2 January 2020

ACV18: Entreprenuership, Overcoming Challenges And Ski Tips For Beginners (Alex Hsu & Daphne Goh, Founders of The Ride Side, Part 2)

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.

On this podcast, I continue the conversation with Alex and Daphne. We discuss a wide range of topics, from entreprenuership to common mistakes beginners make when buying ski and snowboard gear.

3 THINGS I LEARNED

  1. We’re standing on the shoulders of giants, so never be afraid to seek help and learn from others. They’ve paved the way for you so don’t waste valuable time by starting from scratch. Validate your idea but take responses with a pinch of salt.
  2. Do not be afraid of failure. Before starting their business, Alex and Daphne asked themselves ‘what’s the worst that could happen? We fail.’ But that’s not where the options end. Failure leaves you with wisdom and you can take this with you on all the adventures that are still waiting to happen.
  3. Don’t be a perfectionist. Find your minimum viable product (MVP) and just roll with it. Even if it’s at 80% just roll with it and the last 20% that will make it perfect will come along on the way.

REFERENCES MADE

  • Minimum viable product (MVP)-is aproductwith just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for futureproductdevelopment.
  • Powder boards- refers to snowboards used in a popular snow condition on the mountains called‘powder’.It occurs after heavy snowfall and the low moisture content and structure ofpowdercan give skiers andsnowboardersthe feeling of floating over the snow, making for a magical ride
  • Alex and Daphne’s website: www.therideside.com

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