KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — Accelerator programmes can help startups refine their products and pitch to investors, but the significant time commitment requires careful consideration, cautioned fund managers.
Speaking at the Betting on AI forum held in conjunction with the Selangor Smart City and Digital Economy Convention (SDEC) today, GenAI partner Kang Kai Yong noted that joining accelerator programmes can be time consuming, and as such, founders should be realistic in their priorities.
“Founders’ time is very precious, and these programmes take real commitment. Some startups get so excited that they apply everywhere and end up joining four or five (programmes) in a single year.
“If you are so busy serving customers, you will have no time to go through all of that,” Kang said at the forum held at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, hosted by the Selangor Information Technology and Digital Economy Corporation (Sidec).
Other panelists included The Hive managing partner Datuk Syed Haizam, AppWorks associate Nathan Alexander, and 500 Global partner Shahril Ibrahim.
Startup accelerator programmes are structured, time-limited initiatives that help early-stage companies grow quickly through seed funding, mentorship, networking, and business development training.
Syed concurred with Kai, saying that while accelerators help startups refine their products, founders should be more selective with their programme partners.
“Sometimes, we see companies going through three or four different programmes, and you begin to question that,” Syed said.
Shahril said while accelerators are “fantastic badges”, venture capitalists place more weight on domain expertise and whether a company serves its target market.
Earlier in the forum, the same panel said Malaysia already has the raw advantage to excel in AI through its data-rich industries.
Among other things, Shahril said the country has unique data “moats” that can be leveraged and are investable.
“You don’t need to build the next ChatGPT. The real opportunity lies in verticals where Malaysia already has a data advantage in agriculture, palm oil, logistics. These are data ‘moats’ that others don’t have,” he said.
Shahril added that “AI is not a spectator sport” and urged local players to interact with it and integrate it into their daily work.
Nathan, meanwhile, said Malaysia is a strong first market for AI adoption, citing its skilled talent base and high willingness to pay for digital solutions.
“The challenge in Malaysia is the market size, but with AI you can sell globally,” he said, adding that local AI startups should not limit themselves to just serving the domestic market.
