Small business advice from Xero customer and entrepreneur Ryan Ho of FunEmpire

I love connecting with our customers and I am always so impressed by their passion and drive for what they do. Recently, I caught up with one of our small business customers based in #Singapore, Ryan J Ho , co-founder of FunEmpire.

Ryan and his partner Natasha founded The Fun Empire in 2015, which is a team building events and experience business. The Fun Empire offers in-person, hybrid and virtual experiences like escape rooms, bubble bump soccer, creative art workshops and amazing races. The business is constantly evolving their offerings with new, unique ideas and now have more than 40 activities to choose from.?

Ryan and Natasha are keen entrepreneurs and in 2019 were named in the Forbes ‘30 under 30’ list. I knew they’d have some excellent advice for other small business owners so I asked Ryan for his top three tips for entrepreneurs starting a small business. Here’s what he shared:

1. Think about market-product fit, not the other way around

For many business owners when they have an idea, they create a product first and then try to find a market that they can sell it to. Ryan’s advice is to think about the market first. Think of a segment of the market you want to target and what problem you can solve for them. Solving the customer problem should guide everything you do and it will ensure people have a need for your product or service.

2. Know that you can’t be scalable right from the start

When you’re just starting out in your small business, it can seem like really hard work getting your first 50-100 customers. When Ryan and Natasha started The Fun Empire, they had to wear all the hats to get their business going. From maintaining and delivering equipment, to running back to back events and answering phone calls from customers. Spending this time getting close to their customers enabled them to quickly scale what was working, and improve things that weren’t.?

Ryan says speaking to your customers, truly understanding their needs and creating a rapport is so important. While this can take a lot of time and effort in the beginning, it enables you to build momentum, get feedback from customers and start to do things in a much more scalable way as you grow.

3. Don’t be afraid to launch your idea even though it’s not perfect

As long as you’ve thought about your market-product fit, Ryan’s advice is to just launch it! You may not think it’s perfect, but it’s important to test your idea on your market. He recommends using feedback from your customers to refine your product or service, and make sure you have the flexibility to iterate quickly.?

The FunEmpire is a great example of how small businesses can remain agile and respond to market needs quickly. If you’re in Singapore I encourage you to go and check out the events and activities on offer at FunEmpire.