TRIBUTE #1 - HOW I "MET" GRACE SAI

Throw back September 2016 when I was deciding whether to return to Singapore after being based in Hong Kong and New York for a long time. My elderly mum was the main push.

I had no expectations whatsoever and I was a-digital, meaning I rarely facebook nor google. Today if I don't know anything, I google or linkedin. I was appropriately obsolete.

But the 7-letter word #startup was showing up everywhere I looked. Why would it not for a city who is rather obsessed about it to be ranked top 10 digital city. It piqued my interest.

Draggingly I strolled in Slush, their first ever inaugural event hosted at Resort World Sentosa Sept 2016. This marks the turning point of the 3rd lease of my life. It is still to-date my best startup event experience bar none. As I started speaking to young female entrepreneurs, awkward it might be, I realised I had so much insights to share that they were not privy to. That I was maybe not so obsolete after all. That encounter gave me a new boost when I was not looking for one.

It also gave me my next a-ha. I was 53 years old then. Knocking on doors really did not sound like the best proposition. But how am I going to get more chances like this to engage in such commercially invigorating conversations? What would be a compelling purpose for these entrepreneurs to engage with me? Never mind my corporate track record. ex-bla bla ain't that cool after a while. The more I looked into the startup world over the ensuing months, the more a labyrinth the startup phenomenon was to me. It is an endless unlearning and acquiring of new knowledge, new vocabulary which kept me fascinated.

What's my ah-ha?

What has Grace Sai got to do with it?

I realised for me to be in the thick of this startup "maze", it is better for me

TO BE FOUND, than TO FIND.

Let's face it I am not young. So even to come up with this is like "wishful thinking". But it sounded good at that time. And now 3+ years later, I think it has rung true.

Just before the festive holidays, I decided to create Startup Asia Women. I googled (try to imagine someone who is in digital kindergarten) and realised there aren't much going on for women in startups or startup women. I knew I could not conquer the world but I did not want to limit myself to Singapore hence Startup Asia Women was born. With the very little I knew, with no network back in Singapore after leaving for decades, I could only rely on those few female entrepreneurs I spoke to at Slush. I wanted to showcase them hence the idea of panel speakers was crafted, which subsequently became very popular.

It had to be big...or bigger. So I invited 5 panelists. One of them was even picked up for an interview by a radio station that same day. 170 people registered and we had 90% show up rate. For a newbie who has never created an event all by herself, who is a digital idiot having to play with facebook events, meetup, eventbrite and all the works, it was nerve wrecking. Creating an event in December where distraction is the highest. Starting an event on 17th January when people have just settled back from the holidays. But I remember the rush. It was like a stock market, with attendees signing up every hour - but only 10 days before the event. Not to mention that I then moved on to host easily 50 events - big and mini - in that first year - all because I wanted more people to learn about startups as me.

Now... the first person who gave me my break into this maze. I knew I needed a venue but I sure did not know what a co-working space was. I soon realised lots of people working at corporate or man on the street did not know that too (back in 2017). I googled. Automatic connection that I should look for a woman who runs a co-working space even though we were a women startup community who welcomes men to all our events . The obvious choice was none other than Grace Sai. She said "yes" almost instantly, barring a few questions about my purpose. With Grace making it that easy for me and making me realise that co-working spaces could be my ally, the community idea took off.

We communicated via email. We did not meet. We did not hop on a call. But she was there to inaugurate my first event at Impact Hub, now Found8 .

There are many other people to thank for that day to happen including sponsors such as BottlesXO (I always serve alcohol at my events) and people who volunteered to help me out on that day. It gave me confidence to handle a world completely new to me.

Thank you Grace. I could not have started without you.

This is the 1st tribute of 10 I will be giving to individuals who have helped shape my journey in the startup eco-system and learning so much I could effectively #giveback and empower others to enjoy what I do every day.

See Tribute #2

See Tribute #3