Batch 2 of Brainchild open to all

• Non-GLC staff welcome to participate
• Deeper application of Lean Startup Methodology

 
THE dust has barely settled after the end of the inaugural batch of the Brainchild programme, and it is already gearing up for a ‘new and improved’ second batch.
 
Project Brainchild is essentially designed to empower staff at government-linked companies (GLCs) in Malaysia to pursue any innate wish to be entrepreneurs, but at an accelerated timeframe using methodology borrowed from the startup world.
 
Six GLCs will be involved this time: Malaysia Airlines, TIME dotCom, Pantai Holdings, UEM Group, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB), and the Government’s investment arm Khazanah Nasional. UEM and MAHB also took part in the first batch.
 
One key difference with the second batch is that it is now open to non-GLC staff – only one team member has to be from a participating GLC, with three-person teams the maximum size organisers are looking at.
 
Code Ar.my is tasked with running the second batch, due to start in December – and that means a stronger focus on the Lean Startup Methodology (LSM) as Code Ar.my is the Asian regional partner for Lean Startup Machine.
 
Zafrul Noordin, cofounder of Code Ar.my which was also involved in the first batch of Brainchild, said there will be a deeper application of LSM principles, especially in the areas of customer discovery and a concept called ‘concierge MVP.’
 
Participants will learn to offer their services to a very small number of customers very early on. For instance, the typical cycle to develop a MVP or minimum viable product is three months.
 
“But with our concierge MVP, you can offer a product to the market within one week,” Zafrul said.
 
In essence, participants will learn the philosophy of ‘Learn First, Code Last,’ he said. [It was earlier incorrectly written as 'Learn Fast']
 
“It is so much easier to iterate when you learn first. Plus, you learn that you don’t need a fancy database but can just go with a spreadsheet even,” he added.
 
Zafrul (pic) breaks the current batch two into two phases, the first being the Code Ar.my pre-accelerator, and the second being the accelerator.
 
Teams which are successful in going through the pre-accelerator programme have a chance to apply for the three-month accelerator programme, with an opportunity for funding of up to RM100,000. [RM1 = US$0.23 at current rates]
 
He described the pre-accelerator phase as teaching entrepreneurs the fundamentals of building a product that meets market needs.
 
To him, the Brainchild programme fills a gap in the Malaysian ecosystem, which although has been developing over the past two years, still cannot work as a filtering mechanism, unlike the Silicon Valley ecosystem, which helps entrepreneurs with customer discovery, validation and the concierge MVP.
 
Zafrul said he is also excited about the inclusion of non-GLC talent into Brainchild, and believes the next batch will throw up some interesting products and services.
 
To participate in the next batch, you must have formed a team within the six participating Brainchild companies and then register here by Nov 20 for the next LSM KL event.
 
General tickets are going for RM500, but it is fully sponsored for participants from Brainchild companies. Learn more about Brainchild here.
 
Related Stories:
 
Startup methodology seeping into corporate Malaysia
 
Code Army official regional partner for Lean Startup Machine
 
2yrs and a pivot later, Code Army marches on with Lean Startup Machine
 
 
For more technology news and the latest updates, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Like us on Facebook.