By Brian Wong
Our business, Usku, is developing a SaaS (Software as Service) delivery marketplace platform for home businesses to support their venture in reaching out to our community of drivers and customers.
Initially, Usku was aimed at diminishing the boundaries of delivery by making it flexible, reliable, efficient and fast.
We wanted to apply these attributes to delivery on an international level.
Picture this, you are travelling to London for work and you forgot an important document that was left at home and you needed it within the week. Usku can get it to you within three days.
However, after COVID, we discovered a new market and have pivoted to target it. Our service now offers a marketplace for home businesses, SMEs and farmers based in Melbourne, Australia.
Your shopping centre is going online except we support local products rather than imported products. This journey has been ultimately challenging.
Growing up in Malaysia, I didn’t get much support to embark on the entrepreneurial journey immediately after graduation.
But believing in the potential of this idea has given me the determination and passion to pursue Usku’s success.
With a background in cybersecurity and web and app development, I had little to no experience with running a business let alone starting one!
But with perseverance comes results and eventually, I started seeing the way through. The only business owner I know is my mom, and without giving in to her critics, she eventually gave me valuable advice and direction.
Firstly, validating the idea and building a team. Putting together a team that was willing to meet and work for free was not the right way to do it but I didn’t know better then.
We eventually started with a team of eight people with different degrees and ambitions all sharing the same passion for Usku but what we lacked was a co-founder – someone to lead with me.
Our team started to dwindle after months of trial and error and eventually, our team members had changed four times. Those that left felt we weren’t aggressive enough. Finally, with three co-founders, we launched our MVP (minimum viable product) into the market halfway through last year.
That same year, we received more than 550 users and 70 plus business partners. Without any marketing, we had a revenue of more than AUD$30,000 in less than four months.
In conclusion, being an entrepreneur is not about fancy titles or owning a business, but a long race that requires patience, an unfaltering spirit, and opportunity.
You need to believe in the potential of your product and idea before anyone does and you should validate your idea before raising funds.
Read more books and do more research before spending all your savings into developing something only you need!
About the Author: Brian Wong is the CEO of Usku Technologies. He founded the company in 2020 alongside co-founders Joey Guesdan and Fahmi Zack.
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