Visit to Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia Startup eco-system

Posted on by
Reply

Coming soon

Notes (putting them down first in case my memory start failing):

1) Thomas Cheah, event Startup Partners – participated as “partner”. Visited MSC Malaysia Technology Commercialization Centre and meet Andrew Wong (who is now Startup Jobs Asia’s advisor for Malaysia)

2) SLAP organised by Malaysia Startup Club, local admin – Mac Vhustle. Share about Startup Jobs Asia to the Malaysia startup community

Startup Jobs Asia

Posted on by
Reply

Image

Many friends and good people whom I get associated with, have asked me what and why, did I start Startup Jobs Asia. I decided to put it in writing today should my memory fail soon. Here is how the idea is born:

At Startup Club, I was tasked to take charge of Business Development. At one of the Founders Drinks organized by e27, I managed to have a chat with Grace Chng and we spoke about Startup Club on a brief note. We agreed to meet up in the upcoming weeks of which I was hopeful she will do an article coverage of the club itself. Finally, we met and I was caught in a surprise! During the coffee chat, she “triggered” me (in her personal capacity) with the possibility of contributing to the startup eco-system from where my background come from. That few minutes, I couldn’t exactly figure out how I should go about as engaging a headhunter is expensive. Grace never give me a specific direction. I left her office in a state of semi-confusion of what I should do next or should I? I am happy to remain as an angel investor of which this is my objective of why I came into the startup space, alongside with my new involvement in Startup Club. I recalled that over the past months, founders of few startups that I get connected with have asked me if I can help them to look for “CTO, PHP developer, Andriod developer etc”. In all of these encounters, I “shy” away from the topic. “Startup hiring is never easy!” It is going to be a roller-coaster for successful Startup Hire to be in place…

My thoughts process took me 3 days to figure out how and what I should do to contribute to the startup eco-system. Another pull factor come along “Why am I investing into startups when they face challenges in attracting talents to join them so as to scale their business further”. Is a chicken and egg analysis for me. On the 3rd day, I decided to take the plunge and purchase the domain www.startupjobs.asia without any planning which is “very me” (I started my headhunting business without one too!). Together with the help of some good friends, the site was ready to go LIVE mid Dec 2012. As I continue typing here and looking back, the idea of Startup Jobs Asia will never exist or at least not from me, if it wasn’t Grace. She has been indeed helpful whom I periodically went back to her to check if there is any “blind spots” of where we are and where we are heading. Till date, we know our aim and what we envision ourselves moving towards. We want to “sexify” jobs @ startups and to grow the human capital eco-system for Startup. In short, we want to be the “voice” for Startup Hire within Asia.

My Startup Journey!

Posted on by
Reply

Hungrygowhere

Motivated by the exit news of HungryGoWhere, I started to explore the potential of angel investing within startups in Singapore. Thanks to Eason Chan, he added me into Startup Club (managed on Facebook group) suggested that this is a group for me to have a good jump-start. At the same time, he was helpful to do some email introduction to some folks – Peter (Founder of Startup Club), Daylon Soh and Frank Lee who are probably the earliest few whom I have the pleasure to have coffee chat with. Not sure if my memory fail me that I missed anyone, hope I don’t. All 3 of them share with me the same advise which I sum up as “Investing in Startups equal to very high risk”. With a 50/50 “should I continue?” yet with the possible flip side, the journey began and looking back – the rest is history and I am still loving every single moment of what I have went through and experience!

Shout out loud – Thank you guys!

Posted on by
Reply

The life of an entrepreneur and a business owner is exciting, rewarding but never an easy journey with lots of ups and downs. I am sure many who have went through this “ride’ will experience the same norms or equivalents. In the past 13 years, I am considered blessed to have a small but committed core team that stand together to grow the business with pioneer folks – @Serene, @Dave and @Daisy that make the journey more meaningful and definitely prepare us to be more cushioned against pitfalls. The earlier years are indeed no easy feat but we did it! In the recent years, the team have grew with new individuals contributing diverse skillset, experiences and talent that complement one another in many aspects. Over the years, I have learnt that the value of a team is the primary key to success in my business. Absolutely proud of the guys we have and definitely worthy to be categorized as “300 Spartans” in today’s business especially for our industry – Recruitment/Executive Search. I told the guys this and share with friends/associates (out of our business)! Together, we have achieved a beautiful closure for 2012 (equivalent revenue number to our counterpart with a team size that is double of us). Of course, there is much rationale that make all this possible. This success is not just mine, but was largely achievable due to the core team that drive the business forward.

Thank you guys!