Should I have said something else?

Went for an important pitch this afternoon. The pitch flow was ok but the panelists had something else in mind for the directions of the company.

I did not quite agree with them as I always felt that as a company, providing better services at a cheaper rate would be how we gain market share instead of leveraging on other mechanics.

I stood firm to what I believed in and fought a tough battle together with my partner. Came out with only a 50/50 chance of getting the money.

Now..I am starting to think if I should have said something else. Maybe I will revisit this post couple of months down to road to see if I made the right decision.



The Young CEO

Start Work at 7am, End by 5pm

Been trying out a new routine instead of working late into the night.

I found that it works better as there are alot of distractions that pop up in the late morning to early afternoon. The Facebook posts, emails, articles. Most of them start when people reach the office at 9am and clear out their To-do list.

I think I am sticking to this routine. At least I am able to get in a full 2-3 hours of pure work each morning before the distractions appear all around. Willpower and concentration? It doesn't work out that well when clients start calling in or when the whatsapp comes in.

What do you do when feeling down? CAT NAP!

Had 3 pitches today and got caught in the rain while doing so. The first pitch pretty much took up the whole morning and it was terrible. Almost got into an argument with the panelist as we were looking at 2 different directions for the company.

I had pretty much put up a tough fight in terms of steering the way I want my company to grow. We shall see how it goes.

Left the place for the next appointment (back to back) which I had about an hour buffer time. It was raining really heavily and I braved the rain trying to look for a bus stop (I did not drive today).

After the 2nd appointment, decided on crashing home for abit before the 3rd appointment in the evening. Grabbed a hearty lunch (didn't have breakfast) and it was about 3pm before I ate anything today.

I had quite a number of things in my To-do List but decided on putting everything aside and taking an hour nap. Woke up and continued work for the next 3 hours before my evening appointment.

The cat nap worked wonders else I have already fallen sick from walking in the rain all afternoon.

The Young CEO

What would be a good add to the portfolio?

I have my eye on 3 stocks:
GSH
Super Group
Sembcorp

All 3 have good financial standings, are nowhere near their 52 weeks high and have good management teams.

Keeping an eye on them.

Anyone else has any watchlist on which to buy for Christmas?


The Young CEO

Bad Luck Brian

Do you believe in bad luck?

I try not to but sometimes I think some people are bad luck. Maybe it is just the energy between 2 people that makes me feel this way. It is days where everything goes wrong just because the 2 of you worked together. It is like the 2 of you can not work together.

Superstition? Or just not fated?

What do you guys think?

The Young CEO

Dividend Plays

I always believed in diversifying the income streams and thus have been investing in both dividend plays and growth stocks since I started working.

There was a site that compiled the list of SGX stocks which gave dividends. 

There are 234 SGX stocks that have been paying dividends regularly over the past 5 years.

Cleaned up the list for companies paying above healthy 4% annual dividends, have positive ROE of at least 5% over 5 years, reasonable PE ratio below 18 and a healthy Debt to Capital of under 0.4. We still have 55 companies left standing. Shall share the dropbox link below.

Enjoy~

Dividend Players [Disclaimer: Caveat Emptor. Lose money don't find me, make money please share with me]

The Young CEO

The A-Team

The team especially the starting team is really important. Who goes in or out will really determine if the company floats or flop in the initial phases.

Came across this article recently so decided on sharing

Hiring Talents
Steve often said, "Make sure you're hiring only A-players." Hire a few B-players, he said, and they hire B's and C's, and pretty soon the whole operation is going to pot. Obviously not everyone can afford to hire only A-players. So how do you find people who are exceptionally talented and a good fit? One of the greatest sources is your own employees. Really sharp people generally prefer the company of other really sharp people. When you need to hire someone, you ask the people on the team to recommend somebody they admire.


The Young CEO

Taking a break

The past week has been slow.

With the 2 recent Public Holidays (Hari Raya and Deepavali), our suppliers and developers took a longer time to provide updates. In addition, it so happened that the past week was my co-founders and my birthdays. Coincidence that all our birthdays fall within the same week or so.

We decided to pulling back on the rush hour slightly and working our butt off this week. It is going to be a busy week!

And...that's from me to all other Scorpios out there hahaha

The Young CEO

Now is the best time for start ups

Just flipping through today's Straits Times, there were 2 articles that caught my eye.

Both NUS and NTU, our local universities, are putting more effort into developing start ups and guiding them along to grow. I have spoken to both the entrepreneurial teams at NUS and NTU previously. One thing that I felt was worth it was the network and group of mentors they had. A strategic partnership or mentorship is more important to a new startup as compared to $50k or $100k.

Start ups can maintain being lean by reducing on their operating and fixed costs. Their founders can live off a meagre allowance to drive their hunger to succeed. However, they will need someone to help them open doors and bring them to the next level. Especially for start ups with younger founders whose networks are not as strong.

"Be strong my young one"

The Young CEO

In a sentence

I have always been a big fan of keeping things simple.

While it has been said that the elevator pitch is a 30 sec summary of the business, what actually matters is the 1st sentence.

Does it raise an eyebrow or invite nods for the audience to want to hear more? More often than not, when I go to networking sessions, entrepreneurs will reply "oh basically, my company does XXX" and they continue on for the next minute or so.

However, more often than not, do we actually pay attention to the audience if they even bother to continue listening to what you have to say after the 1st sentence? Why bother to continue pitching to someone who has completely no interest or are unable to value add into the industry that you are in.

With that said, I worked my pitch to be a sentence long, only when prompted by the audience that "oh, tell me more" or "that sounds interesting, how does it work?" then I will continue the elevator pitch of 30 secs.

It is all about the hook of the 1st sentence.



The Young CEO

Always be early

I left my place about 1.5 hours early today to get to NUS for a pitch.

I am an NTU alumni and have not stepped into NUS much in my life (aside from picking up my girlfriend). Knowing that I tend to get lost easily and the schedules of our transport system can be irregular, I decided on leaving my place early to make sure I got there on time.

True enough, the additional hour that I had buffered into travelling had allowed me to take my time to stroll in NUS and I had reached the office half an hour early. That gave me the time to settle some business emails and whatsapp before heading into the room for a pitch.

The anxiety level reduces drastically when there is sufficient time to familiarize myself to the new environment and I felt the pitch went well!

I will try to buffer 1 hour for my important appointments in the future. I think this is a good habit to keep.


The Young CEO

The Fun Part

Serious notes aside, there must be fun and games to being your own boss right?

Life is a bit different now, there are no more weekends or holidays but you get to call out whenever you need a break.

Like any other 25 year old guys, I think gaming is a staple or a necessity in most of our lives. I picked up Shadow of Mordor recently and it was really good. Like super awesome good. Can you just hear the kid in me screaming out now?

I try to limit my game time (I do think of myself as a fairly disciplined person) and I try not to play more than an hour each day. In fact, most of the time I end up playing an hour a week instead.

So today, I was handling a sales call with a client while slashing orcs. Of course, I turned off the volume. Guess what? I managed to close a sale.

This is a new epic win.

Off to a meeting now~



The Young CEO

The day that everything got done

Today is one such day. After clearing a few quotations and invoices, there did not seem like there was anything else to be done. Thus, blogging here I come.

Sat back and caught up with 2 episodes of my TVB dramas, The Line Walker. Seems like a good show but I doubt I will have enough time to finish it.

I am supposed to have a networking session but I am just not motivated to move out of my seat today, the weather and all.

The problem with this is that entrepreneurship is not a 9 to 5 job. Your brain keeps on working for your business 24/7. And when there's nothing else to be done for the time being, frustration does set in.

Until then, it is a good day to catch up on some articles


The Young CEO

Sprouts of Competition

We just found out yesterday that we had a competitor who has been developing a similar product since 1 year ago.

Gosh, our development team took a morale hit as they managed to secure fundings and they had the advantage of 1 additional year to work on the project.

After I was alerted to the news, I went to scout the competition and found out more about their co-founders. Luckily, while we know they exist, they dont know that we do.
Rallied the team together and pointed out some areas where we are better than them and how we can outpace them.

This new info has given my team a booster to get our MVP out on the market even faster than the competition and a validation that there is a market for this service.

We will be watching from the sidelines to track their every movement.

The Young CEO

The Founder's Dilemma: Stick to your company's vision

I had been pondering over a business decision for awhile now. Our company modified the revenue models of successful companies to fit the industry that we are in. However, there are existing revenue models out there that are successful.

So, even when emulating success, we had to weigh the costs and benefits over selecting a revenue model and the results could be very different. Both options seem to be fantastic at first and both still make sense right now.

Decided on sticking to the company's vision of promoting transparency and made the executive decision to take the route down that path.



The Young CEO

Need for Speed

Our company just lost out on a deal because we were 1 day late in submitting the requirements. This was because my partner in charge of the account was on MC.

We did not know that the tender had closed as the officer in charge had informed us to continue submitting our requirements. Thank goodness I checked and saved both time and money by noting that the tender has closed.

Lesson learnt. Speed speed speed.

Feeling slightly bummed out now.



The Young CEO

Shark Tank

Apparently, this show has been going on for 5 seasons. I managed to catch an episode this afternoon while having lunch and I decided on going for another because it was so good.

Shark Tank is a show where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of 5 VCs who will take equity into the ideas or companies. The panel or "sharks" are successful business owners and they are diverse in their skills and characters.

Things that can be learnt from the show? Valuate your company properly, if you have no track records or sales, don't bother pitching to VCs. An company with a great idea but still starting out without sales is like a piece of salmon, the sharks will come in and kill it.

Bootstrap the company, get some experience running the company, valuate it at present value then sell off the shares.

Being a VC is something I want to do in the future. Keeping my eye on the target~



The Young CEO

Give to be happy

I have always been a huge supporter for social good; being in the community organizations for the past 6 years and setting up my own social enterprise.

Came across this video when I was scrolling through my Facebook feeds. 1000 Indian Rupees is about SGD$20. It may not seem like a lot. But for people who are selling things for 10 to 20 cents. $20 can be the entire day's earnings.

Next time you see someone in need struggling to make a living, don't just pity them. Help them realize the faith in humanity. Help them realize that it is worth it to keep fighting on.

After all, we are all sent by God for one thing; to help each other.

The Young CEO

Meeting vs Meetup

I was supposed to meet my business partner today but it started raining. We skyped instead.

I have never been a big fan of business skypes as more often than not, people will get distracted easily. Apparently, today it worked out fine!

We managed to wrap up our meeting within 45 mins and it was an effective and efficient meeting with quite a bit accomplished.

I think for online meetings, it is effective only if there are 2 people. Anymore than that would be difficult and possibly disastrous.

Oh, keep a cloud based Task Manager on the sides too! It really helps in getting through the agenda quickly! I really like Trello. It has been my favourite task management/ project management tool since I first found out about it. Just amazing.



The Young CEO

Your Network is your Networth

I went on a Speed Networking Session yesterday and it was rather interesting. A total of 20 odd pax went and I had dragged my business partner with me.

It felt like a Speed Dating event nevertheless with people moving around so quickly. But I felt that the format was really good where we get to meet people quickly and raised the possibility of building a lasting network. I managed to score 2 leads from there.

One good thing about bringing my business partner with me was that she really acted like my wingwoman. Knowing that I had met 7 clients earlier in the day, she opened the conversation for me so that I did not have to keep repeating the pitch. Her pitch kept improving as she talked (even when I am supposed to be the front line person). After 3 hours, we did manage to hold the conversation with almost the whole crowd.

Sure, just like any dating event, there are bound to be a few quirks (MLMs and DIS or Dubious Investment Schemes). Singapore has quite a few characters!

All in all, it was still quite interesting and it is always good to get to know more people. Who knows? A VC might be in the mix.

Here's to 1 networking session each week!



The Young CEO

Get out there and Hustle!

Yesterday was an interesting day.

I had a grand total of 7 appointments and ended the day with a speed networking session.

My day went like this: Choa Chu Kang to Toa Payoh to Balestier to Tanjong Pagar to Raffles Place to Tai Seng to Buona Vista.

Pretty much a round trip around Singapore!

I ended the day at 11pm and pitched about my company at least 30 times. This was probably the 1st time I pitched that many times in a day.

I went after the smallest of deals to the larger clients. Hopefully, it pays off in due time.

I did not work smart yesterday but I very much worked hard.

I felt that there are days where I have to strategize but I guess yesterday was the day to just get out there and hustle for sales.

Another long day today but at least it is spent behind the computer clearing the work that I did not manage to touch yesterday due to me being out.

Busy is good.



The Young CEO

Removing inefficiencies

Relevant to the topic of cutting losses and folding, quickly removing inefficiencies in the business I felt is something that I have just picked up recently.

Back in my previous job, even when I was a manager, it was tough to let go of an employee due to the bureaucracy. After all, I was not the paymaster and I just had to manage the staff well. Not too bad an experience as I had learnt that patience and understanding was crucial in being a manager.

It is slightly different now, every inefficiency hurts the business. I was a bit slow in letting some people go as they were brought in based on their expertise to grow the company. However, as they did not perform up to expectations, I made the executive decision to remove them from the team.

To shed more light on the topic, I had an upcoming project which we had planned a concept run. I met this partner not too long back where he was interested in running the project, I was excited too and started planning on the project. Not too long later, it was tough getting him on the line and tough getting updates from him. Within 2 weeks, I told him it was not working out and we parted ways. I do have faith in my decision that it was for the best as dragging on something will not bode well in the future.

Similarly, we had 3 team members in the social enterprise which we started 2 months back. One team member was brought in due to his expertise in marketing and sales. He went into limbo not too long later due to personal issues. We tried to be understanding and accommodated to his schedule but he just did not contribute. We let him go over the weekend gently.

Should they be given a second chance? Dragging something along may result in something like my failed 1st start up. I felt that this was the best way to go as a lean start up will not be able to grow with inefficiencies. Save a friendship, lose a partnership.



The Young CEO

Quote of the day: On complaining

"You can complain or you can take action. Only one of this option will result in a change."

The Young CEO

Folding

Just 2 days ago, I made the decision to pull out from one of the companies that I managed. It was my 1st break into the entrepreneur world and it kind of stings to know that it did not work out. I had discussed this with my other 2 partners and we felt that after all these time putting work into it, we did not see the light from the end of the tunnel.

The thought of winding up the business was on my mind as well as my partners since awhile ago. Everyone was reluctant for the past few months to let go due to emotional attachments and putting more effort into the business to try to get it running.

The business model was a derivative idea similar to Groupon with a twist. We had wanted to morph our idea targeted at youths between 18 to 35 to also include elements of P2P marketing and good cashback rates.

Over the period of management, we managed to secure at least 50 good deals for the clients but there was just not enough traction and the efforts to spin the branding of being "just another deals site" would cost quite abit and alot more effort that we have put into it.

Noting that my partners were both entrepreneurs in other businesses as well, we just did not have the time or capacity to continue operations.

In retrospect, I was glad that this was my first break into the entrepreneur world, it gave me confidence in speaking to clients and vendors. The loss was not too great to manage (a loss nevertheless). I am treating this as a tuition fee and I am folding for this turn.

Lesson Learnt:
20/20 hindsight told me that I should have folded this deal awhile back when I noticed my partners not having the time to commit to this business. However, due to operating costs being low, I stuck around. While cash was not being burnt, time was. But time is the most precious money making tool there is.

Kickstarter

I launched my 1st Kickstarter project today to create a social platform for pets. Personally, I felt that Kickstarters are good if you do not mind your idea being possibly taken and implemented by others.

I decided on using Kickstarter in order to test market too to see if there was sufficient demand for this service. Just trying out new methods in other to raise funds other than capital injections or bootstrapping.

Since I have already posted on Kickstarter, I would love to share it here too. My idea is similar to Borrow My Doggy.

Borrow My Doggy was initiated a couple years back as a social platform site for pet owners and pet lovers to share their love for a single pet. The idea is quite simple, 1 pet to multiple owners. It is good for owners who may want to "outsource" their duties to others who are willing or want to try to own a pet. A simple case of matching supply with demand.

Looking at the model here in Singapore, there seems to be a growing interest in pets over the past 1 year (see the number of pet cafes popping up). The people who go to pet cafes are usually the people who do not own pets, so they would go there just to get 1-2 hours of "pet love". I think there is a market for such a pet sharing service if the pet cafes are growing.

Decided on working on an app for this instead as apps can include new services such as (dog taxi since not many taxis are willing to fetch dogs) and it is connected to your phone. Think about it, once I select my pet via the app, I can call the taxi and pick up the dog immediately for the weekend. One stop platform!

There are existing variations of this model in Singapore but they are into pet rental so the ownership is still with the "pet rental" company and they treat the pets as commodities. For my idea (Pet Fosters), it is to reduce pet abandonment as you have more people looking after your pet.

We will probably have to think deeper to prevent animal cruelty and insurance. Let's see how this goes!

If you would like to support the Kickstarter, you may do so at Indiegogo or Pozible. Search Pet Fosters!

Direct link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pet-fosters-platform/x/8672090


The Young CEO

Keep Searching

It's about 1am now, just came back from my meeting with my business partner ironing out the tasks to be done for the next 2 weeks.

Sitting in front of the computer, I was wondering about what else I could do to grow my business. Then another idea struck me and I am currently researching if I should enter that business.

I always felt that as a start up, it is important to diversify the business risks. There is a high possibility that a business idea may fail so having more than one business to work on levels the odds a little.

Sure, there will be opponents who say that a start up requires a lot more care and focus. However, there are always down-times for start ups: pending clients' decisions, waiting for licence approvals, delays from suppliers. These are beyond the owner's control.

Every hiccup pushes the business into lag mode and there were times that I was highly frustrated waiting for others to get back to me. Thus, I began to focus my energy on other businesses that can bring in revenue from various channels.

Caveat: I do have responsible partners helping in execution. That allows me to save time on operational matters and focus more on strategic planning and pitching.

Is there anyone else out there who have tried planting many seeds and was able to manage multiple successful projects? If so, please leave a comment, I want to learn from you too!


The Young CEO

Meetings: Waste of time?

I used to think that meetings happen when people do not feel like working. I was right to a certain extent. That is if meetings are too long.

Regular meetings are important to make sure that your team is working and the tasks are on track.

Nowadays, I try to have meetings with my teams once a week and cap it to a maximum of 30 minutes. That way, the important messages get across and I get a timely update about what is stuck and what moves ahead.

The Young CEO

The 1st Footprint

I started this blog as a diary to keep track of all the lessons (or mistakes) that I have learnt or made during my journey as a new start up.

The name "Young CEO" was actually just a passing remark made by my friends after I told them I would be leaving my job to pursue a path of entrepreneurship.

"So you want to be a Young CEO la?" That was one of the most common remarks I heard over the past few months when I shared a little more with them.

Naming this the Young CEO was not out of pride or as a dream that I would make it big one day. It was more of a mark to state that I need the discipline to run or to create a business my way. I would have no income, no clients to start with, no mentor. Ground zero. Starting from scratch. That does sound scary. On a side note, the Young CEO does have a good ring to it.

A brief background of myself, I am 25 years old. I graduated from a business school in US and furthered my studies with a part time Masters Degree (completed in 2013). I was working in a managerial position with the government for 3 odd years before I decided to start something on my own. It was a tough yet informed decision as I would have left a good and stable paying job to do something where I may have zero income for the next many months.

I have always been interested particularly in social entrepreneurship as I always felt that doing well and doing good can be interlinked. I will share more about my business models in the future.

It has been about 2 months since I started on this journey and it has been tough. I sleep much lesser, I have anxiety attacks not knowing what comes next, I have deals coming in which end up being nothing, I have bad deals coming in which people try to take advantage of circumstances.

On the positive note, it has been exciting, I have been meeting new people daily, I have been learning from people from different walks of life, I have learnt how to prioritize my time better, I have been effective and efficient in many ways and I have done things and made decisions that I would have never been able to do back in my job.

These were exactly the objectives I wanted to accomplish, to be a sponge and gain as much worldly experience as possible.

Learning the ropes 1 day at a time.

The Young CEO