Why Startups Fail: Gan Teck Hooi

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26 Jan 2022

5 Min Read

Yusmani Yunus, Bizpod Incubator Executive

IN THIS ARTICLE

“As a practitioner myself I believe there are so many things that I would like to bring to the education system. To try and close the gap between the education and the real world, especially with university students who are going into the real world very soon.” was the opening statement by Mr. Gan Teck Hooi during an Entrepreneurship Webinar that was held on 22 Jan 2022.

 

Hosted by BizPod, Taylor’s start-up incubator, the webinar session was organized to provide students with insights and real-life examples from start-up founders regarding entrepreneurship- how they started the business, how they endured through hardships, and key points on how to make it work.

The Entrepreneurial Journey of Mr. Gan

Mr. Gan, better known as the Founder and Managing Consultant at ICFO Solutions Sdn Bhd, founded ICFO Solutions in 2014. ICFO Solutions helps SME business owners to review their business at a broader angle and help them to grow their business in a more strategic and organized manner. Besides ICFO Solutions, he is also part of many companies such as Komuniti Tukang Jahit, KTJ, where he is the co-founder and managing director. Mr. Gan is also an independent and non-executive director of Solarvest, a partner of iBOOKKEEPING Solutions PLT, and a Business Coach at Xponential Academy. 

Critical Criteria for Startups

During Mr. Gan’s sharing session, he explained certain criteria’s that every startup should acquire. The few main criteria that focused on were to create a business model canvas, opportunity overflow, and multitasking. 

  1. Business Model Canvas – Should be used to build and validate the business on a regular basis. Most startups fail due to a lack of validating the business model canvas.
  2. Opportunity overflow – This is not to get sidetracked from the main core of the business. By focusing on the core of the business it would help run and expand the business smoothly.
  3. Multitasking – Most startup owners should learn and adapt to multitasking. Such as, maintaining the accounts, marketing, providing customer service, and graphic designing. Owners should prioritize things that are important to run the business smoothly. 

Mr. Gan also emphasized the importance of searching for the right partners. Individuals with similar goals but different skills can help enhance the business experience as well as increase the success rate of the business. Mr. Gan also outlined that prior to the product launch, product testing should take place first. Anyone that is associated with the owner such as family member(s) or friend(s) should not participate in the product testing process unless they are a potential customer. Individuals should have a wide variety of feedback for improvements to be made to the product. Mr. Gan encouraged young entrepreneurs to try it with a small number of customers to ensure the business does not incur a large loss in the future.

Networking is Key

Lastly, Mr. Gan outlined the importance of networking. He insisted that individuals should expand their network outside of their family and friends. By creating more networks, it helps individuals to have a better opportunity to run and expand the business. By doing this, individuals should also be aware to ensure that these networks share the same business value.

 

The success of Mr. Gan will help inspire many students who have dreamed and hoped of being established entrepreneurs. This is where BizPod comes in. BizPod aims to help students proceed from their ideation stage to successfully establish a start-up ecosystem, BizPod serves as a guide to help them thrive in the startup community. BizPod also works across multiple faculties in the University to provide students with a multi-disciplinary learning experience. 

Portrait photo for Gan Teck Hooi

Gan Teck Hooi

 

Founder and Managing Consultant

ICFO Solutions Sdn.Bhd

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