Budding CEOs - Inspiring lives

Need feedback

Ryan Lou — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:47:42 +0000

Changes are coming. We’ve done well to get some traction for BuddingCEOs, but sometimes you wake up and realize it’s not working. Social media is good, as long as it’s engaging. So despite the over 1,100 people we’ve amassed, the fanpage will go along with huge changes to this blog. The reason: We need to build a [...]

The entrepreneur condition

Ryan Lou — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:53:23 +0000

If anyone told you the startup life is easy, they haven't experienced it. So far, BuddingCEOs has had a good start, it's got a good Facebook Page (BuddingCEOs on Facebook), a clear idea of what we're building and an awareness among a niche group. But the cruel fact of life is that, it's not enough. Read this for deeper insights into the startup condition and the ups and downs of my own personal journey.

Entrepreneurs need focus (actually everyone does)

Ryan Lou — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 09:16:35 +0000

I recently got a wake-up call from a friend about the need to focus. I've been in this phase where business ideas just seem to pop into my head. They're not all the "wouldn't it be awesome if..." ideas yet (initial ideas almost never are). But I've now come to realize, that if you are chasing two rabbits, both will escape. So I decided to read about focus and here's what I've picked up from John Maxwell's book 'Talent is never enough'

"If you want to be successful, you must focus on what you can do, not what you can't"

Wait there's more

Aim to be a small fish in the big pond

Ryan Lou — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:43:26 +0000

Why? Because the alternative (being a big fish in a small pond) is often mis-leading. A personal footballing story When I was younger, I was captain of my school's soccer team and the best player in that small pond. By chance I was recruited to be part of the youth setup in a football club, there I was no longer the best. At age 14, we took part in qualification for the nike international cup (a global tournament held for youths under 14 years old). We played well and faced the national youth team in the final, but psychologically we felt we were better. That match ended 1-0 in our favour and we representated Singapore in the Asian version of the tournament. We were badly beaten by powerhouses Japan and China, but our perspective was expanded. We now knew that in that larger pond... we were small fish. At every stage, I felt smaller and smaller but by working hard, I was constantly improving and actually growing. Wait, there's more to this post. Read on

A tale of two entrepreneurs

Ryan Lou — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:16:59 +0000

Business whiz: I want to start a business! I want to be my own boss. Techie: Well do you have an idea? Business whiz: I don’t, but I know ‘how to brainstorm for ideas’ ( http://bit.ly/ideas1 ) Techie: You do that, let me know when you have one.

--- 30 minutes later ---

Business whiz: Darn. I’m on my own. I don’t really know where to start, but let me look at ‘trends to watch for 2010’ ( http://bit.ly/follow_trends ) Business whiz: Number 1 trend to watch – Economic Turmoil. Ok that’s a start. Business whiz: Hey. I have an idea. How about we build a website to help users track spending? Techie: Sounds easy, but why would anyone want to track their spending online. Aren’t there spreadsheets and accounting programs for that? Business whiz: That may be true, but we’ll 'make it viral' ( http://bit.ly/viral-startups ) and strike up partnerships to sync the user accounts with their bank statements. Techie: I’ll join you and start building it, but I still feel we need to make it more special. Maybe, provide recommendations of how they can save money. Business whiz: Cool. You do that, let’s start small and build up our business. No good idea that changes the world is regarded as one from the start.

--- 3 years later ---

Business whiz: Now that we’ve sold our company for $170 million , what do you think was the key to our success? Techie: I think we benefitted from taking it slow. Someone once said, "Great ideas come from rested minds" (http://bit.ly/rested_minds ) Business whiz: I think it’s b‘cos we make a great team. ( http://tcrn.ch/finding-cofounders ) -- P.S. See if you can guess which start-up this story is very loosely based on.

The arrogance of changing the world

Ryan Lou — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:26:51 +0000

I've recently been caught up in numerous debates about whether entrepreneurs should try to change the world or just try to make money. Here's a list of my arguments for creating a business that impacts your users. Rather than a philanthropic stance, I really think it is just good business sense.

When your top priority is to benefit your users... They become more involved in your platform.
Your business philosophy affects who you can hire
You're in for a rough ride anyway

What would your CEO CV look like?

Ryan Lou — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:07:45 +0000

While we're hard at work building the first roll-out of the Budding CEOs platform. We wanted to involve the community and you the reader in the development process. Version #1: The first iteration of the product will allow users to develop a fun CEO profile that showcases your skills and interests. Someone once said 'google is my CV' and this certainly will be the platform from which we want to elevate your status as a talent and potential / future CEO. What would make your CEO profile fun: 1) A list of successes and failures 2) Integrating all your facebook, twitter, blog, buzz, wave... streams 3) Goofy avatars that reflect your personality 4) Start-ups you like Provide us with feedback on what would be in your profile and the whackiest idea will win a giftcard from a company of your choice.

Do start-up ideas have intrinsic value?

Ryan Lou — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 05:37:26 +0000

Almost all of us has had that Ah Ha! Moment. We come up with an idea so brilliant, that instead of sharing it. We only talk to people about it if we're protected with an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). And even though there is no chance we can implement the ideas on our own, we still believe it has value. So what do we do? If it's a bio-medical idea, we search for that person with the PHD to try to poach them from their high paying jobs to do "free research". If it's a development project, we look for the first programmer we can find and we tell them, because I came up with the idea, let's do a 75-25 split. That's only 25% equity for you, but you do all the programming work. That's a problem JMarley ran into.

What’s your start-up experience like?

Ryan Lou — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 05:48:58 +0000

Adam Smith, Founder of Xobni (Email management software), captures his start-up experience in this 30 min video brilliantly.