It was a great event last week at Cyberport as Forbes contributor and author Rebecca Fannin brought her Silicon Dragon conference back to Hong Kong.
Tons of photos and video clips here of the amazing speaker line-up like Tytus Michalski, Yat Sui and Fritz Demopoulos.
A list of Advantages and Challenges that face Hong Kong startups quoted from the follow up article from Forbes.com:
ADVANTAGES
1. Doorstep of China‘s huge and growing market
2 Better gateway to world markets than mainland China
3. Hub for startups in financial technology, fashion, e-commerce and healthcare sectors
4. Abundance of CTO talent and expertise drawn from locally based big banks and financial houses
5. Potential to develop as a regional hub for biotech R&D
6. Strong ecosystem including capital market for listings, professional services such as law and accounting firms and technology parks
7. Spin-offs from Hong Kong-based science and technology universities
8. Relative cleaner air and better lifestyle
9. Small but growing angel and venture investment community looking to source more local deals
10. Local VCs with smaller number of portfolio companies in Hong Kong can work more closely with and help nurture these startups
11. Growth of accelerators and incubators plus government support give a boost to the startup culture
12. No Internet censorship
13. A legal framework with intellectual property protection
CHALLENGES:
1. No Sand Hill Road type community or club exists yet to help expand the VC investment network and help startups get to the next level and beyond Series A deals
2. Tough to scale businesses locally due to relatively small size of market and shorter runway
3. Few super angel investors in contrast to Beijing and Shanghai where serial entrepreneurs are now backing multiple deals with big impact
4. Risk-taking culture has been slower to develop in market accustomed to seeing wealth generated from real estate
5. Lack of software coding talent, comparatively
6. More niche market oriented rather than the mass-market opportunities still accessible in China
7. No major success story such as a $1 billion IPO from a Hong Kong startup to follow
8. Not the place to be for scaling a startup in Mainland China; it’s better to be in Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, or Hangzhou to compete
Read the rest of Rebecca’s post here.
Some of our photos from the event:
