Catcha is one company that comes to mind when one thinks of early Singapore Internet startups. The company has gone through a lot, transforming itself from a portal to a publishing house and becoming one of the largest independent players in Southeast Asia today.
Catcha.com
But this was not the company's strategy at the start. In an e-mail interview, Catcha CEO Patrick Grove told ZDNet Asia his initial goal was to become a horizontal portal for all the key Southeast Asian markets--that is, until the dot-com bust.
"We believed strongly in the value proposition of such a product, but unfortunately, the financial markets turned against us and we were not able to raise the amount of funding we needed to grow such a business," Grove said.
Seeing advertisers beginning to shun online media after the bubble bust, Catcha moved into the magazine business in 2001. "We noticed people were a lot more willing to spend money advertising in magazines, even though online media had more users," Grove explained. To date, the group's collection of magazines standards at 17.
Catcha's funding came in June 1999 from angel investors, venture capitalists and public companies, and the company managed to raise three rounds of funding before the market collapsed in April 2000. The company had already spent all the funds by then, Grove said.
"We almost went bust at least twice, but kept finding ways to stay alive," he said.
Grove's advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: "Raise 50 percent more than you need, and try not to dilute [your share] too much so that you still have control of the company."
"You should never make your game plan be to build something and sell out," he cautioned. "At the end of the day, you have to focus on building a great company regardless of whether or not someone buys you out."
Catcha now has two key revenue streams: magazine publishing, and an online property portal business. In fact, within the next two months, Catcha's Malaysian property portal www.iproperty.com.my will launch its IPO (Initial Public Offering) in a bid to raise extra funds for expansion.
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do you have an agent in Australia?
Can i buy this on disk as i have dial up it would take too long to download.
i am rather interested in your software if there is a way to get it.
Bazza
Posted by Barry Young on Monday, January 14 2008 07:41 PM