Web 2.0 Entrepreneur

Work with a partner or go solo in your Internet venture?

• Posted by Tengku Zahasman on May 1st, 2007 filed in Thoughts, Entrepreneurship


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People say that “two heads are better than one”. I say it’s true, but ONLY IF the other person is also as passionate as you are in whatever you’re venturing in. Getting the right partner can boost your business’ productivity to the max but be careful not to hook up with the wrong one as they will give you more headaches compared to working solo. I am currently not running my venture with anyone else. I work out everything by myself. I am the planner, I am the developer, I am the marketer and I am the technical support. That’s one of the obvious benefit of the Internet business - it allows you to run your business on your own because when it comes to the Internet, many things can be automated.

Is it cool working solo?

While I’m already comfortable working as a one-man-show, I realized that this should not continue on forever. I thought how great it is to have a partner (or co-founder if you wanna call it) who is as passionate as I am and having that person to work with me in making the business a success. Being able to share ideas together would be fun and energizing. Knowing that someone else is also working hard on your projects can be a stress reliever as you’re assured that something is being taken care of. The reason why I’m still working solo is not because I don’t want a partner, but because I have yet to find the perfect one. Finding the right partner is not as easy as finding the right staff. Finding a staff means you look into their skills and personality and offer them money. But for a partner, you want them to be as close as to your own clone. You have to be at the right place at the right time, with the right person. That’s why it’s hard to find the right partner. But it’s also not impossible. It’s a lot easier if you already have a close friend who shares the same passion with you in venturing in the Internet business and becoming a successful Internet entrepreneur.

What’s my recommendation?

If you ask me whether you should find a partner or just work on your own, I’ll have to ask you how huge and how far do you want your business to go. If you only want to be a work-at-home mom/daddy and get thousands of dollars a month out of blogging, then you can do it solo (your siblings or your spouse can be your partner if you ever need one). But if you’re aiming in building a huge business one day, developing international web applications, getting tenth to hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, getting an office with a few staffs or maybe even build your own skyscrapers (woah!), meeting people and making your own business travels, then you better find ‘the right’ partner soon. Be smart.

Why you should use a Web Application framework

• Posted by Tengku Zahasman on April 29th, 2007 filed in Web Programming, PHP, CakePHP, Web App Development


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Even though I have been programming for years, I have never actually fully utilized a web application framework when developing web applications. Part of the reason being that I may be a bit too proud to adopt someone else’s programming structure. I used to believe in my own codes so I always write applications from scratch. That was a big mistake. After I found and studied a great web application framework for PHP since just a few weeks ago, I realized how much time I have wasted all these while and how many headaches I had to go through just to rewrite the same codes and reinvent the wheel all over again.

For those who are new to web application framework, I’ll try to explain it briefly here. Everytime we start writing a web application, there are some basic codes that we need to repetitively write again and again. We had to write the database connection classes for the database access layer, we had to write every objects classes with their basic CRUD methods. Then we had to deal with so many annoying basic issues like Access Control Lists (ACL), data sanitizations, authentications and authorizations, session handlings, and you know… the rest of those stuffs. This same repetitive coding is a waste of time if you keep writing them from scratch. Plus, you can’t be really sure that the structure of your code is secure and lightweight enough to run. Then you started to wonder, “Am I doing this correctly? Is this exactly how everybody does it?” Here’s where an application framework comes in. An application framework is basically a standard programming structure that already pre-defines those repetitive stuffs as well as any other necessary functions so that you can easily and effectively write your web applications in no time.

Let’s see some of the few benefits that I find when using a Web Development Framework:

1. It saves a hell lot of time

Because you don’t need to worry about data sanitizaion, session handling, error handling, and authentication logics anymore (ok maybe just a little bit). Most of these are well taken care of by the framework. No more head scratching. You can start writing functions for your apps straight away without wasting anymore time with those repetitive codings. Double up development process!

2. Organized application structure

Another thing to not worry is about managing your web files and directories. The framework will already have a good skeleton structure to use. No more stuffing PHP files here and there and then realizing at one point that you have messed up with your files’ placings. Business logics can be separated from the interface files. Things get more organized.

3. Flexibility over different platforms

I’m a MYSQL user. If you give me a Postgresql database to use, I’d be scratching my head again if I am to write the application from scratch. Luckily a framework can help me not to waste time studying things that don’t really matter. A few tweaks can ship my application from one platform to another.

4. Secure codes

This is another huge advantage of using a development framework. You can be sure that your application is using good security measurements because the framework takes care of it. No need to worry over those nerd hackers trying to break your application anymore. In fact, I’ve never been truly confident that my application is secure if I write them from scratch. Now that I’m starting to use a framework, I feel much… much better

There are endless other benefits of using a web application framework but to list them all here is crazy. So I’ll let you decide the rest of them. I mainly develop web apps in PHP, so the framework that I’m currently exploring is CakePHP. I’ve looked into other PHP frameworks but so far I guess CakePHP got my attention the most.

How to get funded for Malaysian startup entrepreneurs

• Posted by Tengku Zahasman on April 29th, 2007 filed in Entrepreneurship, Financing/funding


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Internet startups in the Silicon Valley are used to getting funded by the many Venture Capitals and Angel Investors they have over there. That’s why Internet Startup companies in Silicon Valley blooms up like mushrooms after a rain. Unfortunately, we don’t have the same luxury here in Malaysia. You can’t easily find a VC to fund your startup… and most of our parents or friends are still pretty clueless/critical about Internet ventures to be your angel investor. But fret not, the Malaysian government does have allocation for the Malaysian Internet startups to get initial capital and start their businesses to boost the ICT industry in Malaysia. And there are also Malaysian companies that does businesses in Venture Capitals.

1. Technopreneur Pre-Seed Fund Programme

This fund is introduced by MDEC (Multimedia Development Corporation, Malaysia). In this programme, your startup business can get a conditional fund of up to RM150,000 that you can use to develop your IT business plan into commercial projects. The good news is that apart from the money, you will also get the benefit of their mentoring services and use their MSC status shared lab facilities.

Take note that ONLY INDIVIDUALS are eligible to apply. You can’t apply under a business name. In other words, you’re not eligible apply this fund if your business already has an established Sdn Bhd company name. You may read more information about this on their website.

- Download Guidelines and Application Form
- Download FAQ

2. Cradle Investment Programme

This programme offers RM50,000 of fund that you may use for the development of your project’s prototype, proof of concept or business plan. Same like the pre-seed programme above, this fund is also only for individuals, not companies. Their focus is to give entrepreneurs a headstart in realizing their unique ideas (sounds a lot like you?). You can make application online. Visit their website for more thorough and detailed explanation on this fund.

- Read Application Guide here

Before making an application to any of these funding options, be sure to have a strong business plan document to present them and to get their attention, besides avoiding yourself from looking foolish. Be confident of your project. Also be sure to do enough research about a certain funding programme so that you know what you’re dealing with. The question is… should you apply? Do you really need them? I’ll talk about that sometime later

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Credit to webwatch for providing such useful information