New Media Mogul in the Making?

Integricity started life as a typical web hosting company in 2000, the year the dotcom boom hit Malaysian shores. It made sense for Alex Lam, the founder to go into that business. Everyone wanted to build a dotcom then and the surest way to  make money during a gold rush is to provide the picks and shovels. 

A couple of years later, Lam added more tools and shovels to his arsenal, and Integricity started offer web design and development services. Fast forward a few more years and Integricity is offering interactive marketing services.

A natural question anyone would ask is, after years of building dotcoms for clients, hasn’t the company ever been tempted to build one for itself? The answer to that is obvious with the launch of theQGuides (www.theqguides.com), a companion website to a restaurant review book of the same name – both of which have just been launched.

The whole idea began about two years ago, when local author Fay Khoo approached the folks at Integricity to build a website to sell her books. One idea led to another, and after several rounds of brainstorming, the concept of an online restaurant booking website was born, with Integricity taking a stake in the business by offering services in lieu of financial investment.

The book is a handy guide, full of reviews of restaurants in the Klang Valley. There are advertisements but only from lifestyle brands and not from restaurants. To add a touch of glamor and fun, the reviews include personal favourites by the  likes of local celebrities Asha Gill and Maya Karin.

Still, at the end of the day, what makes the book most interesting is its web companion, which allows for quick and easy online bookings. There’s also a rewards system for members who use the system often.

Anyone who books online will get points which cna be used to redeem cash vouchers at the participating restaurants. Lam emphasized to me that these are actual cash vouchers, not to be mistaken for discount vouchers. So, there is some real, solid incentives to use the site.

So, what’s the business model? According to Lam, there are three revenue sources, namely book sales, advertising and restaurant booking commissions. “How theQguides.com works is, we charge restaurants a nominal fee per pax that we send their way,” Lam says. “At the same time, we incentivise the bookers with rewards for booking and dining, then we earn from the difference between the two parties.”

I asked Lam what was the main reason Integricity decided to take a stake in the venture instead of charging a design and development fee. He said it was timing.

“Integricity was already an established digital agency that had seven years of experience building websites,” he said. “We felt it was time to build our own virtual properties and become true technopreneurs.” Also, the team’s passion for food helped clinch the deal.

That being the case, you can expect the team to roll out more websites, done in collaboration with other technopreneurs.

“There are many people who have the ideas, but are lacking in some areas,” says Lam. “After being in business for nine years, we are able to provide many of the resources that aspiring technopreneurs could use. We want to help incubate good ideas and bring them to success.”

But it’s not just good ideas that they are looking for. What’s crucial is that there is a right fit in terms of outlook, values and so on. “We are very selective on the types of ventures we will embark on, as this is likened to a covenant between a bride and groom,” says Lam. “We want to be able to wholly trust the other party and share similar values.”

In terms of the stake the company would take in a venture, it would vary depending on how much time, effort and resources needed to be put into it. Lam says it could be as little as 15% and as much as 70%.

Do you envision yourself to be a New Media mogul five years from now, I asked him. “That’s a nice thought,” he replied.

Oon Yeoh is editor for New Media at The Edge. He invites you to follow him at www.twitter.com/oonyeoh.