The Startup Journey of Tan Ban Eu, founder of Carlist, Offpeak and investor behind Ittify, Nuren Group, GTC Global and RTW Technology

For the whole year 2018, i have the privilege to communicate with Tan Ban Eu through Facebook Messenger. I added him on Jan 2018 after watching a VSpire TV video about him on" Offpeak: How To Find The Right Co-Founder For Your Startup | Tan Ban Eu" that was interviewed by Kavind Balasundaram

I also watch a MaGic sharing session on him on Youtube about him as a guest speaker along with Azrul Rahim of MaidEasy by MaGIC and moderated by Warren Leow

I managed to attend this talk by VSpire Academy at WorQ Glo Damansara. Who is Tan Ban Eu? Ban Eu is the serial entrepreneur behind Carlist, CNX Broadband, Offpeak and investor behind Nuren Group (Motherhood.com.my, Wedding.com.my), Ittify and Madroc Hood

From what i read online, i understand that Ban Eu started by creating software for property developers to maintain their own community portals which was turn down
The idea was for property developers to update news, share links and communicate with their customers. It was akin to the WordPress and Blogger platforms before these became big.

From brief conversation with Ban Eu online, he managed to shared with me how he started with CNX Broadband. A graduate from Australia where internet was vastly available, he proposed a 20 page proposal for Sunway Group which was ripped apart and which lead him to setting up CNX Broadband which eventually acquired by Redtone

So what did i learnt from the " Learn How To Pivot To Perfection and Grow Your Company 10 X" by VSpire Academy

This is what i learnt from the talk
As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn't fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."

This is also the same for Ban Eu. Every business he is in. He will pivot 4 times before he see the fits. His perseverance and resourcefulness to find the right formula is uncanny. 9 out of 10 startups failed and burn out money and fail to survive within first 1-3 years. He had his fair shares of failures and ups and downs. One of the business he failed is the pet supplies business in Vietnam. The energy, tenacity and adaptability to tweak swiftly in every startup he is in according to market conditions is respectable.

A)CNX- Redtone Sdn Bhd
First venture was a property software targeted for residential developer to communicate which eventually pivoted into broadband services for residential. He pitched to Sunway Group which didnt was turned down. Started as a competing services against TM Net which eventually acquired by RedTone which make him a young CEO at 27.

Pivoting Journey / Growth Hacking Strategy
Year 1-Community based
Year 2-Sell to Broadband
Year 3-Sell to Corporate
Year 4-Sell Premium

B)Carlist.my
Carlist was started as advertising and banners which eventually pivot to selling insurance and the taking commission from second hand car. Due to high percentage of commission, that second hand car not willing to give a lot of commission, he eventually turn to a photography services about RM 100 for unlimited cars. Carlist was eventually acquired by iCarAsia a subsidiary of Catcha Media the company which own iProperty
Carlist-Platform to sell second hand car

Pivoting Journey
Year 1-Banners and Advertising
Year 2-Insurance,
Year 3- Classified For Second Hand Car
Year4-Services ( Photography Services- taking picof the car for RM 100)

This is what i picked from The Edge Article ( A Young Seasoned Entrepreneur)
Tan was one of the co-investors of Carlist.my, one of Malaysia’s leading online car listing websites, which made the news when it was acquired by Catcha Media Bhd (now REV Asia Bhd) for RM10 million.
In 2012, REV Asia bought Carlist.my to fulfil its grand plan of listing all the car websites in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia under one platform called iCarAsia.com, which is now listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.

“I remember it was like 7.30pm and (my partner) Eugene called me up and said, ‘Eh, Catcha Media offered RM5 million’, which was 2.5 times return on what we had put in — not bad what!

“But I said, ‘Aiyah, we already got grant. Tell Patrick (Grove of Catcha Media)

RM10 million we sell lah’. At 8.30pm, I get another call — ‘done deal’.

“Carlist.my fetching such a valuation essentially meant seven times returns on our initial investment.

“So, it was crazy! Okay what, RM10 million, seven times in three years! And we were afraid others with more money than us might start a business like ours, so we decided to cash out lah.”

Growth Hacking Strategy
Ban Eu growth hack using LowYat Form- which ask bloggers/ users to change the avatar to Carlist.my logo. Which cause the server to go down. LowYat forced Carlist.my to take down the avatar as an advertising channel

D)Offpeak- Sell to Restaurants
Growth hacking strategy is to use social media trend like PAAP videos, Gangnam style and etc

C)Ittify- a social media influencer marketing platform bringing brands and influencers together.
​Ittify specializes in micro influencer marketing but we cater according to your requirements
Founded in 2015 by Guan and Daniel. While working for an agency, the duo saw an opportunity in the micro influencer industry.
​Based on Guan's experience as a micro influencer himself, they noticed flaws such as influencers being under valued, bad payment terms
from clients and inconsistency with jobs availaibility. Through that, Ittify Sdn Bhd was created to tackle those issues for micro influencers.
​Since 2015, Ittify has massed over 2000 influencers in their database and completed over 150 campaigns with brands

Year 1-Sell to Restaurant
Year 2-Sell To Hotels
Year 3-Sell To Agency
Year 4-Sell to FCMG ( Test).

Growth Hacking
From the days of Offpeak which follows social media trends, he use the influencers he met to create Ittify

A video on promotional video on Ittify- Ittify Travel

)
(

D)Madroc Hood- is a minimalist watch

From the Facebook page
Everyone has a story of their own – a collection of special moments. Some inspire, motivate, or even made them who they are today. However, moments are often slipped away or buried, causing us to wander aimlessly. Forgetting who we are may be the saddest story.

Remembering, perhaps is the answer for all the lost souls?

Inspired by this perception, Madroc Hood was founded on a notion that a watch can go beyond its functionality where it is a timepiece that evoke emotions of your special moment. It acts as a memento of what sculpted you today.

Growth hacking strategy
From the days if Ittify, he created Madroc Hood. And using the influencers he met to promote Ittify

E)Nuren Group (Motherhood.com.my, Wedding.com.my)

F)GTC Global (property surveilance camera ) sell off and do RTW(property surveilance camera add more services )

https://www.gtc.my/
http://www.rtwtechnology.net/services.html

The takeaway that i got from the talk
i) Bootstrapping and Exit
During Ban Eu's startup days- there werent many acquistions and exit as today. However, Ban Eu have strongly advised not to take money from VCs or angels? Why because there is no free lunch in this world. Raising money may be cool but it always come with a termsheet- like making dealing and wheeling with the devil himself. There is always string attached. Try to bootstrap your way to an exit by relying on internal funds- family friends or fools. Its not wrong to start small

ii)Stick to your passion and what do you know
If you realized the similarity of skills sets such as coding, blogging, photography
Blogging and photography skills have been use widely from Carlist days, to Offpeak, Ittify and Madroc Hood. Ban Eu always stick to what he know best and recycle his contacts or experience from previous ventures.

iii) The last advice Ban Eu gave me was- work for a startup giants
As much funding have been glorified in the tech startup scene in Malaysia and through out the world. the funding days are over. With startup giants like Grab, AirAsia or Catcha Media, like the saying goes, if you cant fight them better its better to join them and learn from the very best in the business. Most founders are optimistic with hoo-rah however dont have much relevant skills set to start a business.

My personal takeaway and what i learnt is: You dont get funded by a " can do attitude" but you funded because you can do- with the rights skills set, mindset, money, team and resources

As the saying goes, most venture capitalist ( VCs) and angel investors invest in the founder and team and not your idea. Idea is worth a dime, execution is the key to growth and success due to viability of the business model and team to able to elevate from idea acceleration stage, to series A and eventually IPO

Credits and special thanks shoutout to Bryan and Zul of VSpire Academy
https://www.facebook.com/vspireacademy/

For reference
http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/edgy-young-seasoned-entrepreneur