In our latest interview, we had the privilege of exploring the remarkable journey of Jeshua Soh, a serial entrepreneur and investor who has charted an unconventional path to fulfillment.

Background and Early Ventures:

Born to civil servant parents, Jeshua's upbringing mirrored that of many Singaporeans. However, his innate drive for unconventional experiences became evident early on. Jeshua found himself drawn to media-related activities after volunteering in the media section for his church at the young age of 9, leading him to eventually forgo the traditional Junior College route in pursuit of his passion. Despite having entered the prestigious Hwa Chong Institution’s Integrated Programme, he chose to drop out to enter Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Film, Sound and Video Media course.

Starting the Entrepreneurial Journey:

Jeshua's entrepreneurial journey began with the accumulation of experiences in the media industry, including internships and freelance work in polytechnic. Recognizing that filmmaking relied more on portfolio than academics, he took a leap of faith and ventured into entrepreneurship. Armed with his expertise and filming equipment which he accumulated over the years, he founded his first company, which thrived until the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pivoting to Startupmedia:

Undeterred by challenges, Jeshua pivoted to establish Startupmedia, a platform that provided startups with opportunities to showcase their innovations through video content. This venture not only showcased his adaptability but also his keen understanding of the evolving digital landscape. He felt that working with startups meant less red tapes and that he could participate more in the innovation process. This gave him the opportunity to sit in on a lot of hackathons and accelerator programs, hence allowing him to learn what venture capitalists look out for during investments. He credits his later role in venture capital to this.

I learnt three things from our conversation:

1) Never stop learning

Despite never attending college (and not aspiring to), Jeshua never stopped learning. He told me that he would attend National University of Singapore (NUS) courses online and read about Philosophy and Economics himself. Something that I remember fondly was that he mentioned that videography is only a tool, but if you want to create good content, you need to have the substance for it. That really resonated with me.

2) Be sure of the risks before making the leap

Jeshua might have dropped out of school and pursued an unconventional path, but he told me that he did so after considering the risks and knowing what he was getting himself into. I think the way to convince oneself and to a smaller extent, people around us, that we know what we are doing would be to do our research beforehand and not act on impulse.

3) Giving back

Having run his companies for many years, Jeshua is well-acquainted with the local startup/entrepreneurship ecosystem and can easily be considered successful for someone as young as him. However, he does not stop there.

Jeshua believes strongly in giving back to the community. In fact, he is currently embarking on a new journey - cycling from Singapore to Bangkok to raise funds for the Mae Tao clinic.

Read more about his fundraiser here: bit.ly/2000cycle 

Follow Jeshua on linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeshuasoh

And that is it for today’s One Sneak Peek Into.

Stay tuned for more insights from our interview series as we continue to explore the stories of trailblazers breaking barriers and redefining success.