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From left to right: Kelly Choo of Brandtology, Danny Wirianto of Kaskus and Lim Der Shing of Jobs Central
At Echelon 2011, Singapore’s largest digital startup conference that was held in June at the University Cultural Centre, three enterprising businessmen were on stage to discuss “Life After Exit”, sharing major business decisions recently made within their respective companies.
Kelly Choo, co-founder of Brandtology, a company which provides business and brand online intelligence services round the clock, sold a major stake of its shares to Media Monitor in 2010. Danny Wirianto, Chief Marketing Officer of Kaskus, Indonesia’s largest online social community with more than 2.7 million users, received funding from Global Digital Prima (GDP) Venture earlier this year. Lim Der Shing, Chief Executive Officer of Jobs Central , is set to take the company beyond the region with a recent acquisition by CareerBuilder, the largest online job site in the United States.
The panel moderator Darius Cheung himself sold tenCube, an anti-theft software for mobile platforms called WaveSecure, to global security giant McAfee.
Why sell?
According to Lim, it was serendipity that started with a cold call from the US that was met with initial skepticism.
“Then we found that we fit their long term business plan in South-east Asia. And it was a mutual compatibility. Our team had worked for 10 to 11 years to build up the business and we wanted to make a good exit for our families. We also believed with deeper pockets and more products, we could grow the company even further.”
Wirianto remembers having to drag his suitcase from door to door selling ads. “It’s easier if you grow the business first and we said, let’s triple revenues. After that we got eight offers, of which none met our expectations. The last one to present an offer to Kaskus was GDP and what set them apart was their mentorship and network which were important to us. Money can be easily acquired but knowledge and friendship are much harder to come by.”
Choo said that it was the same in the case of Media Monitor’s acquisition of Brandtology. Both companies complemented each other and with the acquisition came more resources which is critical in developing the business.
In assessing the qualities of potential buyers, Lim pointed out that sincerity was important. In his case, the top executive came personally to make the offer instead of a junior staff and, on top of that, the Jobs Central team was flown business class to New York to meet up with their counterparts and experience both the business and leisure aspects of the city.
When start-ups are approached by investors, it can be very exciting in Wirianto’s opinion. He likes it to a kind of reverse courtship, where the boy is approached by the girl. But you have to be careful, he said. Some parties who appear interested are, in reality, just checking you out, stalling you, getting you to sign non-disclosure agreements, finding out your numbers and so on. “When somebody is sincere, it shows.”
On indulgences and motivations
When asked about the most extravagant thing they bought after their exit, Lim confessed, “I still drive the same Toyota, still have the same lifestyle, I haven’t bought anything materialistic – except bonds.”
For Wirianto, it was the iPhone 4, which he commented was expensive. Prior to the exit, Choo shared that he had bought a diamond ring to propose to his fiancée and so the first “purchase” was the credit card bill.
When asked what motivated them to start up their businesses, Choo and Wirianto both said “learning”.
“Brandtology is my fourth start-up, and in my businesses, I learn how to handle people and conduct sales, things that you don’t learn in school,” said Choo.
Wirianto, who went to art school, said, “I want to create something for people to remember me by. Money can be earned as long as you stay productive and work to excel at your job. What’s important is to remain humble yet confident.”
On the contrary, for Lim, it was about the money. “I wanted to retire by the time I turned 35, which happens to be this year so I’m on schedule. What motivated us was the fact that we have very good competitors and it made us want to beat them.”
At the same time, it was also important to know your limits in order to sustain the business and grow in the long term. After all, Lim philosophises, “there are always higher mountains out there and if you keep trying to beat someone, there is no end.”
Has life changed very much since? To that question, Choo said he now has to manage more inter-relationships, more rigorous processes, and a pace that has become more hectic.
Wirianto said, “I still bargain. I still have a bootstrap mentality. What changes is how people see you. People now think of you as a kind of success case which leads to the development of particular expectations. In the end, we are still regular guys.”
Lim agrees that the pace of work has picked up. “Now we have monthly cap accounting, not annual.”
So much for early retirement.
