ACV17: They Left Their Jobs to Start a Snowboard Tours Company (Alex Hsu & Daphne Goh, Founders of The Ride Side, Part 1)

Alternative CV

On this podcast, I talk to Alex and Daphne about the leap from full time job to new startup founder, with an honest and realistic assessment of its challenges.
Alex Hsu (@alexhsuu) and Daphne Goh (@daphghq) cofounded the Ride Side in 2015, a company that organises ski and snowboard trips for people living in Singapore (an odd concept, given that the temperature is on average 33 degrees Celsius all year round in Singapore). Since then, they have run trips for over 2000 happy customers to ski resorts in Japan, New Zealand and Switzerland. They have also recently opened Singapore’s first snowboard retail and fitting studio.
3 things I learned
1. Dig into every resource that you’ve got around you. Venturing into a start-up can be quite expensive but if you’ve got a friend who designs and creates websites and another friend who’s a social media influencer, then use them. Before you know it you’ll see the responses kicking in and your business will be taking off.
2. Money takes time. It might be two or three years before you truly start earning a salary, so the thing that will keep you going, even on the bad days, will be your passion. Create a product that benefits you before it does anyone else and it will do the work for you.
3. Running a start-up alone can be difficult, but the alternative can also have its own challenges. You not only need someone to share the same vision as you but the working style, ethics and even temperament need to balance out. Remember, synergy is key.