Fave founder on most ‘challenging’ exit and why he left

Founders shed blood, time, and money to build their companies for years on end, so extricating themselves from their creation can come with crushing guilt.

Joel Neoh would know: The former CEO of merchant platform Fave has established multiple startups in his 15 years as an entrepreneur. In 2021, Malaysia-based Fave was acquired by Pine Labs, an Indian merchant platform, for over US$45 million.

Ex-Fave CEO Joel Neoh (left) with Tech in Asia founder and CEO Willis Wee / Photo credit: Tech in Asia

Onstage with Tech in Asia CEO and founder Willis Wee at the TIA Kuala Lumpur Conference on July 25, Neoh reflected on his journey so far as an entrepreneur, the difficult decisions he had to make, and what he could have done differently.

For founders in similar situations, it’s particularly important to discuss future plans with the acquirer, rather than just focusing on past and present performance. Additionally, it’s crucial to incentivize existing employees who will remain at the company after the acquisition.

Neoh certainly has the battle scars from his experiences, chalking up an impressive string of exits.

He stepped down as CEO of Fave in February 2023 and joined Prenetics, a Hong Kong-based healthcare firm, as managing director in June 2023. A month later, he co-launched First Move, an early-stage fund that targets regional consumer startups.

Exit challenges

For companies in Malaysia, getting a “good exit” is “very difficult” given the country’s small market, Neoh shared.

“The opportunities we got from two Malaysian companies were sub-1 million ringgit (US$216,000),” he added, referring to offers for Youth Asia – the company that ran community youth platform Youth Says – which Neoh co-founded with venture capitalist Khailee Ng in 2009.

In its first year of operations, Youth Asia received its first acquisition proposal from a Malaysian research firm that offered 600,000 ringgit (US$129,000), recalled Neoh.

While he and Ng both “seriously considered” the offer, they ended up rejecting it even though it was a “good deal” for the duo, who “came from middle-class families.”

In 2010, Youth Asia got another offer from a Malaysian digital media company for about 1 million ringgit (US$219,000) but ultimately passed on it.

Youth Says – which later rebranded to Says.com – eventually merged with Catcha Media in 2013 in a deal valued at US$20 million.

The most difficult exit

If the Youth Says deal was the “easiest” for Neoh, his most recent exit – selling Fave to Pine Labs – was “one of the most challenging.”

ESOP mismatch

Decision to leave