For Terence Tan of TNF Ventures, finding that one big hit isn’t enough

Fun is a rather quaint way for an investment firm to differentiate itself. But Terence Tan, an investor at TNF Ventures, is pretty serious about fun — and always have been. A competitive player in golf and tennis, he once overextended himself over a tennis game, fell and suffered a concussion, then lost his sense of smell.

This paradox of having serious fun permeates TNF’s culture. They’re managing money on behalf of NRF, a government body in charge of scientific research, yet they organized a poker tournament at their launch event. They wore gaudy red and white polo tees that made the event look more Resorts World than Marina Bay Sands, yet gave a Powerpoint presentation to introduce the firm.

It’s a signal that they don’t take themselves too seriously, but are hungry about making the right investment bets. It image seems befitting for a team of successful corporate and entrepreneurial types who’ve got it made. They don’t really need to start another fund, but for one reason or another, decided to.

Terence certainly doesn’t have to get involved. The Singaporean has a full-time job, and that involves being a managing partner at IPV Capital, a Shanghai-based VC firm that, interestingly, is investing in technology industries that escape the limelight, such as semiconductors, medical technology, and clean technology.

So, TNF Ventures is sort of like a side project for him; a way to, in his words, contribute back to Singapore and help nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs. Apparently, Terence’s situation describes most of the investors at TNF pretty well: Only Shirley Wong, managing partner at the firm, and Frank Lee, the incubation manager, work at TNF full-time, occupying an office at Block 71, the beating heart of Singapore’s startup scene.

Terence himself is based in China most of the time, where he manages a portfolio of 20 companies for IPV Capital. At an interview with SGE at a poolside cafe, he declares that out of the firm’s entire portfolio, it has only lost money on one. A few companies have gone public, while the rest are up and running. He flatly rejects the notion of having a really big success to cover up for 9 other failed ones.

“I sometimes think that we’re not taking enough risk. But I’ve gotta believe that this company has good chance of making it. It’s not about just ‘trying out’,” he said.

He intends to maintain a high strike rate at TNF, where the focus isn’t so much on hitting a quota of deals but rather finding the really good ones.

“The success of the portfolio is a reflection of the team. And that’s a high bar. That makes our job even more difficult,” said Terence.

The firm does have its work cut out, given the team’s pedigree, which includes people like Eddie Chau, a successful entrepreneur who exited from Brandtology and has recently founded mobile security company V-Key. It raised a Series A round from IPV.

TNF Ventures poker party.

For an angel fund in Asia, TNF has a rather large team of 16. Not all of them are present on the firm’s website, nor were the whole lot present at the poker night. The outsized team is there for a reason: To provide their portfolio startups with a large support network that spans the globe, that could give access to customers, technologies, or the next round of funding.

Having such a large team presents a problem: How can TNF make decisions without compromising on speed? While Terence was unable to speak on the record about the firm’s processes, he nonetheless maintained that the team has ways to achieve some consensus while maintaining their nimbleness.