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Penn OlsonThe Business plan
To build the next “silicon valley”, we need to have different
components coming together: lawyers, accountants, risk
takers, culture, tech infrastructure, mentors, and investors.
Something is missing and that is media or specifically, blogs. Large news sites
like CNA or Straits Times don’t cover tech start-ups or daily tech news. Penn
Olson is positioned to be the connector and resource for the tech community in
Asia and eventually, the world.
By Willis Wee • [email protected] • Penn Olson 1
“
Table of Contents
Executive Summary! 2
Company Summary! 3
Team! 4
Market Analysis! 5
Products! 6
Marketing Strategies! 8
Operational Plans! 9
Financials Brief! 10
By Willis Wee • [email protected] • Penn Olson 1
Executive Summary!
Company Overview: What: Penn Olson is an English tech blog that writes on technology in Asia. Pain: (1) Looking for Asian technology updates in English might be a daunting task. Even if you find them, the so-called
“updates” are probably not regular. Penn Olson fills this gap. (2) Unlike the Silicon Valley, Asia lacks a media powerhouse to feature start-ups and promote technology. Solution: Penn Olson is a dedicated media outlet that promotes and connects the tech community in Asia through daily content and subsequently events. With our network, we’ll also create a wiki-style database containing information on tech start-ups, companies and key figures in Asia. [See page 3]
Company Information: Name: Penn Olson Web Address: penn-olson.com Phone: +65 9457 4618 Founded in 2009 # of team members: 3 Financials How $62,500 would be spent: • Hiring Chief editor based in
Singapore • Hiring writers • Development of wiki database Key figures (in usd) • Initial investment: $100,000 • Breakeven period: 24 months • ROI (3 years): 870% • Profit & Loss:
o Year 1: ($44,000) o Year 2: $53,000 o Year 3: $860,000
Monthly Op. Cost (After investment): • Manpower: $5,590 • Server, hosting Misc.: $250 • Total: $5,840
(1) Our wiki database would be the world’s first directory which contains information on tech companies, investors and entrepreneurs in Asia. (2) The blog supports future innovations by being the media outlet to promote start-ups and tech in Asia. Singapore and Asia’s very own “TechCrunch”. [See page 6]
The business model would be focused on ads, events and job listing. Our counterparts in the U.S have proven that this business model is hugely successful. [See page 5] !
Successful blogs like Engadget, Mashable and Techcrunch rose with Silicon Valley. We are expecting Asia to experience the same pattern. We are positioned to fill the gap and rise with Asia. [See page 5]
Willis Wee - Founder Willis oversees content direction and the business. Willis has experience working with a start-up since age 19 and had created a dent during his time at Bain & Mercer and DDB Singapore. Sahil Shah - Writer, India Sahil is a part-time writer in charge of India related tech news and opinions. Julian Putra - Writer, Indonesia Julian is a part time writer in charge of Indonesia tech news and start-ups. Eric Koh, Tech Advisor Eric is the CTO of JobCentral and also the founder of several other start-ups. He advises Penn Olson on tech related issues. Daniel Goh, Business Advisor Daniel is Blizzard’s PR head and also runs YoungUpStarts. He advises the team on content development. [See page 4]
Innovation
Potential
Feasibility
Management
By Willis Wee • [email protected] • Penn Olson 2
Company SummaryWhat: Penn Olson is an English tech blog that writes on technology in Asia.
Vision: Promoting and connecting technology and people in Asia.
Pain: Looking for Asian technology updates in English might be a daunting task.
Even if you find them, the so-called “updates” are probably not regular. Penn
Olson fills this gap. We want to be the “Mashable of Asia”, and play a major
role in promoting Asia’s start-ups and technology ecosystem.
How: • We write about news and tips on web, mobile and start-ups in Asia.
• Create the world’s first directory which contains information on tech com-
panies, investors and entrepreneurs in Asia.
Statistics:
Currently, we are generating over 100k unique visitors and 400k page views.
Each user spends an average of 20 minutes on the site.
By Willis Wee • [email protected] • Penn Olson 3
KPI:
Number of pageviews. This directly affects ads dollars which is our main
stream revenue. The number of pageviews also measures our content quality.
Position: To build the next “silicon valley”, we need to have different components com-
ing together: lawyers, accountants, risk takers, culture, tech infrastructure,
mentors, and investors. Something is missing and that is media or specifically,
blogs. Large news sites like CNA or Straits Times don’t cover tech start-ups or
daily tech news. Penn Olson is positioned to be the connector and resource for
the tech community in Asia and eventually, the world.
TeamPenn Olson is fully owned by Willis Wee. The team consists of:
Willis Wee - FounderWillis oversees content direction and editing. He is also tasked to bring in ad-
vertising dollars, work with related organizations and connect with start-ups in
Asia. Willis has experience working with a start-up since age 19. In 2007, he
held a business development role for a tuition business based in Singapore.
Willis guided the business to profitability within 6 months and led the business
to a bigger premise to accommodate more students. Willis also has experience
working in the digital and traditional ad agencies at Bain & Mercer (2009) and
DDB Singapore (2010), respectively. During his time at Bain & Mercer, Willis
led the set up of “social media marketing” services in the agency and took part
in the agency’s expansion plan in Australia and China. At DDB, he managed
brands like Philips, Neutrogena and Tourism Australia. He was also the high-
est ever paid intern in DDB Singapore for excellent performance.
Sahil Shah - Writer, IndiaSahil is a part-time writer in charge of India related tech news and opinions. In
the day, he works as a digital media consultant for Wats media. His in-depth
knowledge of India’s digital media scene adds weight to his writing.
Julian Putra - Writer, Indonesia
By Willis Wee • [email protected] • Penn Olson 4
Julian is a part time writer in charge of Indonesia tech news and start-ups. He
has wide connections in the Indonesian tech community. While not writing for
Penn Olson, Julian works as a SAP consultant at IBM global business services.
Laoli - Contributing Writer, Singapore/ChinaLaoli is a Chinese national based in Singapore. He writes on press releases and
news that are sent to us in Chinese. Laoli has deep knowledge in China’s tech-
nological space, which is currently all the rage in Asia.
Eric Koh, Tech AdvisorEric is the CTO of JobCentral and also the founder of Travelogy, OneShift and
several other start-ups. Eric advises Penn Olson on issues relating to its cloud
server and content platform.
Daniel Goh, Business AdvisorDaniel is Blizzard’s PR head and also runs YoungUpStarts, a blog which shares
content on entrepreneurship. He advises the team on content development.
Market AnalysisThe Blog Trend: Most successful technology blogs are based in the U.S.
Blogs like Engadget, Mashable and Techcrunch were all founded in 2005, just
a few months after Facebook was founded. These blogs struggled at early stage
but eventually succeeded as they rose with Silicon Valley. We are expecting
Asia to experience the same pattern. We are positioned to fill the gap and rise
with Asia.
Target Market: Penn Olson is for all English readers who have an interest in
Asia’s growing technology space, especially in China, Japan, India and Indone-
sia. Our site has so far attracted readers largely from U.S, U.K, Canada, India,
Indonesia and Singapore.
Our Competitors: Penn Olson has three main competitors: Technode of
China, Asiajin of Japan and e27 of Singapore. However, these blogs are not
updated regularly. Technode and Asiajin are run on part-time. e27, which was
By Willis Wee • [email protected] • Penn Olson 5
founded in 2006, focuses more on tech events and less on delivering daily con-
tent.
Why do we want to focus on content?We have researched intensively on how successful blogs in the U.S did it.
Techcrunch was acquired by AOL for $40 million while Mashable is currently
valued at $125 million. Mashable is also the most profitable blog in the world.
In an interview with Bloomberg, CEO of Mashable, Pete Cashmore, revealed
that 60 percent of its revenue come from advertising while the other 40 per-
cent come from events and job listing. To achieve profitability, a blog has to
focus on content, increase pageviews and monetize through ads. Ads provide a
consistent and lucrative stream of revenue for the business to expand and scale
further. Events, on the other hand, can’t achieve the same consistency. We
have chosen to focus on content, build a strong community before moving on
to more money-making sources.
Products1. ContentContent is our USP. At Penn Olson, we’re focused on building thought leader-
ship and brand equity through quality content. While we understand that tech
events will be one of our focuses in the near future, we believe that a blog’s
fundamental is to deliver content. We only scale to events and other business
opportunities after Penn Olson has become the number one content resource
for technology in Asia.
2. A Wiki for Tech Companies in Asia In year 1, we will build a wiki site for:
• Asian tech companies (e.g. Singtel, Creative)
• Tech start-ups (e.g Tokopedia, Manga Castle, Foound)
• Key people like investors, entrepreneurs, tech and business development
people
The wiki allows companies and key figures to input their product details, con-
tacts, history and milestones.
By Willis Wee • [email protected] • Penn Olson 6
Goal: Our wiki database would be the world’s first directory which contains
information on tech companies, investors and entrepreneurs in Asia. We plan
to hit at least 100 start-ups entry within the first year.
How: Through our start-up network of more than 50 companies, across Tai-
wan, Singapore, Japan, China, Indonesia, India and Malaysia, we’ll encourage
start-ups to key in their data in the Wiki. It will be written in English and ma-
jor Asian languages like Japanese, Korean, Malay and Chinese. Our daily blog
coverage will work hand-in-hand with the database and our community will
help to monitor the content. It’s after all, a user-generated site. The database
will be built in-house with Singapore-based contract developers.
Below are 10 examples of start-ups featured on Penn Olson (linked):
1. Mobile Social Network, RockeTalk Shares Its Cricket Strategy
2. PriceArea is a Price Comparison Search Engine
3. Urbanesia and Indonesia’s Tech Start-up Scene
4. Marketgeek is a Japan-based Financial Data Visualization site
5. TourPackages.com.sg is a 24/7 Online Travel Fair for Singaporeans
6. Stream Media’s Founder Talks about Mobile Trend in Asia
7. AdaDiskon’s Story and Vision
8. Jigsee, Mobile Video Streaming Start-up gets Series A funding
9. The Story and Strategy behind Tokopedia
10.Freesia City’s Co-founder on Social Gaming and 1 Million Users in Asia
3. EventsIn year 2, we plan to organize large scale tech events based on 3 main con-
cepts:
(1) Knowledge sharing: Renown speakers from the tech and media industry
will share insights on trends, how-to and business opportunities.
(2) Tech start-ups: Start-ups in Asia will have a chance to pitch their ideas to
potential investors and get exposed to Asia’s tech community.
(3) Networking and party: This sort of event will congregate founders, inves-
tors, regulators and tech enthusiasts to network for leisure and business pur-
poses.
By Willis Wee • [email protected] • Penn Olson 7
4. Jobs boardIn year 2, we plan to develop a jobs board system which allows tech companies
and start-ups to post job vacancies in our platform. (Say $80 for 90 days.)
Marketing StrategiesGood content is crucial as we take an organic growth approach. It is a taboo for
blogs to buy ad space to increase traffic. We will be taking a five-pronged ap-
proach in our organic growth strategy:
1. Community sharing: Our content is always accompanied by share but-
tons and tools. We rely on our readers to help us spread the words.
2. Social media and plugins: We have built a strong community of over
200k followings across Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo Meme etc. We will continue
to engage with the community to build thought leadership within the social
media sphere. Our Wordpress content platform also allows plugins which help
to boost traffic through search optimization and related postings.
3. Creative campaigns: Time to time, we’ll launch a creative campaign to
increase our community base. Next in our pipeline, we plan to launch an inter-
active infographic that encourages readers to spread our Facebook page with
their network. We believe this interactive infographic will be the first on the
Internet and hopefully get picked up by other blogs to help create a PR snow-
ball effect.
4. Guest blog: We’ll guest write on other notable blogs to gain publicity and
increase our Google PageRank. We’ll also be working with news media to work
on a weekly column about technology in Asia.
5. Guest writers, interviews: Interviewing key figures in Asia or key fig-
ures from U.S on Asia would help us increase our readership. The idea is to tap
on influential networks to help us get known to more people in the world.
By Willis Wee • [email protected] • Penn Olson 8
Operational PlansStatus of Product: Operating and ready to scale quickly with funding.
Operating cost, monthly in SGD:
Op. Cost $
Willis 800
Chief Editor 3500
China based writer 1000
Japan based writer 1000
Indonesia based writer 300
India based writer 500
Server and hosting, Misc. 200
Total (SGD) 7300
Total (USD at 1.25) 5840
Workflow:
By Willis Wee • [email protected] • Penn Olson 9
Financials BriefWith a total investment of $100,000, this project will break-even from accu-
mulated loss in 22 months and achieve an ROI of 870% at the end of three
years. The high ROI is due to the leveraging effect whereby each writer could
generate thousands of pageviews which translates to higher ad revenue.
How $100,000 would be spent: • Hiring Chief editor based in Singapore
• Hiring writers
• Development of wiki database and mobile apps
Key figures (in usd) • Initial investment: $100,000
• Breakeven period: 24 months
• ROI (3 years): 870%
• Profit & (Loss):
◦ Year 1: ($44,000)
◦ Year 2: $53,000
◦ Year 3: $860,000
Assumptions:
• Traffic growth rate at 10, 25, 30 percent in the first three years
• Ad impression filled up rate at 15, 50 and 80 percent in the first three
years
• Ad CPM conservatively fixed over the next three years
• Jobs board and events to be launched in year two
See financial spreadsheet for more details.
By Willis Wee • [email protected] • Penn Olson 10
