Talk by CEO of Moving Walls

Front row, third from right: Srikanth with the audience

Moving Walls Pte Ltd Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Srikanth Ramachandran gave a talk titled “Entrepreneurship – Why, How, What, When” on 16 March 2018 at Sungai Long Campus. It was a part of a series of entrepreneurial talks organised by Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) and Department of Consultancy and Commercialisation.

The one-hour talk saw more than 100 students and staff in attendance. Also present was LKC FES lecturer Wong Chim Chwee. The talk was about the startup process of an entrepreneur. According to Srikanth, an entrepreneur should be able to identify problems that are faced by people in their daily lives and work out the solutions to it.

“In everyday life, you will notice problems that could be solved. If your solution is real and tangible, that means you are on the right track. If you are not solving a problem, then there is no reason for the business to exist. Almost 10billion USD is spent in Asia for outdoor advertising, without any data science behind it. So no one knew why they were spending the money. This is a problem that was worth solving,” he said, sharing his reminiscence of the initial idea of Moving Walls back in 2012. With that, he came out with the idea to measure offline advertisements by measuring online data through platforms such as social media.

Srikanth giving his talk

He added, “Other than identifying the problem and the solution, the vital element in making a business successful is passion. Questions and doubts are inescapable— you may question yourself whether or not you are doing the right thing, or if this journey is worth the while, but unless you have the passion you will not see this through.”

The challenges that await in the entrepreneurial world is tough, thus one cannot survive alone. Therefore, both team and mentors are needed. He stressed out, “You need to make a team that would support and uphold your dream, in order to move forward.” In terms of mentor, he asked to keep a close relationship with them, “These mentors know you very well and they don’t give you textbook answers. They will figure out ways to keep your momentum and commitment.”

In answering the question of when a person should become an entrepreneur, Srikanth did not put a range of age instead, he emphasised on the right time. He took an example of Bill Gates who started as early as 18 years old compared to him who worked for years before deciding to begin his own startup. In this case, both were right. If the idea makes sense and it is ready to be put into practice, then there is no better time to begin. If an idea is either late or ahead of its time it may fail.

Srikanth advised, “You are going to make mistakes. You will not get it right for the first time. What’s more important is knowing how you are going to learn from that mistake.”

Wong (left) presenting the token of appreciation to Srikanth