasons users downloaded your app originally • explaining how your app will improve with update, if possible

continue on other devices. It appears that consumers are using smartphones for browsing and comparison shopping before purchasing on a desktop. Google’s findings prove that brands must appeal to mobile users.

There are two major approaches to cross-device targeting: pixel tracking and targeting on cross-platform media sources. In a nutshell, pixel tracking involves placing a tracking pixel on a desktop website to collect visitor information, then using that data to serve those same visitors an ad on their mobile device. Cross-platform media sources, on the other hand, leverage social networks to make direct connections between desktop and mobile users.

Retargeting is the future Regardless of whether you’re trying to retain your loyal, high-spending customers through each device and OS iteration, or help a brand cross the Web-to-mobile divide, advancements in retargeting are making it possible.

“It appears that consumers are using smartphones for browsing and comparison shopping before purchasing on a desktop” Rico Wyder Asia Pacific Director, Fiksu Rico heads up the global expansion efforts in the Asia Pacific region for Fiksu, the mobile app marketing experts. Rico’s roots run deep in the mobile space as an entrepreneur and angel investor in mobile apps, m-commerce and mobile marketing ventures including Cassiber, Foodpanda, and tenCube (acquired

by McAfee). Rico graduated from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and is based in Singapore.

After the change We’ve already noted that change accelerates user decay. However, and seemingly contradictory, these periods can also promote app downloads, as users look to fill their newly updated (or just plain new) device.

For example, in the month following the release of iOS 7, Fiksu identified a 33 percent increase in the number of apps downloaded. As a result, retargeting can also be used to great effect following the immediate release of a new OS or device to rebuild connections with loyal users.

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Beyond app users We’ve discussed retargeting’s benefits in retaining and engaging with current app users, but it can also help attract customers from the Web to build or grow a user base.

In study after study, mobile is becoming the dominant way users access the Internet, while laptop and desktop usage falls behind. But despite this seemingly permanent shift in consumer preferences, many brands are unable to capitalize, often failing to meaningfully engage with their existing desktop users on mobile.

One of the most staggering statistics published in a Google study on crossplatform consumer behavior is that 76 percent of online transactions begin on smartphones or tablets and then

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MICRO-GIG MARKETPLACES OFFER ENDLESS OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENTREPRENEURS

By Yana Robbins

Do you want to earn $1,000 in double-quick time? Then simply put on some Mickey Mouse ears and start singing ‘Happy Birthday’ 200 times!

This is precisely what a user named Anibalf from Beunos Aires is doing on Fiverr. For those of you unfamiliar with the site, it’s a micro-gig marketplace that touts itself as “The World’s Leading Marketplace for Services.” It’s not so much about what Anibalf is doing, it’s how he’s doing it that makes him so successful. His version of ‘Happy Birthday’ is bizarre to say the least, but that’s exactly why it has worked so well for him.

Fiverr: The Site Changing the Face of Business Fiverr’s marketplace is available for anyone that wants to post a small task “micro gig,” which can be as mundane as offering logo design services or as strange as Anibalf’s celebratory performance.

For entrepreneurs on both sides of Fiverr, micro-gigs offer limitless opportunity. For sellers, it provides a new channel through which to generate extra cash and a place to test out entrepreneurial skills. The keys to success are 1) designing a gig that doesn’t require a lot of time, 2) focusing on something you already specialize in, 3) offering a service that’s odd or useful enough to get a lot of buyers, and 4) paying attention to key trends.

All gigs start at $5, though most sellers generate extra by offering fast delivery, commercial rights, or other services.

Micro-Gig Success Stories There are a number of super sellers that have earned over $100k (that’s USD!) on Fiverr’s platform. One such is a user from UK named NewBold3D. He’s made a career offering design gigs on Fiverr, getting so successful on this platform that he’s turned down his dream job to pursue Fiverr full time. To date, he has completed 11,000 gigs earning him over $100k -- and has positive feedback from over 7,000 users to prove it.

Another example is from a user that goes by the name Upgradeyourself from Macedonia. He offers website conversion services to Android apps and publishes them on Google Play. To date, he has completed 1,600 gigs, each taking him an average of 4 days to finish while doing many concurrently. His profile rating is a perfect 100%, and he’s already earned over $8,000 USD on Fiverr.

Gigs that Went Viral

Using Fiverr for Your Business

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of Fiverr’s services for nearly every aspect of running their business: outsourcing logo creation, testimonials, video ads, jingles, SEO-services, website copy…just to name a few. The beauty of these platforms is that you can quickly, easily, and cheaply crowdsource from multiple freelancers. And if you are clever, you can even turn the gigs into a project that goes viral.

Here are some ideas for hacking Fiverr for your business:

Before & After: A great example of this is Esther Honig’s photoshop experiment; where she approached freelancers all over the world asking them to “make her beautiful” based on their perception of attractiveness. Esther contacted nearly 40 individuals on Fiverr from more than 25 countries to complete her “Before & After” project. Her project went viral on Buzzfeed, receiving more than 2.5 million views, and reported on in more than 30 countries around the world.

Viral Music Video: Another example of crowdsourcing Fiverr is the “Better Than Grey” video, which was made entirely out of Fiverr gigs. Commissioned by a punk band from Bulgaria, the video generated over 160,000 impressions.

Turning Selfies Into Art: Another example you may have heard of is called Nocturnal Commissions -- a project by an exhausted new dad who turns his wee-hour selfies into illustrations. He regularly commission new works online which have earned him more than 5,000 followers on his Tumblr blog.

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Gather Ideas: Order micro-gigs to gather concepts from multiple freelancers. For example, if your startup needs a logo, you can hire multiple designers to gather a variety of concepts. You can then fine tune your favorite one.

Grow your portfolio: A new designer, writer or other freelancer can use Fiverr to complete projects and grow their portfolio quickly.

Get Feedback: You can hire multiple freelancers to test your website or get feedback on virtually any project.

Go Viral: Create your own version of Better Then Grey or the Before and After project and who knows, perhaps it will go viral.

Whether you are a buyer or seller, there are endless opportunities to incorporate micro-gigs into your business.

Whether you need newsletter content or a quick tweak of your Wordpress blog, look to outsource these and save yourself some time in the process.

While you can get a lot of your business basics done with micro-gigs, viral ideas are harder to come up with. Perhaps you can outsource them to user Savvytomato. He will brainstorm over Skype for just $5.

Fiverr’s Back-story Since its launch in 2010, Fiverr has grown to 130 employees and has begun to roll out Spanish, French, Dutch, and Portuguese versions of their website. You can find services offered in 20 categories, and nearly 4 million jobs, ranging from coding to business card design. According to Alexa.com, Fiverr is the 332nd most popular website on the Internet. And like many successful business models, you can find similar services such as Fourerr.com, Zeerk.com, Gigbucks.com, and many others.

Simplify Your

Anibalf, Fiverr’s gig provider. “I will sing a depressing Happy Birthday as a mouse for $5.”

Accounting

“Before and After” project

by Esther Honig

Helping Hong Kong SME's with Xero Bookkeeping, Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Business Advice and Cloud Solution FastLanePro.hk | alex@fastlanepro.hk

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Mobile Apps Q & A Q. How do I know if my company needs a mobile app?

A. If you’re in business, you need a mobile app. Period. It’s not a question about technology or what platform you should be on, but rather a look at where your customers are today. And customers are definitely doing more and more tasks through their mobile phones in their daily personal and professional lives.

If you want to capture a new audience, keep your existing ones engaged with your brand, or provide a value add to your customers, you must look at building a mobile app.

Q. How long does it take to develop an average app?

A. It takes anywhere between three weeks to two months to develop a complete mobile application. The timeframe depends on what features you want to build and the components that will constitute an app.

These include components such as a webbased backend, an administration interface to manage content, etc.

Q. How can someone with a non-programming background develop an app?

A. Ideally, you shouldn’t. If you do not have programming knowledge, you can certainly learn and develop an app. But if you’re running a business or want to build a business based on the app, your focus should be on exactly that. Building the business, rather than coding.

In today’s day and age, you can simply outsource the development of the initial

version of your application to a company.

Once you attain product/market fit and gain traction, you can always hire in-house developers to take over.

Q. What makes for a successful mobile app?

A. There are two parts to this question.

One relates to the technical side and the other relates to business. From a technical point of view, every successful app that you see in the market today offers a fantastic user experience. What that means is that they are easy to use, highly functional and bug free. The design shouldn’t just be aesthetically appealing, but should be customized as per the target audience. For example, you would design a kid’s app very differently from an app targeting older men.

On the business side, you need to solve a problem. Every successful app solves a big problem for their customers.

It’s not about the idea, but the execution.

Google was not a unique idea. It was actually the 24th search engine. But what made it different was its execution of that idea. So first, identify a customer need and then build something that they would be happy using.

Q. How does one effectively market an iPhone app?

A. There are only a few ways or channels that can help you scale user growth or market your iPhone app.

Not every marketing channel (Social, Ads, SEO, etc) or platform (Facebook, Google, Pinterest, etc) may be relevant to your app and your audience. First, spend

time understanding where your customers hang out. Then, test various channels and platforms at the same time, in order to get a hold on the ones that give you the maximum return on your investment (time, money, or both).

Focus all your energies on just one or two channels that work best for your app.

Chances are, you will always have one channel/platform that will have the biggest lead. You can use the second channel or platform to supplement your overall marketing efforts.

Q. How can you get your app featured on the App Store / Android Market / App World?

A. If you know an answer to this one, please do tell me as well! Jokes aside, there is no science to getting featured. There are no guidelines released by any of the platforms either.

But, through several experiences of entrepreneurs who have had their apps featured, one could conclude that you need to have some or all of these conditions met to be considered for being featured.

These conditions are: excellent design and usability, mainstream press coverage and a huge number of consistent downloads per week.

Q. What are the most ingenious ways to monetize apps?

A. The most popular monetization model across app stores and platforms is the freemium model, where you offer the app for free and then convert free users to paid

through in-app purchases. While this is certainly popular, there are many apps that generate consistent revenues with the paid model, where the user is required to pay to download the app.

Test which model works best for your app. If you’re able to communicate enough value to the user even before they download and use the app, you can charge an upfront fee to download. If an app requires the user to go through the experience before they can pay for premium content, then freemium might work for you. But there still isn’t a right or a wrong. You have to test what works best for your app.

Don’t be afraid to change a pricing model at a later date, even if you have existing customers. WhatsApp, an app that was sold recently to Facebook for $19 billion, tested several pricing/monetization models throughout its history.

Q. What should the monetization plan be for a free mobile app?

A. Typically, apps are free for two reasons.

One is when it is of a social nature and monetization cannot be built into the app’s ecosystem. The other is when the user needs to experience the app before being convinced of the value.

You can offer premium content in your free app through an in-app purchase.

This is by far the most popular way to monetize a mobile app. But if this doesn’t work, look at putting ads on the app to generate revenue. However, you will not earn significant revenues from advertising unless your app is used consistently day after day for at least 10 minutes at a time.

Q. What are some new/emerging trends in app development?

A. There are many trends emerging across the app landscape. In my opinion, one clearly stands out. That is bringing health care and fitness closer to the ‘everyday joe’.

The integration of technology (specifically apps), is being seen across medical devices. You can now record your blood sugar levels, connect to the heart rate monitor and more, right on your app.

The information is recorded and processed into meaningful charts to tell you about your current health status and whether you

need medical attention.

Similarly, helping people understand the result of their physical activities helps to keep them fit and motivated!

Q. What is the best platform for mobile app analytics?

A. There isn’t just one analytics platform, but there are analytics for every stage and every aspect of the app’s lifecycle. I can’t stress the importance of analytics enough. Analytics allow you to analyze user behavior in your app, in order to gain insight into what features are being used and which parts are driving conversions.

They are also helpful in building an efficient marketing strategy.

Flurry is a free tool that gives you insights into your users and app performance. You can track every menu tap, understand the user path, create funnels to optimize conversions and create user segmentations.

Intercom lets you chart the entire customer behavior while using your app and you can also communicate with your customers using this tool. Crittercism helps you pinpoint and troubleshoot issues within the app, such as crashes.

Q. What is the best way to rapid prototype a mobile app?

A. Prototyping your app gives you clarity on its every aspect, feature and the user flow.

You need to have this bit sorted before you approach a developer for building the application. The more clarity you have on your requirements, the more precise your timeline and pricing estimate for development.

1. Proto.io lets you create a full mobileapp experience without coding.

What you get is complete user flow and navigation of your app, with interactive elements such as gestures and touch events.

2. InVision is another tool that allows you to create a fully interactive app prototype. The free tool also allows you to interact with your team members through a collaborative framework.

3. POP helps entrepreneurs, designers or even students to transform their pen and paper ideas into a prototype.

If you started by sketching on a notepad, simply import it into this app by taking a picture.

Q. Are mobile apps the new bubble?

A. Before we can pronounce apps as the new bubble, we need to first understand what exactly a bubble is. Paul Graham of Y Combinator best describes a bubble as, “…a very specific form of prices being high where people knowingly pay high prices for something, in the hope that they will be able to unload it later on some greater fool.”

This is what happened in the late 90s.

But that is not what is happening today.

Prices and valuations are certainly high, but that doesn’t always constitute a bubble, as prices of commodities always go up and down throughout the period.

If you take price out of the equation, then there is no question of a bubble either. Mobile apps are certainly integrated into our lives today. The first thing most people I know do when they wake up is check their emails, their social profiles (Facebook, Twitter, etc) and then begin their day with a run or some form of exercise where their physical activity is tracked on their mobile phones through an app. They use phones for productivity tools and even entertainment.

It’s definitely not a bubble.

Rahul Varshneya is the co-founder of Arkenea LLC, a mobile app consultancy that helps businesses and entrepreneurs by creating experience-rich mobile apps; and co-founder of Foster, a content marketing platform. Rahul is also a mentor and mobile strategy advisor. http://arkenea.com

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mobile services have clear advantages over native applications.

WHY MOBILE WEB IS A BETTER INVESTMENT

By Aaron Shapiro

“While a small number of apps have become wildly successful brand service extensions, the vast majority have been dismal failures, languishing in a sea of investments that went nowhere. “

P

eople are spending more time in apps than ever before, but that doesn’t mean you need one. Aaron Shapiro explores the reasons why the mobile web is a better investment for most companies.

Over the last 12 months, data released by comScore and mobile app analytics provider Flurry has shown significant growth in the amount of time people spend using mobile applications. This has led writers like Christopher Mims to argue that the mobile web is dead, killed by native apps.

As a result of the technical limitations of mobile phones and broadband over the last 8 years, native applications have become incredibly popular, and their success has driven the widespread adoption of smartphones. But in the future, most organizations will be able to best meet users’ mobile needs through a well designed responsive website or web application.

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When the iPhone was first launched in 2007, there weren’t any apps at all; just shortcuts to the mobile web. Those first HTML “web apps” were intended to be instantly available, secure, and simple to build. But limited browser functionality, poor wireless coverage, and slow connection speeds meant web apps and sites were capable of less, were slow to render, and didn’t work without an Internet connection.

Then, in 2008, we welcomed the app store and the native app gold rush. Native applications offered the functionality that web apps had been missing, capturing the imaginations of both users (who suddenly found their phones more useful) and developers (who could make money out of their creation and usage).

Today, we have more than 3 million apps across Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Blackberry app stores. While a small number of apps have become wildly successful brand service extensions, the vast majority have been dismal failures, languishing in a sea of investments that went nowhere. Data shows we’re using apps more than ever before, but we aren’t using more than a handful of them. The six brands responsible for nine of the 10 most-used apps are Facebook, Google, Apple, Yahoo, Amazon, and eBay. Not long ago, the software that powered our computers was purchased on CDs – the 1990s version of the native app.

We bought our favorite software (Word Perfect, anyone?) on discs until we were able to download it. Today, ubiquitous broadband is killing downloadable software: it’s easier to run programs from the browser and save our data to the Cloud (hello, Google Drive).

If that was the trajectory for the desktop, then should we really expect mobile computers to be any different?

Ubiquitous, high-speed mobile broadband and increasing browser functionality will eventually render mobile apps unnecessary.

As businesses plan future investments, it pays to consider the following: the primary use case of people interacting with their brand on a mobile device, the complexity of building and maintaining mobile applications, and the cost of user acquisition. In many cases, browser-based

Primary use case: In order to operate effectively in the future, brands must evolve into smart services that enhance users’ lives through technology. For companies already in the middle of this transformation, a native application can be the most effective way to support the relationship between user and brand.

Delta Airlines’ application, for example, helps passengers save time and avoid stress through their booking and boarding procedure. But many companies have fleeting, transactional relationships with their customers facilitated by search, social, and advertising. If your company’s interactions are the result of users researching products, buying things online, reading articles, watching video clips, sharing content, solving customer support problems, or clicking on an ad, then you’ll probably get more out of a great responsive website than an app.

Build and maintenance: Web products are significantly easier to build and maintain than apps. Companies considering a native application must answer the question: “what do we design for first?” Is it the iPhone, the iPad, or one of Android’s 200+ phones or tablets? In some cases, the developer has to make a choice between optimizing one platform and limiting their market, or building several apps and then maintaining the experience across multiple, ever-evolving platforms. Mobile web, on the other hand, allows companies to quickly build customized experiences that are comparatively easy to maintain across devices.

Cross application integration: The ability to take advantage of native phone functionality and eliminate security issues are currently the two strongest arguments in favor of native apps. Banking apps, for example, depend on native functionality that allows users to take in-app photos

“If you’re acquiring users from search, an advertisement, or a shared link, it’s a lot easier for users to click over to a mobile-optimized website instead of directing them to an app store and hoping that they download the app, wait for it to install, and then open it.” of checks and deposit them using the application. As browser functionality and security evolves, people will feel just as secure on their mobile browsers as they do on their web browsers.

Acquisition and accessibility: While apps may now be better for supporting ongoing user relationships, the web is better suited for acquiring new users. If you’re acquiring users from search, an advertisement, or a shared link, it’s a lot easier for users to click over to a mobile-optimized website instead of directing them to an app store and hoping that they download the app, wait for it to install, and then open it. For these reason, companies that are in the business of maximizing content consumption or e-commerce sales will find that responsive web is a smart investment choice. And while many companies are trying to fix this, for now, the only way to make your company’s information accessible from search or easily linkable is through the mobile web; content within apps is still locked away, and you can forget about deep-linking from one app to another.

For those who choose to forgo web acquisition in favor of encouraging people to download an app, remember this: while time spent using apps may be increasing, the number of new app downloads are not. comScore’s MobiLens reports that the majority of smartphone users (66%)

download a grand total of zero new apps per month, while 17% download merely one or two. And a download doesn’t guarantee usage: 42% of all app time spent on smartphones happens on that user’s single most used app.

Apps also encounter significant barriers to use. Limited discoverability in app stores and the obstacle of the download itself remain high. And if you think about it, a user who has added a well-designed responsive site to their phone’s homepage and accesses it on mobile broadband has virtually the same experience as someone accessing an app from their homepage. As web functionality continues to improve, apps and websites will converge; users will simply use icons on their phone to open up different mobile experiences; they’ll be oblivious to what the technology was that powered them – whether it be web, app or some hybrid.

All of this begs the question: unless you are extending a service to your users through an application, is a native app really the right investment for you?

Responsive web development is often a cheaper and smarter investment, more relevant to user needs, and easier to build and maintain.

Aaron Shapiro is CEO of Huge, where he helps companies reimagine how they interact with their customers and manage their businesses in the digital economy.

Since 2005, Aaron has driven the firm’s growth from a small startup into a fullservice interactive agency operating out of the United States, Europe and Latin America.

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Exploring Hong Kong’s Emerging

Sharing Economy

Around the world, the sharing economy is booming.

From home-sharing giant Airbnb and peer-to-peer taxi alternative Uber, to platforms that allow you to share meals, tools, toys, clothing and more with your neighbors, sharing is big business. As an industry, the sharing economy is projected to top $335 billion worldwide by 2025.

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Terence Yuen, founder of the Hong Kong Institute of Social Impact Analysts, and organizer with Sharing Hong Kong, explains that Hong Kong is “in the process of developing a common identity” around the sharing economy.

The idea driving the sharing economy is that having access to things is better than owning them. Sharing platforms connect people who have idle resources with those who can use them.

In Hong Kong, a growing number of companies are joining this movement. Vaughn Hew, founder of goods-sharing platform WhoGotStuff, explains that in building the sharing movement in Hong Kong, education is an important part.

“The first reaction many people have to Airbnb is, ‘There’s no way I’ll let strangers stay; they might steal and break stuff,’” he says. “So they talk about the concept with friends. Positive or negative, that’s the start of change.”

Terence Yuen, founder of the Hong Kong Institute of Social Impact Analysts, and organizer with Sharing Hong Kong, explains that Hong Kong is “in the process of developing a common identity” around the sharing economy.

Among the challenges sharing entrepreneurs face are legal restrictions and what Yuen describes as “the strong old economic structure that leaves little space for the new sharing economy startups.” As the sharing economy grows and evolves, however, there is an exciting opportunity for sharing pioneers in Hong Kong to help grow the global sharing economy and join the following leaders of the local sharing economy.

CarShare.hk Hong Kong’s first peer-to-peer car-sharing platform, CarShareHK enables car owners to rent their vehicles to people who need short term car rentals. The two parties meet to exchange keys and agree on the conditions, then meet again at the end of the rental period. CarShareHK’s insurance covers the transaction.

Sharing Hong Kong

WhoGotStuff

A non-governmental organization (NGO), Sharing Hong Kong works to bring awareness to the sharing economy, connect local sharing enthusiasts, and share information about the global sharing movement through talks, events and gatherings.

Earlier this year, the organization hosted a ShareFest, the first sharing economy event to be held in Hong Kong.

WhoGotStuff is a mobile app and goods sharing marketplace.

Targeting only your Facebook friends and Facebook groups, the platform is a convenient alternative to buying new things.

In addition to connecting people to share goods, WhoGotStuff focuses on growing relationships. “What this means,” says Hew, “is that you will be motivated enough to get rid of the many things gathering dust at home.”

Coworking Coworking is a vital aspect of the sharing movement, enabling entrepreneurs, freelancers, and independent professionals to work in a community environment. Countless sharing economy enterprises have emerged out of connections made in coworking spaces. As Tony Yet, community curator for coworking space Good Lab explains, “Coworking makes it possible for serendipity to happen on a daily basis. It is this kind of unplanned interaction that could spark further dialogue and collaborations that could only be found in a coworking space with people from vastly different backgrounds.”

In Hong Kong, there are dozens of coworking spaces, each one with different offerings and styles. Three examples from Hong Kong’s rich coworking scene are: Good Lab, a coworking space for people and organizations working for social change, which also hosts a series of sharing economy talks; CoCoon, an entrepreneur-focused coworking space that connects innovators, designers, engineers, leaders, entrepreneurs and investors for mutual support and collaboration; and PaperclipHK, a startup campus for entrepreneurs to collaborate, connect with mentors and investors, learn the latest businesses practices, and tap into the global startup ecosystem.

Bike Sharing Not generally regarded as a bicycle-friendly city, Hong Kong has a committed base of people working to create safer cycling conditions, better bike infrastructure, and a strong cycling community. One way to increase cycling visibility and get more people on bikes through bike-sharing. The West Kowloon Cultural District has a pilot bike-sharing program called BikeShare, and there is a pilot bike-share planned for Sha Tin with a proposed 140 bicycles.

Airbnb In just seven years, home sharing giant Airbnb has grown from an air mattress on the floor of a San Francisco apartment to a worldwide, peer-to-peer platform for sharing rooms, homes, flats, treehouses, cabins and more. In Hong Kong, there are thousands of Airbnb listings with enough diversity to suit any traveling style. Looking for alternatives to Airbnb? Check out Wimdu.com and Tripping.com.

Myflat Described as a neighbourhood social network, Myflat connects neighbors to build networks of mutual support. By requiring users to register with their residential address, Myflat is able to connect those who live in close proximity to exchange information, resources, support, reviews of local merchants and ideas.

Oh Yes! It’s Free!

An online market, Oh Yes! It’s Free! is a freecycling platform for people to share, exchange, and find goods without exchanging money. Doing so decreases waste, encourages community connections, and gives new life to unused or underutilized items.

Hong Kong Book Xchange The Hong Kong Book Xchange is an NGO that facilitates the sharing and swapping of books. The organization’s core values include proactively sharing, respecting diversity, thinking critically, valuing free will, and working for positive change.

Open Culture Hong Kong has a growing movement of open culture enthusiasts. Among the organizations at the core of the movement are Creative Commons Hong Kong; OpenSourceHK; the maker movement which is driven by makerspace DimSumLabs and the Hong Kong Mini Maker Faire; and the Internet Society of Hong Kong.

Uber A peer-to-peer transportation platform, Uber has been criticized for its questionable business practices, but the company’s move into the sharing economy is undeniable. In Hong Kong, Uber has also enlisted taxis into its fleet of drivers and recently experimented with a food delivery service.

GoGoVan With ambitions to be the Uber of Deliveries in Asia, GoGoVan is an app that connects van drivers with those who need help with deliveries, transporting goods or moving. With more than 10,000 registered drivers, GoGoVan is the largest logistic fleet in Hong Kong.

Cat Johnson is a freelance writer whose work has appeared on Shareable, Yes! Magazine, Lifehacker, Utne Reader, Society 3.0 and more. She lives in Santa Cruz, California. Interests include the new economy, collaboration, community, the commons and music.

Follow her on Twitter: @CatJohnson

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MEET SIMON OXLEY THE ACCIDENTAL DESIGNER

of the Twitter Logo There’s a good chance that you have never heard of Simon Oxley. Unlike his most famous creation, the original Twitter logo, this UKbased graphic designer doesn’t hog the limelight, preferring instead to let his work, which he rather modestly describes as “playful, graphic, illustrative… and hopefully fun for people to look at”, do the talking. He downed tools to answer my questions for Jumpstart Magazine and explained a little more about his work, his motivation and that famous design.

With a lifelong love of drawing and modelling that began as a child, it was inevitable that Simon would eventually end up capitalising on his talent, and after finishing his Diploma in Graphic Design, he worked for a variety of small marketing firms in the UK. During these years he honed his skills with an Apple Mac, something that would prove invaluable in his later career.

In 1999, Simon relocated to Japan to be with his future wife, and that’s when his design career really began to take off. A casual meeting with the brother of a friend resulted in a role at Insentiv Media, a Tokyo-based web and print design company whose buzzy Harajuku location proved inspiring. Simon explains, “This gave me my first real experience of working alongside coders and a variety of colleagues from all over the world, it was a real United Nations of multimedia and design”. He continues, “My principle task was to produce visuals for corporate annual reports and this enabled me to enter the inner sanctums of some of Japans biggest corporations, such as Mazda, KDDI, Kyocera, Yamaha Instruments and more”.

After three years in Tokyo, a move back to the UK with his pregnant wife enabled Simon to continue working with his Japanese clients, while picking up some British freelance contracts, but his now-famous royalty-free image work began to really take shape after the young family returned to Japan in 2003.

“I began designing icon and character sets to upload to iStockphoto.com, and as sales increased, I was spurred into a state of manufacture, each day religiously uploading photographs I had captured in Japan while on trips with my family.” Before long he had amassed a sizeable catalogue of royalty-free images, which were generating sales, but also introducing him to the wider, supportive design community. “Contributors would give feedback and generally share comments on a wide variety of subjects through the forums”.

It was from iStockphoto.com that a newlylaunched online social networking company called Twitter picked up on his distinctive style, deciding that one image in particular

would be a good fit for their brand, “I recall spending a couple of hours making the bird shape while producing several icons in the same style.” explains Simon, “At that time I was interested in geometric shapes inspired by Japanese traditional crests and company logo marks, which often are constructed in a highly technical manner”.

Simon thought nothing more of the design, which was one of many produced at the time, until the little start-up in question began to attract global attention, “I was in a state of extreme shock and couldn’t initially believe that I was viewing my work on international news channels as they broadcast stories about Twitter”. But the unprecedented success of this now-immediately recognisable design didn’t go to Simon’s head; “It is always a surprise to gain recognition for an image, and I still feel fortunate to be able to mention something that most people will be familiar with when meeting for the first time. I still see it used on sites today, which always brings a smile to my face.”

Although Simon made just a few US dollars from Twitter’s use of his bird design, he remains resolutely proud to have been involved, in however small a capacity, in the company’s enduring success. As far as the image’s impact on demand for his work goes, he explains that although the exposure has brought renowned interest in his services, from time to time potential clients, not realising that his work with Twitter wasn’t directly commissioned have assumed that his fees are now beyond their budget. But despite this misconception, Simon’s work continues to grow in popularity, with open-source software host Github also picking up another iconic design: the Octocat.

As with the Twitter bird, Github picked up the original Octocat design for a small fee back in 2006. It has since become something of a cult classic, much loved by tech insiders, with Octocat enthusiasts devoting hours of effort into reworking the original into new guises.

Far from feeling possessive of his cat, Simon gives the fan-created incarnations his full seal of approval; “I was recently sent two, five-inch high Octocat vinyl toys, along with a fistful of stickers featuring many of the versions made by their users. I tend to like the robot versions, but can find interest in almost all of them”.

So with two globally recognised logos now under his belt, how does Simon hope to top his previous successes? The answer is a further embrace of new technology, collaborative working, and more quirky icons for us to warm to; “I’m keen to promote products that carry my designs, so I hope to make use of 3D

Dating and ‘appiness in Hong Kong

By Rachael MacKenzie

By Kate Farr

printing technology to collaborate with firms keen to develop fun toys”.

Potential clients evidently also recognise his strength in creating fun and recognisable characters that people engage with, and Simon has experienced an increase in requests for company character mascots, explaining, “Tech firms want to create a brand based around a personality that they and their users can get behind”. Having seen the successes of both the Twitter bird and Octocat, this seems like an extremely sensible strategy, and one that will hopefully see Simon’s designs continue to travel the globe, developing cult followings of their very own.

Simon’s Thoughts on Logo Development Q: How should startups go about developing their logo?

A: Startup firms sometimes employ a friend or make it themselves - Twitter used my bird image available on iStockphoto, but stated that it was used as a pictorial graphic alongside their text based logo. Some designers negotiate a stock option in the company for perhaps a limited duration of say 3 yrs trading, this means payment never exceeds affordability. In my experience though, charging a reasonable one off fee tends to be received more readily.

Q: How much money should a startup spend on their first logo?

A: The amount may depend on any backing they may have received. Often firms begin with a logo, but no real brand image, which becomes realised as their confidence and income grows.

Q: What inspires you when creating a new logo?

A: New clients often refer to existing logos they like, I have recently been making mascots to add some personality to the brand. I generally arrive at a logo through sketching pencil and paper, then send ideas and discuss options with clients from there - honing the personality to a defined point.

Q: What are your favorite logos?

A: I view so many good logos on the likes of Pinterest, so deciding on a few is very challenging. I like retro brand images such as ATARI and Japanese model company TAMIYA. I like Golfing brand PING. NIKE and ADIDAS. Lots of Japanese food brands. I am a fan of Saul Bass, who designed IBM and Minolta and a lot more besides - I was lucky enough to attend a lecture given by him at my college in the UK back in 1988.

“So are we really all just one app installation away from the altar, are they really all they’re cracked app to be? “

Mention dating apps at any gathering and summon a chorus of socially awkward outbursts, from snorts and lip smacks and oofs of despair, to eruptions of playground giggles.

Whether you’re looking to settle down in Tai Po, or transcend from megabytes to love bites in LKF, there are plenty of apps available. And whilst the typical user experience may not compare to locking eyes with the one aboard a Parisian steam train, it might be every bit as steamy.

The app of choice for single index fingers in Hong Kong it seems is American Tinder, which first set sparks flying in 2012 and became a global phenomenon, speaking the language of love in 24 tongues. Similar in design is Singaporean Paktor, which is essentially Tinder painted orange and marketed to Southeast Asia. Yet to explode in popularity it’s certainly optimistic, advising you to ‘like’ 50 people a day.

Both apps are hailed for their almost insulting user-friendliness. Look at a picture of someone who has conveniently been selected for you based on your location. Like them? Swipe right. If they do the same to you, hurrah! It’s a match and you can chat!

Don’t like them? Swipe left. The end.

For the chattier, there are WeChat style apps, only with a more amorous vibe. Mildly stalkerish, they display who’s online within a certain radius to you and you can ‘like’ them, see who’s ‘liked’ you, and chat instantly.

Most popular in Hong Kong is American Skout, launched in 2007 as a mobile social network before undergoing cyber Botox and reemerging in 2009 and looking for love. With game like features including a virtual currency, wink bombs and stickers (nothing says ‘Let’s chat’ like a clownfish) it’s unsurprising that our city is one of its biggest markets. Also available is more serious British Badoo, (2006) (no stickers here), but it does have an addictive Tinder style game called ‘Encounters’ if you’re feeling wild.

There are several for gay men, too. With Jack’d you can refine your search according to ‘scenes’ - are you a looking for a Twink, a Bear or Strictly Friends? Edgy Grindr has a bondage mask for an icon, which is all you need to know (that and it has a sister hookup site for straight people named Blendr).

So are we really all just one app installation away from the altar, are they really all they’re cracked app to be?

OT, cliques and alcohol prices can make it hard to meet new faces, and the fun and casual nature of apps help users expand their social horizons and in more unusual

situations. “I’ve been seeing a guy for a few months,” says one Jack’d user.

“When we started chatting, I was on Dragon’s Back and he was cooking an omlette.”

Many users feel empowered by the apportunity to be more forward. This works well if you’re after a more fleeting romance; “It was 3 am and he texted me once, one word only; SEX.” says one Tinder user. However some take this empowerment a little too far; “It’s a shame he was so attractive”, moans an ex-Tinder user. The message reads: ‘No smoke, social drinker, no gamboling [sic], no drug addition [sic], never been married, no children, no desieses [sic] and I’m looking for wife.’

But in-between these extremes are plenty of success stories. “The guys I’ve met on apps are much nicer than the guys I’ve met in bars,” says one lady, now in a relationship with someone she met on Tinder, “it’s easier to find someone you’re compatible with.”

Discreetly chatting on screen can also take the pressure off and be less intimidating. “My parents are hoping I meet a guy soon,” says one Butterfly user (Butterfly is a Chinese social networking site for lesbians). “So I find it easier to talk to other girls on my phone than face-to-face. No one sees or knows what I’m doing so I feel more relaxed about being myself.”

But apps are apps, and not immune

to bugs and crashes. Common sense is definitely required – obviously if you ask ‘do you have any pets?’ and your new friend responds with a nude shot, you know they’re not for you. Also, motives are not always obvious. “I met him for a drink,” says an ex-Scout user. “He took me into a private room and introduced me to all his colleagues and clients and a bunch of hookers. I was his free escort.”

After all, it’s easy to mask bad habits behind a screen, and not everyone has a cyber sixth sense to see them. “She seemed normal enough so I agreed to meet her for a drink,” says a guy who now can’t even look at a dating app. “But a first date at 1 am on a Thursday, in 7/11? I arrived, she asked if I had any crack, I didn’t, and then I left.”

Personal safety aside, dating apps can wreak havoc on your sanity. People can become disillusioned with their endless notifications, addicted to the buzz, or lose confidence if someone doesn’t respond.

Others become overwhelmed. “You can find yourself meeting so many people within a short time and not have time to reflect on what you really want,” says one intermittent Tinder user. “And you’re not always free to reply, so conversations can’t flow.”

One thing is certain. Whether you find yourself on a dirt track of despair or the highway to ‘appiness, dating apps are definitely an unpredictable ride.

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The next wave of technology-disrupting industries “There are only two types of industries: Those that have been disrupted and those that will be disrupted”

A new wave of innovative technology is changing the landscape in every industry, leaving existing players struggling to play catch-up.

Companies like Uber, Apple and Google are changing not only the way we do business, but the very nature of how we live and interact with the world around us.

The disruptors offer new solutions that are deliberately designed for today’s mobile-centric and technology-focused consumer lifestyle. The solutions are more accessible, easier to use and far more affordable too.

The best way to understand how this is happening is to look at how the disruptors are integrating and utilizing the next wave of mobile technology, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Near Field Communication (NFC), to better serve their customers.

Uber – Case in point of mobile disruption How many companies can claim to not only have disrupted an industry on a global scale, but to have also created a new verb and mode of transportation in the process?

There are not enough adjectives to describe Uber and what it has done to both the taxi and private car industries. It has disrupted it to such

“In fact, what they did is what every business should be doing/have done already, and that is to bring the industry into the mobile age. Uber simply questioned why you couldn’t easily order transportation from your smartphone and created an app and independent network to fill that void”

an extent that taxi industries around the world have been actively protesting and governments have been racing to understand what’s going on. All while Uber customer numbers continue to grow and take market share from what was once a monopolized industry.

As dramatic as these results have been, it is worth looking at what Uber actually did to disrupt the industry. In fact, what they did is what every business should be doing/have done already, and that is to bring the industry into the mobile age. Uber simply questioned why you couldn’t easily order transportation from your smartphone and created an app and independent network to fill that void.

In hindsight, it is only natural to ask why previous companies haven’t done that already, especially since it makes perfect sense to cater your products and services to a market in which almost everyone uses a smartphone.

Users are increasingly depending on their smartphones instead of their desktop computers for their personal and professional lives, so much so that a recent Meeker report found that users are checking their smartphones around 150 times a day.

As Uber has shown us, it is the companies that understand and allow users to do even more with their smartphones that are the ones that continue to remain relevant.

Biting into the Apple with BLE and NFC There has been a lot of talk about banking being the next area to be disrupted, an exciting prospect considering that some people have estimated that the total value of the opportunity is pegged at over a trillion dollars.

Yet for a long time it seemed as if it was all hype, as opposed to actual changes in consumer behavior... that is, until PayPal and Apple announced their solutions.

PayPal was first to market, offering retailers a product called PayPal Beacon that uses BLE to allow shoppers to pay wirelessly in store directly from either the PayPal or the store’s app. The service offers companies the chance to not only provide an easy and convenient shopping experience, but also the opportunity to gain insights and better connect with their customers through the data gathered using mobile payments.

Apple’s offering has come slightly later, but will be rolled out more quickly and to a much higher number of stores.

This is because Apple Pay, as it is known, is a cardless payment system that lets those with a new iPhone, which has an NFC chip, pay for their purchases by simply tapping their phone against existing payment terminals in store.

Enter the contest on page 29 >>>

What makes Apple Pay so intriguing is how the whole payment system, from set-up to the actual tapping and paying, is designed to fit into the way consumers are already using their iPhones, even going as far as to allow people to use the existing bank details they already have connected to their iTunes account.

It isn’t hard to see how PayPal and Apple are starting to disrupt the banking industry. Through their different approaches they are making credit cards and cash payments almost obsolete.

There isn’t an industry that is immune to disruption. Even the disruptors are vulnerable, especially if a better alternative comes on the scene.

Businesses and companies of all industries need to be constantly assessing whether they are truly taking advantage of the new wave of technology, and if they are not, what they are going to do about it. If they don’t, their competitors and new market entrants will.

Josh Guest is the founder and Managing Director of b2cloud, the fastest growing mobile app developer in the Asia Pacific region (Deloitte Tech Fast 500). With a love of tinkering with every new device, Josh is the industry expert in mobile and wearable technology. He recently delivered a keynote address on emerging technology at Ad:tech Australia and was named a “top 10 Australian entrepreneur to watch in 2014” by Smart Company.

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Solving the App Marketing Conundrum, One Link at a Time With over two and a half million apps available between Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store, consumers simply have too many choices. Leaving it to luck alone for your app to go viral just isn’t enough. You need to have an effective marketing plan in place (and a little luck), to help ensure your app avoids obscurity and helps you start raking in the revenue you deserve.

Along with a good marketing plan, one crucial tool that should be in every app marketing toolbox is a link management platform. “Raw links” is the term we use for links that go directly to a third party storefront, such as Amazon’s Appstore for Android, Google’s Play Store, or Apple’s App Store. Generally, these links are great for one thing: sending customers to a specific item in a specific store.

The Problem

The Solution

Using raw links in your online promotions and social marketing has been the industry standard, but it’s no longer an industry best practice. There are a number of reasons for this:

How do you manage to take care of every user, regardless of the device and country they are clicking from? The current standard is just to paste multiple links for each app, to cover the different stores and devices that you support. The problem with this approach is that you run out of characters in your tweets, your pages get cluttered in links, or your emails get crowded with buttons.

Regardless, users quickly get overwhelmed and don’t know where to click (so they don’t), and you lose out on a sale.

Enter link management platforms such as Georiot.com. Using a good link management platform with your marketing efforts gives you a fair amount of insurance, as they offer you the ability to dynamically alter the final destination URL for your link, most often based on geography. However, with some of the most sophisticated link management platforms, you can have a single link, that changes based on geography. You can also create additional “scenarios” where you associate different links to specific devices, operating systems, and even dates to seamlessly target your traffic to the best possible place for them to purchase.

For example, if you’re marketing an app that is available across iTunes / App Store, Amazon Apps for Android, and Google Play, you can create a scenario that sends iPads and iPhones to the App Store, Kindles to Amazon’s appstore, and Android mobile devices to Google Play. Clicks from Windows or Blackberry devices could go to your YouTube teaser video where you announce support for their devices in the coming months. Your users get the best experience possible and you have a higher chance of converting that person to a sale. Everyone wins!

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Your traffic can use any combination of devices and operating systems from around the world to purchase your app.

However, sending a user to the wrong app store or country specific storefront means the loss of a sale.

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The Amazon store, iTunes/App Store and Google Play stores are actually separate, country or region-specific stores – each with their own accounts, language, and currency. Sending users to a foreign storefront, instead of their local storefront, often means it’s unlikely they’ll purchase and they might even see an error message instead.

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If you’re utilizing the Amazon Associates Program, you only make commissions off of the single storefront you’re sending traffic to, not from any international sales. So, if you have your US affiliate tag set, but one of your German users purchases an item from your referral link at Amazon.de, you won’t earn a commission.

All of these things add up to something we have coined the “Purchasing Gap”. It’s defined in simple terms as the rift between the product you’re promoting and the storefront where each person is most likely to purchase.

With over two and a half million apps available between Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store, consumers simply have too many choices.

Jesse Lakes first realized he had an issue with GeoFragmentation in 2009. He’s been working on a cure ever since. This path has taken him from being the first author about the iTunes Affiliate Program, to a job with Apple as the Global Product Manager of the iTunes Affiliate Program. He is now the co-founder and CEO of GeoRiot. Based in Seattle, GeoRiot is working to eradicate Geo-Fragmentation and bridge the Purchasing Gap.

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arsenal that when used as part of an integrated strategy, can be incredibly powerful. It gives you the ability to connect emotionally, provide technical demonstrations and is a great way to talk directly to your customers. It’s versatile too, and can be used not only on your website but across all of your online channels from social media to email marketing. When planning to get a video produced, think about these 5 points: Set your objectives and stick to them – Whether the intention is brand building, raising awareness or to increase sales, you must keep this in mind at all times 2. Know your target market and give them something of value that they can share or will remember you for.

3. Understand your unique selling points and back them up with emotional or rational reasons to believe 4. Avoid simply talking about what you do; explain why you are the best choice 5. Always include insights and facts to show you are an expert.

“Video gives you the ability to connect emotionally, provide technical demonstrations and is a great way to talk directly to your customers”

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Using VIDEO To Get To The Top Of Google W

elcome to your next marketing challenge; creating video content that will engage your potential clients and get you ranked on the first page in Google. I speak to SME owners every week that are navigating a crowded online marketplace dominated by companies with big budgets and global brand recognition. Even for the smallest of companies it’s possible to compete with the big boys without hiring Roger Federer or spending a ton on Google ads. If you haven’t thought about video for business, or are trying to convince the decision makers in your company that this is the way to go, here are five points to consider:

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Video traffic will be 79% of ALL consumer Internet traffic in 2018 (up from 66% in 2013) 2. Viewers retain 95% of the message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text.

3. YouTube is now the internet’s #2 search engine but will overtake Google in 2017. Yep, seriously!

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Visitors who view product videos are 85% more likely to buy than viewers who do not.

Posts with videos attract three times more inbound links than plain text posts.

“Even for the smallest of companies it’s possible to compete with the big boys without hiring Roger Federer or spending a ton on Google ads”

It’s all in the planning Once you are happy that video content is going to help your business, the next problem is how to create content that will achieve a good ROI. The first thing I tell people to do is look at their business plan and ask the question “what do I want to get from this content?”

Video is a tool in your marketing

Creating an amazing video is all well and good but without using the right methods to reach your target audience you will end up with a video sat on YouTube that costs thousands of dollars and only gets 243 views.

Fly like a Hummingbird Hummingbird was the name Google used for an update to their algorithm that had a heavy impact on how video can help your search rankings. Part of this update was to alter the way google views content to not only favour long form content (large blog posts etc) but to lean heavily towards diversified and visualised content. Adding video to your website and social media sites and getting this content shared will help to optimise how your site is viewed by Google and push you further up the list.

Google wants you to engage and inform Think of your website as the reliable friend you go to when you need tips on

the best restaurants or where to find a good hairdresser. We all have ‘go-to’ people and you need your website to be the ‘go-to’ person for your industry.

Google measures this in 3 ways: 1. Time on site aka; Stickiness Sticky sites are good, the more time users spend on a website directly correlates to how engaging and relevant the content is. If Google sees that your average time on site is below 20-30 seconds, it will think that your website is irrelevant and you will lose rankings accordingly.

2. Bounce rate This is the percentage of users that leave your website after only viewing one page. You need to mix good website design with engaging content such as infographics and videos that will keep people clicking through.

YOUTUBE BY THE NUMBERS •

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YouTube crossed 1 trillion hits in 2011, which means 140 views per person alive on earth There are over 7,000 hours of full-length movies and shows on YouTube and it is continuously growing YouTube videos of length around 500 years are watched every single day More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

3. Social Media Back-links Back-links are created to lead people from other parts of the web back to your site. For example if you scroll down your Facebook feed and click on a video link that takes you to the Nike website, that link they have created is called a backlink. Back-links from social media sites are viewed by google as ‘good links’ as they are coming from a trusted source.

Don’t just produce. Promote, promote, promote One common mistake I’ve seen is for marketers to front load their marketing spend with a large budget for video but no budget to help promote the content.

Try to look at it like investing in a new car; do lots of research and find exactly what you want from a reputable dealer but leave enough cash left to fill it with petrol and hit the gas.

David Smalley is the Head of Business Development for Mededs Video Productions and has over 15 years of video production and digital marketing experience. David started his career at an online video agency producing videos for blue chip companies such as Dell, Samsung, Dixons Store Group and Canon. Most recently, he moved to Hong Kong and has recently taken an agency-side role focused on helping SMEs and multinationals to produce content marketing strategies.

WRITE FOR JUMPSTART MAGAZINE! EDITORS@ JUMPSTARTMAG.COM

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BOOTSTRAP YOUR BUSINESS

WITH BARTERING E

very new business starts off the same: with little or no cash, and little social proof to win over new customers and clients. But some serious bartering can solve both of these problems by helping your business get what it needs and provide you with your first clients while you’re at it.

By this point in time, the idea that money is the fundamental measurement of value is so deeply entrenched that we forget that it’s a fairly recent development. Here’s a mindblowing fact: money was originally created to aid the barter system. It was developed to be a stand-in system of value to measure debts when doing complicated trades. If the blacksmith needed food, but the grocer didn’t need the blacksmith’s services but instead needed shelter, the monetary unit prevented all of them from having to keep track of this complicated circular trade. That’s it. The almighty dollar wasn’t always so mighty.

This can be true today, if you choose to take advantage of it. It isn’t all about the Benjamins; cash is just paper because money is a placeholder for value. It isn’t value in and of itself.

Many people overlook bartering, but I’ve used it first hand to build my business – especially when starting up in my first year. I own a social media marketing firm, and when my company started five years ago, I entered the global economy with a political science degree under my belt and not much else. My only experience in marketing was in retail, selling skateboards and shoes. I knew I had the skills, but I wasn’t sure how to get started.

Before I could begin to earn my desired salary I needed to prove myself enough that people would want to fork over their precious cash.

I needed a list of clients and a good track record.

The best solution I had was to barter. It turns out this was a solid strategy because people are more willing to part with their products, services and time than they are with their money. But whom would I trade with, and for what?

I asked myself a remarkably simple question: What do I really need? The list was fairly short: a place to live, food, entertainment, health, clothes, and the things my business needed to grow.

Having this list allowed me to target the right businesses. In the beginning I offered to take over their social media marketing in exchange for a dollar-value of their products or services. I worked with restaurants and a food delivery company to ensure I could feed myself. I found a coffee shop to barter with for coffee beans and a welcome place

to bring clients in for meetings. I found a local chiropractor and massage therapist who were willing to trade for help. I even found a clothing store that was willing to part with their product in exchange for my services. I found a printing company to trade with for my business cards, and a website company to trade with for my company website.

Suddenly, I was in business. In under a month I had over twenty clients. Now that I had them, I had something to leverage to gain my first “real” paying clients. My plan worked brilliantly, and my company is still thriving five years later.

I still maintain around ten or fifteen barter clients at a time. Why should we use monetary transactions if an opportunity for barter is clearly available? I am completely happy to trade my company’s services in exchange for things I need. I always ensure I have a few bars and restaurants as barter-clients so I can take friends, family and clients out for dinner on me. One of the best parts of bartering is being able to share with friends: I love that when we go out, they can save a hard-earned buck.

Food? Check. Clothes? Check. But shelter?

And the big stuff that makes people stress out about money? Well listen to this: Last year I successfully bartered for a down payment on my condo. Get creative and anything is possible to build your business.

I have a vision for a future wherein more people trade their services and skills, and more people are willing to offer their services at a lower cost because money is no longer so important. People can more easily work for enrichment and fulfillment if their basic needs are met by trade.

If you’re interested in adding barter to your way of doing business, there are some things to remember.

Barter is not above taxes. You must claim barter as income and expenses so don’t forget to do so on your income tax. What you barter counts toward the value of your company and your gross profits.

Some businesses will be more uptight about keeping track of dollar value than others. Make sure you clarify at the beginning of your relationship if your tab will flow through to the next month if you don’t use the value every month. I had a barter relationship

with a restaurant that I didn’t visit for about four months, so I ended up with a $2000 credit. So I brought a big group of my friends and staff and partied for two nights. Some restaurants would not be OK with banking a credit like this.

Make contracts. Bartering has a friendly connotation, and that tends to hold true, but don’t forget these are still business transactions. Even though you are bartering, you need to protect yourself and your value.

Ensure a fair deal. In many creative industries like design, development, and marketing, it’s common to have a variable price tag for clients of different sizes. I provide social media marketing and the price often changes depending on the client. But this has an added twist if you’re bartering. If you have a service with an altering price tag, ensure you make a fair deal if you are working with someone who has a product. Product-based businesses need to pay for things upfront, which puts the burden on them. On the flipside, don’t let this devalue your service.

If you have something to offer that is worth less than the thing you want, promise a larger amount of it, or trade it for a longer amount of time. If you own a coffee shop and need a website made, trade gift cards instead of cups of coffee. The web design firm will be happy to be able to give the cards to clients and staff.

Barter isn’t just smart business, it goes a long way to making trusted friends of your clients. Always be open to trading some general info with a new business connection in exchange for a beer. A little giving goes a long way.

Dani Gagnon Dani Gagnon, CEO of Dani G Inc. has been creating and implementing innovative social media campaigns for businesses in North America for over 5 years.

She has spoken about marketing on the CBC, at the Royal Ontario Museum and at many conferences. When she’s not scrolling through Facebook news feeds, she is out playing gigs in bars with her band KINK or enjoying a good craft brew.

Reprinted with permission from newworker.co, an independent digital publication by and for the freelancers, entrepreneurs, remote workers and independents that make up the global coworking community.

Feng Shui in Coworking Spaces Coworking spaces have cropped up all over Hong Kong. They are becoming increasingly popular amongst entrepreneurs who are looking for a creative and affordable environment to grow their start-up business.

The sheer number of existing coworking spaces often makes it difficult to decide which one to pick. Cost, access and comfort are all important factors. But in Hong Kong, where Feng Shui plays such a big role in business, how can a coworking space ensure good Feng Shui for all its occupants? And how can you tell whether a coworking space has good or bad Feng Shui?

Although Feng Shui is a complex science and needs to be adjusted to suit each individual, there are a few very simple tricks that can improve the overall Qi flow (energy flow) in a coworking space, to ensure that everybody gets their fair share of good Feng Shui.

Clear the Clutter Always keep the workplace clean and tidy.

A cluttered-looking work environment with obstructed, narrow, or maze-like pathways does not allow Qi to flow freely, thereby stifling creativity and analytical thinking.

An organized and open work space, on the other hand, enables everyone to focus on challenging issues with a clear mind.

Support your Back When designing a coworking space, ensure nobody sits with their back towards a door or corridor. In Feng Shui, it is ideal to sit with your back against a solid wall. This gives you the necessary support and confidence to tackle difficult tasks, whilst minimizing errors.

After all, nobody wants to work while a lot of activity is taking place behind them! It takes your focus away from the most important thing at hand – your business.

Sometimes the layout of a coworking space does not allow for everybody to sit against a solid wall or partition. In this case, cabinets, bookshelves or high pot plants can be used to create a “virtual” wall behind you.

Avoid the Beams at all Costs!

Shield Against Sharp-pointed Edges

Many coworking spaces feature “industrial design,” i.e. exposed beams, air conditioning ducts, etc. In itself, this does not create a negative Qi flow and is not a sign of bad Feng Shui. It is, however, extremely detrimental to sit under a beam.

Think about it this way: Beams are an integral part of the building’s structure and are designed to endure a tremendous amount of stress and pressure.

Invisible to the naked eye, this pressure exerts downwards and on to the person sitting under the beam. Over time, this can lead to an increased sense of stress, serious migraines, neck problems and the sense that there is a heavy burden resting on the shoulders.

Designers and owners of coworking spaces should therefore make sure that no desks are positioned directly under a beam. In fact, this is so important, that I would make that the number one rule for all coworking spaces

Considering the limited space available, it is often difficult to position desks in such a way that no sharp edges from corners or pillars are pointing at any of the work stations. Facing a sharp edge can lead to health issues. It can also cause an increase in office-related conflict and office politics.

If you cannot move the desk away from such an undesirable position, the next best thing is to obscure the corner by placing a live potted plant in front of the corner.

This will act as a virtual shield, and has the added benefit of creating a much more natural and relaxing work environment.

These are merely a few simple suggestions to keep in mind when planning and designing a work environment that is shared by many different people and businesses.

Don’t Face Staircases Staircases are another feature to be aware of when it comes to designing a coworking space. Not only should the desks all have a solid backing, they should also not face a staircase. Staircases are exit points of energy and change the air flow – especially when the staircase is relatively steep. Facing a staircase when working redirects your attention away from your work and you won’t be able to concentrate. This effect is aggravated when the staircase points downwards. Your energy level will suffer, since it is likely to exit via the staircase, causing you to feel fatigued. As a result, it’s probably that your performance level will quite literally “go downhill.”

Suzhong Consulting Limited was founded in February 2014 by Susanne Schutz. The company provides Classical Feng Shui consulting for residences and commercial space. Susanne has studied with Feng Shui Master Joey Yap at the Mastery Academy for Chinese Metaphysics in Kuala Lumpur, where she graduated with distinction in Classical Feng Shui studies. suzhongconsulting.com

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