I built a fintech startup in 2002. Here’s what I learnt when it failed.

Photo credit: Matthew Wiebe

I have read many rags-to-riches stories where startups raise millions in Series A funding, with front page photos of founders smiling with folded arms.

Far fewer stories are told of failed startups where the founders learnt their lessons, called it quits and have moved on with life in a corporate suit. This is one of those stories. And I was one of those founders with my startup, Tradershub.

How it all started

It was Feb 2002. I was 27, and had just finished my six year stint as a regular Electronic Specialist in the Navy.

That was one year after the dotcom bubble burst. The startup scene in Singapore then was non-existent. It was not till four years later that Twitter and iPhones came into existence, and nine years till The Lean Startup was to be published. There was no startup ecosystem whatsoever. VCs were non-existent.

 If I continue to work so hard, I might as well work for myself.

Fresh out of the Navy, I joined a software house as web developer. It was a tough life with a back breaking schedule.

For example, I had to deliver a Job Application Portal for Spring Singapore within two weeks. Weekends were burnt, and knocking off after midnight were the norm. After few months, I told myself “If I continue to work so hard, I might as well work for myself.”

So I decided to call it quits and join my friend to start up. He happened to be a stock trader, technical stock analyst and trainer. We had this idea to develop a virtual stock trading platform for the public to buy and sell stocks virtually, using virtual cash, with the platform mimicking the actual stock market.

Our business model was simple:

1. My cofounder: Conduct lessons on technical analysis for novice stock punters.
2. With the earnings from 1, I would build a virtual stock trading platform from scratch and monetise it at later stage.

When we started, we had less than S$15,000 of working capital. Being young and naive, we made our first mistake among many — we rented an office space at S$1,700 per month. We needed a classroom, so we found an office in Skyline Building in Waterloo Street, renovated the space, and set up a classroom. But there was one problem. We had no students.

For the first lesson, we had 15 students, the second lesson, we had 6 students, and by the third, we had 3 miserable students. The course fee we charged was insufficient for us to continue the business as planned. We had no funds for advertising. I remembered printing 500 flyers and distributing them at Raffles Place. We had zero response. We also went to The Edge Singapore, trying to form a partnership. In the end, we were asked to run a half-page advertisement for S$2,000, which was impossible for us.

At the same time, I was working on our virtual stock trading platform.

Building Tradershub

Instead of help, things took a turn for worse in September 2002.

The aftermath

So what were the lessons learnt?