I was originally from Enso , the facial sheet mask project under NTUitive’s Venture Builder programme. We started from an idea of ‘ let’s sell facial sheets ‘. The past 3 months was jammed packed, intense and rabak. From sourcing industry leaders, advisors, suppliers, manufacturers. The supply chain was ready. But our bank accounts just weren’t. We were under-funded, and just didnt have enough credit to go through the entirety of the project. We couldn’t find an innovation thats different and special enough to set us apart from the other ‘big boys’ ( or should i say, girls — as a female dominated market, and we’re just guy founders ).
Too many variables, too many unanswered question on a product that needs to be funded to manage. The only way to test any innovation with our research is to get initial funding to kickstart the product development. But in order to get funding, we need to prove that we have an innovation. Just a really tough question revolving around the chicken or the egg. I had to manage everything from supply chain, down to network, to product development, to market. Through much thorough discussion with my mentor, Ann Chai, we decided to shelf the project aside.
My skills as a product, graphic and experience designers were not wasted though. I was put in a project under Boon Chao and Yee Loon. A new project focusing on the usage of UVC lamps as a disinfectant. My only job there was a focused product development role. Something that I was trained in at college. Something that I am good at.
This took a totally different turn. I had entered the project when a seed has been planted — the technical specifications of the product had been established. I was there to produce and redesign it to something desirable for the market.
The meetings with Yee Loon and Boon Chao was packed full of innovation. We could literally scale the UVC concept to the household, to the sea, to the air. The world was our oyster.
The Venture Builder programme is a tough journey. One is thrown into the deep end of the industry with mentors and projects from different industries that one might not be familiar with. We hit roadblocks and feel helpless at times. Opportunities might close, but we must remember that when one door closes, another opens.
