Entrepreneurs are glad that the government takes their plight seriously, and they say that the climate in Singapore has improved greatly for them in just the past three months. But they aren't sure how much government can do on its own. The real change, some say, needs to come from the private sector. Otherwise, it could take 15 years for the government to create a truly favorable environment for young technology businesses. By that time, they fear, competitors from other countries will have gobbled up the markets that Singaporean entrepreneurs hope to capture themselves.
Entrepreneurs say hiring employees is their biggest problem.
Unlike their colleagues across the Pacific in Silicon Valley, Singaporeans would rather work for a big multinational corporation than a tech start-up. Phong, now the founder and chief executive of CollectiveJuice, a reverse auction and buyer aggregation site, says that when Singaporeans look at start-ups, they see instability and low wages, not an opportunity to strike it big. Until even the tea lady is a millionaire, it doesn't make sense. Singapore's government agencies think they can help here, too. They're trying to encourage a more entrepreneurial mind-set among Singapore's citizens, and to lessen the penalties for financial failure.