Finding Opportunities

You do not have to be an industry veteran to spot an opportunity. Nor do you need to have years of experience to start a business. Sometimes all it take is to be passionate about building a company for a cause that you believe in or solving a problem that you believe exist.

We interviewed the Co-Founder of Vintage Inn, Shanthan, to find out more about how he spotted an opportunity and started building a company around it.

Please tell me about your personal background from before you found Vintage Inn?

Completed my National Service and worked part time in a back packers hostel while doing my Accounting and Finance Degree.

How did you chance upon this idea? What gap did you wish to make up for?

While working in the back packers hostel, we saw a lot of improvements that could have been done to give guest an enhanced experience in a backpackers hostel. One of the gaps we wanted to fill was having privacy yet staying in a backpackers hostel.

What does your hostel offer?

Staying in capsule has became part of rising trend in hospitality.

Our capsules were designed and built with the privacy of our guests in mind. Thus, each capsule is equipped with ample room space, high quality beds and a privacy curtain that when drawn, makes you feel like you are having your own private space.

Living in Capsules. Image Credit: Vintage Inn

What are some ups and downs you have experienced with Vintage Inn? 

The Hostel Business is very seasonal. There are times where occupancy will be low and you need to have reserves to cover you at low periods. The learning curve was very steep for us as we spent a lot of money to bring in sales at the on start. The upside is of course the experience that you gain operating such a business, ensuring that standards are well maintained, guest are happy, customers are returning and gaining a brand recognition.

What are some key aspects do you look for when hiring an employee?

We look at these three aspects – Outgoing, High social interaction, Fun. These three aspects provide a wonderful interaction and service with our guests.

What is the greatest pride you take with regards to your business?

Creating a wonderful and unique experience for our guest at Vintage Inn. We hope that visiting guest would choose Vintage Inn as their stay again if they are visiting Singapore again.

Rest and Relax. Image Credit: Vintage Inn

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

Expanding the business regionally. We have set our eyes on Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia.

What motivates you on a day to day basis.

The feeling to succeed.

I hope that the hostel can provide an enjoyable accommodation for people from all around the world.

What do you do to maintain your work-life balance?

Although business is a 24/7 work life, there are parts of the business you leave in the hands of trusted individuals like our employees to run the daily operations. This gives us the time focus on what we do best, looking and working on new opportunities.

What is the best advice that a mentor gave you?

Starting a business is easy, but turning it sustainable and profitable is the challenge.

If you could go back in time, what would you like to do differently?

Probably the features of the Capsule.  As mentioned above, due to the increasing trend of capsules in the world, our competitiors have added more facilities and features in their hospitality. We could have put in more features inside to give guest an even better experience. Features like a small Ipad or television.

Are there any other things you would like to share to our readers?

Always be prepared for any outcome that you will face during your business  journey.

More About Vintage Inn: 

Address: 60 Race Course Road S(518567)

Website: www.vintageinn.sg

 

 

 

 

 

4 Workplace Culture That Startups Have

We spend most of our adult lives working. The working hours and management style have been pretty much the same and we have all grown accustomed to it. There is really nothing wrong with the fixed hours or even the working environment, but would it be better if you were given more control over your working hours or perhaps even where you work?

In recent years, startups have changed the way their employees work. Gone were the days of working 8 hours at your desk, some startups allow their employees to work from home or even giving them full control over how many hours they are working every day. Here are some workplace culture that founders and early members of startups told us they have.

No Hierarchy

Eunogo: “In Korea, most companies are very hierarchical and it is very different for us, we do not call people by their titles in our company, we address each other with our English names which is very uncommon in Korea.”

YogaTrial: “we are very close and connected to the CEO and we can communicate and discuss the ideas based on his vision and the ideas can be developed and implemented very quickly.”

Most startups have a very lean structure and work very closely with each other. The flat hierarchy makes communication easier among the members of the startups. With the improvement of communication, decision making became much faster and ideas or solution to a problem gets implemented very quickly, as such, saving money and time.

Encourage Opinions

Cygen: “I will always tell them, it does not matter if you are the web developer or a human resource personnel, if you are able to suggest something that is good and you can present your reasoning well then we will implement it.”

Staydilly: “At Staydilly, we foster an open culture with a flat hierarchy. We value and encourage input from every member of the team, regardless of seniority.”

Gibbon: “We believe that our company should be very lean and open.  The industry that we are looking at is very new, anybody that is coming in can provide a better idea than ourselves.”

To make your employees feel like they are part of the team, you will need to encourage them to voice out their opinions. There is no harm in hearing them out, they might just have the solution to the problem you are working on. However, when it comes to deciding which suggestions would be most beneficial to the startup, the pros and cons still have to be weigh carefully by the founders.

Autonomy With Discipline

Swememo: “There isn’t a lot of control exerted over our employees, they have huge amount of freedom, they can decide on their working hours and even go on long breaks, just as long as the work is done.”

Sitting at a desk from 8AM to 5PM might not be the most productive setting for some. If an employee is able to produce quality work on time, does it matter if he or she does not work during office hours? Well, some companies believe in focusing on the end product instead of the production process.

Closely Knit

Swememo: “We are also very close with our employees.”

YogaTrail: “All the opinions matter in our company, we can have meetings and everybody have a chance to voice out their opinions. This makes us feel like we are really a family.”

As most startups have a very lean structure, it is easier to know and interact with everybody. Also, with a flat hierarchy, it is easier to have a casual conversation with superiors and even founders of the startup. These will result in a very well bonded team of people within a startup.

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These are just some of the cultures that startups have. Every startup or companies will have different management style and hence will have a different culture within the company. There are no right or wrong culture, but it is important to keep the culture alive and consistent within the organization.

4 Recruitment Challenges Startups Faced

Recruiting top talents can be really difficult for multinational corporations. But what if you are a startup? Then, it might be even tougher.

Startups face lots of challenges when it comes to recruiting the right person to develop the company alongside the founders. With the right mix of people, you can definitely bring your startup to new heights. So, what are the challenges surrounding recruiting talents for a startup? We interviewed founders and early members of startups from E27 Echelon to find out more.

Finding the Right Fit:

YogaTrial: “They can be very talented but they can have different mindset, the speed of accomplishing the work also matters. It is not easy to find someone that fits into every aspect of the company.”

For most startups, culture is of utmost importance. Hence, it is crucial that a new hire can fit into the company’s culture seamlessly. But it is difficult to distinguish a candidate that would fit perfectly into organization from the start, so many startups have to go through the guessing phase and weed out the misfits later on. This process could be time and resource consuming for the company.

Hiring the Experienced:

Staydilly: “However, as we seek the more experienced hires, we have found it more difficult as the more experience the candidate is. I am of the opinion that this is the main challenge for start-ups, is to hire experienced senior team members who can call upon their wealth of experience to lead a more junior team.”

With someone on board who has been there and done that can make a huge difference. They have the connections and also the experience that fresh graduates do not have. But these senior and experienced personnel most probably have a very stable and well-paying job, the challenge here is, can you convince them to join you?

Lack of Financial Resources:

Swememo: “Yes we have difficulty hiring talent, I think many other also have the same problem as well. When it comes to hiring top talents, you also have to pay top bucks for them. The problem here is that startups like ours have very limited resources.

The amount of financial resources for a startup equals to the runway that your startup have. The further you can stretch your dollar, the more chances your startup gets to succeed. But without top bucks you cannot poach or recruit top talents, especially when you are competing with larger and more established corporation for the same person.

Retaining Talents:

Swememo: “Another problem that we faced is that after investing the time and effort to train a new employee, they leave us after a few months. People don’t think that there is a future in startup.”

After getting the talent, how do you make sure that your startup is not just another stepping stone for them? Wasting the finite amount of resources a startup have on training and salary all for nothing can be a huge problem. This situation should be minimized at all cost and the founders of the startup should consider using non-monetary incentives to retain the talents.

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Many founders of startups have not been in the shoes of an employer and have no idea how to attract talent or how to retain them. But all of a sudden, they are thrown into such a situation where they have no choice but to be competent. As such, the more important skill that a founder should possess is adaptability.

3 Reasons Why You Should Work For Startups

Would you rather work for a startup or an established company?

Most of us would choose the latter, but, should we?

Here are some very good reasons why you should work for startups. These reasons are not just from us, we have interviewed founders and early members of the startup teams at E27 Echelon in Singapore. And these are their responses.

Challenge yourself

Gibbon: “Our team at GIBBON believes that joining a startup goes beyond rising above challenges. In fact, we emphasise specifically on people who are able to adapt and stay resilient despite the lack of clear cut structures and a pretty tenacious and shaky future. GIBBON looks for character among all other things.”

Eunogo: “We are looking for someone that can grow everything together with us, so these specific types of people are not really looking to go for the big-name companies. We are looking for people that are very interested in the product and also believe in the company’s potential.”

Not everybody is suitable to be working for a startup, you have to be very disciplined and also have a huge passion for the company and its industry. It is going to be a very challenging journey ahead due to the uncertainties and also due to the fact that these startups are in relatively new industries. And so, if you are the type that hates stability and wants an exciting working experience, you will be suitable for a startup.

More to learn

Swememo: “The students back in Vietnam wants to work for the big-name companies and get internships there right after they graduate from school. We don’t think that it is a good choice, yes, these big-name companies do look good on their resume or portfolio, but you will just be doing very simple tasks so you do not gain so much experience. But in startup, due to its smaller scale operations, you will get to do everything.”

Cygen: “People think that going into multinational companies will help them, but they are wrong, being in a startup, you can learn processes from end to end. I was from a multinational company before I started my own company, the experience I had in a multinational company was nowhere near what I had learnt from a startup.”

Eunogo: “In startups, one person can be in charge of many different functions such as sales, management and many others. So, if you are to join a startup, you should be willing to take on such responsibilities and view it as a growth opportunity. ”

When working for multinational companies, you will be given very specific duties and very rarely will you get the opportunity to do something else. But startups present an opportunity to do anything and everything within the company itself. These opportunities allow one to develop more skill sets and have a greater understanding of the company.

Be different

Cygen: “If you have a chance to go to a startup, please go. Having a startup experience now could be more valuable for a multinational company. You can grow yourself to be more of an all-rounder after the startup experience.”

When most of your peers are working in a multinational company, take the opportunity and try out for a startup, take a look at what you can learn and how it can help you develop your existing skill sets. One thing that is guaranteed is that, your experience will be vastly different from that of your peers. And who knows, this might be the reason you will stand out in a crowded and competitive environment.

So, why not take a look at what some of the startups are offering and see if it resonates with you. Maybe this could be an eye opening experience that you will never forget.

Working With Passions

37Tech is a independent technology news publishing portal where the founder, Billy Zheng, avidly writes about the latest trends in technology. Billy also regularly contributes to Techoutsg.com. We interviewed Billy to find out more about why he started and the journey he had been through.

Image credit: 37Tech

Please tell me about your personal background from before you conceived the idea of 37Tech.

Pretty much a normal childhood – went to primary school, secondary school, poly, army, work and uni. I worked in retail part time, before i found a full-time position at a Public Relations Agency, doing PR work for tech clients like Adobe and Lenovo.

I just finished my degree in Web Communication at Murdoch University, and I’m currently working on 37Tech and Techout Singapore while looking for a full time Job.

How did you chance upon this idea? What gap did you wish to make up for?

Well, the idea for thirty-seven ties into my interest in technology and that goes way back into my childhood. I got into technology when I was young. My parents ran a clothing company called Thirty-Seven Degrees (thus the name, 37Tech), and had PCs and Macs around for design work. I visited the office often and learnt to use a computer by accident there – I was inspired by how their designers could create amazing artwork through software and spent lots of time trying that out. We also had a computer at home, and that’s how I learnt about the internet and video games. I remember playing my first game, Warcraft II, when I was five years old!

My love for tech grew as innovations like smartphones hit the market. I was amazed at how these portable little devices could do more than my old computers. When social media came about, I often shared my thoughts on tech trends – and smartphones online. Some of my family and friends who read my posts encouraged me to start my own website, and thus 37Tech was born.

With regards to the gap – well, I think that tech is an amazing productivity multiplier and a force for good, but it can get complicated fast, with so many concepts, standards and marketing buzzwords to understand. I hope to offer readers an honest and easy to understand, yet in-depth perspective.

What motivates you on a day to day basis?

Family, friends, role models. Companies who believe that there’s more to life than the dollar – and work for the advancement of mankind, rather than short term goals. And on the flipside – companies that screw over the everyday consumer and have huge ethical problems.

Either way, both good and bad interactions and experiences drive me to write and communicate – to advocate for the good others do, or to alert others to danger.

Since the start of 37Tech, can you share some ups and downs you have experienced to our readers?

Ups – getting the first scoop on tech in Singapore. It’s such a privilege to attend events, launches and conferences and be one of the first few to know and break the news.

Downs – opportunities and interviews which start our promising but don’t work out in the end. It’s really disappointing to work hard at crafting a story and realising that it doesn’t fly well with your viewers.

More of a personal downer – but getting a really hyped-up product to review and finding out that it doesn’t do what was advertised.

What is the best advice that a mentoring entrepreneur/ anyone gave you? Is there any advice you would give to our readers?

Words from my sister and dad:

Whatever you want to do, just get started right here and now, even though you feel you’re not ready.

It’s natural to make calculated decisions and to avoid risks in your journey, but if you keep getting too caught up in doing something perfectly in the best way possible without any losses, you’ll never, ever get started on what you want to do.

Just go all in with love and do your best. If it fails? Just try again.

Another piece of advice from my old boss: We actually have two jobs. Our first and primary job is to be the best version of ourselves we can be – to be happy, to pursue our passions, be with family and friends, and do good in this world. What we do now at the workplace is our secondary job – a place for us to earn the resources and learn the knowledge to do our first job well.

If you could go back in time, what would you like to do differently? (personally, or on behalf of your site)

I would have started Thirty Seven much earlier! Personally, spent more time with my family, especially my dad. Kept in touch with my friends from school and army more. Most of all, just taken life a lot easier and put a lot less pressure on myself.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

Definitely still writing about tech! Perhaps flying to the USA to cover Apple’s latest gadgets. Or maybe even working for Apple.

What do you do to maintain your work-life balance?

I keep reminding myself about the advice that my former boss gave me (first job, second job). Exercise now and then, make a point to discover new things and meet new people.

What is the greatest pride you take with regards to your website?

I’m proud of our simplicity and honesty. We aren’t the flashiest news portal our there, but we write the truth and try our best to get straight to the point. We don’t do clickbait, fluff stories or fake news. We’re about transparency – if we get paid to do a review, we’ll tell you upfront here and now.

Conclusion – Are there any other things you would like to share to our readers?

37Tech was a labor of love and it’s been a long journey learning how to run a site and to write well. I’m still learning every day, and I’m excited to see what will happen over the next few years.

The last and most important thing I’d like to share is about learning and technology.

For the uninitiated, tech and gadgets can be hard to understand and it’s tempting to just use them in the simplest way possible, to just buy the gadget or smartphone everyone’s talking about, or to dismiss the issues that we face with technology as problems others need to solve.

Well, ignorance is bliss. and many entities out there take full advantage of our ignorance to entice us to spend more, buy more, subscribe more, just get a new one to save the hassle, and so on. It’s easy to give into laziness and convenience.

My advice – don’t stop learning and just keep going!

Learn how your tools and tech work. Understand how they work, why they work and what you can do to get the most out of them. Nothing about technology is too hard to understand. Whether its earphones, smartphones, computers, cars, planes, or buildings – each of these things work in a certain way, based on a set of fundamental principles you can figure out.

Never think that you’re too stupid to learn something. If you just keep reading and finding out more about your gadgets, you’ll learn how they work, why they work – and eventually you’ll figure out how to fix them or even make better versions of them for others to use.

The same applies for everything that we do – never stop learning, discovering and exploring.

More about 37Tech:

Website: thirtyseventech.com

Facebook: @thirtyseventech