Hello! What’s your current role in your start-up, and how did your past experiences take you here?
I am the co-founder of my start-up. I had all along been very keen in the field of business and started doing my little business venture in 2012 as well. However, the exposure to start-up, together with my one-year overseas start-up internship experience in Shanghai with NUS Overseas College, changed how I look at things, and I have never looked back since. I am very fortunate to have been able to be guided by the best throughout this journey, from my Shanghai start-up boss Brian Tan, who is a serial entrepreneur, highly creative and motivated individual, to people like Charles from Charles & Keith and Jane Sun from Ctrip who had selflessly shared with a group of people and myself on the various experiences and tips they had for us.
Slowly but surely, from the 3 years plus I have immersed myself in the start-up ecosystem now, to the books I had poured through and the great people I had the opportunity to come across, standing on the shoulders of giants affirmed by belief that there is more to be done and we can indeed make a change in the society through our start-ups and through innovating day in day out.
Which 3 words would describe you best?
Curious, passionate, and hungry.
How did you come up with the idea? And what problem is your start-up trying to solve?
It started when my co-founders, Lik Khian, Dansu and myself were constantly looking for work spaces to work out of. Not just any work spaces, but spaces that are able to cater to our needs at that point in time and allow us to do proper work. Once we realized there actually lack a solution that caters to what we want, and started tinkering with what we might possibly with, we begun talking to more people and did some validation, only soon to realized that we are not the only ones facing this problem.
As we look deeper we started to develop this firm belief that remote working and co-working is going to be a huge trend in the very near future, and we want to be able to help people transit seamlessly into it, as well as experiencing the full benefits what remote working can do for them. Hence, we decide to start small by first empowering road warriors to access work spaces suited to their needs, anytime they want, anywhere and everywhere they need. The very first problem we all faced.
How long did your start-up take to finish development? (Before the product could meet the market)
It took us somewhere between 6 to 7 months to have the MVP out. At the start we were bouncing around the idea and thinking all about the grand plan we have and what we can do for the society, only soon to realise we need to first start solving one of their immediate problem, then we are able to allow our consumers to have a taste and first insight into remote working, if they had not tried it out yet.
What are your preferred platforms/tools?
We operate on a mobile web currently, but looking to move into a mobile app to further improve the ease of access.
Have you gotten any interesting feedback from users of the app/solution?
It was heartening to receive many encouraging feedbacks from our users ever since we did the beta testing. Users currently had feedback to us that this is indeed very applicable and useful to them, however of course with some areas that we can possibly improve in, and that is what we are working hard to do!
Also, when we participated in Tech In Asia Conference 2016, quite a few companies and investors alike came to inquire if we had launched and where were we then. Unfortunately, we were not ready then.
There was an instance when we were even asked if we are in Nepal!
How do you keep yourself motivated, especially during the low times?
Constant reminders of why we started out in the first place and the amount of sacrifices that we had put in. Beyond passion, it has also become a responsibility for us, an answer to ourselves, an answer to the customers that were there for us from the start, and an answer to our dreams.
Definitely also, the thought that we started out to really want to shake the world. To be able to bring a little good with what we do to the society.
Last but not least, the environment also plays an important part in keeping me going. Personally, getting consistently involved with meeting people of various walks, as well as different related events. The little chats, sharing and sessions that happen will remind myself on what made me embark on this journey at the start, as I recount my journey and explain my start-up to them.
If you could go back in time when you first started, what would you have done differently?
I would have done things faster and more fearlessly. A lot of times it is the self-doubt that are the shackles tying ourselves to our current position.
What’s next for you?
Line up an official launch once the full fledge app is ready, and start breaking into the SEA market to bring more good to more people in the region!
What’s one advice you would give to budding entrepreneurs?
As an early stage start-up, perhaps I am not as fully qualified to give advices. Yet, if I am to share with the others on what I got out of my experiences, I would say that there will be points in time you will hear a lot of people saying a lot of different things. Some will love you, some will hate you, some will tell you you are onto something big, and some will tell you that it is never going to work. However, what matters is that you persevere on no matter what until you have seen the results for yourself, and always, Stay true to your vision.
From the words of Winston Churchill, If you are going through hell, keep going.
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