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