My 15 Minutes Of Fame

Andy Warhol had famously said,”…everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Cobalt Paladin, our resident contributor, will be telling us the story of his entrepreneurial pursuit based on this famous phrase.

Contributed by Cobalt Paladin

For me, I’ve been:

1. Interviewed by the papers. Checked.
2. Interviewed by the radio. Checked.
3. Interviewed by a tv programme. Checked.
4. Won an award for my company’s product. Checked.
5. Nominated for an entrepreneur award (but didn’t win). Checked.
6. On the cover of Fortune or Times magazine. Nope. Heh.

In the beginning, when I started my venture, I hoped for the media to interview me, report on my product, mention my venture…. anything that will garner publicity. I didn’t do any press releases. I just hope that my product would be recognised by the media of its own accord. I would feel stress when the media reported about my competitors’ instead of my company. I would loose sleep over it. I would cry foul that my competitor, through connection (at least that was what I wanted to believe :p) from the media industry, asked for a favour and get mentioned in the media. I would lament on the unfair treatment by the media as I felt that my product was obviously the better one. I would ask Why Not Me?!

Years gone by and I quietly continued to work on my product, making it better, slowly growing my number of supporters and clients (of course, at the same time attracting more competition).

Gradually, my product was mentioned in the papers, albeit very rarely, but it was better than before. Then I was invited to feature and talk about my product on a tv programme. I was later also invited to give some comments over the phone for a radio programme.

Funny thing is, once my product has matured and a steady stream of clients, I actually become more private. In fact, now I prefer to be left alone to do my own thing. The less people know about me, the better.

Have you ever wondered why we don’t see prominent figures like Sim Wong Hoo (Creative), Ron Sim (Osim) etc walking down Orchard Road?

I am terrified by the idea of being recognised publicly. I want to be able to continue to take the public transport (BMW – Buses, MRT and Walking), I want to continue to go to MacDonalds with my kids, visit hawker centres for simple meals, have a drink with my friends without worrying about being recognised. I WANT my privacy.

Actually, I am nowhere near achieving that level of fame… yet. Sometimes I wonder, is it also because I’ve not done enough to attract the attention of the public media? Is this my failure since I’m actually a private person?

I’ve been able to grow my company without the publicity from the media. The media only recognised my company and knew of my product’s existence when I already have achieved a certain level of success in the industry. Sometimes I wonder, I’ve come so far without the help of the media, do I need their help if I want to go further? But should I sacrifice my privacy for the sake of my company? What do you think?

Is fame worth pursuing? Do you want to be famous?

Editor’s Note: This article is published in Cobalt Paladin’s blog with the same title.