Insights on Entrepreneurship (2024)

By Talia Tan

Discovery+ is a series of online industry panels which gives students the chance to interact with working professionals and learn about the careers they aspire to enter. These panels provide youths and working professionals with the opportunity to better understand industry trends, hear first-hand perspectives from industry professionals, and gain valuable advice on entering or navigating these industries.

On 22 October 2024, Advisory hosted Discover+: Entrepreneurship, the 88th edition of the Discovery+ series. Speakers on the panel included:

• Sophia Ng (Moderator), Executive Director, Startup Ecosystem Division, Enterprise Singapore
• Ho Zhi Hui, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Skilio
• Valery Tan, Co-Founder, Surety
• Heng Li Seng, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Green Nudge

Attendees included students at various levels of education with a desire to know the different career paths in entrepreneurship, and how to best position themselves for such roles. Below are some key points shared during the session:

What inspired you to pursue a career as an entrepreneur?

Entrepreneurship gives you the opportunity to actualise your curiosity about the world, providing a space to explore and learn. As someone young, honing an entrepreneurial spirit grants yourself the flexibility to make mistakes early on, in the shortest amount of time possible.

It also offers the chance to step into the unknown and adapt to changes as they come, as crafting an appropriate solution often requires handling frequent changes in market conditions. For entrepreneurs, a 'solution' refers to the product or service that is developed to address a market need or problem. As market dynamics shift — through evolving customer preferences, new technology, or emerging competitors — entrepreneurs must adapt to stay relevant and meet the needs of their target audience.

What does the process of raising funds to start a business look like?

Our initial revenue model largely relied on funding from ticketed community events and corporate clients. Raising funds was a bootstrap effort. There were moments where resources were stretched, and a mix of personal financing and government funding was required.

Other common initial sources of funding include venture builders, where we were able to secure a grant that kickstarted the company’s operations. Hackathons are also good opportunities to finance business revenue and build the minimum viable product (MVP) — which is a simplified version of a product with just enough features to meet early customer needs and test market viability. Our first client was a hackathon judge who offered us the opportunity to run a paid pilot workshop with members of their organisation. Even if you do not win eventually, it is important to always take the opportunity to ask judges how your business idea could be improved.

Transitioning from a regular salaried job to a career in entrepreneurship can bring feelings of instability, particularly when it comes to funding a new business. However, it is possible to manage this uncertainty by equating it to spending a year in further education. Spending time and money on a Master’s degree is pretty similar to investing in a new venture, since a similar investment of resources is being made with long-term gains in mind. By setting a clear timeframe, it is possible to pivot to something else if things do not work out.

What does a typical day in entrepreneurship look like?

While there is no routine day in an entrepreneurial role, there are responsibilities that are similar across all organisations, such as answering enquiries from interested clients, attending meetings to finalise the details of an engagement, delivering your solution to the client, and closing off the partnership. It is important to seek opportunities from client engagements too.

What was a significant moment in your entrepreneurship journey and how was it overcome?

As a fresh graduate, an important moment for the founders of our organisation was deciding whether we wanted to dedicate ourselves full time to the start-up. Pivoting from Software As A Service (SaaS) to a Business To Consumer (B2C) model fueled our conviction to pursue things full time.

Most start-up founders do not have a MVP when they first start out. A key differentiating factor would be the start-up’s ability to gain an institutional investor’s support, which demonstrates awareness of the commercial landscape. It is important not to be overly product-centric, as a valid business idea identifies a problem and provides a solution.

What opportunities are there for start-ups in Singapore to scale up regionally?

Most people rarely recognise the potential in the ASEAN region, but there are significant opportunities to harness these opportunities given its sizeable youth population.

Networking events, such as summits and talks, are essential for businesses focused on community-building. Effective networking is enabled by participating in events that are aligned with your organisation’s purpose, doing your research beforehand, and having clear objectives when approaching new professional connections.

From a regulatory perspective, confusion can arise due to the lack of existing frameworks when starting something new. For example, start-ups focused on environmental change and sustainability may organise events like coastal cleanups in areas that are usually off limits to the public. These events can require up to six approvals from different organisations with jurisdiction over the area. However, this process of dialogue between various stakeholders can also help build credibility. Approaching relevant organisations with well-substantiated research can open up space for conversations, fostering trust and creating opportunities to introduce your organisation’s work.

How should one build a core team in a start-up? Following that, what are some ways to ensure that your organisation continues to grow in the long run?

The process of building a core team should be very deliberate. Look for people with complementary skill sets and who also share a common vision of what goals the business should achieve.

Recruiting new members becomes more manageable when there is strong interest in the start-up's mission. Potential members can be motivated by diverse approaches to compensation, which go beyond salary. Examples include students looking for insights and advice, with the desire to gain a realistic view of the industry. Other approaches include more flexibility in working arrangements, and milestone-based payment, which hinge on task completion.

What advice would you offer to those keen to embark on entrepreneurial journeys?

Even if you do not strictly pursue the career of an entrepreneur, it is strongly encouraged that you maintain an entrepreneurial mindset. This comes in the form of exploring the boundaries of existing topics, and how two existing domains can intersect. Another important aspect of an entrepreneurial mindset is to react well to setbacks and move forward from mistakes.

We are often overly preoccupied with making the right choices. Nothing beats trying. This gives you a better idea of what you are good at and what you enjoy doing, and that brings you closer to what you want to do.