Kenneth Lim, Co-Founder of LunchClick and Creative Director of the Lunch Actually Group
What’s your story?
Since the age of 16, I’ve been passionate about entrepreneurship and founded my first company which deals with web development and creative projects. Over the years, through building 4 companies, 2 successful exits and both personal and business interactions, I’ve acquired strong expertise in startup development, digital marketing, branding and design.
In 2012, I co-founded triibe (http://trii.be), a subscription-based feedback and loyalty rewards platform for the F&B industry and together with the founding team, bootstrapped and successfully scaled the platform to over 300 F&B locations in Singapore. After 3 years, in 2015, triibe was acquired by mobile commerce platform, Mobikon Technologies and continues to be in operations today.
In 2013, together with the triibe founders, Say Jon and Chun Kiat and with pre-seed funding from FatFish Media, we launched a mobile dating app, Love Out Loud Asia (LOLA), which sends singles one match @ noon, daily. In 2014, with over 500,000 successful connections made across the region, LOLA was acquired by Asia’s pioneering and largest dating company, the Lunch Actually Group.
What excites you most about your industry?
The exploding opportunities for young, talented and driven entrepreneurs with close to zero resources to build an amazing product that they believe in and bring that product to market in creative low-cost ways to deliver value or make a positive impact on someone or a business which could be located a thousand miles away from them.
It is this spirit of entrepreneurship, growth and constant innovation that excites me most about the technology industry. Ask any startup founder and they will tell you that we don’t do it because it pays well. We do it because we believe, perhaps at times naively, that anything and everything is possible.
What’s your connection to Asia?
Even though I may whine occasionally about it, I’m super thankful and happy to be born and bred in Singapore.
Favourite city in Asia for business and why?
I might be totally bias, but definitely Singapore. When I was starting out with both triibe and LOLA, we received a lot of support from SPRING Singapore and the Media Development Authority (MDA). It makes me happy to see a constant, strong commitment from the government to try and assist local businesses to succeed.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
That the single most important trait for any entrepreneur is problem-solving.
Who inspires you?
My mum, who runs her own logistics company. Back when I was 16, she was the one who got me started in entrepreneurship by referring website development projects to me. I’m inspired and still very amazed by her ability to juggle both work and family.
What have you just learnt recently that blew you away?
A simple and effective way to get a potential hire to be honest about their previous job performance or reasons for leaving is to ask them to verbally tell you their ex-supervisor or boss’s name and then say, “Could you spell out his name? I just want to make sure I get his name right when I call him later. Thanks.”
After that, you can be sure that you’ll be hearing nothing but the truth.
If you had your time again, what would you do differently?
Go to bed earlier, eat less McDonald’s and stick to an exercise routine.
How do you unwind?
Black coffee, Netflix, Spotify, online shopping, reading and travelling with my wife.
Favourite Asian destination for relaxation? Why?
Hong Kong is my go-to destination with my wife. I’ve always been more of a city person and one of my favourite restaurants in the world, Yardbird, which serves really good yakitori, happens to be in HK. Tokyo comes in at a very close 2nd place, for her unique retail experience, food and arts scene.
Everyone in business should read this book:
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. I learnt a great deal about relationship-building and networking from this book.
Shameless plug for your business:
LunchClick is made for serious daters and singles who are looking to find love. We’re committed to making sure that you can date and meet people in a safe and secure environment. Here’s what we mean:
Manual profile approval to screen all applicants.
One match per day system that appeals to serious daters, not men looking to play “the numbers game.”
NRIC verification with Singapore’s Social Development Network to ensure users aren’t married.
LunchClick is not just safe and secure, it’s also proven to be effective. With our built-in “propose a date” function, you can seamlessly move from connecting online to bringing your date offline.
It’s time to stop swiping, and start meeting up. Download LunchClick from the App Store or Google Play store today!
For more information: www.lunchclick.co
How can people connect with you?
I’m interested in digital marketing, PR and partnership opportunities across the region, especially in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand. Also always happy to connect with entrepreneurs and startup founders.
Invite me for coffee at: [email protected]
Twitter handle?
I don’t use Twitter much. Connect with me over LinkedIn instead: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethlimjw
—
This interview was part of the Callum Connect’s column found on The Asian Entrepreneur:
Callum Laing invests and buys small businesses in a range of industries around Asia. He has previously started, built and sold half a dozen businesses and is the founder & owner of Fitness-Buffet a company delivering employee wellness solutions in 12 countries. He is a Director of, amongst others, Key Person of Influence. A 40 week training program for business owners and executives.
Take the ‘Key Person of Influence’ scorecard <http://www.keypersonofinfluence.com/scorecard/>
Connect with Callum here:
twitter.com/laingcallum
linkedin.com/in/callumlaing
Get his free ‘Asia Snapshot’ report from www.callumlaing.com
