A founder is shutting down his startup, and he’d like to hear from you

Dear readers,

When I was about to graduate years ago, I remember worrying if I’ll find a job in journalism. It was 2011: The world was just climbing out of a great recession and the economy was sluggish.

Journalism vacancies in Singapore were rare then, and the two media powerhouses, Singapore Press Holdings and Mediacorp, weren’t even hiring. I was fortunate that things eventually turned out well for me.

We’re now in another uncertain period. Jobs have evaporated and startups are shutting down left and right.

People who have been laid off understandably worry about feeding their families. But founders have their own struggles, too. A number of them have had to make an unpalatable choice between keeping their employees or saving their company. Many startups also lack the cash to provide sufficient retrenchment benefits.

As journalists, we at Tech in Asia have been reaching out to founders as we pursue stories about the challenges that their startups have been facing.

It’s admittedly not the best time for them to hear from us: Founders already have a lot of sh*t to deal with, and we’re adding to that pile.

So we’re grateful whenever they opt to be transparent about what went wrong in their company. Tom Lokenvitz, co-founder of Singapore-based Smove, is one of them.

Smove Singapore is now undergoing liquidation. / Photo credit: Smove

My colleague Joseph Gan wrote a piece last week that examines how the car-sharing startup endured layoffs and a stalled Uber partnership, but not Covid-19.

After we had published it, Tom wrote this heartfelt note on Facebook:

Closing down a business that you have built over the past 9 years sucks. It’s a humbling experience, but I’m grateful that I was able to go on this journey and thankful to all the people that made it happen.

He added:

Please PM me if you need some help, have specific questions, or just want to talk to someone who has been in your shoes. I understand there is a lot of silent suffering, so don’t worry, I made tons of stupid mistakes and will not judge you on any “mistakes” that you’ve made.

I also want to show that a healthy start-up ecosystem draws the right conclusions from “failure” and actually taps into the vast experience that even “failed” entrepreneurs have collected.

So whether you’re a founder or an employee who’s been affected by Covid-19, do reach out and talk to someone. I’m sure things will be all right in the end.

Here are more stories we published last week:

Behind Oyo’s layoffs in Malaysia, which affected hundreds of people by Aditya Hadi Pratama

Oyo’s layoffs have touched almost every market it has a presence in, and Malaysia was no exception. We spoke to insiders to find out what happened there.

Gojek’s GoPlay is more like Spotify and Amazon Prime Video – not Netflix by Aditya Hadi Pratama

GoPlay’s fundraising stood out because Hooq and Iflix have failed to crack Asia. We find out why investors are bullish about it.

A uniquely Chinese strategy is helping Zynn take on TikTok by Nicole Jao

Chinese apps are taking over the world, and they’re doing so with an interesting tactic. Clue: it has something to do with red packets.

50 rising startups in India, Meet the 20 top-funded startups and tech companies in Hong Kong

These are our handy lists on fundraising activity in Asia.

If you like our stuff, do consider subscribing. That’s it from me for now. Stay healthy and positive!

Cheers,

Terence
Chief Editor