Cameron Priest

For those of you on the cusp of starting your startup, the CEO of TradeGecko shares some pointers that made all the difference to his journey. 

Entrepreneurship is not something cut out for everyone, save for those with the strongest of determination, willpower and perseverance. Yet, as high as the stakes are, the rewards are many times more so. 

Just ask Cameron Priest, the CEO of TradeGecko, an inventory management software for wholesalers that centralises business operations. 

“There have been many challenging times but the worst was getting close to running out of cash!” he recalls.

First conceived in 2012, TradeGecko was officially launched a year later to provide small-medium business owners an easy way to manage their inventories by syncing new purchase orders, multiple sales channels, accounting softwares and shipping platforms so owners can focus on building the vision.

Three years, more than SG$10million in seed-funding raised and thousands of decisions made by means of trial and error later, it is today running strong under the leadership of Priest and his team of over 90 people.

The harder it gets, the more Priest thrives on it.

“There’s a new learning curve every day,” he says, “In the realm of things to know, I’m still on the bottom rung. Going from someone who executes, to someone who sees the vision and “edits” is a hard thing to learn.” 

Yet there isn’t anything else he’d rather be doing.

“It’s always been crystal clear. Freedom of choice has always been a number one priority for me,” he divulges. “It’s really the only possible role I could imagine that could allow anyone to do anything they want. I choose to build a business and go after any problem that I believe needs solving.”

For those of you on the cusp of starting your own, he has also shared some pointers that made all the difference to his journey. 


Burn the boats

Screen Shot 2016-04-12 at 2.23.02 PM.png(source)

There is no such thing as being uncertain or dividing your attention with entrepreneurship. “Force yourself to commit completely and focus. If time management is your weakness, schedule everything. Everything.” 


Have a good team

Screen Shot 2016-04-12 at 2.23.19 PM.png(source)

You’re not the only one who needs to be racing towards the goal; your teammates need to, too. “It helped a lot to have co-founders who were amazing at the areas I was weak. My investors have been super helpful and I learned a lot of the start-up community along the way.” 


Just do it 

Screen Shot 2016-04-12 at 3.19.44 PM.png(source)

You’ll never be 100% ready, but you’ll never take off without taking the leap either. “Execution is by far and away everything. The classic quote “1% inspiration 99% perspiration” is true for business. The other big one is that you just need to start.”


(Photos:TradeGecko)

More tips to making it in the business world: Timothy Tiah shares how he maximises productivity at work.