Everyday is Like Startup Arena

I’m a competitive person. Some might hate competition (because it takes market share away and makes you work harder). Others, like me, embrace it and see it as a way to sharpen my skills. The tougher the competition, the more fun it becomes. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and competition is the perfect medicine to turn the weak into the strong. I’m loving every day of it.

In my mind, I see myself being thrown into the gladiator arena everyday. (Yeah, it’s a dramatic fantasy but don’t we all have those thoughts?) Whether I survive depends on my performance on that very day. That thinking makes me work my ass off as my team and I insanely want to pull away from our competitors.

So Startup Arena — the startup competition that is part of our Startup Asia Singapore conference — has very much reflected my impression about entrepreneurship with inspiration drawn from TC Disrupt’s Startup Battlefield.

The name says it all. And instead of throwing in gift vouchers, we decided to offer cash ($10,000). Because that’s one of the biggest motivators for every entrepreneur working their ass off day after day.

While Startup Arena is just another competition in many people’s eyes, we structured it, as best as we could, to provide a tiny snapshot of the life of an entrepreneur. The anxiety, the passion, the pain, the feeling of winning, and of course, losing.

I’m thankful because the feedback has been very good so far. After launching just last week, we have over 50 submissions. Keep them coming! And while preparing for D-day on the 2nd and 3rd of February 2012, I urge fellow entrepreneurs to continue to sharpen your products. The real arena, after all, is the market — your opponents are your competitors, and the consumers are your spectators.