Don’t be a solution trying to find a problem says Mr Nicholas Chan, 36, (centre in picture above), Founder of Azione Capital and Managing Director of Fredrik Marine IT Services. The self-taught IT professional, who was recently named the Young Professional of the Year at the IT Leader Awards 2014 by the Singapore Computer Society, shares his on-going journey with iN.SG.

What prompted you to become an IT entrepreneur and what lessons have you learnt along the way?

My financial situation back then in secondary school was difficult. I juggled up to three part-time jobs across 14 different companies during my school days, but they did not earn much. I also taught myself some IT skills and began to earn money doing tech jobs for friends and others. I was one of the early adopters – there were only two other guys like me in school who were into computers back then in the mid-1990s.

One of my teachers challenged a fellow classmate and I that if after our N levels we went ahead and started our own business, he would do our accounts for free. I did the numbers and believed it could work. As I didn’t waste time in my teen years socialising and trying to fit in, I had all the time on my hands to grow my fledging business.

The lessons I learnt were simple – do your homework, understand the market and the value you can provide. We learnt quickly there is a time and place to talk and plan, but there is also a time for action and to seize opportunities when they arose. My mentor Mr Soon Choo Teck, the Chief Executive of the Sim Lim Group, guided me and kept me grounded, holding me to my promises and my plans.

Why did you venture into the maritime IT sector?

One of my clients was the original owner of Fredrik Marine. Due to old age, he wanted to retire and spoke candidly about it to me. The concept of IT at sea intrigued me and I told him that I would like to follow him out on a job one day. That one journey convinced me that the sea was for me, with clients that are genuine, grateful and professional. The toughness of their life at sea was something I was drawn to from the start.

What technological innovations in the maritime IT sector do you foresee in the near future which gets you excited?

The rapid growth of affordable satellite Internet connectivity at sea in the past half decade has been a key proponent towards bringing basic IT functions that we have grown accustomed to onshore such as cheap voice calls via VoIP, mobile web browsing and WhatsApp to those sailing the oceans. I see a great number of shore-based technologies that have the potential to be refactored for use at sea to improve planning, crew morale and reduce operating costs.

The ICT industry is constantly evolving with narrow windows of opportunity to be the first to market with a new product or service. Should new entrants follow the traditional route of working for a company and gaining experience before striking out on their own or should they take the plunge and start their own business?

I believe anyone who wishes to start their own venture should always gain experience, relevant or otherwise, so that their decisions are weighed with wisdom and not wished. Having a mentor that is willing to “say it as it is” is also a must-have if one is to effectively excise one’s ego and pride – two critical factors which must be nipped in the bud as early as possible.

Beyond having a good idea for a new product or service, what else does it take to be successful?

I like to quote my secondary school’s (Monk’s Hill Secondary School) motto – the will to win. It is critical to have an inner desire to succeed in life and not rely on the opinion of others to determine your worth.

Additionally, as no man is an island, building up a management team with a strong moral compass and the desire to serve others profitably is the next step in building a multi-faceted, well-balanced team. We are seeing an increasing amount of lean start-ups with two founders namely the CEO and CTO. I find this to be unscalable. I see that a three-founder team made up of a visionary salesperson, a focused operator and an operational marketeer to be the equivalent of an equilateral triangle – the strongest shape in nature.

It is often said that in the field of innovation, making progress means taking risks and making brilliant blunders. Has this been your experience?

No, this has not exactly been my experience. This concept has been touted by liberals in recent years as the “lean start-up” method where people will take risks in industries they don’t understand, doing things they don’t know, work with people they have never worked with before, be motivated by banal concepts of success-by-technology and honestly hoping that somehow or somewhere all this alchemy will result in gold.

My journey has been a mishmash of “enough talk, let’s do it”, “we have the expertise/clients/market space, why not?” and “I am not sure about this, but it sure seems like we can make something out of this”. Most of the risks are calculated and measured while blunders are just that – blunders. We don’t make excuses for ourselves labelling bugs as “features”.

What advice would you give someone thinking of joining the ICT sector?

Understand your clients and do not see them as guinea pigs for your proposed solutions. Walk a mile in their shoes and when you fall, pick yourself up and be wiser from the experience. Don’t be a solution trying to find a problem. Don’t fall so much in love with technology that you lose sight of your clients’ needs. You won’t be doing anyone including yourself a favour.