One Sneak Peek Into Hustling with Heart

“Selling Titanic stickers in primary school sparked my interest in entrepreneurship.” 

Back in school, John used to sell Titanic movie stickers and was punished for doing so as commerce was not encouraged in educational institutions

And soon he would start his career at the tender age of 17 by founding a social enterprise.

After traveling to China for a humanitarian trip with some friends, he realised that the children there did not have proper footwear, even though their schools were in mountainous regions and roads were very under-developed. 

The kids had many cuts and infections on their feet. 

Seeing their plight, the friends decided to launch a flip-flop brand, Sole for Every Soul, where a proceed of their profits would be donated to children in need 

Subsequently, he joined a Chinese MNC, which taught him to adapt quickly to new cultures. 

After 5 years at the firm, he entered the Ministry of Trade and Industry as an Assistant Director, where he worked at the Futures, Strategies and Plans Division

and was a founding member of the Intelligence and Futures team.

Currently, he is Head of Partnerships at venture capital firm Tin Men Capital, 

where he leads their engagement strategy with key stakeholders in the VC ecosystem.

1. First foray into startups

“It all started with a humanitarian trip to Yunnan Lincang, China, when I was 17 years old. 

A friend of mine, Justine, initially went there to help businessmen give out school bags that they donated. While they were giving out the schoolbags, Justine realised that many of the children didn’t have proper school shoes. The schools were in mountainous regions and there were no proper roads leading there.

The existing roads that they did have were small and under-developed. We soon found out that there were many reasons why the children had no shoes — they grew too fast, their parents earned too little to be able to afford shoes, etc.  The kids would get cuts and infections on their feet, but hospitals were too far away for them to access treatment for their wounds. 

We thought that if we were to organise a charity drive, it would only help them once. So we decided to do something that can help them over a longer period of time. For example, selling something where part of the proceeds go towards the kids. We launched a flip flop brand, which was named Soule (a combination of the words ‘sole’ and ‘soul’). It sold very quickly and our 300 pairs of flip-flops were sold within 3 weeks. It became a business and took on a life of its own. 

We were 17 years old then and didn’t really know what we were doing in hindsight. We were living from collection to collection. When you are running a startup, you have to grow up much faster. It gave me a passion that enabled me to help many people through the business.

We eventually expanded to doing consulting and helping other businesses formulate their corporate social responsibility programme. For example, help these firms figure out how money can be given more effectively. Eventually, we also sponsored doctors and nurses to go on humanitarian trips around the region.

It was always about how we can make an impact through our work.”

2. Working at a Chinese MNC

“The firm was called Shanghai Huaxiang. From originally being someone that was working in a startup, to working in a larger enterprise with several levels of management where I reported directly to the CEO. The company was a textile industry legend in Shanghai. I saw how the founder developed and evolved as a person.  

As a leader, we have to keep on growing and evolving. She (Mao Dong: Boss Mao in Chinese) started off with nothing and had to sew sweaters herself, and she can easily know which era people know her from, by how people address her. She grew from simply Mao Xiaojie (Ms Mao) to Mao Dong (Boss Mao). You grow a lot in terms of leadership when you operate a company at a scale of 2000 employees. This was something that I learnt a lot about. 

Because of work, I travelled to China very often. China was in a very different place back then. In 2010, China was just beginning to open up. 

Their culture was very different from that of ours. You start to realise how small Singapore really is, and how big China actually is and how fast they managed to evolve.  It was not that hard to adapt to as I am of the Chinese race and Chinese is my mother tongue. I do love Chinese culture a lot as well. 

In China, everything is built strongly on relationships and who you know. 

The Chinese have gone through so many things in the past few decades and money has grown so quickly in China that the Chinese have started to be more careful with the people that they are dealing with. That’s why they keep falling back on the reliance of existing relationships and trust between business partners. It’s about really taking care of the relationship first, and treating everything else that comes with it as a bonus so the relationship is still maintained even if business does not work out.”

3. Experience as a civil servant

“My first career ambition was to work for the government because of the stability that it provides. I thought that was where I would land. But I didn’t get to do that as my first job because of my foray into startups.

This time, however, it was no longer for financial reasons. As a founder, you have many gripes about the government — thinking that they are not doing enough, and that you can do things differently. I was young and naive and could not grasp the complexities of policy making.

I initially only wanted to work at either Enterprise Singapore or the Economic Development Board (EDB), but then I saw that there was an opening at the Ministry of Trade and Industry. There was an opening in the Futures, Strategy and Plans Division. Many of the people who worked there came from Junior Colleges and scholars who went to great schools. There were not many people who came from the polytechnic route like me.

 I realised that there was an education gap between my colleagues and myself, but I told myself that if the manager took a chance on me and hired me, I would try my best. I learnt to enjoy the work eventually.

In MTI, there are a lot of scholars. Something that would surprise most people would be that in Singapore, the government is the largest employer in the workforce. Many of these scholars rotate around a lot and have diverse backgrounds, so they can adapt to different workplace cultures. For the most part, I used to think that scholars were very removed from the ground, but they are in fact normal people just like you and I. I had a really great time working with the ones I crossed paths with and I think they do deserve the positions that they are placed in. These people are not just book-smart but also possess a good ability to connect with people. They never made me feel that I was less than them in any way. I think we are fortunate as a country to have the brightest minds seeking to make an impact through public policy.”

4. Experience in venture capital

“My most fruitful time working in the ministry was when COVID happened. I initially thought that this job might not be for me. Originally, within the first two months, I didn’t think that I could last long. Due to COVID however, there was a lot of 0 to 1 work that I could contribute towards as government outfits were dealing with an unprecedented operating environment where previous procedures had to be overturned. 

I did well during that period but eventually told myself to come back to the startup ecosystem. 

The last box to tick in this industry was on the investor side. And Tin Men Capital was hiring someone with my skillsets. My current role in partnerships requires me to have a diverse network. 

My goal here is to be very cooperative with the ecosystem. 

I take care of the branding of the firm and give back to the startup community. As a VC, we can only invest in a set amount of companies. But there are other ways in which you can help startups.  In Singapore, there are only a few key stakeholders in the ecosystem. These are the limited partners in VC firms, startups, as well as the policy side from the government. The government is always trying to obtain feedback from the ground on how to grow the ecosystem. Hence, I will always try to collaborate with the people in the VC space.“

5. Advice to youths

“Young people should just go try different things.

I was someone that wasn’t very adventurous when I was younger. I can eat the same food everyday, and just stay in a hotel and not go out when I travel. 

I was hanging out with some close friends who had kids, and over the years, I realised that these kids have tried more things than I did at the age of 17 or 18. The stress when you are young is that you don’t know what you want to be. Therefore, finding what you don’t want to do and what you cannot do can also be a huge progress. 

People always feel discouraged when they fail and then they would stop trying. The point is to try and experiment until you finally get success. If you want to be an entrepreneur, go and start something. Try and sell something. It is quite exciting. Most founders I know today sold things when they were young.

I myself used to sell Titanic movie stickers and got punished by the principal for selling things in school. Although, schools are now telling you to sell things and be entrepreneurial. I was in the period of transition when the government started to want people to be more entrepreneurial. 

The best time to try entrepreneurship is when you are a student, because you have nothing to lose. All you might lose is your pocket money. The stakes are higher the older you grow. There will be more things to give up on if you choose to embark on this journey.”

Connect with John here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johntyc/

Follow our telegram channel: https://t.me/onesneakpeekinto

And that is all 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.