 to do a little bit of that. Fantastic, okay. I say fantastic a lot, I think it's the new thing that I've been adopting. Let's welcome our first speaker, Keith. He's asked Keith to speak, he said seven minutes, that's not enough, and I was like, you can have your own half day session if you want. But I'm very happy that he's here sharing about himself and not just his industry. He works in gamification and does a lot of work with corporations helping them to motivate their employees or their customers. So round of applause to Keith. So just a quick, like, fun fact, that was actually, that photo was taken by Angela, right? About two years back, I think we should do a new one very soon. So thanks for coming for my coming out party over here, right, despite this being the first day of a hungry ghost festival, right? And I was actually really nervous giving this talk and my heart is pumping incredibly fast right now. I've never really spoken about myself, right? It's usually about gamification. Okay, it's usually about gamification and usually about other deeper, right? So it's very rarely I get to talk about myself and let alone my failures. So I hope you enjoy this talk. And if you are looking to walk away feeling motivated and inspired, right? I suggest you go to our toilet right now, right? You're probably gonna leave this place very demotivated, right, despite it, right? But I hope you enjoy this talk. So this is my topic for today, right? Five ways to fuck like a boss. So one good outcome of this, preparing for this talk was that when I do a Google search of Keith Ng and fuck up, right, I come right in the first page. That's a good thing, right? And I think I had a blackout from the year of 2011 all the way to 2014, right? I can't remember much of what happened. So thanks to Angela who kind of got me to do all these slides, I was slowly exploring my membranes and I remember a lot of things. So I hope you guys would learn from my mistakes. And before I go on, I just want to talk a little bit about the lowest points in my life. So let's start off with this, right? Have any one of you taken a credit card loan over here? Okay, they have one, right? So I don't think you took more than one, right? Yes, it was. Yeah, so I took about three loans, OCBC, Standard Chartered Bank, City Bank, right? And I found that OCBC has the best rates, you know, best transfer balance rates, right? So you know, I could have started business comparing credit card loans, right? And I couldn't make a very good money. But I was taking a lot of loans basically to pay off my guys, right? And I strongly recommend you not to do that, right? It's incredibly unhealthy, incredibly stressful. And the interest rate was just compounding year on year. And I know we have one person with a bank balance of $1, yeah? Anyone else over here at one point in their life? Right, also extremely unhealthy, yeah? But I was actually at this point of time, you know, I kind of got play out by an investor who's supposed to fulfill the second trench of the investment, he's an American, or he's a multi-millionaire. And you wouldn't expect him to default on the investment, some that's about 30K, that is being matched by NRF for another $200,000, right? You wouldn't expect that someone was a multi-millionaire, but he's gone a little bit mentally on state work, right? And he went bankrupt himself. So there's nothing I could do. And at this point of time, I was doing a lot of research on Google, the easiest way to commit suicide, right? And by the way I found out that there's no easy way. Every single way is painful and the odds are against you, right? What do you want out of 33 people manage to successfully commit suicide? So don't even think about that, yeah? And electricity cutoff, electricity cutoff, anybody? Right, so I kind of had a trick of like three lowest points in my life and this is what I call my defining moment, right? Because if you look at the other two lowest points, they were all over the face of time, but this was a defining moment, it happened right away. And when that happened, because we couldn't pay up the bills, and that was about 2012, 2013. So my next five slides is about how to avoid situations like that, right? So I think I'm a huge fan of like dreaming, you know, working for a passion, working for y'all, you know, what you love, what you believe in, quitting a job, but I think it's very important that you wake up from a dream, right? And dreams can be powerful, but they can also be very dangerous. They have made me struggle for four years, right? In the B2C business. And when we finally decided to pivot to a B2B in 2014, right, or 2012, right, that's when we started making real money and that's a very gratifying moment, right? So this wake up in a dream. And you know, we are crazy about publicity. We are trying to get ourselves impressed all the time. We're trying to get media mentions, interviews. And for the past three years, I've stayed away from being on any media at all, right? I tried to avoid it, right? There's something called over exposure. Publicity doesn't make you money, right? Real sales make you money. So focus on getting customers and sales. And this is very subjective, right? You know, what they say about, you are who you know, you are who you are. I think it's total bullshit, right? I think, I think you have to be selective of who you meet, you have to be selective of who you know. Even with your friends, you've got to be selective. You don't just make all your friends going out every night. I am a very socially awkward introvert. So when I go to events, right, I think at some point of time, I really believe that that's the only way they can become the next Facebook, right? You have to keep meeting people, party with like investors, go to Silicon Valley, you know, hop onto a cafe and just talk to a random stranger. It's incredibly tiring, right? So not recommended to them, you can more bullshit as well, as an effect. And now, when we were the B2C business, right, we were, we had a dating game, we had a dating app, that's kind of gave it fine. We could have been the next kinder, actually. We had the next fantasy football game and you know, we were already making real money, but we wanted to raise money. So what we do, we decided to place a lot of logos of partners, right? And today I look at partners. Whenever I look at a website, it says we have these partners and the question I ask is, what does that even mean? What do you mean a partner? Is that a coffee partner? Is that like a business partner? Is that like a, you know, tender partner, right? So we don't know, right? So what does it really mean? And this is my last and probably most controversial line, right? I was working about like 12 to 18 hours a day, right? I think some people would think that it's just too little. But I think working hard is also quite horseshit, right? It's not about working hard, it's about working smart. It's about knowing how to match our time. So these days, right, in game time as we, we have kind of like a 30 to 35 hours work rate and I find that, hey, you're actually making money, right? Because we are able to focus on the most important things. And with that, that's my final slide. This is one thing that I'm really glad that, you know, fuck up in, right? Spending time with my mom. You know, if in case you're wondering, what caught me out of suicide eventually, it wasn't because it was painful. It wasn't because it was just complicated, right? Any other day, anything can change, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your husband, your parents, right? But your mom doesn't change, right? Your family doesn't change. So I had my mom to thank for, right, to keep me who I am. She asked me the same question every single day. When are you gonna get a real job? Every single day, even today. But I still rather that she asked this question, or I'll miss this question. And, you know, being an Asian mom, you know, it's kind of awkward to give her a hug to tell her I love her, right? But I don't stop giving her a kiss on my head like every week, right? So I hope you enjoy my session, right? Don't fuck up like what I did, like in past three years. So yeah, I love the audience. Thank you so much. Thank you for a shout out to Candice over there, right? She's a really good friend of mine. She wanted to, she just came back from Nepal. Come over here, right? And she's carrying a cookie jar, right? For very good reasons. And I would like to share a little bit about her experience in Nepal where she's actually working with earthquake victims. Yes. Hello, everyone. Thank you so much, Keith. And also, thank you, Angela, for having me time to speak in front of you guys. Before I start talking about Nepal, I was asked to talk a little bit about this. Those of you in the back, I don't know if you guys can see, but it's a picture of rubber ducks riding down a canal, basically just going down on this current. And I'm just gonna pass it around so people can take a look at that. And I was asked to talk about how I relate to that picture. So, actually, when I looked at it, I laughed because it reminds me of an old job I used to have. How many of you guys are scuba divers here? Cool. How many of you guys have scuba dived in really strong current? There you go. So maybe you will understand what is this coming. So I used to be a dive master, a scuba diving guide. And one of the challenges I had working with that was one time I was thrown into a situation and we were like, okay, take these two customers and go into this new place you've never been before in super strong current. And I was brand new. I didn't even know how to barely even manage that myself. And my customers were 12-year-old kids that just got certified as well. And so my challenge was basically being confident and being able to take them underwater safely and also go somewhere they've never been, show them around, and go with an ocean current that's just sweeping you through like the ducks. And so basically, luckily, kids are the easiest people to fool. So I just turned around like, hey guys, this is gonna be a really fun dive because this is my favorite kind of dive. We're gonna go drift diving. You know why it's fun? Because you don't have to do anything. It's like a ride. And so basically I led them to believe that I knew what I was doing and they had a great time and it was a success. And the moral of the story is is that as long as other people believe in you and you show confidence, then it's gonna turn out great. So basically that's my story with the ducks. And now I'll start talking about my experience in Nepal. So I was there for five months this year. I was working as a project coordinator for a disaster relief organization. And afterwards I did what I love to do and I went trekking. Nepal is great for trekking. And I ended up finding a valley that was in disaster. I mean, I was working for a disaster relief organization that was getting all sorts of international aid. It was the worst-hit area and everything. But these people were in the worst condition because they were remote and so they weren't highly populated so no one was getting them attention. And so I was going through this area. People were approaching me, villagers. They're like, please, can you guys stop for tea or can you stay here the night? And I was like, it's nine in the morning. I have to keep walking. And they're like, on the way back, like please come by and have some business here. And this wasn't the only person you know this happened many times as I was on the trail. People were coming out to me asking for business. And there weren't that many tourists on the trail because it was after the earthquake and all that stuff. So afterwards I was very moved by what I saw. And I've seen beggars on the street. I've seen, you know, I've traveled to different places but this was the most desperation I've ever met in anybody. And so by the time I left I basically decided I could do something to help. So I started a campaign called Trek Relief which is basically organizing treks into the region, charity treks, fundraising for the college, raising awareness basically. And now I'm just trying to share the work and just let people know that there is an area that needs help. So this is not a story about my fuckup. It's a story about a place that is fucked up. And so I'm basically looking for a solution. And if you want to be a part of that solution and help donate, I'll be around. I'll have a Trek Relief donation start. And if you have any questions I would love to talk about it more but I'll save that for the questions afterwards. And thank you so much for your time on this evening. Can you back up for a couple of questions? Yeah, is that okay? Re-traumatizing. Any questions that you want to ask in public? Can I just ask, as an entrepreneur, I mean, definitely you have the courage and the respect because thanks to doing that we're really accepting all this speech right now. Just wondering as an entrepreneur, for you as well, how do you know when to stop trying? Because you definitely have a lot of fuckups going to where you are right now. I think each fuckup would be even more fucked up, okay? I love the fuck way. So don't you think too much fucked up is enough? Yeah, that's actually a very incredible question. I have never thought about giving up. I never thought about stopping. But I guess we just kept the same team and we just kept doing new things again and again. So GameTimes is actually our fourth product, right? Obviously the dating app, the social network, we had the football game, right? But GameTimes is a result of the same team doing the same shit, right? Doing a lot of fuckups. And my only advice is get a really good team, get a really good co-founder. His name is Damon, he's my best friend. I call him my wife as well. He has a real wife. But he has been my best friend for the past 10 years and I think as long as you find the right guy, you can still keep fucking up. What would you say or do if you heard someone was going through a similar situation perhaps with their bank account or contemplating suicide? So I'm not a psychologist by training. Someone was contemplating suicide. Wow, I actually had personal friends or a committed suicide. I had personal family members. It's really hard to stop anything like that, to be honest. It's really, really difficult, right? But I guess what I have to say to them is that the offside against you from right from the start, right? What could end up worse is you don't die, right? You end up paralyzed. You end up being half-dead, like brain-dead. I think most importantly just remember your family, right? This is a very fitting slide. I was just thinking about my mom the whole time. She's a single mom, right? And I'm a single child. She's pretty much the only family I have. And as I was doing my research, right, her image just kept floating in my head. So I think it's an important thing about what you're leaving behind. And I'm always very curious what goes in the head of people who commit suicide as well, right? Good question. So I'm sure a lot of us have been through the same thing. Like, you're an entrepreneur. You use that project and businesses, and then you don't make money. Have you ever been to a point where you decided that you have to have a job, you know? Like, it's your responsibility to pay your bills, you know, support your parents and your family. So have you ever reached a point where you were like, oh, okay, I need to go find a job now. And I think you obviously haven't found a job. So you've got men on to your mind, the reasons why and how you managed to go on. Just being an entrepreneur. Yeah, so that question has never crossed my mind. Like, what job am I going to have? I mean, this is still my first job. After like 10 years, I started this while in school. And... Even when you had no money? Yeah, and that's why staying with my mom is great, right? I mean, that's the advantage of Singaporean males, right? Now I get teased a lot. I mean, I can laugh a lot by my more friends. Ah, you're just leaving your mom. Ha ha, alright, you can't bring girls home. Ha ha, alright. But, you know... But I think this is a sacrifice. It's all about sacrifice. I mean, when my bank balance was $1, right, I was just borrowing money from my mom. She's a factory worker. She's a blue collar worker. But she was always waiting to help me out. But I guess the plan B was really, at one point, I'll tell you the call, it ends and just never crossed my mind, right? The only other solution is to keep trying until you, you know, keep faking it, until you make it, right? One of my favorite friends, right, Hong Kong from Han River, where is this very good, like, story, right? He was also going broke. He was going for, like, he was meeting a lot of friends for lunch because he couldn't afford to buy lunch, right? And there's this, like, saying that, you know, even if you're a constipator, if you keep trying out, you'll get your shit to come up, right? So that story resonated in me. For a really long time. I remember this story for a very long time. It's been, like, two years, right? So, yeah, I guess. But, you know, that doesn't apply to everyone, for sure. So I hope that, based on my experience, that you do not take it close to you and say, huh, he says I should stop working hard. I shall not work hard anymore, right? It doesn't apply to everybody. I think everyone has a different dynamic. Everyone has a different mom. Everyone, you know, you might have a girlfriend or a wife, right? I'm not asking you to, like, go for a divorce right now, right? I'm not on a single, right? So that's more of an advantage I have, right? Thank you. If you don't really have it in your talk, you mentioned a lot of debt that you made. Have you moved towards resolving that debt? Oh, okay. I'm glad you asked that. So we were very lucky. We went on to TV. It's called India Skate, right? It's like the Asian version, Singapore's version of Shark Tank, or Dragon's Den. Reality TV. Don't ever go on the reality TV. But we spent a lot of days practicing, rehearsing. In the end, we managed to get our $200,000 in USD. Like, we won the season, right? And in fact, we thought that we got too much money. We went on for less, because we just wanted to pay off debt. So, yeah, we were very lucky. We met a very good investor, part of the TV program, he said to them, I'm going to pay off the debts. So I wasted no time, right? You know, I don't want to be. I mean, having loads is incredibly stressful, right? It helps that I was a scholar back in school. I didn't have student loans. But that's not a still, not a rational factor, right? So, not everyone's going to go on TV and win money, right? I mean, that's like a lottery. But on hindsight, I will not go on that kind of situation ever again. So I was very lucky. I'm not sure how anyone else could have done things differently. At one point of time, now I remember something. Do you guys know what loan sharks are? Loan sharks are long here. Basically, illegal money lenders, right? No, I did not borrow from them, but they came to me and asked me to give them a website. And I was already like, going to the jury. So, I remember they were in my office and they were just kind of negotiating. You know, they would say, they only have $2,000, right? They would give like a 100-page website. I'm like, you know, we could have a leader and everything. I'm like, no, $2,000 cannot, $2,000, $5,000, you know. So, in the end, I'm negotiating with a money lender along for a long term. And I think I'm very lucky that I've got money from the TV instead. Yeah. The last one. For you would you be the reason why you failed in the first place? Was it like preparation or just you didn't get the right advice? So why did I fuck up so much? Right? Was that a question? Yeah. I think I was very naive, right? So remember, I think I talked about the first one. Yeah, I was dreaming for a really long time, right? I didn't wake up from that. I was very naive, I was very gullible. And because I was meeting a lot of people, I got a lot more pushy advice too. And somebody was telling me that, oh, you know what? You should just create a gambling website, right? You know, it's gamification, right? And it's the same industry. So we're getting a lot of advice out there, right? And I just did not work in a startup before. I think that's also a very good reason. I mean, even during my school days, I was an intern in a bank, right? No offensive bank, right? It's not applicable to a startup, right? So lack of experience, just immaturity, a lot of hubris, right? Just fairly really egoistic thinking that you're going to be the next master of the work. No, that's not gonna happen. Yeah. So thank you so much for the questions, right? I'll be hanging around, right? Thank you so much for your time, Espar. Cheers. Give you a moment to install that and take any mental notes, since not too many of you are writing.