Surveylicious Scouts NYC

Surveylicious is a mobile geo-location survey platform which allows businesses to collect customer feedback in real-time. It was one of the tech companies selected by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) to visit New York City (NYC) for a week, from 9 to 13 May (related talk from NYCEDC in March). The purpose of this trip was to give companies a chance to learn firsthand about NYC’s business environment, to meet with NYC business leaders and to learn more about available resources for expanding their ventures to the city.

The co-founder of Surveylicious, Amanda Lim, shared with us her experiences.

The trip is part of the World to NYC mission co-organised by IE Singapore, IDA and NYC Economic Development Corporation.

Kicking off the World to NYC mission, David Lerner, Director of Venture Lab at Columbia University, gave an introduction to the City’s ecosystem for entrepreneurship at NYU-Poly Business Incubator. The incubator provides affordable office space and startup resources, which is very valuable in an expensive place like NYC. We visited the NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) and had a chance to speak to faculty members including famous writer, Clay Shirky. ITP is most famous for graduating famous startup alumni such as Dennis Crowley, founder of FourSquare.

Throughout the week, we also visited other NYC incubators like NYU-Poly Game Innovation Lab and General Assembly. At General Assembly, VCs from Rose Tech Ventures and First Round Capital provided a good understanding on raising angel or VC funding in the US. Second Market shared on the secondary market that allows startups to sell shares to accredited private investors without the need to be publicly listed. The delegation also got to visit leading Media and Tech companies such as Edelman, Bloomberg LP, The Ladders, and InterActive Corporation (IAC) to hear from business experts in these industries. Consultants and experts provided advice on the pitfalls of launching an international business venture in NYC and issues in areas such as incorporation, immigration law, taxation, recruitment and real estate.

Throughout the week, IDA and IE Singapore also organised business meetings for Singapore startups to explore business or partnership opportunities. Some of the companies that met the World to NYC mission delegation are big ad agencies like JWT, Saatchi & Saatchi, Digitas etc and MNCs such as Random House, AOL, BBC and Nokia.

The highlights from our trip were learning the secret tricks of the trade on pitching to VCs from FirstMark Capital. Subsequently, Surveylicious’ very own Julian Koo got a chance to pitch at the Sales for Startup competition organised by Ultra Light Startups and pitted his wits against the judges’ questions. Getting the opportunity to observe the ringing of the NASDAQ closing bell by China IPO debutant, Jiayuan.com, was also an unforgettable experience for our team who one day aspires to be listed there as well!

Surveylicious Team at NYC

Image credit: zoonabar

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