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<\/p>\nJoel Leong has never been a fan of the conventional. In fact, his proclivity for going against the grain was evident when he was just 12. While his Primary Six schoolmates dreamt of becoming astronauts, doctors and lawyers, he aspired to be a dot.com entrepreneur. \u201cBack then, my uncle always checked the stock market movements on Teletext and I was mesmerised by the amazing results that the dot.com companies appeared to deliver. In 2001, the industry crashed\u2026 and so did my dreams. \u201cI guess that\u2019s why I chose stability and began my career in the government sector,\u201d quips Joel, co-founder of ShopBack, an online platform that offers cashback rewards when shoppers make purchases through its platform.<\/p>\n
But it was again this penchant for the unconventional that made him rethink his decision to join the civil sector. Citing a preference for a dynamic working environment that was not laden with protocols and regulations, as well as his desire to design his own scope of work, he quit his role at the Economic Development Board after less than a year to pursue a career at Zalora, which was then still a fledgling e-commerce start-up.<\/p>\n
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The working hours were long; the learning curve was steep. There was no guarantee that Zalora would even work out in the long run. But all these hardly bothered Joel. He was more excited about living his dream of being a part of the dot.com industry. He relished every moment of his time at the start-up. His passion fuelled his energy. \u201cWork-wise, my first job was more stable than interesting, which was not really for me, so I switched to a fastgrowth environment. I excel in things that I\u2019m interested in. School was not so interesting to me, hence I didn\u2019t do that well,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI\u2019m all for challenging conventions. I like to think about \u2018what ifs\u2019 and what can be done differently.\u201d<\/p>\n
The idea to set up his own business venture came about in 2014 when Joel hitched a ride home from his friend, Henry Chan, one of the co-founders of ShopBack. Things moved quickly after that conversation. Before long, four more friends got involved, and that same year, they founded ShopBack. Though he may be a self-confessed sceptic, Joel says the decision to set up ShopBack was a no-brainer. He was still young and didn\u2019t actually have that much to lose.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t see starting ShopBack as a gamble. I\u2019d rather call it a \u2018manageable risk\u2019. Besides, the time seemed right for e-commerce as well,\u201d he says. \u201cThere was not much of a downside, even if we didn\u2019t manage to grow the business. We were all still employable individuals. For us then, it was now or never. We only saw an upside to starting this venture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joel still recalls how tough the early days were. While he describes the project as having taken off \u201cimmensely well\u201d, moving forward with a lean team meant that everyone had to manage multiple responsibilities. Joel, who had to double up as a customer service representative, often found himself replying customer queries until 5am. But the sacrifices have paid off \u2013 ShopBack\u2019s growth since its inception has been phenomenal. In its first year, the start-up raised in excess of $500,000 in seed funding. Last November, the company concluded a funding round worth around $34 million. The cashback platform, which is available in seven countries, now has over six million monthly users and partnerships with over 1,500 merchants.<\/p>\n
This year, the company even made its maiden acquisition, buying the business behind the personal finance app Seedly. The success of ShopBack has inevitably led Joel back to the setting that he once tried to avoid. Today, the e-commerce platform has a staff strength of more than 150 people, and as with any entity this size, protocols and systems need to be in place. He notes that he has had to learn how to step on the brakes and embrace the new dynamics. \u201cWorking with structure or within frameworks is not my strongest forte, but it\u2019s essential in bigger companies. You cannot just chiong [charge] without a plan in mind when you\u2019re operating in a bigger set-up!\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
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Looking back on his journey to success, Joel says it\u2019s all down to a willingness to fail, chasing one\u2019s passion and having an indomitable will to win. Indeed, he does love winning \u2013 even when playing computer games. \u201cI\u2019m very motivated in whatever I\u2019m interested in. A few weeks back, we borrowed a few arcade machines with the Virtual Striker 2 game for a community event. I was literally glued to the seat throughout the event because, like I said, I like the game and I just want to win. That really affected my productivity!\u201d he quips. National service, he adds, also helped to prepare him for the rigours of the start-up grind. His posting could be considered somewhat serendipitous as it was a perfect match to his personality.<\/p>\n
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He became a commando trained in the art of unconventional warfare. \u201cBeing in the commandos taught me three things that I\u2019ve managed to put to use in my career: Pushing myself to the limit and doing things that I never thought I could do; scaling with structure and handling big groups of people; and \u2018over-communicating\u2019 to ensure everyone\u2019s on the same page,\u201d he says. It appears that he has also put his commando reconnaissance training to good use at ShopBack. He reveals that he is currently planning for ShopFest, the company\u2019s inaugural year-end shopping extravaganza that also helps customers to scout the best buys available during the bustling year-end sales period.<\/p>\n
When asked what advice he would give to aspiring entrepreneurs, Joel says to always choose passion. \u201cI believe that you can only excel in something that you are passionate about. When you\u2019re passionate about your job, there\u2019ll be no \u2018dragging your feet to work everyday\u2019 type of situation,\u201d he says. \u201cPassion is a cycle. Being passionate about something will naturally enable you to perform at the highest levels, and this in turn translates to good results. And all this just makes you even more passionate about your work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former commando Joel Leong co-founded the successful online enterprise ShopBack and fulfilled a long-held ambition to become a dot.com entrepreneur. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[263,257,262,267,14,265,266,264,256],"yoast_head":"\n