This interview is conducted by Nicholas, a TDM member himself as well as a CNET blogger. This article can also be found at Geekonomics.
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Recently, this geek managed to catch hold of one of Singapore’s most
successful but low profile technopreneur Ong Peng Tsin, 45, serial
entrepreneur who founded Match.com and Interwoven (which he listed on
NASDAQ). He sold his last startup Encentuate to IBM and also convinced
IBM to setup a software lab in Singapore. Now, he is not only a board
member of Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore, but also
the Chairman of Infocomm Investments, an IDA subsidiary.
How he started
After finishing his national service, Mr. Ong left to study
electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. Then he
moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he earned
a master’s in computer science. Trained in double ECS and a programmer,
Mr Ong joined a startup right out of school.
“When you join a business that’s 20 people, which is the
first company I joined, there isn’t a clear marker when you started
doing startups.”Mr. Ong said when asked about his first startup.
He subsequently joined Sybase which was also a startup then and went
on to start his first business in the States which became the
successful company we now know as Match.com.
Working for others versus working for yourself
Having both worked for others (Sybase, IBM, Singapore Government,
etc) and being a serial entrepreneur himself, I asked Mr Ong what he
felt was the fundamental difference between the two experiences, which
he described very neatly in one statement, “In startups, things get
done instantly. But in bureaucracy it takes time to get things moving.
The reward is when it moves it can move in very big ways.”
Advice for the young
I asked Mr Ong what words of wisdom he had for our young aspiring technopreneurs today,
“It’s all about people. All the failures and successes are about people.”
“Our kids today don’t develop deep passions in areas. (They) don’t know what to do in schools.”
Which he went on to elaborate that they are seen as simply follow
the trends for their career choices. First it was the dot com boom,
then it bio-tech. Now it’s finance and that’s not looking too good at
the moment. So, what will be next?
He feels strongly that young people today should not just watch
which industry is hot, makes money and try to jump on the bandwagon.
When Mr Ong started out in this industry, he didn’t think so much about
the money but he was in it because of his passion for it.
“Nothing beats being clear on your passion… today, kids
don’t figure out their passions. The world doesn’t reward people that
get along. It rewards people who bash a new path.”
Obviously, I agree with Mr Ong because I risked the wrath of my
parents to switch from a top Junior College to register in a local
polytechnic IT course. You know I was a geek at heart even then :p
“A lot of times you’ve got to make the mistakes and
learn from that.” is Mr Ong’s response on having been asked for advice
so many times and sometimes, he is “tired of giving advice” because
“the entrepreneurs don’t listen”.
“Biggest problem I’ve seen (in Web startups), people are not clear
how they are gonna make money… you’re a business, think about how
you’re gonna make money” else you “can’t talk to investors. If you
can’t figure out how you’re gonna make money, don’t start a business,
have a hobby instead.”
On Mentorship
Interestingly, while Mr Ong felt that mentorship is important, he
also feels that we do not have enough qualified mentors here i.e. not
enough people who have exited software IT companies in a significant
way. Only a very small handful.
“Do(ing) it here (starting out) is different from when
you do it in China, India, and US. Trying to get a mentor here is next
to impossible.”
He went on to explain that as part of his work with the IDA, they are trying to develop quality mentors as well.
“Bootstrapping part is the hardest”. Mr. Ong talked about
bootstrapping in context of having a mentor to help you in starting up
and again, I totally agree with this. In fact, I think over here not
many people have realized the importance of good bootstrapping and
these days I personally try to focus more of my time helping companies
to bootstrap because not many know how to do it right.
Conclusion of Part I
Coming back to advice for aspiring technopreneurs, Mr Ong feels that
everyone who wants to start a business should ask themselves this
important question,
“What do you want to do with your life in the next 5-10 years and why?”
Mr. Ong’s advice is to answer this question before you work on any startup.
If there’s anything that an entrepreneur need above the common traits like perseverance, endurance, energy, etc, it is clarity.
Having enough clarity to be able to answer, “Why you are doing what you are doing?”