"What is it that you're best in the world at?"
About a month ago, I was invited by the organizers of Unicon 2019 to share some thoughts about how life has been since being one of the winners at Unicon 2018.
American TV has some of the best writers in the world. In fact, my Speedoc crisis communication plan was built upon the foundation of the words of one Sheldon Lee Cooper from the Big Bang Theory:
“Amy? A proper apology requires three steps. Step one, an admission of wrongdoing. Amy, I was wrong. Step two, a promise never to repeat said action. Amy, that action will never be repeated, and that’s a promise. Step three, an earnest request for forgiveness. Amy, I hope you can forgive me.”
For future reference – the corporate version of Step 2 includes what you’re doing to ensure the said action doesn’t happen again.
What is it that you’re best in the world at?
And so, it should come as no surprise that I chose the words of Bobby Axelrod (Billions) to fill the auditorium as I stood in front of young entrepreneurs, trying to encapsulate in 5-8 minutes the lessons I learnt in over a year of start-up leadership. Amidst Axe’s passionate spiel to Lara, were the words that I have turned over many times in my own mind, “What is it that you’re best in the world at?”
I threw this thought back out into the auditorium, challenging the kids to think long and hard about what they’re best in the world at, and what steps they could take if they wanted to remain better than the next best competitor creeping up behind them. I reminded them that they were young, smart and hungry – as great a starting point as any – but not nearly enough to mitigate the hopes and dreams of countless other kids sitting out there in Malaysia, Vietnam, India and other developing nations – all younger, smarter and infinitely hungrier. I urged them to take stock of the advantages that Singapore afforded them – stability, accessibility, resources; and to use these to start something that they could really build on.
I told them of my experience of taking part in a government-initiated focus group, where one of the questions posed was “What makes a great start-up?” The answers that came from the focus group participants ran the gamut from “decreasing cost” for customers to “making a social impact”. I had pondered the range of responses, and realized that the inherent quality making a startup great was providing tangible value to its customers.
I shared with the kids my opinion that value had to be tangible and real; not merely perceived or trendy. At Speedoc, we provide value by changing the way medical care is delivered. The value we deliver to customers may seem, prima facie, convenience delivered at a premium (just like every other hipster or 'disruptive' brand out there). But if you afford us a deeper dive, you’d be able to find the range of hospital-level services that we provide at home, with the capacity to perform IV therapy, blood cultures, POC rapid tests, ECGs, ultrasound diagnostics; and all under the oversight of senior physicians with extensive A&E or intensive care experience. We can come to a diagnosis faster and more accurately than the run-of-the-mill clinics, and have the resources to keep building on this – becoming bigger and better at doing what we do.
We also have a chat function to facilitate the communication between doctors and patients, ensuring a direct point of contact for medical care. This has, time and again, proven invaluable in monitoring patients’ conditions in a cost-effective manner. The use of telemedicine as a follow up tool also proves to function at a higher comfort level with doctors than as a diagnostic tool right off the bat.
I also shared about some of the moments in Speedoc that truly hurt – when talented people we wanted chose to bypass Speedoc in lieu of opportunities at bigger companies, or when close teammates chose to leave Speedoc, or when investors we were courting for 6 months decided not to invest. We have had our fair share of disbelievers, of people who mocked us, who reported us for (completely untrue) rumours of illegal behaviour.
I ended my slides with the words “Go out and hit another ball”. And I think that rings true every single moment of every single day at Speedoc: what else can we do but go out and hit another ball? What else can we do but go out and make sure that we do whatever it takes to survive one more day? What else can we do but take every setback as an obstacle to be overcome at all costs? The world does not wait for the mopers and whiners. Sometimes, it hurts not being able to mourn the losses and failures that come with being a young, cash-strapped startup. But most times, every single day is a new day, with which comes new challenges to be overcome and a whole world out there to win over.