Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
🚀 Supercharging Business with Tech
We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Tran Binh Ngoc , the inspiring founder of Rockship, on our podcast. 🌟 This episode takes a deep dive into Ngoc's fascinating journey, from the early days at NUS Overseas Colleges to the innovative work at Rockship.
Ngoc, who met our host Eric during their NOC days more than 10 years ago, shared invaluable insights on how experiences at tech companies like Zendesk, honestbee, and Indeed shaped the path to founding Rockship. We also delved into the ever-evolving world of no-code and low-code development, discussing tools like Bubble and FlutterFlow and how they compare.
Rockship's story is one of innovation and impact. Ngoc explained why Rockship focuses on fully automating software development and the unique solutions they offer to their B2B customers. We also explored the challenges and pivotal moments that come with running a tech startup. Ngoc shared candidly about hitting limits, knowing when to pivot, and finding new opportunities.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in tech innovation, entrepreneurship, and the transformative power of AI. Tune in now and get inspired by Ngoc's journey and Rockship's incredible innovations. 🎧
Side notes: This episode was recorded in Apr 2024
#Podcast #TechInnovation #StartupJourney #Rockship #AI #NoCode #LowCode #SoftwareDevelopment #B2B #Innovation #Entrepreneurship
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In our latest podcast episode in the #Investing series, we had the privilege of hosting Alexander Piskunov, a Founding Venture Partner at KAAN Ventures. As a founder-turned-investor, Alexander is an esteemed professional with a remarkable background in investments, institutional fundraising, and portfolio development across the USA, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Alexander's expertise spans emerging markets, making him a highly sought-after mentor and adviser in prestigious acceleration programs like the Founder Institute and Techstars. Additionally, he shares his wealth of knowledge as a guest lecturer at University of Cambridge. Having founded and successfully exited his own exotic wines startup, he shares his experience in starting up from scratch.
As the Founding Venture Partner at Kaan Venture Partners, Alexander brings a unique perspective on navigating the intricacies of the tech startup landscape. His experience spans investment banking, pan-European technology M&A, and cross-border tech private equity. With a background as a partner at Ruvento Ventures, a global venture capital fund specializing in early-stage deep-tech investments, Alexander has been at the forefront of shaping the future of innovative technologies.
Join us on this insightful podcast episode as Alexander Piskunov, Founding Venture Partner of Kaan Venture Partners, shares invaluable insights, stories, and advice drawn from his diverse career. Whether you're an investor, entrepreneur, or simply curious about the evolving landscape of finance and technology, this episode is not to be missed.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
🎙️ Podcast Spotlight: "Your Grit Story" Investor Series with Jeremy Au 🎙️
In this episode, we had the honor of hosting Jeremy, a dynamic entrepreneur-turned-investor, as he unveiled his story behind BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast
No stranger to the #startup community, Jeremy Au started his journey as a founder, spearheading his ventures in the ever-evolving tech landscape. Yet, his fervor for the industry surpassed personal projects, leading him to embrace a new mission: catalyzing innovation on a grander scale. Thus began his transformation from a founder into a pivotal figure in the world of investments.
We spent time unpacking brainchild, the "Brave Southeast Asia Tech Podcast." which captures the narratives of exceptional individuals and companies shaping Southeast Asia's tech realm. Through insightful dialogues, Jeremy's podcast has emerged as a valuable avenue for tech enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and investors, offering profound insights into the region's thriving tech ecosystem.
In this 52-min episode, we also spoke about
- Lessons in Company Building: Disrupting the Norms: 🏗️
- Balancing Family, Work, and Life ⏰
- Had a good launch about countless topics 😄
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We are starting another evergreen series. The #Investing series.
And we are kicking off with our first guest, Yi Ming, who launched and grew #GrabRentals, the largest private-hire car rental fleet in Singapore, which is owned by Grab.
With over a decade of tech start-up experience, he started Krux Asia , a #VentureBuilder to build and scale high-impact ventures. He is also an Angel Investor, always looking out for companies that uplift people and society! 💫
In this episode, Yi Ming also shared with Eric, fellow Grab junior:
- Growing zero to one businesses 📈
- Helping #grabbers who were impacted by #RIF 💚
- Angel investing in today’s #startup and #investment philosophy
- Pitfalls for #founders to avoid 💪
- Many others
We will be sharing highlights and more episodes to come!
➕ Follow Your Grit Story Podcast so you won't miss it!
👇 Catch the full episode! Links are in the comment section below.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The 6th episode of the #Origins series has landed. 🚀
In this episode, we have Jonathan Low with us to share his journey. Being a dad of two, with lots of lessons and experience gathered from his past venture Honestbee, he is now venturing again with Thomas Jiang and Cayter Goh to make #payroll simple with Ajourney (YC S22).
Jonathan and host Eric met 12 years ago at Silicon Valley over NUS Overseas Colleges and the experiences at the Bay Area inspired Jonathan to take the leap into #entrepneurship.
He shared in the episode about:
- How experience starting Honestbee is incredibly awesome and incredibly awful as well
- How he nearly missed the #YC application when his 2nd kid was just born
- What Y Combinator values in the founding team
- Juggling being a #parent and running an early startup
➕ Follow Your Grit Story Podcast so you won't miss it!
#Ajourney #startup #founder
👇 Check out the full episode links in the comment!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
One day can change your whole life. #GWD2023 #10Jun23
In this year's Global Wellness Day, Alex Loh, CEO and co-founder of Actxa Wellness, shared the #Origins of the wellness startup and how he started his #entrepreneurship journey even when he was a JC teacher back then!
Alex unpacked with host Eric what #Integrated Wellness really means, adding the physical community and activities to the mix, on top of an app-delivered curriculum, delivering holistic employee wellbeing solutions.
In this episode, he shared about being a former national Water Polo player to help Singapore win the gold medal at the 2001 SEA Games. As a passionate community builder, he also spoke about starting Kampung Collective with Andee Chua to unite people and support each other! 👐
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
🌹Happy Mother’s Day Special Episode!
Episode 4 of the #Origins series landed with Sher-li Torrey sharing how Mums@Work (Singapore) helps mums reintegrate into the workforce. 👩💼
Hosted by Eric, who is a fellow parent of two himself, he chatted with Sher-Li about:
👉 The Day One of starting #MumsAtWork in 2010
👉 How #CareerNavigators help Mummies to strike a good work-life balance
👉 Parenting challenges | Not to force fit our own expectations onto our children’s
👉 Balance is ultimately a choice.
If you have a mummy-friend who is looking into reintegrating back to the workforce, you could share these links with her:
🔗 Mums At Work: https://www.mumsatwork.net/about
🔗 Career Navigators: https://www.cnavigators.com.sg/
Check out the full episode in the comments section.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 3 of the #Origins series has launched. 🚀
In this episode, we had Kai, founder of Rocket Academy, a coding bootcamp that helps mid-career switchers land on their first tech role. 👨💻 👩💻
His journey as a founder did not start with Rocket Academy. After Kai caught the entrepreneurial bug at Silicon Valley while taking Computer Science at Stanford University and working at Nuna Inc., he started Project We Forgot in the healthcare industry before founding #RocketAcademy to help people become #SoftwareEngineers almost 4 years ago.
After helping Tech folks land jobs in top tech companies in Singapore, in the likes of Grab, Circles.Life, foodpanda and Decathlon , Kai is on with the next big thing, to #expand beyond the shores of the Red Dot, to Hong Kong, his second home! 🇭🇰
He also shared with host Eric about:
- Key #pivots of Rocket and how the decision was made
- Importance of #teamwork, especially as a sole #founder
- "It’s more important to have 100 users who love the product than 1000 users who kind of like the product."
#rocketship #techjobs #learncoding #singapore #hongkong
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 2 of the #Origins series has landed!
In this episode, we have Eugene Ng, co-founder and CRO of StaffAny, a fast-growing startup transforming the future of shift work in the blue-collar industry.
As the saying goes, teamwork makes the dream work. And Eugene met fellow young co-founders Janson Seah, 👨💻 Jeremy Hon, and Kai Yi Lee through the NUS Overseas Colleges program and started StaffAny together about 5 years ago.
Having raised US$3.4 million late last year, Eugene and the StaffAny team are ramping up development, expanding to markets, and doubling down on improving productivity for businesses.
He also shared with host Eric about:
- Finding channel-market fit, on top of product-market fit.
- How #CustomerObsession is so important
- #Trust is the key to working as a team
- Building the empathy-for-customer #culture in StaffAny
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Kicking off the #Origins 2023 series to uncover the Day Ones of #founders with The King of Nails.
Meet Daryl, the man 👨🎨 behind a Nail Deck, a nail 💅 cosmetic and care startup that created more than 700 gorgeous colours!
In this episode, the host Eric spoke with Daryl to find out about his passion for bringing colours to life, allowing unlimited creativity to flow to make home manicures fun and easy!
Not an easy ride for sure. After multiple challenges and hiatus in between the 12 years of running the company, Daryl persevered on this journey to become Singapore’s only specialist in innovative nail cosmetics and care!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It's been a while. And we are BACK kicking off again with...
A #SURPRIZE EPISODE!
Joining the #NOCAlumni series is a founder who is no stranger to the NUS Overseas Colleges community.
Not a first-time founder, Xander started 2 companies before but did not succeed. Instead of shunning away from #startups and #entrepreneurship, he immersed himself with young founders to guide and mentor them to start their ventures with the lessons learned, spending 4 years at NUS Enterprise, managing the #NOC programs, the renowned #student entrepreneurship program!
Passionate to start a venture again, he started The Surprize App with fellow co-founders in 2022 to change how we discover and experience products, by having fun!
Curious why #Surprize comes with a "z"? Check out the episode now!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Clean and safe toilets for the win! #WorldToiletDay2022
In this #Specials episode, we spoke to Jack Sim, also known as Mr. Toilet. Mr Toilet is the founder of the World Toilet Organization and BoP Hub and he has been spending the last 25 years improving toilet sanitization conditions worldwide.
At the age of 40, Jack has already started a series of successful businesses. He could have continued to grow the businesses or reap the harvest over the years, but he didn't. Wanting to live a purposeful and useful life, he committed his life to building the global sanitation movement, and WTO is a growing network of 235 organizations in 58 countries today.
Jack shared his 65 years of wisdom with host Eric in this 25-min episode. Check out the episode now!
#SocialEntrepreneurship #WTO #BPO
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Wrapping up the #NOCAlumni series with the 9th Episode!
In this finale episode, we have Tiang Lim Foo, co-founder of Forge Ventures chat with our host Eric how he started his career from being a Biomedical Engineer to leading #growth for Evernote in Asia Pacific and eventually pivoting to #investing in early-stage startups. 🚀
We also spoke about the heartfelt motivation and reason why Tiang Lim started the #DadsInTech newsletter, which has nuggets of #fathering advice and tips from #entrepreneurs, #investors, and #ProductManagers like Joseph Ling, JJ Chai, and John Tan. 👨👧👦
If you are a #Dad in #Tech, check out the newsletter here: https://dadsintech.substack.com/
In this past year, Tiang Lim and the Forge Ventures team have been scouting for #exceptional #founders and injecting the first round of funds into high-growth startups like #Vouch and Jackett and Headquarters (HQ.xyz).
If you are building the future, drop a note to hello@forge.vc 🗯
➕ Follow Your Grit Story Podcast for highlights coming up!
👇🏼 Find links to the full episode in the comments below.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 8 of the #NOCAlumni series has landed.
In this episode, Mohan, co-founder of e27 shared how he transformed from a young geek yearning to join giant tech firms before the NUS Overseas College stint to a firm believer that startups can disrupt and make a massive impact after experiencing the startup culture in Silicon Valley. Today, he is an investor and startup ecosystem builder.
He also shared how e27 got established to build the startup ecosystem, connecting investors, startups, and founders.
If you are a founder looking for insights into getting your funding rounds, you won't want to miss this as Mohan shares insights on what founders should look out for to get their first rounds of funding.
➕ Follow Your Grit Story Podcast for more snippets and highlights!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What convinces and convicts Audrey Joy Tan to enable others to lead a flourishing life?
In Episode 7 of the #NOCAlumni Series, a familiar face in the NUS Overseas Colleges network, Audrey shared with the host Eric about her 1-year experience in #SiliconValley, how she got started on PlayMoolah after, and how things have evolved over the years.
In the whole episode, it is clear that one thing that never changed is the passion to prepare young people for the future through better money management.
#TheFlourishingLifeCompany #FinancialEmotionalResilience
Check out this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts! Link in comments for quick access. 👇🏼
➕ Follow Your Grit Story Podcast for more snippets and highlights!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How did Hong Ting rediscover his #love for #technology?
In Episode 6 of the NUS Overseas Colleges Alumni Series, we have Hong Ting to share with our host Eric about the anchor that helped him discover his love ❤️ for #tech 📱, which is the 1-year stint at #SiliconValley 🇺🇸 through the #NUSOverseasCollege program.
Hong Ting also shared with us his humble beginnings of starting 2359 Media with Zhou Wenhan more than 13 years ago, and the experiences he has gathered to help him through the years.
As Hong Ting is now on the second leg of his #entrepreneurship journey, we also had a sneak peek 👀 at Hong Ting's in this episode. Super exciting!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 5 of the #NOCAlumni Series has landed.
In this episode, we chatted with Ethan Ang, co-founder of NodeFlair - Tech Salaries, Jobs & more to understand his journey of starting this tech startup, with a vision to be the best career recommendation engine for the 25M tech talents globally.
Inspired by ShopBack co-founder Joel, Ethan joined ShopBack in its early years and built the Taiwan and Vietnam Tech Hubs from scratch. With massive learnings in hiring, he applied them to start #Nodeflair with felllow #shopback alumni Adrian, who is also passionate in the #HRTech space.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What would you do if your start-up failed?
Instead of giving up and looking for a job, Vinod Nair started MoneySmart Group 13 years ago, with only $5k left in his bank account.
In #NOCAlumni Series - Episode 4, the #podcast host Eric Chan spoke to Vinod, founder of #MoneySmart, the all-in-one portal for personal finance as he shared his journey and lessons of starting up.
From bootstrapping for 4 years when the VC landscape was not as mature then, to tiding the wave via a timely loan from NUS Enterprise, Vinod overcame the huddles and grew the company to a 100-strong team to make financial decisions easier for everybody.
We will be sharing more 📽️ snippets and 📹 highlights, and also his experience during the NUS Overseas Colleges on this page!
➕ Follow Your Grit Story Podcast and stay tuned!
👇🏼 Check out full episode in the comments section.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#NOCAlumni Series - Episode 3 has landed.
Remember the olden "Kampung" days when neighbors were close-knitted? Do you recall our #neighbourhood used to be more vibrant?
This is what Darrell Zhang is trying to bring back to the #community with NextBlock, where neighbours are not strangers. With NextBlock, it opens up opportunities for neighbours to connect with each other and discover about the estate.
In this episode, Darrell shared with Eric Chan Jq on his journey of #entrepreneurship that led him to his current venture and how #NextBlock went from 0 to 15,000 users in just a few months. Pretty impressive!
Being part of the NUS Overseas Colleges (Shanghai) program back then in 2008, he also experienced the ins and outs of a startup and even represented the company to deliver sales pitches. As an intern. Yes, as an #INTERN!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#NOCAlumni Series - Episode 2 has landed.
No one has to be alone. Everyone can be supported.
This fuels the passion of Shamantha Yan to impact lives via Growthbeans. Together with her twin sister, Shane Yan, they are helping others grow and increase their quality of well-being.
Having gained exposure and experience during NUS Overseas Colleges Bio Valley (Philadelphia) in 2007 helped Shamantha break out the limiting belief she had, helping her realize that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. After a self-discovery journey during her sabbatical, Shamantha Yan joined her twin sister to run #GrowthBeans. 🌱
In recent months, Shamantha has been spearheading Growth Collective SG, a collaboration with Community Foundation of Singapore, Empact, Singapore Anglican Community Services, SG Assist, Empatho (Singapore), Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) to form growth circles where everyone can receive and give support to one another. 🤗
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.