This week was rather productive and eventful. We started off with a meeting with Dr. Alex about possibly acquiring a grant from NTUitive. We discussed potential routes for technological innovations. At our current position, our start-up lacks the innovative edge that warrants any kind of potential grants. Ideally, the next is to conduct an in-depth study of the products offered by both direct and indirect competitors. Refining our core ideas and spending some time drawing out a clear picture of user experiences with skincare products to develop a competitive edge. Furthermore, if we can file a patent or establish some form of IP, it would undoubtedly make our start-up more valuable. Looks like it’s back to the drawing board for us.
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OEM cosmetics lab partner office visit
Our next meeting was with a local OEM cosmetics lab. It was refreshing to finally have met their business development manager in person instead of via a zoom call. For namesake, we shall call her Ms. L. We had a constructive meeting with Ms. L last Wednesday. She gave us a brief rundown on the beauty and cosmetics industry, including supply chain considerations, ingredient procurement, production, research and development, lab testing methods, and consumer sentiments. Ms. L had expressed that she was very fond of our business idea and agreed to consult us as we embark on our start-up journey.
Subsequently, we met up with Dr. O, a TCM professor at NTU’s Chinese Medicine department. Dr. O has over 30 years of experience in dermatology and TCM cosmetics. He was very keen on building a partnership with us to develop our line of skincare products. Despite the language barrier, we were able to get our business idea across. Dr. O assured us and was able to recommend a few herbs that we could incorporate into our product line. We look forward to more meetings with him.
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Last Friday we had the opportunity to take part in an online investment game. My team only managed to hit a valuation of $506k. We had some administrative hiccups that prevented some of the investors from finding our company name on the web platform. It was quite a chaotic environment to be in because we had to grab the attention of our investors among several startups. Although we didn’t make it as far as the top 5 winning teams, we were still able to receive support and advice from a few of the veteran entrepreneurs that played the role of investors.
That’s all for this week, until next time.
