as we head home after our office warming, I feel we have grown up and are stronger now
Intraix had it’s office warming on Friday and like to say a big Thank You to all of you who came. Thank you so much for taking your time off. I feel so love when I see you guys visiting us, I apologised for the fast moving pizzas but I hope the drinks can make up for it. You guys are awesome! it’s mushy to write this but… Continue reading
David Cohen, Founder and CEO of TechStars, and Brad Feld, Managing Director of the Foundry Group, explain how the Retrofit Weight Loss program fits into their busy lives as venture capitalists. – http://bit.ly/UW3d0b
It might work for you too fellow busy entrepreneur 
Have you ever meet a fellow friend or even colleague, that often ask if you could help him buy lunch. He will say he will pay you later but in the end the payment never came. Than you start to think how should you collect from him because asking for $3.00 seems like a bit embarrassing, so in the end you let it go and he get away with a free lunch 
Now with BillPin, I can subtly BILL him for payment. And if he does not pay, **I can keep sending him notification to pay! until he gives up. Because when you select a friend to send a bill to, BillPin will send a notification to him.
Bye bye cheapos!
BillPin is founded by Darius Cheung - an serial entrepreneur who sold his company TenCube to McAfee in 2010. Darius sees BillPin as a solution to help people to track who owes what. And the beauty is to make it dead simple.
I see another pain point this app is solving, beside helping me to track my “cheapo” friends. There are situations like group gathering, where someone usually pays for the group dinner and later on everyone transfer the respective amount to the payer. This app will certainly help the payer to track who paid and not. But if this app could tied up with a payment gateway ‘ahhhh” that would be awesome. I can pay it straight through the app without even logging in to internet banking saving all the hassle. **#wishlist feature
Well, if you have friends/colleagues taking advantage of you. It’s time to make them pay.
Thank you BILLPIN.
I mean how crazy can we get right? Right after graduation instead of following the usual route of finding a job, we went straight into starting a business. Thinking that we can change the world. And during the journey, while your fellow classmates are earning just enough to cover their student loans, you barely have enough to cover your meals.
Everyday, when you reach home, you parents will be asking when are you going to start bring money back to support the family.
When your friends get their first paycheck, they celebrate with big purchases or even big dinning treats. They ask you along but you say no “thank you” I’m busy. But in fact, you just do not have that disposable income for it.
And when you get a seed fund, you friends ask you out for celebration and you still say no “thank you” I’m busy. Why, because you are responsible, you are workaholic and you want to ship out your product fast.
All above and many more are what real #startuplife is about. This is Singapore not Silicon Valley. If Passion is not the thing that drives us, I do not know what else is.
Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/peckying
Well Done:) peckying for the poster!!!
I left my job on 25 July 2011. Looking back it’s been sometime since I venture out on my own. The lessons I learn and the people I met during the past 11 months were the most awesome bunch ever.
As I step into the 2nd half of the year, maybe this would be a good time to see what have I accomplished and did I actually manage to fulfill my New Year Resolutions made at the start of the year.
Spending time on building startup as well as taking some time off for my CFA Level 2 exam was the bulk of my time spent for the last half of the year. Some friends have been asking, “you are an entrepreneur, why do you need a CFA?” this is a different post altogether but the knowledge that I learn from the readings CFA certainly helps me to understand about managing cash-flow in a more efficient way. Now it’s all about waiting for the results. I failed CFA Level 2, I am sad but I also know that I love tech more than CFA now…
Now that my exam is over, it’s time to learn some coding. I’m so thankful that I was an engineer when I was in poly. I hope this will help me pick up computing language more easily. I got friends who said, do what you are good at? why bother learning to code? Hire a CTO.. this is what an entrepreneur should do. Do you agree? Personally, I think hiring a CTO is a brilliant idea. I am thinking that adding a new skill-set for myself would be good too. Watch the video 
And best of all, it’s free. No more tuition fee loan!
Reading a book a month, am doing it now. And I like to thank Burrple founder Elisha – He recommended Zappos and it totally transformed the way we run bikeroger.
Cycling to work! That’s what I do most of the time now. Besides good exercise it also helps to bring awareness to the e-commence site bikeroger we are building. Having a successful retail venture was one of my goals and bikeroger certainly is on it way. And I would love to share how bikeroger actually got started and what I learn that from the process that benefits even for Intraix.
Friends who are concern about the development of Intraix, not to worry. We are good as we have just released our 1st version and have about 50 household testing it
Of course there are always things I did not fulfilled but I still have the 2nd part of the year left resolutions like attending church regularly and posting frequently on my startup journey – it’s also a way to see if I am on the correct track.
At this point of time, I also like to add one more goal. I never have been a good runner. The best marathon I did was 4:17hrs in 2008 Shanghai Marathon. I really want to do a good time of sub 4hours for my marathon. This year I plan to sign up for 42km Singapore Marathon. I will blog about my running journey and I would love if you can join in with me. I would need your support.
When Does Talent vs. Experience Drive Performance? This is a very interesting video as they highlight about their findings showing that both entrepreneurial experience and selection on skill matter.
What kind of entrepreneur do you belong too?
Creativity is like a low hanging fruit that’s been in the backyard of your imagination. If you believe you are not a creative person by nature, you’re lying. Think back about any of these situations below:
Do you feel like all the above situation has happened to you more than once?
We’ve been conditioned to believe that we’re not creative but given the right conditions, we’re more creative than we think. When we joke, plan or lie, we’re in fact throwing ideas out from the back of our heads with some creative effort.
Instead of asking how creative you are, why not ask how creative your ideas can be?
Fredrik Härén, author of The Idea Book, mentioned in the last Creative Mornings Singapore session that all ideas are a combination of existing things. Hence, creativity is accessible and not a skill reserved for artists or entrepreneurs. “There is no such thing as a New Idea”
Think back about the time where you tried to tell a joke in a casual setting. That joke was probably a combination of stimulus you’ve received. And when somebody builds upon it, they’re in fact contributing their ideas to make it better. At the end of it, it doesn’t matter whose idea it was because you’ve become part of an amazing shared experience.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs are afraid to share their business ideas because they believe someone will steal it. But if an idea was that easy to steal, that business idea is probably not worth your investment anyway. Besides, you don’t have to always share a complete picture, just enough for a stranger to have an overview of your business and enough to get them excited about contributing to your cause and helping you out. You’ll definitely gain more than you lose by throwing your ideas out there.
Creative thinking just gets better with practice in situations where you may have to take some risk and move beyond your comfort zone. The most creative entrepreneurs I know are also the most adaptable entrepreneurs, and most adaptable entrepreneurs thrive.
– Daylon is the design founder of a soon-to-launch online store, CuriousCatch.com, which sells unique designer products at a discount. All blog readers here can receive a $5 shopping voucher if they sign-up with an email address before the end of May 2012.
Our very own song by local entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs in Singapore!
An exciting project produced by Express In Music together with the support from many fellow entrepreneurs. Shaun Koh , Bernise Ang , Alio Chan , Kevin Lim , Jake Ler Jun Hong , Bryan Ong , Michael Koh, Jerry and not to forget our very Intraix co-founder Darrell Zhang! * apologizes if I miss out any names.
Thumbs up!!! Proud of you people!
Related Article:
So who do you think is at fault? The Entrepreneur or The Investor?
Darrell posted a question on facebook yesterday asking
if an entrepreneur pitches the business idea and the investor doesn’t understand, who is at fault? #theangelsgate
What is your take? Personally I think it is the entrepreneur’s fault. If the entrepreneur is clear about his business and revenue model. He should be able to communicate clearly and in simple terms that the investors understand. I been to several VC pitches and also had the opportunity to hear others pitch. I forgotten where I heard this phase but it sticks to my mind.
VCs are stupid, just tell them what you are doing and how are you going to make money! Keep Things Simple. – I forgotten where I heard it.
So what do you think? Who is at fault? I created a poll and let see what is the result? Because as we can see from the picture above, all are pointing to the fault of the entrepreneur.
*btw if you are thinking that something happen to Intraix when we pitch. Thank you guys we did not met with this problem . And hopefully never will.
Now that our Angel’s Gate episode is out, do you have any feedback for us? Earlier I shared about the preparation for Angel’s Gate. Today I like share my experience with you.
below is a 140 characters on what Intraix is about
#Intraix is a home energy management platform that aims to help consumers save energy, money and get rewarded. #TheAngelsGate #startup—
Angel's Gate (@TheAngelsGate) February 27, 2012
Begin on a TV show is no easy task, I was very nervous during the shoot. As I step into the studio, there were 3~5 cameras aiming at us. The lights were very glaring and intimating too. But I was very fortunate to have a co-founder that stands beside and give me the encouragement. Besides the monetary and publicity reward which an Entrepreneur can possible gain during the show, I think AG provides a very good platform for Entrepreneurs to see if you are camera shy. 
I would also like to take this opportunity to share the following.
Do not worry that you only have wireframes, Intraix attended the AG show with only wireframes
@klippgen: "Business Angels like ideas that have just started". #quote #TheAngelsGate #startup—
Angel's Gate (@TheAngelsGate) February 27, 2012
Do not be depress when others are not receptive about your idea – You can’t please everyone. Show them your passion, it’s all about execution.
#karansingh: "The only thing I like is the passion of the two boys." #quote #TheAngelsGate—
Angel's Gate (@TheAngelsGate) February 27, 2012
Who says Singapore have no natural entrepreneurs? Darrell and I took our risk. You should do too. What’s the worst? When everything fail, we can still become taxi drivers!
@kmandel: "I always hear complaints that Singapore has no natural entrepreneurs. These two guys are natural entrepreneurs." #quote—
Angel's Gate (@TheAngelsGate) February 27, 2012
Learn to say NO.
@patrickgrove: "You know what, if I were an entrepreneur in your shoes, I would do that." #quote #TheAngelsGate #startup #Intraix—
Angel's Gate (@TheAngelsGate) February 27, 2012
So if you are thinking if you should join The Angel’s Gate, DO IT. Have your idea validated.
