Okie, my blog will have some controvesial and ill-thought out articles, because I normally write when I have inspiration and I don't normally proofread what I write (Only want to spend half an hour each day writing at the most). However, I don't normally seek to criticize, but just to offer my thoughts on certain issues which strike me. I don't think I'm normally right, but I hope that I can stimulate different thoughts in people.
(stuff so that I won't kena too many bad comments.. Then again, if people who comment put in a little more thought to offer constructive criticism.. the internet would not be as full of trash)
Singapore's gameplan has always been (at least to me) to be the Asian (working) version of what works in the West, albeit a bit cheaper. Working means that there are no hidden business, legal, administrative, infrastructural obstacles for doing business. We often take that for granted (so I highly recommend people go to a less developed country even for a short trip). It was manufacturing, petroleum, semiconductors, finance, IT, pharmaceuticals (forgive my lack of history) and now.. Startups?
If the previous strategy was to be slightly cheaper and geographically better positioned, then that winning strategy might need to be rethought. Startups are the only way that America is still the most valuable economy (not its financial magic tricks). It requires world class universities to provide excellent education, open-mindedness to immigrants and society's positive perceptions of failure.
To be honest, I'm not so hopeful on those 3 counts (there are more.. but I am limited by my lack of exposure and experience a.k.a. I am a noob). Sometimes, you really get what you pay for. A quick look at the video lectures available on MIT OCW would probably highlight some significant differences between the quality of teaching. (then again the difference in quality of students.. )
One of the simple explanations I can think of for why we don't have scrappy entrepreneurs is due to our policy of National Service compounded with our society's mores.
Guys normally get married at 27 , 28 and girls, at around 25,26. Given that most guys graduate only at the age of 24 (and girls at 22), that only leaves 4 years to accumulate enough capital to make it to marriage. The house downpayment and associated costs (wedding, honeymoon, car, renovations, furniture) are a big hurdle (at least a cool $100,000 - $200,000 of debt borne by both families).
Given that most startups take easily 2 years of hard work before showing profitability, it's easy to see why our society's mores contribute to the lack of a startup culture. The people who are working on their startups are not playing DOTA on their computers. They are also not going to networking events and drinking endless cups of coffee for nothing. Brainstorming sessions might involve going for a party and talking about random stuff while being unemployed.
Imagine the hypothetical effect on the startup culture if we did not have National Service that stretches up to 2 years?
I feel it's reasonable to say that as the period of NS decreases, we should see a small increase of startups being started by guys bumming around after their ORD and before they matriculate. (Hopefully, girls too.. as they wait 6 months after their A Levels and before they matriculate).
This is a flawed argument, but I thought that this might be useful for people drafting policies. Policies are difficult to draft and the long term impacts are hard to gauge. It might start to be a bit too costly to have NS stretching for a period of 2 years, if our national goal is to be an island Silicon Valley.
These are some simplistic suggestions to mitigate the time loss caused by NS.
1. Accelerate the university curriculum. I don't see the point of people having 2 modules for their final semester and coming to school just for 1 day in the week. Buggers in university can jolly well take 6 modules each semester and graduate reasonably well. It's still not as siong as working 8 - 6 for 5 days. If I actually put in that amount of hours for my studies, I would be on the Dean's list or easily somewhere near it.
2. Open up a Vacation Internship Module with 4 MCs for people to work on their startup idea during the break and make it easy for people to take a leave of absence after it. Supporting evidence could be signs of traction (user growth.. etc), number of letters of intent, revenue growth.. etc
3. Make it easier for people who are from other faculties to take a Minor in Entrepreneurship with modules from business. The modules should only cover the essentials which are: Accounting (Scorekeeping), Marketing (Selling), Project Management (Delivering), Team Management (Teamworking) and Customer Service (I might be wrong but the founders normally look for outside help or advice beyond the team to do the rest of the essential functions like legal stuff etc). To my limited knowhow, it seems that the combination of a hard technical skill (computer science, engineering, accounting, law, medicine.. etc) (sorry for leaving out a few) coupled with a basic knowledge of business (Revenues - Costs = Profits) is a potent combination for being a founder.
4. Increase the number of literature and support available for female entrepreneurs. Hey, there are a lot of successful businesswomen around.. What's up? We can't always be referring to Olivia Lum. Unfortunately, I am too noob to know more high profile cases (although I do know a few good female friends who are starting their own ventures.. =) ) There are a lot of businesses which focus traditionally on industries that guys ignore, like fashion, crafts, cooking, dancing, flowers.. etc (at the risk of sounding sexist)
5. Offer more financial education education to the young (or even better, make them financially independent younger). This will cause them to think twice about buying iPhones, branded clothes, new wallets if they have to earn every dollar of that purchase. Suddenly, you will see them working hard and taking on all the part time service jobs that we are struggling to fill with hardworking foreigners. Some of them will suddenly get the bright idea that working for someone is being a highly paid serf, but the person who really earns the money is the one employing the serfs.
My hope is that more people start their own businesses to create more social good. Blog shops are fine, but there's really nothing behind it in terms of making something useful to society. It seems that it's just fueling a consumer craze to keep buying stuff. We need businesses that create real products and services that increase the amount of value in the economy, not increase the amount of materialism.
Hmm.. National Economic Competitiveness vs National Military Competitiveness? What is the real factor for the rise and fall of nations?
Argument is absolutely flawed. NS is just 2 years. To those who are any good at all, these two years make no difference.
ReplyDeleteMany Americans graduate from college with significantly more debt than Singaporeans. Those who get themselves saddled with debt (aka honeymoon, car + wedding) are not going to make it as entrepreneurs anyway 'cos they obviously dunno how to manage their finances.
Startups require a lot of smart people with the right temperament. We just don't have enough of them running around -- and I don't believe for a moment we can actually *teach* entrepreneurship. We also don't have much of a market to begin with.
Actually, I'm quite against these "polices" to support and promote entrepreneurship. I don't think that they are helpful.
The market is very harsh. Only the fittest will survive and fittest by definition will be companies that don't need to depend on the Govt for help.
Maybe we should just let the economy tank and when the conditions are sufficiently harsh, some winners will arise from the ashes. :-)
Let me just cut to the chase and tell you what I think is the problem with Singapore. As suggested by Laurence, this place is like Disneyland compared to most places in the world.
ReplyDeleteFor the folks with some brains, there are many options that will lead to a comfortable life without too much risk.
If you have a place where there are no safe options, you will have many more entrepreneurs 'cos people have less to lose (since they have less to begin with). Makes sense?
Hmm okie. That makes more sense and what you have been highlighting. People are too comfortable, like the frog being cooked.
ReplyDeleteBut I still think my suggestions have some merit.
Maybe we should teach people how to think more about what they can learn from their NS?
I am still puzzled about why there aren't more stories of female entrepreneurs. I vaguely remember the person who started awfully chocolate..
actually, the way i look at it, startups have nothing to lose, especially for the roadmap i've set out for myself.
ReplyDeleteat most, if fail, go back school, graduate, and find a job lor. maybe it's cos of my family background that's why i don't feel this is such a big risk. I dunno.
another point i feel that i have to say is that singaporeans have a very idealistic view of the world. they think the world is the same as singapore, which i think is a sandbox, or as prof puts it, a disneyland. it's a way different world out there.
My hope is that more people start their own businesses to create more social good.
You need to get rich first. Then you can start creating social good.
this quote from simpsons which i believe makes some sense.
Random Intern: "Sir, I'm afraid you've gone mad with power!"
Russ Cargill: "Of course I have. Have you ever tried going mad without power? It's boring. No one listens to you."
You need the influence, you need the power, then you can start making a difference. Or else no one cares about you.
regarding of teaching of entrepreneurship, even in NUS, who's gonna teach that? the biz profs? who are they to teach that? are they businessmen? are they entrepreneurs? no. they are ppl who graduated from great biz uni's being taught by even more profs who graduated from the biz uni's taught by biz profs, who graduated.... ok, i think you get the idea.
i do concede, there are a couple of good ones around.
i got a question for you tho. how do you even teach entrepreneurship. there's not step 1 to step 10 thing in it. it's not a science. it's an art. so how does one teach it?
@Ryan,
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should teach people how t0o think more about what they can learn from their NS?
There's stuff to be learnt anywhere and everywhere. Why must our people be "taught"? Can't they learn to figure things out for themselves? This is what saddens me -- Singaporeans can't seem to do stuff without being "taught".
I really think that Entrepreneurship cannot be "taught". We can give Singaporeans exposure to entrepreneurship-related stuff, but they have to learn themselves.
One of the things that bothers me and probably successful entrepreneurs (though they are likely used to it by now) when we have entrepreneurship talks is that the line of questioning by some students seems to suggest that they think there's some recipe on how to succeed in building startups.
I am still puzzled about why there aren't more stories of female entrepreneurs. I vaguely remember the person who started awfully chocolate.
There's also Elim Chew from 77th Street and the Bengawan Solo lady.
@Laurence,
at most, if fail, go back school, graduate, and find a job lor. maybe it's cos of my family background that's why i don't feel this is such a big risk. I dunno.
You don't understand. Those who do business in Singapore are either those who can do well in school and those who cannot. The problem with the former is the kiasu'ness. They know that they probably won't starve even if they fail, but they might have trouble finding jobs as good as their peers and they might "fall behind" their peers in their chase for condos and cars.
My point about the availability of comfortable and relatively riskless options in Singapore.
I really think that Entrepreneurship cannot be "taught". We can give Singaporeans exposure to entrepreneurship-related stuff, but they have to learn themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think they don't even want to learn. All those seminars/events that i go for are dominated by foreigners.
Those who do business in Singapore are either those who can do well in school and those who cannot.
Isn't this everyone?
Hi Laurence,
ReplyDeleteI think what Prof Ben meant by the comment is that those who do exceptionally well in school and those who either drop out or just manage to scrape through school. There's still a broad middle spectrum of people who do average to above average.
I think it's good that you have a cushion to fall upon. This enables you to take bigger risks and try something more audacious. Unfortunately, the rest of us might have to think twice and feel comfortable with the risks first when presented with the same opportunity. =)
There's still a broad middle spectrum of people who do average to above average.
ReplyDeleteThese guys are pretty poor thing thing. They are pretty stuck. They will spend the rest of their lives trying to catch up with the guys at the top. In Singapore, if they work hard enough, they will be end up fine -- but some get pretty disgruntle over their lack of "life".
In general, those who will do very well in life are either those who are top students ('cos there's some correlation between grades and intelligence and companies life hiring those who seem to have some brains) and those at the bottom (or drop out). Those at the bottom are not necessarily not as smart as the top scholars -- many of them just figured out that it's a waste of time/effort trying to compete academically and instead engage in activities that are more aligned with their strengths.
It's like what's called "Blue Ocean Strategy". Competing academically is like "Red Ocean" 'cos it's damn bloody and there can only be a small number of winners.
Hello everybody,
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day, don't get bogged down by all this thinking. I mean, thinking is good, but it can paralyze you with inaction too. Might get headache also :(
Don't have to bother what others say too, filter signal from noise.
Simple: if you wanna be a successful entrepreneur, start NOW and keep going at it till you succeed :)
Then, 10, 15 years from now, people can use you as a case study, and talk and deduce all they want :)
Reuben