4 Things We learnt from the VCIC Finals | TreeDots
4 Things We learnt from the VCIC Finals | TreeDots
When we were invited to the Venture Capitalist Investment Competition (VCIC) Asia Regional Finals on 3/3/18 to participate as a startup, we couldn’t say no. An opportunity to practice our pitches, learn how to negotiate terms and rub shoulders with actual venture capitalists(VCs)? We’re definitely in!
This was definitely a most rewarding experience for us. And today, we want to share four of our biggest takeaways!
The Appeal of Social Enterprises
Prior to the competition, we had the impression that compared to deep tech companies, a social enterprise like ours wouldn’t stand a chance.
Hence, it was surprising when we found that our social impact was the most appealing factor to the VCs. Not only were they heartened by what we were doing, they also felt that social causes like ours were worthwhile investments!
This came from many of the students who would go on to become VCs. And our value proposition turned out to be our social impact.
We realised that times have changed and that we definitely had a distinct edge over purely profit-driven companies.
Always Seek Out Like-Minded Investors
VCs will be the ones helping you scale up and grow. They will connect you with the right networks that are key to the success of your startup. What happens if there’s a mismatch between your interests or worst still, your end-goals?
We learned that an ideal VC would:
- See value in what you are creating
- Want to achieve your goals with you
- Have the capabilities to help you achieve the very same goals
So, always be on the lookout for investors with the capacity and interests to help your startup achieve your long-term goals.
Know Your Term Sheet Clauses
Knowing how to negotiate the terms in a term sheet is essential to secure a good investment. The negotiation session at VCIC was certainly helpful in preparing us for such occasions in the future.
How do we differentiate between an agreement that is favourable or not? How can we protect the interests of both the investor and the founder? These are questions that we as founders, need to know how to answer.
If you are planning to raise funds through seeking out potential investors, we highly encourage you to know this skill like the back of your hand! Doing so will not only help protect the shares of the investors and founders, but also ensure that your startup is going in the right direction.
The Team Matters Most
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it once more.
After a networking session with the VCs, we’ve ascertained this fact yet again. While our profit margin, market size and company traction are key to securing investments, these factors are secondary. Our primary objective should always be building a strong team first.
Your team matters most because you will be the ones bringing the ideas to life. Business ideas can change and your company’s performance can improve. But your team is forever!
How we won the Social Startup Challenge | TreeDots
How we won the Social Startup Challenge | TreeDots
Recently, we won the Grand Prize at the Institution of Innovation & Entrepreneurship Social Startup Challenge 2018! Hurrah!
This would not have been possible without the help of our interns Jia Le and Yu Sheng, who also represented us at the competition.
Creating Real Impact
The award was a sign of validation that here at TreeDots, we are doing real work. At the competition, we shared about two of our social impacts: one, reducing food waste; and two, providing affordable food prices to lower-income groups.
At TreeDots, we don’t simply sell to businesses. We also reach out to lower-income groups and ensure that for them, each meal only costs $0.48. Because of that, they are able to meet their required 2 servings of vegetables and 3 servings of meat per day. This was not achievable with the prices at supermarkets.
To top it off, our judges at the competition were active players in the social entrepreneurship scene. It was heartening to know that all our hard work had been recognised.
Tough Times Don’t Last…
As of February 2018, we saved a whopping 1.5 tonnes of food– our biggest achievement to date. We started out with lots of hurdles because we were new to the industry and had to learn everything from scratch. During our first 2 months of operations, we only made $200 in revenue.
However, we pulled through. We continued making refinements and spoke to our advisors. Ultimately, we managed to save so much food in just 6 months. Seeing the impact we made is a huge validation. Previously, we constantly questioned ourselves if we were doing the right thing. Now, we want to make that number grow, and grow exponentially!
…Tough Teams Do
The three of us have varied skill sets and experiences. Hence, we all come in from different angles and that really value-adds to the team. You want different skills and styles of thinking so that you have different ways of approaching a problem.
Cai (also known as Jia Cai) puts on the table the tech skills and expertise that Tylor and I lack. Tylor’s experience in investment banking helps increase our sales and attract potential investors. I go micro, and it helps because I’m handling the operations.
That’s how we value-add each other.
Eliminate all Fear
The startup scene can be very intimidating. Our advice to budding entrepreneurs is: START DOING. If you have an idea, you’d have some things you wanna test- go ahead and test it. Test it and talk to somebody! When you start doing and getting your hands dirty, you’ll eliminate that initial fear.
You WILL face rejection, and that’s okay. If lots of people reject your idea, that’s good too because then you’ll realise that you might be doing certain things the wrong way.
And that’s a wrap! Today, we learned:
- When you’re faced with setbacks, keep refining your idea until it works.
- Work with others with different strengths and skills to bring out the best in your team!
- Have an idea? Start doing now! You’ll overcome your fear once you try!
How did TreeDots celebrate Chinese New Year?
How did TreeDots celebrate Chinese New Year?
It all started with a quick discussion at SMUAA B3 Cafe, an idea to give back to the unsung heroes who have been keeping our alma mater as conducive and beautiful as what we had always known it for. Everything was fuzzy, nothing was solidified, but all of us only had one goal in mind – to express our heartfelt thanks to these quiet heroes in SMU this lunar new year.
TreeDots, SMU Grow, and SMUAA B3 decided to come together, each pooling our expertise, to whip up something amazing for our school’s 100 cleaners, technicians, security guards, and contract staff on the 7th day of lunar new year. Why the 7th? According to Chinese tradition, this day is everybody’s birthday! So what better day to show our gratitude!
After much planning and consideration, we decided to do a few things for these lovely people:
- Lo-Hei! A tradition where the Chinese set up a raw fish salad while uttering auspicious phrases and toss it as high as possible to usher in a year of prosperity;
- Buffet – how can a party not have a feast;
- Goodies bag for them to take home something after;
A campaign was thus set up to start raising funds and we were so touched by the generosity of the SMU circle – within a short span of two days, we had hit our initial target of S$1,500! At the end of the fundraising campaign, we raised a whopping S$1,900!
After all the hard work (and donations), the results were truly satisfying when we see the buzz of excitement and happy faces at the end of the day –
Albeit a simple event, it really felt like an extended family reunion for everybody. The funds collected went a long way since we managed to maximise food supplies and reduce food wastage. All of this couldn’t have been done without the help of all the donors, volunteers, organisers, SMU Grow, and B3!
Receipts –
A B2B Marketplace To Reduce Food Waste | TreeDots
A B2B Marketplace To Reduce Food Waste | TreeDots
Hello there,
We are TreeDots, a B2B marketplace platform for grocery retailers/wholesalers of perishables to sell their almost expired, overstocked or even ugly supplies that are still safe for consumption to F&B companies such as yourself whom are capable of finishing them before they expire at a deeply discounted price.
We Want You!
Quoting a divisional manager from Carrefour –
…food suppliers are expected to take goods down from the shelves at least one week before their stated expiry date.
Although efforts have been taken to recycle these products via donation channels, around 86% of these unsold inventory will still usually end up in the bin.
This can be prevented if they are sold to F&B companies like you who are able to quickly finish these goods hence reducing the amount of waste generated!
Why TreeDots?
We can’t stress enough on the benefits you’d be bringing for Earth by cutting down the waste generated from perishables but here are some other perks we can help boost your bottom-line with (all while going green!) –
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- Our vendors have agreed to sell the goods at least 20-30% below the wholesale prices. Yay to greater margins!
- Consumers are increasingly favouring socially responsible companies with 9 in 10 Singaporeans expressing concerns over food wastage. Doing good and looking good don’t always have to come together, but in this case, they do!
Oh, did we also mention that we do not charge for subscription fees? So yes, we are FREE to join.
One last thing.
At TreeDots, we do understand the health regulations F&B companies are forced to undertake and hence we assure you that our products are all given in a state where they are still fit for consumption.
To start off, no fresh produce would be in the market for now only canned food or products with stamped expiry dates would be up for grab.
Saving the Earth has never been so affordable. So, what are you waiting for! Drop us an email at [email protected] to begin!