Growth Hacker

So I met another tech company in the Internet marketing space operating out of Kuala Lumpur. As I mentioned before there are only a few companies working in the Internet marketing category over here. This is a European based company that was drawn to open a development office because of the supposed benefits the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) would provide.

From speaking with this company and others, I get the sense that they feel the MSC benefits are a bit of a sham or not worth the trouble of jumping through the required hoops. It seems the official designated MSC zones conveniently correspond to the properties of certain landowners. Other places in the city just don’t qualify for the program.

I’ve only been working in an office for three days, but I’m not sure how “Super” the MSC is when the Internet data transfer speeds are painfully slow in central Kuala Lumpur. It’s amazing that I can even make calls on Skype.

Overall, even with the bureaucracy quirks and the slow Internet, I do get the sense that Kuala Lumpur is a great place for a startup of a shoestring.

Update 3/10/2008:

After further conversations, I’ve been told by business owners in the tech business here in Kuala Lumpur that they like the MSC program because makes it easy to hire foreign workers and they pay no taxes. Makes sense.