Entrepreneurship as a Recurring Theme

The thing with dabbling, even in the slightest manner, with the world of entrepreneurship is that it becomes a recurring theme in your life after that for years to come and then, you miss it forever until you go back to it.

My year-long tryst with tenCube in Singapore, during which I contributed very little (I’m not being modest here, as my CEO would wholeheartedly agree), I observed and savoured the idea, the concept of entrepreneurship while watching close friends navigating the myriad challenges of ownership, accountability, high stakes, financing, product management, client relationships and the media, all the tender age of early-mid twenties right after graduating from college. Due to various reasons, I parted ways with the company to join the big, bad world of the investment banking industry. Then, London happened unexpectedly and I realized with a twinge of regret that the wonderful world of startups, unConferences, E27, Garag3, on-campus incubation centres et al would have to wait a few years while I figured myself out.

Recently, something transpired which might allow myself to re-incarnate in the world of entrepreneurship in Singapore as an ‘Angel Investor’; details to be divulged later once things are clearer.

During the fascinating Literary Weekend at LSE back in March, I ran into a PhD student in the biotech field who is in the midst of launching a bio-technical product aimed at hospitals and pharmacies – I was a bit taken aback at the thought of people planning on tech startups in London. Surely, this expensive, tax-burdened, tech-talent starved city cannot be the cradle of poor techies tinkering in their garages, with dreams of changing the world? I had little idea how much evidence I would see contrary to this naive thought on my part.

A few weeks later, after the Nandan Nilekani talk, I ran into a grad student in LSE who plans to start up an electronic waste-management company in India; I will be meeting him again to be a sounding board for his ideas, after his internship with the UN in Geneva, in the area of environmental policies. (Electronic waste management is clearly becoming a thing in India, considering the funds pumped into this lately.). And most interestingly, in a drinks-do a couple of months ago, I ran into someone whose startup company intrigues me greatly – as a tech startup consultancy, he aims to provide expertise on non-technical matters of running a company and his business model seems rather sustainable, even if it is sure to face some teething issues in the initial few years. I am keen to monitor the progress of this company in the years to come.

Met someone off Twitter recently and found out more about his interesting work in an established technology startup consultancy, particularly in the area of product development and management. I am fascinated by his varied background in technical expertise, the various ventures he has been involved in and the thrill with which he speaks of them. Through him, I became acquainted with another person in the venture capital industry. A recent night of partying put me in touch with a management consultant who was recently made redundant and who has chosen to go back to the world of tech startups, something he had indulged in during his days at Cambridge.

If I did not know any better, I would say the universe is dropping some broad hints my way 🙂