SG startup community pays tribute to Sim Wong Hoo

The passing of Creative Technology founder Sim Wong Hoo has resonated across Singapore’s tech scene.

Known as “the grandfather of Singapore tech,” Sim was a pioneer in the space and led the city-state to its first listing on the Nasdaq.

Photo credit: Sim Wong Hoo’s Facebook

Sound ideas

He started the journey in 1981 by setting up a computer store with Creative co-founder Ng Kai Wai. It wasn’t until 1988 when the company started taking off with Game Blaster, a sound card for PCs marketed for gaming.

In 1989, Creative followed that up with Sound Blaster, which quickly became an industry standard for consumer audio. At the time, companies such as Sierra and Electronic Arts were early adopters of Creative’s sound cards.

For sure, Sim has inspired a generation of Singapore’s entrepreneurs to make similar global marks. One of the most notable names is Razer, another Singapore-born company.

“Was incredibly shocked to hear about the passing of Sim, founder of Creative Labs this morning. I just met him two weeks ago, like all our meetings, we talked for hours about audio technology and products. Will miss him – the technology world and Singapore has lost a legend,” said Min-Liang Tan, co-founder and CEO of Razer, in a tweet. 

Another early product from Creative was personal computer Cubic 99, which was released in 1984. After Sim’s passing, Victor Huang, a director at GovTech Singapore, made a post outlining Cubic 99’s innovations, which include a call-answering machine.

Hian Goh, partner at Openspace Ventures, recounted being a young investment banker and how a meeting with Sim over four packets of chicken rice inspired him to strike out on his own.

What impressed upon him was not that Sim was smart, but that “he just had the gumption and vision to start a company.”

“And that was what started me on my journey to be an entrepreneur,” Goh wrote.

Sim was also known for coining the term No U-Turn Syndrome, or NUTS.

Mohan Belani, co-founder and CEO of e27, noted that Sim had endured many battles, including Creative’s one-on-one fight with Steve Jobs’ Apple.

The iPhone maker launched the iPod after Creative rolled onto the scene with the Nomad, its own digital audio player. Citing court documents, Carbon Zero Venture Capital director Richard Tan said Creative actually holds the patent for the first-ever MP3 player.

Going NUTS