In this Developer Feature series, Spiffy talks to up-and-coming developers to learn what makes them tick. This time around, we have Steve Sng, the CEO and founder of startup LoveByte, a young growing company with the aim of bringing couples closer using technology.
1) Describe yourself in three words.
Determined, competitive, problem-solver.
2) What motivated you to start LoveByte?
There isn’t a beautiful story behind LoveByte. It was an entirely different product back in 2010 (it was an online search collaboration website similar to Socl – http://www.so.cl/) and it didn’t take off. So my mentor and I were thinking of how to pivot the failed product. Probably because both of us love our girlfriend a lot, we decided to pivot it into an app for couples to “collaborate” and share things privately online. But the first version wasn’t good either. It was a web app and it didn’t stick. So we pivoted it into a mobile app, and that’s what the current LoveByte is.
3) What are the challenges you faced while starting LoveByte?
The main challenge is getting investor to support the product. I would say all the investors in Singapore (at that time) are followers. They follow trend. Before Y-Combinator startup Couple/Pair and Korea’s Between became big, the investors were skeptical about the product. None of them want to commit. One investor I spoke to said “it is not social, it won’t work”; everyone is investing in social products at that time.
4) What advices would you give to other aspiring developers?
I think it’s a dream for most developers to be able to join and work in big tech companies like Microsoft, Google and Facebook. But I would say join a startup first because in a startup you will be able to work on many areas of product development. And when the startup grows, you will grow with it too, your skill and your reputation.
5) What’s next for LoveByte?
LoveByte has not changed much for the past 2 years. The v1.4 you see now is pretty much the same as the v1.0 you would see 2 years ago. But we are now working on a very different v2 that is more in line with our mission helping couples stay loving.
6) What’s next for you?
Most people see me as a good programmer/developer/engineer because of my background and past experiences. However, I would like to step out of that image and show people that I am an even better entrepreneur. So while I am still the CTO in LoveByte, I will move away from development work and focus more on product planning, operation and communication.
7) Tell us something people might be surprised to learn about you?
I was offered an opportunity to join Facebook in 2012 (before its IPO) but I turned it down because LoveByte was about to launch and I thought I can achieve more with LoveByte. So far, I have not regretted my decision but I hope I can get another opportunity to work in the US in the future.
8) How can people find you if they want to learn more about yourself?
They can find me on Twitter (@stevesng) or contact me directly via email (steve@lovebyte.us).
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