You have a million-dollar business idea but you have very little capital and no business background – can you succeed?
Well, the answer is YES if you listen attentively to this interview.
My guests – Solomon Poon and Ryan Foo – founded a company called DrinkAid. They formulated the first alcohol defence against intoxication, flushing and hangovers. Received a a $10,000 funding by their university. Launched in Aug 2020 (in the midst of COVID19 pandemic), broke even within 7 days and now become one of the top three products under the detox category of Shopee.
Pretty impressive right?
So get ready your favorite alcoholic drink and discover how you too can build a profitable bootstrapped startup in 7 days.
Also listen out for Solomon & Ryan's answers to the following questions:
If you want to keep in touch with Solomon & Ryan, you can reach them on Instagram at @solothesensei & @shrimpy.pd. DrinkAid is on Instagram @drinkaid.co
Read these books to become highly sought after in your own industry -> www.pickericsbrain.com
Thank you for listening to this episode of #HighlySoughtAfter!
If you enjoyed this episode, please help me hit the ‘subscribe’ button if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or hit the ‘follow’ button if you are listening on Spotify.
I would also love to hear your biggest takeaway from this episode! Here’s how: take a screenshot of you listening to #HighlySoughtAfter and tag me on Instagram. My handle is @ericgoesglobal. This way, I can personally thank you.
You have a million-dollar business idea but you have very little capital and no business background – can you succeed?
Well, the answer is YES if you listen attentively to this interview.
My guests – Solomon Poon and Ryan Foo – founded a company called DrinkAid. They formulated the first alcohol defence against intoxication, flushing and hangovers. Received a a $10,000 funding by their university. Launched in Aug 2020 (in the midst of COVID19 pandemic), broke even within 7 days and now become one of the top three products under the detox category of Shopee.
Pretty impressive right?
So get ready your favorite alcoholic drink and discover how you too can build a profitable bootstrapped startup in 7 days.
Also listen out for Solomon & Ryan's answers to the following questions:
If you want to keep in touch with Solomon & Ryan, you can reach them on Instagram at @solothesensei & @shrimpy.pd. DrinkAid is on Instagram @drinkaid.co
Read these books to become highly sought after in your own industry -> www.pickericsbrain.com
Thank you for listening to this episode of #HighlySoughtAfter!
If you enjoyed this episode, please help me hit the ‘subscribe’ button if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts or hit the ‘follow’ button if you are listening on Spotify.
I would also love to hear your biggest takeaway from this episode! Here’s how: take a screenshot of you listening to #HighlySoughtAfter and tag me on Instagram. My handle is @ericgoesglobal. This way, I can personally thank you.
Solomon(Guest):
So I think this is a very huge blind spot for most entrepreneurs because they don't really think about how to do the PR, how to be featured in the media, stuff like that. So what we did at the time was to ask for linkups, connections to this press release company. It was called Press Office at the time, PressOffice.Direct. All right? And then, how they do it is that we give them some press releases, they'll vet through for us, and then they'll blast it to whoever we think we wanna blast it to. Yeah. So it was very lucky for us during that period. Because of COVID no businesses were advertising themselves. There was a giant vacuum in the marketing space, right? And therefore, we were the only ones doing the press release and therefore Mothership covered us.
Eric Feng(Host):
Hi, this is Eric here and you are listening to #HighlySoughtAfter.You have a million-dollar business idea, but you have very little capital and no business background. Can you succeed? Well, the answer is yes, if you listen attentively to this interview. My guest Solomon Poon and Ryan Foo founded a company called DrinkAid. They formulated the first alcohol defense against intoxication, flushing, and hangovers. Received a $10,000 funding by the university, launched in August, 2020 in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, broke even within seven days, and now became one of the top three products under the detox category of Shopee. Pretty impressive, right? So get ready your favorite alcoholic drink and discover how you too can build a profitable bootstrap startup in seven days.
Eric Feng(Host):
Yo.Hi
Ryan(Guest):
Hi Eric
Eric Feng(Host):
This is the first time we have two guys on our studio, two guests, you know?
Unknown speaker:
That's pretty cool.
Eric Feng(Host):
Now I gotta give it a little bit of background about how I got to know you guys. So I think your product is very well-known. Do you know that? Do you know you guys are very, very well known in the scene, in the drinking scene?
Ryan(Guest):
- That's good to hear.
Solomon(Guest):
- That's good to hear.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yeah. Okay, so I'm very plugged into the entertainment scene, the drinking scene, right? Every time I go to a bar or a pub or even our home parties, there will always be one person that will take this out and distribute, drink it to us.
Ryan and Solomon(Guest):
- Wow.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yeah, and that happens a lot. And to top it off, this year's my birthday. I got 10 boxes of DrinkAid as presents.
Ryan and Solomon(Guest):
- Nice.
- Nice.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Right? So guys, if you want Christmas presents to friends who love drinking, then you can get DrinkAid. But in my defense, I don't drink a lot these days, all right? But I just wanna say that when I saw these two things happening, I told Ryan, my producer, I said, "We need to get you guys on board," 'cause I think this is truly a sign of being highly sought after, right? Now, so, first question. Solomon, nutritionist, Ryan, law graduate. How did you guys meet and how do you end up doing what you do today?
Solomon(Guest):
- Right. I think we met very early on in SMU when we were in the gym.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Gym?
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Solomon(Guest):
- So if you tear off all this piece of clothing from, Ryan, right?
Eric Feng(Host):
Yes
.Solomon(Guest):
- You will see that he has a monstrous bodybuilder body physique.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Serious?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah..
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay, wow. All right.
Solomon(Guest):
- You should see his latest photos that he did for Nu You. I'm not sure if you saw it.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yes, yes, yes. I think Nu Youl was doing the brains and brawn, right?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah..
Eric Feng(Host):
- That one
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah..
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay, that one.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, his chest muscles were the biggest out of the 20 guys.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Oh, is it? It's pretty amazing how his co-founder is very excited about promoting Ryan. That really speaks a lot about that dynamics.
Solomon(Guest):
- I, myself, I used to some bodybuilding as well.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay,
Solomon(Guest):
- And some physical competitions, Muscle Mania, Singapore Fitness, Model Search.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yeah.
Solomon(Guest):
- So we had some common interests over there. Then, we just met in the gym while training.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay, and then I can get what you guys meet in the gym and started talking, but how did this DrinkAid idea come about? Because DrinkAid, it's a supplement, right? And what's it got to do with the gym?
Ryan(Guest):
- I think that the gym was more of how we met and how we became friends.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yes.
Ryan(Guest):
- But how would the idea of DrinkAid came about was when, I think, we were both in our final year at SMU and knowing that Solomon has a really a wealth of experience in the supplement industry, he's a fan of supplements. I think he himself, he had a supplement brand before something like DrinkAid. He had his own fat burner supplement. Yeah, so I approached him with this question, "Is there a way that we can reduce the side effects of alcohol consumption?" And he said that he might have some answers for me.
Eric Feng(Host):
- And I'm curious, Ryan? Why that question?
Ryan(Guest):
- I think, personally, early in my uni days, I drink a lot as well. I'm one of those students who chiong every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday-
Eric Feng(Host):
- For those of you who don't know what means your hustle.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah.
Ryan(Guest):
- Hustle in clubs.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Oh! Hustle in clubs.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah. 'Cause that was when the old Zouk was still open and I was very fond of that club. So I used to go and drink every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. And then, I suffer from very severe-
Solomon(Guest):
- Asian flush.
Ryan(Guest):
- Asian flush. Asian flush, yeah. But only recently I started to experience hangovers, which is weird because I think, when you get older, you tend to suffer more side effects of consumption.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- I feel it even just with a glass of wine or even a bottle, a can of beer. I already get a little bit of a headache.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Yeah.
Solomon(Guest):
- Same, same, same.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So it's normal, is it?
Solomon and Ryan(Guest):
- It's normal, it's normal.
Solomon and Ryan(Guest):
- It's normal, normal.
Eric Feng(Host):
- All right.
Solomon(Guest):
- Do you get the Asian flush?
Eric Feng(Host):
- Thank God, no.
Solomon(Guest):
- Okay.
Eric Feng:(Host)
- But it's actually a bad thing that you don't have Asian flush because people think that you can drink more.
Solomon(Guest):
- Oh. Yeah, yeah..
Eric Feng(Host):
- I always feel the Asian flush is a very good excuse to say, "Oh, sorry. I can't-
Ryan and Solomon(Guest):
- It is, it is, it is.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- But I do have friends who actually are very embarrassed about their Asian flush. Were you embarrassed?
Ryan(Guest):
- I think we were more embarrassed in the professional setting 'cause I think at SMU, we have a lot of networking events, mentorship sessions with industry leaders. And sometimes you have to drink with them, right? And it looks a bit unprofessional on us when we flush so easily, and they think, "Well, this guy can't drink."
Eric Feng(Host):
- Either can't drink or you over-drink.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Either way, it's a bad impression, right?
Solomon and Ryan(Guest):
- Yep, yep, yep.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So now go to Solomon, right? So Solomon, he asks a million dollar question, right? Can we fix that? The answer was, "Yes."
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- And then what happened after that?
Solomon(Guest):
- Actually, the answer was, "I'll get back to you."
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah. But after doing some research, I found out that, I tried to boil everything down to the molecular mechanisms.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay.
Solomon(Guest):
- So what is the root cause of Asian flush and all these hangovers? Right.
Solomon(Guest):
- I narrowed it down to this molecule that alcohol breaks down into acetaldehyde. So our goal should be to find an ingredient profile that breaks down acetaldehyde as quickly as possible, right? And then, from some quick cursory glances, I saw that, okay, maybe there's one or two ingredients that already break down acetaldehyde from scientific research papers. Then, about seven other ingredients in the formula came when I was doing a deep dive.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So there are altogether nine ingredient.
Solomon(Guest):
- Nine ingredients that help to break down acetaldehyde
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay.
Solomon(Guest):
- And overcome alcohol side effects.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So you discovered that, but that was just on paper. Did you do some experiments?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely. So we got powders from suppliers, very small amounts, just to test on ourselves. Then, we will conduct control trials every two days on ourselves. We will drink the same kind of beer every two days.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So you did experiment on yourself?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So cool, right? Since you had a drink anyway, try on yourself, and then what happened?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, so we tried different permutations of each because they're nine ingredients, we did a lot of permutations.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Correct.
Unknown speaker:
- Right.
Solomon(Guest):
- You have the test out every single one and determine what is the best ratio of each ingredient? Yeah, so that process took several months to refine, and once we have the formula, okay. Ryan, we can proceed already.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yup. Yup.
Eric Feng(Host):
- And it's so cool that, once you found the formula, you went back to Ryan. Why? You are the nutritionist, You are the pro. You can study on your own. Why Ryan?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, I think there was the point where we decided to apply to the SMU incubator. Yeah. Because SMU is-
Eric Feng(Host):
- For those of you who do not know, SMU is Singapore Management University. It's a business university in Singapore, right?
- Okay.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yep. So they were having this incubator scheme for SMU startup owners where they would fund $10,000, if you have a successful business idea and you pitch successfully to them at the panel. Yeah. So we took the next few months to perfect the R and D and to apply for the pitch.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah.
Solomon(Guest):
- Then the was comprised of some SMU staff, teachers.
Eric Feng(Host):
- You felt like you need a law graduate to help you to do the presentation?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, he was the one who gave me the idea in the first place.
Eric Feng(Host):
- You're so cool, man. You're really cool. Very cool. Ideas are one thing, right? But it's a matter of whether you can execute an idea or not. I kind of respect that, that you actually and say the answer's, "Yes, and let's do something together." Plus, you guys were already friends. So now let's talk about the presentation. I was taught there were 100 plus people that applied for it, but you were one of the few that got selected.
- Yep.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Could you tell us why/ What do you think were your compelling reasons?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah. I think the biggest thing is that we had a working prototype, right. A working prototype that people like, and we had photographic evidence that it worked.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Tell me more about people... So you didn't just experiment on the two of you. You experimented on friends.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, I let Ryan try it, I let a few friends try it.
Unknown speaker:
- Okay.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Ryan(Guest):
- We let a few of our friends and family to try
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yes
.Ryan(Guest):
- They all have pretty promising results. Yeah, and also during the pitch itself, we prepared some samples for the judges.
Ryan(Guest):
- yeah. And maybe that contributed too.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Because they experience it.
Unknown Speaker:
- Yeah, yeah
.Eric Feng(Host):
- It seems like that's the commonality so far, because last week we interviewed someone else who also won a very, very big grant with the government, actually, because he was able to solve a cups problem, You remember cups? You take a lot of cups, you create a lot of sugar, and extra sugar is bad for us. So he was able to create an ingredient, a fiber that actually reduced the harmful effects of sugar, which means you can eat rice, cake.
Ryan and Solomon(Guest):
- Alchemy.
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So Alan. And he said exactly the same thing. He said that one of the reasons why he was able to succeed was because he has a prototype, a workable prototype. So those of you listening to this interview, you have a business idea, don't just go pitch first. Make sure you test it out. We call it your MVP, right? A minimum viable product. Now, besides having that prototype, what do you think was other reasons that contribute to you guys getting the grant?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah. I think connections matter. So because we are from SMU, right? And then the SMU incubator not only takes SMU students, but also elsewhere, all over Singapore.
Eric Feng(Host):
- I didn't know that. Ah! Okay, okay.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, so I think one of our success factors was actually reaching out to the staff before the pitch started, getting help on the pitch, and that staff, those few staff helped us cut out of the picture so many slides to just five or six slides. Yeah.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah.
Solomon(Guest):
- So it was the power of cutting down and making the slides, like one slide, one point, making it as impactful as possible.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Got it. So two things I pick up from you, networking is very important.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, very important.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So don't just have the idea, but make sure someone else, you are reaching out to the decision makers.
Solomon(Guest):
- Proactively.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Right. Now you talk about presentation. Will you give us a few tips? What did you learn out of it? You said five slides, right? So less is more. What else?
Solomon(Guest):
- Less is more.
Ryan(Guest):
- I think, also, if you have a way to visualize the benefits of a product. For us, we had a before and after picture of someone suffering from Asian flush, and the results were pretty visible 'cause you can see that her face was noticeably less flushed. Yeah, I think that helped.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So now, because you say you fight over a hangover, intoxication, and also Asian flush, did they question you about, okay, it worked, but is there a market for it? How do you answer that question about whether your product has a market?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, I think for us, we were pretty lucky because when we looked overseas, there was already a market for it in Korea, in Japan, for example. But whereas this wasn't really in Singapore, the most we could find was, for example, those Yukon Japanese pills in DON DON DONKI, which weren't even market available in Singapore because they just distributed via DON DON DONKI.
Ryan(Guest)
- Yeah.
Solomon(Guest):
- So we knew that, from other countries' experience, that there was already a demand for this product. So I think that could be one strategy for your followers to follow, to see what is working elsewhere in other countries, but not in Singapore.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Or not in that country of yours.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, yeah, yeah..
Eric Feng(Host)::
- I love that
Ryan(Guest):
- But I think that there's a caveat in the sense that the people there are more readily acceptable towards these kind of products. Where it was in Singapore, it was still very new. people don't even know that there's such a product called an anti-hangover relief.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Exactly.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah. So I think, once you know that there's a market overseas and if you market it, if you market your product well, and you educate your demographic well enough, I think there's a good chance that your product will succeed.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So very cool. So what I'm seeing here is that, not only do you have a proven product, but you have a proven market somewhere else as well. You combined that with a little bit of help, you know? You got your grant.
Unknown speaker:
- Yep.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Now, let's talk about dynamics. Okay, it's tough sometimes, right? There's the saying, "Too many cooks spoil the soup."
Unknown Speaker:
- Yep.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Right, so share with us your dynamics.
Solomon(Guest):
- Well, this was the interesting questions.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, dynamics-
Eric Feng(Host):
- They're looking at each other, waiting for someone to answer the question. Okay, we'll see. Go.
Solomon(Guest):
- I would say I'm the half of this equation that tries to think about how things will actually plan out and how things will be executed, whereas Ryan tends to give more of the big ideas. Yeah. So I tend to think about how, operationally, how are we gonna do this? Is this even possible? Can this thing we brought here, brought there. Yeah. So I think where I come from in this dynamic, usually.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Got it. Ryan?
Ryan(Guest):
- One simple way to visualize our dynamic is that I think Solomon is the maker and I'm more of the storyteller. Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Nice.
Ryan(Guest):
- He's the product specialist. He formulates the product. He thinks of new product we can bunch into, whereas for me, I handle marketing and PR sometimes.
Eric Feng(Host):
- You guys just remind me of the dynamics of Apple. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak. Right? One is at the back end, creating. He's the genius. And then you have a front end guy doing the marketing and telling the story, right? Okay, so that's also a very important point. Now, let's go into the business itself, right? It's very interesting that you all launch on March 2020. If I get it right, was it March 2020?
Unknown speaker:
- August.
Eric Feng(Host):
- It was August 2020, which is actually in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic. And I remember, all the bars were closed.
Unknown Speaker:
- Yes
Eric Feng(Host):
- So tell us what happened.
Solomon(Guest):
- Well, it was insane. We had originally planned the launch in March.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yes.
Ryan(Guest)
- Yeah.
Solomon(Guest):
- But because of the COVID pandemic, global supply chain was screwed, right? Even our stuff from Malaysia to two months to arrive. And that was just packaging materials.
Eric Feng(Host):
- What's up with March 2020. Do you know that Alan's company, Alchemy, was also launching in March 2020.
Ryan(Guest):
- Right. Interesting.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Interesting. March 2020, everyone launched, and then this COVID say, "Hey. Hi, guys." And plans changed.
Solomon(Guest):
- It the worst possible time.
Eric Feng(Host):
- How did you all feel when that happened, first of all?
Solomon(Guest)
- Yeah.
Ryan(Host):
- We are quite demoralized, but we took things really in our stride in the sense that it gave us more time to prepare for our eventual launch in August.
Eric Feng(Host):
- I wanna talk about the bounce-back, because you're making it look so easy. You are demoralized, but I went to think about plan. How long did that, "But," took?
Ryan(Guest):
- Definitely four to five months.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Wow.
Ryan(Guest):
- We took the time to diversify our supply chain. We looked for an alternate supply source for packaging in Singapore, 'cause you don't wanna be disrupted by this kind of supply shocks in the future anymore.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Got it. So you were disappointed, but immediately you went into problem solving mode.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, yeah, yeah..
Eric Feng(Host):
- Let's talk about that. Whoa, Ryan just said, "Don't waste time," right? As an entrepreneur, we're gonna face a lot of setbacks. The more we dream, the more disappointment we get. And how do we deal with disappointments and setbacks? Do you all have a method to it?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, I think the key is to always take it in stride and keep progressing, no matter what. So you can just look at a disappointment as feedback from external feedback, and then see what needs to be changed the next time. And then, change it the next time.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So you're saying to approach it in a very logical manner.
Solomon(Guest):
- Logical way, yeah. You can spend five minutes, 10 minutes getting upset over it. That's totally fine. I think the next step after that will be to ask yourself, "What now? What can I do about it."
Eric Feng(Host):
- So you say five to 10 minutes. Is that true for both of you? You're just disappointed for five, 10 minutes, and then you're like, "What's next?"
Solomon(Guest):
- I think Ryan saw me ranting a lot about several months, we couldn't get, and stuff like that.
Ryan(Guest)
- Yeah.
Ryan(Guest)
- Yeah, yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So the turn around time took a while, but the key thing is the bounce back.
Ryan(Guest):
- Definitely
Eric Feng(Host):
So what are the challenges you guys faced during this period? You just mentioned about making sure that your supply chain is not disrupted. Were there other significant challenges?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, actually last year it wasn't so bad, but this year, right... Actually during the lockdown was the worst period for us. Right. Because most of the days we didn't even know what to do. I think the worst thing when you're entrepreneur is you're so lost that you don't even know.
Eric Feng(Host):
- You're talking about our first one, right? The first lockdown, the circuit breaker, right?
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay, which is the few months where you first launched, right?
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So lack of clarity, not knowing what happened. Okay then, what do you guys do? Because the results spoke for itself. You guys did very well.
Unknown Speaker:
- Yeah, yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- How do you do it? You broke even in seven days.
Ryan(Guest):
- For our August launch, actually, there was a circumstantial reason behind it because we were coming to the end of our incubation and our second trench of the grant we were about to receive from SMU. We had to launch our product.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yep. So we just stopped . It's now or never, right?
Eric Feng(Host):
- Very nice. Actually, sometimes you need a compelling reason and a backstory.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So what contributed to you guys breaking even?
Solomon(Guest):
- Right, right? I would say the biggest reason was being covered by Mothership. Right.
Eric Feng(Host):
- You were with Mothership.
Solomon(Guest):
- It started from a giant domino effect that led us to being
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay, so I gotta pause there for those non-Singapore. So Mothership is definitely one of the cooler media platforms, right? A lot of young people actually consume their news on the Mothership. Walk us through how you managed to secure the Mothership interview.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think this is a very huge blind spot for most entrepreneurs because they don't really think about how to do the PR, how to be featured in the media, stuff like that. So what we did at the time was to ask for linkups, connections to this press release company. It was called Press Office at the time, PressOffice.Direct. All right? And then, how they do it is that we give them some press releases, they'll vet through for us, and then they'll blast it to whoever we think we wanna blast it to. Yeah. So it was very lucky for us during that period. Because of COVID no businesses were advertising themselves. There was a giant vacuum in the marketing space, right? And therefore, we were the only ones doing the press release and therefore Mothership covered us.
Eric Feng(Host):
- And no choice because you need it to get a second trend, right?
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- But, Oh, my god. That is so beautiful. What people think is a setback is actually a setup for your success.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, it was an opportunity.
Ryan(Guest):
- There was a silver lining for us, definitely.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So you went for the interview.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- And then, what happened next? You said there was some kind of a domino effect, right?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.. So we were covered on Mothership. Then after that, Vulcan Post, then finally
- support us as well.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Wow.
Ryan(Guest)
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- And then? So all this media attention drove to your website. I know your website because I order it too. And then, so people start ordering.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- I remember you had one box, three box, five box, some packaged stuff, right?
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, yeah, yeah..
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay, so that's how you broke even seven days.
Ryan(Guest)
- Yeah.
Solomon(Guest):
- Our goal for our incubator was the sell 100 boxes in the first month. And I would say beating their 10 times.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yes. In fact, in your first month, you sold 1,000 units. So that's all because of the media attention, right? Now, it's been more than a year already in this business, right? What were some of the other factors that contributed to your success?
Ryan(Guest):
- I think it's also due to the nature of our supplement.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yep.
Ryan(Guest):
- I feel like, for most supplements in the market, you can't really tell if it works for you because most supplements are preventative in nature. But for DrinkAid, the word of mouth effect works especially well, 'cause when DrinkAid works for you, the next thing you do is to tell your friends.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Exactly, 'cause it's a social thing, right?
Ryan(Guest):
- It's a social thing. And it also boils down to how we approach the packaging of our product. We envisioned people sharing, drinking with their friends, which is why, instead of selling our product in bottles and maybe in a can, we chose to sell it in a-
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yeah, I'm gonna open one box so that everybody can, the people on YouTube can see. So those of you listening to us on podcasts, right, I really recommend you guys to go hop onto our YouTube. Just search Highly Sought After. You'll be able to find us. So where's the screen? Okay, the screen is here. So there you go, the packaging. The packaging is really nice. Talk to us a little bit about packaging. Of course, we are talking about such an insight, but why these two colors? Why green and why a bit of a creamy color? Is there a reason?
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah. I think we chose green because it reflects the very natural and organic that we were pursuing for our product line. And we chose that off-white color because it's a bit more interesting than white, but at the same time, it contrasts nicely with the green.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Got it. Oh, I forgot to ask you. DrinkAid, who came up with this name?
Ryan(Guest):
- Well, I think-
Solomon(Guest):
- I can't remember. We had 20 different names and put together.
Ryan(Guest):
- Okay, I think 'cause it just sounded good.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Do you mind sharing with us what were some of the other names in that 20 you also remember? What was one of the crazy names you came up with?
Solomon(Guest):
- I have a document on my computer with the short list.
Ryan(Guest)
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Oh, my god!
Ryan(Guest):
- We have a short list somewhere.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Oh, yeah. Well, I'm gonna probably get a list of that.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, we can share that with you.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So you guys were just brainstorming, the two of you, just brainstorming different ideas,
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- But I really think DrinkAid kind of says it all, right? I don't even have to say anything else, really. Right? Aid us in the three big issues.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So I get it. And then, what's also very interesting is that you actually shared active ingredients.
Ryan(Guest)
- Yep.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Isn't that supposed to be proprietary? Why were you so confident in putting all the ingredients here?
Solomon(Guest):
- I think that's not a big issue because we don't provide the ratios. We don't disclose the ratios.
Eric Feng:(Host)
- So the magic is in the proportion and amount?
Solomon(Guest):
- In the ratios. Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay, for those of you who are curious, right. There is a ginger extract. There is black pepper extract. But I guess overdose of any of those things might kill us or something, right? So you got it at a perfect number.
Solomon(Guest):
- It's safe.
Eric Feng(Host):
- We are safe. Okay, it's just a matter of whether it works or not. Efficacy, right? Okay. Now, so just now, Ryan, you were saying that, I think this is such a brilliant idea because how I got introduced was when someone passed me this, and I'm sorry. I thought-
Ryan(Guest):
- Condom, right?
Ryan(Guest):
Unknown speaker:
- Supposed to be a condom.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So I was like, "Bro, thanks, but I'm good." Take a look at it. This really looks a condom sachet, right? Is that intentional?
Ryan(Guest):
- I think what we were going for was more of the portability.
Solomon(Guest)
- Yes.
Ryan(Guest):
- Which was the case for condoms. Of course, I think for condoms, they want it to be compact enough for you to slip one in your wallet. So we had the same idea for DrinkAid. Whenever you're gonna go out for heavy night, you can just slip one in your pocket, and then you'll be good.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yeah, take one first. Those of you who flush, you take one first, and then after that, you take
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah. Depending on your pain points.
Eric Feng(Host):
- And for me, if I have hangover, I take it after.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Unknown speaker:
- Right?
Eric Feng(Host):
- I should be a-
Eric Feng(Host):
- Ambassador.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- I already am. I already said this. This is actually from my office. Okay, so I hear you about packaging. Now, after you guys launch, right, and obviously, you did very well. What would you say is your next marketing strategy, besides media? Do you have a certain approach to make sure that everybody knows about you, besides word of mouth? Is there any other strategies you're employing?
Ryan(Guest):
- I think we more focused on PR and storytelling, in general.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay, tell us more.
Ryan(Guest):
- We really focused on media buying and Facebook ads for now.
Unknown speaker:
- Advertising.
Solomon(Guest):
- We did it for some time with some success, but all the success went down the drain during COVID because people are unable to go out to drink.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Solomon(Guest):
- So there was a lesson to us that Facebook marketing can fall flat sometimes when the economy or when the circumstances are not good outside.
Eric Feng(Host):
- What you're referring to is running ads on Facebook.
Unknown speaker:
- Instagram. Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- It doesn't work.
Solomon(Guest):
- It doesn't work sometimes, especially doing periods where there's two packs dining, or zero packs dining. That's the worst. It doesn't work.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Why it doesn't work? That means you push an ad across, but people will not take-
Solomon(Guest):
- People will not buy or convert because they simply physically can't go out to drink. They don't need the product.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Got it. Okay.
Ryan(Guest):
And our product, it's pretty complimentary to drinking. So if people can't even go out to drink, there's no need for our product.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yeah, but then that's why I'm very curious, because in spite of COVID, and guess what, we're still in the pandemic. It's still from two to five, five to two. It's always swinging, right?
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- But your products are doing consistently well. Why is that? So you mentioned something about PR and storytelling.
Ryan(Guest):
- So, yeah. So I think recently, we did this campaign very focused on the stories of our customers. I think it's called made better with drinking. So basically, we interviewed some of our customers who are quite prominent in the social space, likeJade Rasif the DJ and Drew Lee as well, who is the CEO of Zouk. He's a fan of our product as well.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Awesome. And you were a fan of Zouk in the first place
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so interesting. So we got him to share about how DrinkAid has made their lives better and why DrinkAid make a difference in their life.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Tell me more about how you came up with this idea. I think that's a brilliant idea. And that's part of storytelling too, right? But how did you came up with this?
Ryan(Guest):
- I think it was trying to build a stronger social proof of our own output. Of course, in terms of startups, when customers know the least about you, naturally, they wanna seek out more information. So if you have credible information about who takes your product, I think that'd be very, very helpful.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Got it. So social proof. But you mentioned the word storytelling. To you, what's telling a good story? Because everybody used that a lot, right? They say, "Well, you gotta tell a good story," but what do you mean by that?
Ryan(Guest):
- I think it's focusing more on the why. Why are you doing this, your purpose, your mission, and creating these products?
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Solomon(Guest):
- And also allowing people to relate to the story. So for example, for the campaign, we used people in the real estate industry who were entrepreneurs.
Ryan(Guest):
- Finance.
Solomon(Guest):
- Finance, people who take our product. So people who relate with those positions will understand the story better.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Got it. So when you tell a story, people tend to first look at who's the one telling the story, and if it's similar position or identity, your story has more credibility.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- And then you also mentioned that, within the story, they share about the why, the benefits. So you're putting the benefits into your client's mouth.
Ryan(Guest):
- That's right.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Got it. Now so there are a lot of other brands who are also trying to tell stories, right? But some of them fall flat. Why. Why do you think so? Because it's not new knowledge, right? Everybody knows that we need to tell stories, but obviously you've seen some brands doing that. I won't say the brands, of course. But what could be some of the mistakes that people are making as they tell the stories about products, about their clients?
Ryan(Guest):
- I think sometimes it gets a bit fake. Sometimes, when you're not genuine about solving a real problem. I think that's where you start getting false lead. I think, for us, we had an actual problem that we were solving and the problem stems from us as well. So it was easier to get the message across. Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- I love it. Okay, so I'm seeing from a different angle right now, because earlier the storytelling was clients sharing stories about how they have been successful with your product.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Well, what you're saying is that a deeper level of storytelling is why in the first place you even started this company.
Unknown speaker:
- Yes.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, exactly.
Unknown speaker:
- Yes, yes, yes.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Right? And so it cannot be just for profit, but there must be a compelling reason, a personal reason why you do what you do.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah. I'm of the belief that all founders, most founders, have to have this personal reason for why they started the company. It has to have made a huge difference on their lives, initially, for them to feel something about it. If they don't feel something about it and they just act as a robot, and buying ads and stuff like that, like a machine, they wouldn't be able to few how customers feel about solving that problem.
Eric Feng(Host):
- This is so beautiful, guys, because you have to understand that we've interviewed a lot of entrepreneurs over this month and three entrepreneurs, two entrepreneur came out in my mind. One is Terry Peh, Good Dog People. Asking why he sat up in the company, he says, "It's very important to share people the why." And he says, "'Cause I envision a world of good dog people that people and dogs live harmoniously, and they are one," right? It's beautiful. And then of course, we have Alan that talks about why he came up with Alchemy, because of his grandfather who suffered diabetes. And then you guys personally suffering from the Asian flush.
Solomon and Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah. Right.
Eric Feng(Host):
- This is beautiful. This is actually very cool. It's a common pattern, and it's nice to have that common pattern because it means that, if we continue doing that, then a lot of us will succeed, too. Actually Jack Ma says the same thing, too. Jack Marcy says that, "I wanna allow businesses, the people in China, to do business with the world." That's how he started. He did not start a company by saying, "I wanna be famous." Right? Now, let's talk about e-commerce. I know you guys are big on e-commerce and you can almost say that, thank God for e-commerce. Right?
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- And that you had a chance to reach out for the world.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So give us some tips. Maybe mistakes first. What are some of the mistakes that you made as you tried to put your product on an e-commerce platform?
Solomon(Guest):
- Mistakes, huh?
Ryan(Guest):
- I think a mistake that we did is that we didn't go on platforms earlier, like Shopee and
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Ryan(Guest):
- They contribute to a lot our margins once we were on Shopee.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, we should have done it much earlier.
Eric Feng(Host):
- That's true because I bought your product directly from your website. But can I ask you, what's the difference? What's the obvious difference between the pros and cons of putting your product on your platform and putting your product on all these marketplaces?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah. Putting your product on your platform or your website, basically, allows you to control everything, right? The email list, the opt ins, the user flow, whatever. Whereas if people buy through Shopee, okay, maybe they get a good price because Shopee, some campaigns they give you 12%, 10% of coins back, but you're unable to control the user journey because once they buy through Shopee, you cannot communicate with the customer.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Oh, you guys can reach out. They will not-
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah. We can communicate the customer.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah,
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, but there's a very weak converting factor. Yeah. So even for customers who checkout via Shopee, we try to have a lead gen in every package. like a thank you card, that points them back to our website.
Unknown speaker:
- Yes.
Ryan(Guest):
- Data is very important.
Unknown speaker:
- Yes.
Ryan(Guest):
- 'Cause it allows you to communicate your customers. And that's the magic of most direct to consumer businesses.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Unknown speaker:
- yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- The database is everything.
Unknown speaker:
- Exactly.
Eric Feng(Host):
This is beautiful. That means you are leveraging on big marketplaces who have a lot of eyeballs and a lot of budget. You're going there to get the traffic.
Unknown speaker:
- Yes.
Eric Feng(Host):
- But you wanna make sure that at some point you own that traffic.
Unknown speaker:
- Yes.
Eric Feng(Host):
- 'Cause now you're essentially free traffic, right?
Solomon and Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah..
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yeah, but you want paid traffic. So what were some of the successful things you did that encouraged people to leave an email address with you or their contact details with you?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, I think something as simple as a very typical 10%, get 10% off-
Eric Feng(Host):
- For future-
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, for future orders.
Unknown speaker:
- For future orders. Yep.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So I know now. So discounts would be one. You mentioned, Sol, about the thank you card, right? How do you guys keep in touch with your consumers? Since you said that people get to know you from Shopee orders, like that, and then they fill out the email address, and they are in your database now. How do you nurture that relationship?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, so we just send the emails, update for them once every week or two on Klaviyo. Klaviyo is an email marketing software, similar to MailChimp. But Klaviyo is much better, we think, for e-commerce because it allows you to hyper-segment your customers. For example, you can do something that's very complicated stuff, like customers who have opened this campaign and saw it, but did not reply or did not click on the link, you can hyper-segment every single thing you can think of, you can split into females, males based on AI. It's pretty cool.
Eric Feng(Host):
- But how does that work? First of all, I have to leave my email address to you, right? But you will not know my particulars right?
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Then how would you know I'm a guy or a girl?
Solomon(Guest):
- We will know your first name, the first name, really, because-
Ryan(Guest):
- Based on that, extrapolate-
Ryan(Guest):
- Powerful.
Solomon(Guest):
- And because of the AI, we know that 55% of our target audience is guys.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Wow. Say that again? How do you spell it?
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah. It's K-L-A-V-I-Y-O.
Eric Feng(Host):
- We need to take note of that.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah. Klaviyo.
Solomon(Guest):
- And we did not even ask for the particulars, the information of the people who bought from us. We just use some AI software.
Eric Feng(Host):
- This is super duper cool. And actually, that's technology, right? You talk about data is so important, right? And then you're writing those emails. Okay. I hear you. What's next for you guys, man? What's your plans for DrinkAid in the coming years?
Ryan(Guest):
- I think a recent campaign that we did that's performing quite well so far, I think is our campaign, basically. So we get bars to partner with us to distribute our product in the physical space. It was also to solve a very real consumer issue because most of our customers, they want DrinkAid urgently, but our shipping and fulfillment takes around two or three days. So with these partners scattered around Singapore, they could get DrinkAid on demand.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Unknown speaker:
- On the spot.
Unknown speaker:
- On the spot.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Basically, this is where your consumer, right?
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, exactly.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So you're putting where the customers are in that moment where they need it.
Ryan(Guest):
- Which is why we avoided convenience stores, because when someone is in bar, they have a higher purchase intent 'cause they're already drinking.
Ryan(Guest):
- Correct.
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Correct. If I look at a customer journey, right, By the time they're in a convenience store, it's too late already.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- So where the bar is, where I'm still sober is where I actually will wanna take this. I think by the time I'm at the convenience store, I'm probably not so worried.
Ryan(Guest):
- And we're not competing for attention here. We're the only supplement being sold at these bars.
Eric Feng(Host):
- And I like your thinking because you're not really just thinking about standing out or what, but you're really thinking from our point of view. You're making it easy for us to buy your stuff by stepping into the stream of that consumer's journey. Okay. So that's one. So we will expect to see a lot of your DrinkAid in Singapore bars. What about, we have listeners from other countries, like Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Hong Kong. What about them?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, they can already purchase our product through our website. We are trying to lower shipping costs for customers. Biggest customers in the U.S. are paying, for example, $45 for shipping.
Solomon(Guest):
- And they still buy.
Ryan and Solomon( Guest):
- And they still buy.
- And they still buy, yeah.
Solomon:
- Sometimes they buy one box and then they pay for shipping, One box 19.90, and they pay $45, which is
Eric Feng:
- That is so encouraging.
Solomon:
- We really wanna reduce the shipping costs for them by partnering with some 3PL companies.
Eric Feng:
- Sorry, what's 3PL?
Solomon:
- Third-party logistics So basically, they handle the pick and the last delivery.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Got it. So the supply chain, right?
Ryan and Solomon(Guest)
- Yep. Yep.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Actually, I'm sorry to jump back in again. You guys make it so easy. Very effortless, right? But what were some of the future challenges that you guys are dealing with right now? You have great marketing ideas. And now you just highlight a very big challenge, which is the logistics.
Ryan(Guest)
- The logistics, yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yeah, which, I think, isn't that the biggest problem these days. 'Cause if you try and do business with the world, you need to try to reduce the costs, right?
Unknown speaker:
- Yeah, yeah, yeah..
Unknown speaker:
- And even the production.
Solomon(Host):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.. I have to say, the Singapore government's quite helpful with this because, on the production side, they do subsidize some equipment that we have purchased. So they allowed us to double our production capacity. It's got a PSG grant. So guys who qualify for it, entrepreneurs who qualify for should look into it. It's 80% off your next year.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Wow. But what's the criteria?
Solomon(Guest):
- You have to be locally founded.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Oh, just local?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah. Initially, you can apply for your laptops and stuff like that as well.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay. But guys, please don't abuse it. Otherwise, the rest of us won't get it, right? It happens all the time. People use brands. Okay, so jumping back to the wellness program. So we're expecting to see you guys in different bars. We also now expect to see you in other countries. Would it be still true, the standard marketplace platforms or people, you've gotta reach out to them directly?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, I think going forward, we're trying to focus on overseas marketplaces. So for example, the big question right now is how do we get onto Shopee Hong Kong, Shopee Taiwan, Shopee Brazil, or something like that, right? Because to set up a Shopee or a marketplace account on those marketplaces, we have to have a corporate entity in those countries.
Eric Feng(Host):
- I didn't know that. I thought you could just set it up.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah.
Solomon(Guest):
- So the question is how do we set up companies overseas that allow us to register overseas marketplaces, to sell to those people?
Eric Feng(Host):
- Then, you can reach out to those market because right now you can only reach out to Singapore.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah. Yeah. Or partner with enablers who are able to do this for us. Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Wow. Okay. Let's hope the message goes out and it's a business opportunity, right? It's a great idea. What else are you guys doing?
Ryan(Guest):
- Currently, the low hanging fruits for our expansion is the U.S. 'cause there are regulations when it comes to supplement. It's quite similar to Singapore. So you don't really have to partner with a local entity to sell supplements there.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Oh, that's why you were saying that you can really reach out, right?
Solomon and Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah, yeah..
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay.
Ryan(Guest):
- And also, we are doing some exciting R&D.
Solomon(Guest)
- Yeah, lots of exciting R&D.
Solomon(Guest):
- For new products.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Don't tell us first, right. Cause I know you guys, you can see the twinkle in their eyes. So that means this is not gonna be the only product that we are expecting.
Solomon and Ryan(Guest):
- Yep. Yep.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Have you been doing experiments on Ryan again?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah. I've been experimenting on myself first.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay. You look normal. You're still okay.
Solomon(Guest):
- I'll test on myself first, then I'll test Ryan, then we share with a few friends.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay, when would that next supplement or next bio-hack come about?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, I think that's in Q1 of 2022.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Q1. Okay, Q1 22. Okay.
Solomon(Guest):
- Yeah, yeah. Basically next year.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Which is actually when this episode will be up.
Solomon(Guest):
- Oh, nice.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Yeah. So don’t worryi, okay, for those of you listening, because we're recording this in 2021, but we will definitely reach out to you guys when you launched it. We'll put it in our show notes.
Unknown speaker:
- Awesome.
Eric Feng(Host):
- All right. And then we'll direct them to look at those stuff.
Solomon and Ryan(Guest):
- Awesome. Awesome.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Make sure you get me some as well, okay? All right. Now, final question. There are a lot of entrepreneurs who are listening in. We titled this as, "How do you turn your million-dollar idea into a profitable startup and bootstrap?" What will be individually and advice that you have for entrepreneurs who's listening in? Now that you guys have been entrepreneur for a while.
Solomon(Guest):
- Right. Yeah. I think my advice for entrepreneurs is to do create something that you're passionate about, do something that you really feel strongly about, that you wanna see in the world, something you would be willing to sacrifice time. For me, I sacrificed jobs, I graduated with a perfect GPA from SMU.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Wow. Smart boy.
Solomon(Guest):
- I chose not to go the corporate path because I felt that I could contribute to society in a far better way than I could have if I'd gone into a corporate job, right? So you have the feel something about this for it to last you your entire journey. Yeah. The second thing is to partner, to align yourself with people who are a good support system. So for example, I think people from universities would find good support system in the staff or-
Eric Feng(Host):
- The faculty.
Solomon(Guest):
- The faculty in charge of entrepreneurship. They are there to help you, right? Even if you have graduated from the university for a long time, they are still willing to help you, right? They are always welcoming you with open arms. So I think the faculty is very important. Alumni.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Alumni.
Solomon(Guest):
- Alumni community as well, who's willing to help you.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Wow. See? So that's a perk of studying in a university or even a polytechnic, 'cause the Polytechnic these days, they also have the entrepreneurial arm, right?
Solomon(Guest):
- Yes, yes, yes.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Okay. How about you?
Ryan(Guest):
- Yeah, I think what contributed to a large extent of our success is also luck. And I think, from what I've experienced so far, I think you can actually manufacture luck by increasing your luck surface area. So basically, just putting yourself out there 'cause I think when you are successful, a lot of it is when your luck meets preparation, and if you are constantly putting yourself out there, meeting new people, networking, you never know when these networks might come back to prove themselves useful to your business. Of course, when it comes to a lot of our friends and benefactors now, they are all contacts that either one of us have come across in the course of our life.
Eric Feng(Host):
- And why are they all helpful to help you guys? What is your compelling factor?
Ryan(Guest):
- I think most of them, they are already fans of our product. So it's much easier to get them to help us. Yeah.
Eric Feng(Host):
- Wow. I think this is a very short, powerful entrepreneurial episode. I don't think this is only just for products, but anybody who wants to start a company. I think this is an episode that you would want to definitely listen again and again so that you can get those ideas across, right? So guys, thank you so much. I wish you guys all the best and I hope one day to see you at every bar, not just in Singapore, but everybody in the rest of southeast Asia and maybe even the world.
Ryan(Guest)
- Yep.
Unknown speaker:
- Okay?
Solomon(Guest):
- Awesome.
Eric Feng(Host):
- All right. High five, man.
Unknown speaker:
- All right.
Unknown speaker:
- High five. High five. All right.
Eric Feng(Host):
So there you have it. That's the DrinkAid story. I think I'm super duper inspired by the two of them. And there were a lot of things I took away from today's episode, but the one that I really got away, that left a very big impact to me is what is the problem that you're really trying to solve? I think a lot of us were always thinking about how to make money, how to make millions of dollars. But first of all, before you think about making a million, do you have something that can affect a million? Do you have something that can impact so many people, because ultimately, the more money that you make is simply the market's feedback of your value. And that seems to be the common pattern among a lot of successful entrepreneurs that I reached out to, that they have a problem that they feel compelled to solve because they are suffering from that problem too, right? So don't just look for a problem, but look for a problem that you have a personal stick at, because it allows you to tell a story that's a lot more relatable, a lot more memorable, and it makes people trust you, too. And so when you fulfill that, when you solve that problem, you're making the world a much better place as well. So that's the DrinkAid story. And I look forward to see you guys in our next interview, next episode, We post this interview once every week on YouTube. So you remember to hit the subscribe button, switch on the bell notification, and get yourself some DrinkAid.