Geekonomics

Interview with Singapore's Silicon Valley success story--Ong Peng Tsin (Part I)

Dec 12, 2008 12:13

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 Electrical Engineering and then in Computer Science, 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 pursue 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 here don’t figure out their passions. The world doesn’t reward people that just 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.

"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... but perhaps that's what being an entrepreneur is about!".

"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?"

As this interview was long, it’d be broken up into two parts. We'll stop here for now but do watch this space as we continue to talk about building world class companies, the Silicon Valley, his family, the current economic situation, and some of his regrets.

Recent Comments

 

Most Discussed

 

Browse Archive