[2018] FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOR ENTREPRENEURS

“The key is to understand customers and serve them well, the rest will come later.”

As an active contributor in the Asian start-up, technology and business investment scene, Kwai’s ‘food for thought’ serves to be great considerations. 

From his early days, Kwai Seng Lee was involved in starting up different companies. He attributes his interest in the scene to the appeal of creating and finding something to meet a market need. Kwai likens the experience as a keyholder in 3 companies to a position where one simultaneously manages multiple projects in a company. His constant connection with key customers and team members has helped him to ensure the smooth operation of the various companies.

As Kwai, the MD of AIRmaker recounts his experiences in the entrepreneurship community, we pick up 4 key orientations start-ups should take in today’s environment. AIRmaker is an open innovation platform focusing on smart nation and digital health innovations.
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• (1) Trying — having been through the dot com boom and bust, Kwai learnt that there were many factors contributing to the success of breakthrough innovation and technologies. This often includes the idea, community and ecosystem. He holds the view that start-ups should try to break into competitive spaces where they are not the only ones with a unique solution.

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• (2) Learning to fail and getting out early — in start-ups, it is often key to make the attempt to grow beyond where you are today. Leverage on opportunities for breakthroughs. Even at the point of failure, you learn how to exit, a key skill for entrepreneurs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          However, entrepreneurs have to learn to gauge when “enough is enough”. As Kwai shares about several of his dormant start-ups, “it could have been a fantastic idea”. Perhaps it was simply the wrong combination of factors or the wrong time.                                                                                                                                         
  He cites the ride-sharing transportation industry as an example. The sharing economy dates back to more than a decade ago, but what caused its proliferation today are the factors at play in the ecosystem around these businesses and mainly the shift in technological developments.

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"Try again later."

• (3) Surround yourself with the right people — having a network in the community allows you to bounce ideas off others, watch what they do and learn from them. These connections will help you to shape your objectives and vision for the company, to one that caters to that of market needs.  

• (4) Understand customers — “when you start something, you think you meet a specific need and you work hard at it”, however, “over time you realise you need to adjust and change”. In the initial steps, start-ups set the foundation for success as they gain understanding of customers and maintaining the flexibility to adjust to the market. Blindly driving towards a vision that is not tailored to the market may serve to be detrimental.

 
Despite the fact that profitability is a key element of a viable business, it is imperative that companies first understand customers and serve them well. Profitability and revenue growth will come later.

The Singapore ecosystem has grown a lot through the years. We have come a long way to the increased acceptance of ‘entrepreneurship’ as a viable career choice for young and even mid-career individuals. There has been an intensification of activities in funding and progress has been reasonably well. The country’s small market serves as a “good test bed” for businesses, with higher inclinations towards high-end, medical technology solutions.

Albeit so, there are several limitations that entrepreneurs may face in Singapore today. There is a need for companies to break beyond the limited Singaporean market to a “bigger playing field“ to gain funding in later stages. The challenge in this lies in the heterogenous nature of regional markets around Singapore.

As a supporter of the DBIC program, we were curious of what Kwai envisioned for the team. He explains that ‘open innovation’ was a topic that many want to speak of but was not one that could be managed easily. More than results, the process of engaging start-ups for collaboration and finding the right solutions provide a learning experience that would help pivot Japanese companies towards change.

This post was written by Narcissa Koh, Content Strategist of DBIC.