FAILURE IS PART OF THE JOURNEY
Not every startup will make it, and Mr Dinesh said some founders struggle when growth is too slow or when competitors move in faster.
“The whole idea of a startup is you grow, you go very quickly, you find an area, and then you start expanding quickly as well,” he noted.
“If the speed of expansion is not fast enough, and when other competitors start coming in, that’s when you have some degree of risk, and your margins will get thinned out, and if you’re unable to adapt fast enough, then you have the unenviable task of having to close down your company.”
But he said failure should not be treated as the end of the road.
“We should be celebrating failures … because every failure will then result in a better success because of the lessons that are learnt,” he said.
Entrepreneurship is still often seen as risky in Singapore, and Mr Dinesh said parents play an important role in shaping attitudes towards it.
He added: “Most parents will not stop their children from doing what their heart desires, and (if) the kids really believe that this is what they need to do, I’m sure most parents … would support them.”
