Successful startup founders reveal the questions they should have asked earlier

Conventional wisdom says that startups are notoriously hard to sustain, and there’s data to prove it. In the US, for example, over 70 percent of tech startups “stall at some point” in the venture capital process and “fail to exit or raise follow-on funding,” according to a 2017 report from research firm CB Insights, which followed over 1,000 fledgling companies to gather data.

But startup activity in Southeast Asia has never been as robust as it is now, with funding for homegrown ventures hitting a record US$7.86 billion in 2017. As more Southeast Asian entrepreneurs build, grow, and sustain businesses, they’ll need to look to those who have come before them.

Tech in Asia interviewed founders of companies in different stages of growth, from relative newbies to those that have gone through mergers and acquisitions. Specifically, we asked them to share the questions that they asked – or wish they asked – when they were starting up. Their answers have been edited for brevity.

Ng Jing Shen, co-founder and CEO, Paktor

Paktor’s Ng Jing Shen / Photo credit: Paktor

For Ng, dating was simply another problem that software could help solve.

Together with Joseph Phua, the former Amazon software engineer launched dating app Paktor in 2013. Ng has helped it grow to more than 880,000 monthly active users, and Paktor now claims a user base of over 15 million. Its largest markets are in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea.

Paktor has since acquired livestreaming service 17Media as well as other dating apps in Taiwan, the US, Brazil, and Spain.

Q: In a landscape dominated by US-based dating apps, how do we create a dating app more suitable for Asian culture?

A: We were aware that dating is extremely culturally sensitive, and the app we were creating needed to have its very own DNA. Growing up and living in Asia, we understood instinctively that not all Asian countries are the same.

This helped us respect the similarities and differences between the countries. The local context and history of dating in each of the countries drive the way we build our product for each market.

Q: How do we want users to feel when using our app?

A: We wanted them to look forward to using the app to find like-minded friends, to have assurance that they are able to connect with quality matches and expand their social circle.

We like to think of Paktor as a bar with a good band. Having a good band attracts more people, and good music makes people want to spend more time in the bar. Coming to the bar more often also naturally increases your chances of meeting new people.

We are constantly refining our features to engage our users and keep them coming back, leading them to spend more time in Paktor.

Ankiti Bose, co-founder and CEO, Zilingo

Esther Nguyen, founder and CEO, Pops Worldwide