Can Singapore produce her own Mark Zuckerberg?

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Jeffrey Paine (right) is one of the most renowned figures in Singapore with deep knowledge in technology, entrepreneurship and funding.

He is a partner at Founder Institute (Singapore) and a director at Battle Ventures. His specialties include early stage technologies on consumer web and mobile technologies and distressed investments in South East Asia.

We managed to grab hold of him to discuss and learn about his opinions on Singapore’s entrepreneurial scene and talent pool. Our focus: Can we produce our very own Mark Zuckerberg?

The Facebook chief has attracted much limelight last year. His Facebook Empire has racked more than 500 million users worldwide and is poised to be anything on the web. On top of that, a movie and several books, which chronicle his Facebook founding journey, have also made him one of the most admirable entrepreneurs in our generation. Will Singapore be able to produce a talent like Zuckerberg?

1. Thanks for your time, Jeffrey. Here’s for a start. What attributes are needed to be a good entrepreneur?

Well, based on my experience this person needs to have these basic attributes:

• Skills (e.g. Engineering degree etc)
• Experience (e.g. 3 yrs in a technology company doing technical sales etc)
• Openness (ability to be open to new ideas and be able to rationally process these ideas, come to a conclusion and not be narrow minded and closed up)
• Fluid intelligence (ability to handle many different kinds of data sets and quickly process them and make decision based on the processed data)

The first 3 can be taught but the fourth is heredity.

My personal attributes:

• A resourceful leader with a big vision
• Somewhat crazy, anti-establishment type, always challenging the status quo
• Able to listen and be able to change direction when the market or customers are telling you something is not right
• A genuine nice, honest and sincere person (‘no asshole rule’ applies)
• Never say die/give up attitude

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2. In your opinion, what are the greatest obstacles faced by entrepreneurs in Singapore?

Here’s my list of obstacles:

• Limited technical talent pool
• Local and regional markets are small and hard to scale evenly
• Start-up ecosystem is pretty new, there are limited amount of experienced mentors and financiers
• Singapore entrepreneurs do not see and meet enough start-ups (the best) and people from Silicon Valley
• There is a small population of Singapore entrepreneurs who think too highly of themselves. But the actual fact is that they have not done anything at all. These are the obstinate people who do not listen well. It’s good to be determined but you need to have a balance.
• Too small a vision
• Most of them do not share their ideas and learn from others’ perspectives. They like to keep it all to themselves.

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3. Okay, we really need to be humble. Can Singapore produce her own Mark Zuckerberg?

This is a difficult question to answer. Perhaps Singapore may be able to produce a Zuckerberg once every 7-10 years or maybe even longer but not at Facebook kind of scale. The answer is yes, we can produce someone like him but not so soon, a lot of things still need to be in place for that to happen. For example:

a. Government regulations: The ease of incorporating a company and personal liability laws. This is great in Singapore so far.

b. The way we perceive risk taking: Singapore still doesn’t have a a risk taking culture but it is slowly improving.

c. Start-up ecosystem: Singapore needs to have a healthy start-up ecosystem, powered by lawyers, angels, venture capitalists, schools, public markets and technical talents. We have started to improve but all these elements need about 3 to 5 years to fusion and settle in.

d. Ease of doing business in the region: This isn’t so easy at the moment.

e. Markets are fragmented: This is actually the Achilles’s heel. To be a Facebook you need to dominate a large market first before other countries follow suit (rather than outrightly copying your concept).

f. Education system: I personally think we are okay. The universities are implementing entrepreneurship courses at their pace and are doing it well (if everyone starts companies who is going to work for you?). The only issue we need to watch out for is our students’ myopic nature and arrogance. I suggest throwing them in China or India for a semester to learn about “hunger” and how they compare to the kids there. Book smart does not mean everything in the start-up world. People create companies, companies build products. People relations is the MOST important aspect to having a long lasting endearing company. If no one likes the leaders/founders, you can never recruit, raise money or convince customers, period.

The IDA, Spring, MDA and other government agencies are putting in a lot of effort to change the above. The policies and programs implemented so far have also impressed our Founder Institute mentors from the US. Of course there are kinks to the system but they are iterating too, just like a startup. We should appreciate and support their efforts.

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4. Who are some of the promising entrepreneurs in Singapore to watch?

I personally like:
- Steven Goh of mig33
- Darius and co (they still have 1-2 companies left in them) of tencube

There are a few interesting ones coming up like Manga Castle, and a few from Founder Institute during the last semester.

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5. For those who are eager to start their own business: What are the steps toward building a start-up?

a. Find your reason: Start by questioning why you want to do this? Entrepreneurship is not about making money, you can do that better at a job and reach home by 7. Entrepreneurs are 24/7/365 and most do not make very much money. The reason for starting a business MUST be the right one.

b. Network: Build a trusted circle of good advisers (friends, colleagues etc). They will be helpful along the way.

c. Build ideas: Start a notebook for ideas and treat your ideas as projects.

d. Kill ideas: Then try to kill your ideas as they come along, most ideas suck anyways

e. Think ideas: Take some quiet time alone (e.g. a swim, a jog, a walk, a drive) to think about your ideas, shortlist to 3, the one that you are always leaning towards after a few weeks is likely the one that you are most passionate about

f. Share ideas: Share your top 3 ideas with your trusted network of advisers and gather feedback from people that are different from you. Listen, and listen well.

g. Mentor: Find a mentor who has been there and done that to guide you on how to set up a business and not just build and launch a product

h. Execution: Then do it and make sure you get it done. It is all about execution anyway. In Singapore, finding a co-founder might be beneficial in the long run but it takes a while to find the right one. Start early in your search.

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