Are start-ups good for the country? Why the government should support them

Most people think "start-up" is just a faddish word for "SME", a slang word that will soon go out of fashion. But in terms of opportunity and paths to the future, start-ups are distinct, and full-throttle state support for them is essential in pursuing the Thailand 4.0 policy. At the same time, private sector players may be weighing the wisdom of investing in start-ups.
I should like to shed some light on why we should support them. 
A start-up is a distinct mode of doing business. Take the restaurant-rating app Wongnai as an example. Previously, you couldn't know which restaurants served the best food without actually eating there yourself. Sure, you could get an indication from certifications guaranteeing the quality of the food and from word of mouth. 
But these indicators may not be trustworthy and, moreover, different people have different tastes. Thus, guarantees lose their appeal. Consumers want to know restaurant ratings, prices, service, location and promotions. With almost everyone now owning a smartphone, Wongnai gives easy access to all that information and consumers can also express their own opinions, sharing scores, recommendations and comments through the app. Wongnai is a pioneering Thai start-up. 
The app compiles information and ratings on restaurants throughout the country and has expanded swiftly. Wongnai's success not only reflects the Thai love of eating but also demonstrates that start-ups that answer to consumer needs, and provide options that simplify daily life, can grow rapidly in Thailand. 
But haven't we heard that start-ups have a high rate of failure, and that they may generate bubbles that subsequent burst? So, should we not instead focus our support on more reliable businesses like certain categories of SME?
Wongnai was created to address customer needs and offer options. That is the beginning of every start-up. A start-up entrepreneur notes a situation in which consumers experience inconvenience with a service or transaction, defined as a "pain point" and develops an application to resolve the problem. But let's think through what would happen if every pain point were resolved by multiple start-ups: Would that constitute a bubble waiting to burst? That question is on many people's minds.
Having been involved with start-ups for quite a while, my answer is that there is no end to consumer pain points. Once a start-up eliminates a problem a new problem pops up in its place. For example, e-commerce eliminated the pain point of having to spend time and money to visit stores, adding extra cost to product prices. The consequent popularity of e-commerce instigated a new pain point: the problem of product delivery. Many start-ups were created to address this issue. But once that problem was solved, there was demand to eliminate another pain point: the outdated, inconvenient payment system. That, in turn sparked the creation of new start-ups providing another specific solution. Due to the cycle of start-ups emerging to address the never-ending cycle of customer needs, I believe that no bubble threatening all start-ups will develop.
Why do I say that supporting start-ups boosts growth in the Thai economy? Do the few start-ups in existence, only about 1,000, have enough influence to drive significant movement in the overall economy? Start-ups have appeared on the scene only recently and those that have achieved clear growth and success are consequently few.
But over my long involvement in the field, I have seen that start-ups that achieve strong growth become platforms supporting concomitant growth in other types of business. They don't address the needs of just themselves, or just one group or business, but rather also serve as platforms that others build upon, benefiting many and allowing multiple pain points to be resolved.
They may also partner with other start-ups and SMEs. Wongnai, again, provides an excellent example with a current network of over 200,000 restaurants within Thailand. Growth for Wongnai is not only growth for Wongnai: the restaurants in its network also grow as the app attracts customers, boosting revenues and allowing the restaurants to hire more workers. Suppose restaurants employ an average of 10 workers each; then this start-up, with roughly only 50 employees, may have helped to raise the wages of over two million workers. Related businesses, such as suppliers, transport and packaging experience growth as well. This is just one example. There are many other start-ups, benefiting millions of consumers. Don't imagine that helping a start-up only helps that start-up - start-ups are nodes in the broader nexus of businesses where growth multiplies growth overall. 
These are the reasons I dare claim that start-ups contribute to national development and that the public sector should therefore support them, propagating multiple added benefits. Realising this, we should be supporting start-ups right from the start, should we not? 

Thanapong na Ranong is a managing director, Beacon VC, the corporate venture capital arm of Kaskikornbank.