Victor Ng
Adjunct Lecturer
National University of Singapore
School of Computing
Email: vng@nus.edu.sg

Notes

You need to have the guts to be a startup founder, train your guts by asking questions in class
- Practice questioning experts and successful people. Learn to challenge the status quo.
Over-reliance on AI makes you think less
Invention is something new, innovation is incremental change
Have different profit models
- e.g. netflix - pay-per-rental to subscription model
- freemium model → dropbox
- ad-supported freemium model → spotify
Network: leveraging connections to create value
- uber: vast network of drivers and riders
- notion: flexible shared documents
Process: improving how things are down
- stripe: made integrating online payments simple
- spacex: pioneered use of reusable rockets to reduce time and cost of manufacturing
- amazon: pioneered use of robotics and automation in fulfilment centers
product system
- apple: strong ecosystem of apps and connected devices
service: enhance customer support experience
- salesforce: saas model over on-premise installations
channel:
- warby parker: home try-on program for glasses purchased online

Startups don’t steal customers from incumbents, they steal activities
- they steal activities that customers don’t enjoy the experience of
- e.g. physically turning up for class
If you can map out the customer value chain, you can identify the activities that you can steal
- After mapping out the activities, label them according to:
  - Value-capturing → reduce friction
  - Value-creating → make it 10x better
  - Value-eroding → reduce / eliminate

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