Among the three co-founders, ServisHero is birthed from a very good combination of experience and skill but a bigger reason why it took off so fast is because it is driven by a cause to empower.
Jason Kang, Paul Copplestone and Karl Loo
Ask any entrepreneur with a success story what their secret is and chances are they’ll tell you the obvious – spot a gap in the market no matter the industry and fill it.
Illustrating exactly that is ServisHero, the app that connects users with trusted and vetted service providers. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are constantly in need for equally as many services daily; yet, prior to the birth of ServisHero a little over a year and a half ago, there isn’t a bridge bringing users and providers together.
“The inspiration for the app came about when I was literally looking for an air-cond repairman,” opens up Karl Loo, CEO and co-founder of ServisHero. “I couldn’t find anyone on Google so my aunt told me to go downstairs of my apartment and look at a tree at one of the bill signs. I thought there must be a better way.”
He roped in CTO and co-founder Paul Copplestone from New Zealand (with a debatably deceiving picture of a very glamourous Kuala Lumpur skyline) and together they developed a mobile app that can help people like him be connected to the hundreds of aircond repairmen (or cleaners, accountants, tutors, what have you) out there in a matter of seconds. This was all done from a coffee shop in Pavilion KL, no less, because their apartment didn’t even have WiFi.
Idea executed and product now created, they then needed someone to handle the finances and that was how CFO and third co-founder Jason Kang came into the picture.
It all sounds simple enough but proving that the simplest ideas may also be the most complicated to follow through, they trio share with us the challenges they faced, the lessons they learnt and the bittersweet moment they knew it was all worth it.
Off to a bumpy start
Paul Copplestone, Karl Loo and Jason Kang
From as early as the development stage, trouble came knocking.
“Right at the start we had a few dropouts of people whom we thought would be developing the app. We ended up with just me developing it,” tells Paul. It’s a problem that is persistent to this day. “Finding technical talent is hard anywhere in the world, but here in Malaysia, it’s even harder because the pool of people is very small,” he adds.
Attracting talent – the backbone of any startup – also proved a major challenge.
“People think all we need is a technical team with a bunch of coders but our journey has proven that we also need a wonderful strategy team, people who are great with sales and marketing as well as a strong operational process team,” chimes in Jason. “You can have a wonderful tech product but you also need all the other components, all functioning in tandem in a transparent conversation.”
Once you’ve obtained that talent, comes the task of retaining them.
“This company started 18 months ago as a couple of guys in a coffeeshop and now we’ve got over 75 people. There are major challenges switching from doing the work to leading a team,” shares Karl. “As a CEO, the toughest part for me was learning how to lead, motivate and manage a large group of people to prepare for future growth because we are growing as an astronomical rate.”
To a bumpier journey
Jason Kang, Karl Loo and Paul Copplestone
While the team may have found a surer footing since those early days, new challenges still arise with every inch of growth they make.
“There is a lot of glamour attached to being a tech startup – people think you just play ping pong all day, but we work extremely hard to disrupt industries,” tells Karl. “What we’ve created is a new way for people to live and work, we are changing cultural norms, which means a lot of really tough problem solving.”
For instance, expansion to Singapore and Thailand is a welcomed step in the right direction but with more regions also comes more not-so-little details to smooth out.
“How do you design an app for different languages while still trying to keep things consistent?” asks Paul as example. “The Thai language has no spaces in their sentences. Coming from New Zealand where we speak only one language and coming here where there are 4 was already a huge learning point for me, and not just on development, but in communication with the rest of the team.”
Being a startup, funding is of course, also always an issue.
“We create new markets and it’s not cheap,” Jason weighs in, “but we run things very lean. You got to look at our expenditure versus impact. It’s a pretty big ROI if we can say we created new jobs and have taken people out of near poverty states. The question shouldn’t be about how expensive, but about how much are you spending effectively. You should be measuring how much you spend against your performance outcomes.”
United in the same warcry
Paul Copplestone, Karl Loo and Jason Kang
Among them, the trio has more than a good combination of experience and skill in their respective fields but a bigger reason why ServisHero took off so fast is because of something less technical. Like most successful entrepreneurial journeys, they are driven by a cause.
“I like bringing people together and solving complex problems,” divulges Karl. “We’ve assembled a group of really talented individuals and have been able to create an environment that allows them to grow, learn and make impact. That’s incredibly satisfying to me – as a Malaysian, I can come back home and create impact to the lives of people in Southeast Asia.”
Jason agrees: “We have been getting a lot of great overseas-trained Malaysians coming back home to join us. They were struggling with whether they want to come back because they felt there was nothing inspirational to work on here. This place gives them an opportunity to create and see the direct impact.”
"A lot of people don’t ask the hard question of whether their startup is creating any real value. If you can’t justify how you’re creating that extra value then you can’t capture the market to be successful. "
On the other end, the service providers – the Heroes – are also an equally big source of motivation for the team.
Karl’s favourite story is that of a cleaner who used to clean his apartment. She joined early on and today, no longer cleans homes. Instead, she leads a 28 person cleaning company and operates in both Malaysia and Singapore.
“We created that economic opportunity for her. We created 28 new jobs just by providing that technology that enabled her to grow,” regales Karl.
So far and wide is the impact of ServisHero felt that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has got them onboard to help.
“It’s about identifying value creation,” Jason sums up. “A lot of people don’t ask the hard question of whether their startup is creating any real value; a lot of people are just copying models and bringing it in. If you can’t justify how you’re creating that extra value then you can’t capture the market to be successful."
They leave us with 3 tips to running a strong and well-oiled startup.
Karl Loo, Chief Executive Officer
Find your purpose. Defining why you exist as an organisation is really important. It took a while for us to get everyone to recognise why we’re working so hard. Because we have a strong purpose of making impacts on the lives of people in the developing world, people wake up everyday and they feel really committed. Without that drive, that unified warcry, you’re not going to maintain a momentum and you’re not going to be able to grow, especially when times are tough. (swipe left)
Jason Kang, Chief Finance Officer
Think about all the other aspects of the business; don’t just focus on creating your product. Think about the funding, branding, your target market. It’s not just about wanting a technical solution to problems, it’s about building it. Have a great team with diverse skillsets. Our success is based on the three of us coming from vastly different backgrounds. A lawyer by training, a technical person and a finance person, but we are aligned in our purpose. So you need diverse leadership but a strong united vision. (swipe left)
Paul Copplestone, Chief Technical Officer
A some stage, you’re going to have transition from doing the work to managing the work and that means building a team you can trust to do the work. Don’t wait to start going out and networking with technical people. Pretty soon, they’ll be working with you or you’ll be working with them and if you’re planning on running a technical business, you have to piece together a team that you trust. So go out and meet as many people as you can.
For more inspiration and insight into the world of tech-entrepreneurship, let's hear it from Cheryl Yeoh of Cheryl Yeoh & Co.