Quirks in a day of a Venture Capital Firm - 31st May 2008

It is a glorious long weekend with the Hari Raya Haji break here in Singapore, and being home for more than 24 hours is a very welcome change.

Having some time off from doing up my speech and PowerPoint presentation for a renewable energy conference in January 2009, I managed to dig out this delusional investment email, spacing errors and all. Live long and prosper.

Subject: Investment Partnership
From: "President RayoZ"
Date: Sat, May 31, 2008 7:56 pm
To: startup@azionecapital.com
Priority: Normal

Dear Sir I am Mr Raymond Foo and will be 20 years old this year. I am looking for funding to invest and trade US Contracts for Difference (CFDs) and stocks using the SaxoTrader program offered by Saxo Capital Singapore. Hence, I will like to enquire if you are interested in this partnership despite a slowdown economy in US. Best RegardsRaymond Foo



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Quirks in a day of a Venture Capital Firm - 3rd December 2008

It is a common assumption that Venture Capitalists are an arrogant bunch by either never replying emails or always asking always probing.

Every other day, I would receive some quirky emails requesting for investments. Some are genuinely misguided while others are seriously delusional. I believe it is time to clear the air on what a Venture Capitalist has to wade through their email boxes on a daily basis. I will be posting up (on an irregular basis) various email solicitations worthy of a Simon Cowell retort. Enjoy.

PS. Do note the sender name differs from the sign off name.

Subject: INTERNET DUAL SYSTEM
From: "Michael Wedra"
Date: Wed, December 3, 2008 9:29 pm
To: startup@azionecapital.com
Priority: Normal

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I’ve a patent that drastically increases internet security.
For the realization of the system I need 200 million USD’s investment capital.
With this amount of money you can buy 20% of a new company.
You’ll earn 600 million USD’s per year.

A video – presentation is available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4UWUG5RShE

Thank you for your efforts in advance
sincerely

Csaba Bona

PS: Please forward this email to every known Billionaires, investor.
In case of realization for 1 % comission.

Your answer is appreciated.


E-Mail deleted@deleted.ch
Phone +41 61 del et ed

What do you have?

In a time where music is mere glorified shallow actions and words, timeless classics like Elvis still hold their own. I was told more than once that this song was the epitome of a loser; the people that told me that were rich individuals and families.

Yet within myself, this song is what embodies the never-give-up spirit of an entrepreneur; the world will always see them as idiots that challenge when they can accept, that stands up when all others stand along the by-ways, that does actual things rather than survive for mere cheap compliments and empty words, to put in their all while others put barely enough.

I have been beaten down time and time again, viciously betrayed and endured injustice all my life, yet what truly matters when I look into the eyes of my aggressors and know that at the very least, I truly did it My Way and no matter what they do, that is something they can never take that away from me.



For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!

The price of truth

I was raised up with the values of fighting against injustice and standing up for the oppressed; these values persists till this day, but the environment of which the price of truth is systematically reduced to the point that speaking the truth has become a taboo, for fear of retribution.

I always liked this classic exchange between Col. Nathan R. Jessep and Lt. Daniel Kaffee in the movie, A Few Good Men by Aaron Sorkin.

Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I think I'm entitled to them.
Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I want the truth!
Jessep: You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.

We use words like honor, code, loyalty...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!
Kaffee: Did you order the code red?
Jessep: (quietly) I did the job you sent me to do.
Kaffee: Did you order the code red?
Jessep: You're goddamn right I did!!

2 of my friends, myself and a non-profit organization which I co-founded in 2003 are now in the midst of a defamation case raised by an individual of whom we have named and provided details of our experiences with him. As of last week, he has changed his lawyer from one of Singapore's top law firms in the field of online legal suits to that of a larger firm while simultaneously expanding on his charges against us.

During the past 3 weeks, my friends and I have been taken away from our day-to-day, gathering and compiling evidence to back our statements, of which I am glad to say that we have mustered up over a hundred pages in both independent statements and public domain information to back up our case. However, the time wasted and the undue stress in which we are subjected to due to the need to respond to such an individual is draining and to say the least, highly unproductive.

What price, truth? When all that is said and done, is doing the right thing for the good of society still worth it?

Nigerian Scammer 2.0

Barely a few weeks after my post on being authentic, I received this rather amazingly researched scammer email into my Azione Capital email; this scammer actually checked up on who I am in contact with, in this case Puay Hien from the Singapore Entrepreneur Network Meetup group, and crafted out a rather incredible story of which I am about to share with you in its full glory.

Do pass this information around on the Nigerian Scammer 2.0 so that others would not fall prey to these nefarous people.

Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2008 20:17:10 +0100
From: "Pauy Hein Lee"
Subject: PLEASE HELP ME

Hello ? I am sorry i didn't inform you about my traveling to Africa for a program called "Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, HIV/AIDS, Poverty and Lack of Education, the program is taking place in three major countries in Africa which is Ghana , South Africa and Nigeria . It as been a very sad and bad moment for me, the present condition that i found myself is very hard for me to explain.
I am really stranded in Nigeria because I forgot my little bag in the Taxi where my money, passport, documents and other valuable things were kept on my way to the Hotel am staying, I am facing a hard time here because i have no money on me. I am now owning a hotel bill of $ 950 and they wanted me to pay the bill soon else they will have to seize my bag and hand me over to the Hotel Management, I need this help from you urgently to help me back home, I need you to help me with the hotel bill and i will also need $1050 to feed and help myself back home so please can you help me with a sum of $2000 to sort out my problems here? I need this help so much and on time because i am in a terrible and tight situation here, I don't even have money to feed myself for a day which means i had been starving so please understand how urgent i need your help.i have decided not tell my family so that they will not be worried.when I return I will tell them and they will understand.
I am sending you this e-mail from the city Library and I only have 30 min, I will appreciate what so ever you can afford to send me for now and I promise to pay back your money as soon as i return home.You need to transfer the money through Western Union to the address below

Name:Puay Lee

Adress:Marbel hotel and suite room 6

City:Lagos

Country:Nigeria

Zip code:23401

After you make the payment send me the details as follows

Sender's name

MTCN in 10 digits

Amount of money sent?

Secret question and answer e.g who is it for?

Answer:Puay Lee

Please reply back to my alternative email puayheinlee@aol.com because Gmail here in Africa is very bad.I will be waiting for your reply soon. Am counting on you for this.

Regards,

Puay Lee

Being authentic

One of the key traits I value in a person, be it an ordinary friend or an entrepreneur seeking my assistance would have to be being true to oneself, being authentically you.

In a city state like Singapore, it is not uncommon to see so many people wearing a mask, desperately trying to make themselves appear as someone they are not. It does not take too long before one can witness first-hand the overwhelming number of poseurs putting on their clearly fake american/european slangs, their persistant need of having "westerners" around themselves, both hanging on their arms or in their arms, while putting on a constant show of finding any and every opportunity in putting down their own race or any other asian counterparts.

While being fake doesn't hurt anyone, there is a growing number of a "darker" breed of such individuals. Conmen and confidence tricksters that prowls the internet and neighbourhoods. Some worse than others, some maintaining a facade that can and will fool most people on their authenticity, but that will be another blog post for another time.

People may forget words you say, but they will never forget how you made them feel.

My Life List

I had a chat with Darrel Lim, an old friend and associate working as an R&D Executive in the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore on 7 July 2008 (Monday) and he shared with me on how he keeps track of his Big Hairy Audacious Goals in his life via a simple "Life List". Summarizing some of the points taken from the very well written Robin Brande's Creating a Life List article, here is the first cut of my own Life List. This article would be updated as-and-when I have something new to add or when I achieved some portions of it.

Skills I would want to learn

8 July - Master the command of the Chinese, Teochew, Malay, Thai and Vietnamese languages.
8 July - Obtain a private pilot license.

Places I want to go if money and time was no object

8 July - Russia, to witness first hand the tenacity of the people.
8 July - Uganda, to visit a Singapore social entrepreneur who made it his home.
8 July - The islands of Micronesia, to finally see the routes of which the M/T Heracles sails.

Experiences I want to have no matter what other people think

8 July - Work on lifting up the lowest in society in the world by the formation of social enterprises within their community.
8 July - Defend helpless civilians from fundamentalist terrorists.
2 August - Establish a comprehensive "green" taxi company powered by Electric cars, with a comprehensive distributed recharging network powered by wind and solar (for urban areas).