The *REAL* world: What you don't often hear at entrepreneurship talks

Chin Leng: "Perseverance; We only live once. No regrets"
We started off hearing from Chin Leng, founder of (and currently 1/3 the force behind) SingaporeBrides.com, and later SingaporeMotherhood.com. Now ranked #1 by Hitwise in their respective categories, the idea for SingaporeBrides.com was conceived during the hassle in his own marriage preparations.

He started off with no business plan, and no intention to seek funding, just wanting to try and see if it'd work. To summarise, he experienced many years of scrimping, saving, and trying to persuade wedding service providers to list their services on his site, with little success. Finally realising it'd be better to create opportunities rather than find them, he began to offer these providers free websites and tech support, effectively building the market for his own services.

Hoong An: "Don't start a business"
Hoong An from Hungry Go Where was up next, and his was a rather different view. To him, a lot of business was about being at the right place at the right time. He mentioned that a lot of media coverage is needed for a fledgling business, but that such coverage cannot be secured through outright promotion, but rather by presenting something that the reporter is finding at that moment.

He brought up 7 (rather interesting) reasons why one should not be an entrepreneur:

1. You give up too easily
• Success is about being at the right place at the right time
2. You have no business plan
• Not a matter of writing one, rather to have in mind what you plan to do
3. You plan too much
4. You hang around people just like you
5. You cannot make decisions
• Wrong decision better than no decision
6. You have no working experience, and no capital
• Working = Paid to learn
7. You have no faith and do not believe in God
• Limit to how much grumbling parents / you can take
• Starts playing with your mind

Tong Yee: "Serving people is the best form of business"
Next was Tong Yee, a teacher formerly with MOE, but left to develop School of Thought, and the Thought Collective. The School of Thought was started in 2002, teaching civic education through GP. Their students came out transformed in their perspective of the world, and this translated into clearer and more concise arguments. Students actually told their teachers that they needed tuition in School of Thought, and soon the School of Thought had teachers in their enrollment. Tong Yee left NYJC on the recommendation of his HOD, who, when about half of NYJC had enrolled in the School of Thought, suggested that more change could probably be done outside the system.

In 2006, the Thought Collective started Thinktank Publishing, aiming to create a current affairs magazine more relevant to students here. They tried not to include advertisements, as they restricted, whether explicitly or implicitly, the content that could be published. Now, they include advertisements for embassies, NGOs, and government agencies, all of which add to their content by providing different worldviews.

Currently, they are in discussion with EDB to revamp the CCA system. Their concern, which I agree with, is that the CCAs that impart skills relevant in industries, like photography and computing, are not as popular as, say, band and choir. Not including the students who will become professional performing artists in their future, most people join these CCAs with their points in mind, leaving the less popular CCAs with no members, and thus less leverage and manpower to conduct their own events. I look forward to see the outcomes of these discussions, as I feel it is a vital issue in schools now.

Leslie: "Do something you believe in"
We met Leslie from Red Sports again. He mentioned two factors that helped when starting off. Deciding early who the target audience is and going after it, and starting off with no debt. These, and the quote, were my greatest takeaways from his presentation

(if it seems a little short, Leslie had actually presented before ^^)

Ash Singh: "Sales fixes everything"
Interesting point: Search "Young Chinese Millionaire" on YouTube and you'll probably find this link in the first page... ^^
As the final presenter, Ash came with 50 keys to startup success, but decided to cut it short due to time constraints. Among the interesting points were

• Hire generalists early
• Invest in culture
• Start charging early
• Use your product
• Make decisions swiftly
• Keep it fun
• Ship then test

and of course,

• Sales fixes everything

We're almost at the end of the semester. I probably should get some work done on my other modules... So I'm off to do an assignment that's due in less than 48 hours.