What makes #JoelNeoh of #Groupon tick?

Joel is at the forefront of the next generation in entrepreneurship.

His first successful business venture was a million dollar student agency start up at age 20.

In 2007, Joel made waves in the business scene when he won a popular corporate reality TV show, The Firm as the youngest contestant.

He then set up Youth Asia and expanded it into an award winning group of internet companies.

Joel is currently overseeing the operations of Groupon offices in India, Singapore and Thailand as Vice President and General Manager, while continuing his role as the CEO of Groupon Malaysia– all part of the NASDAQ publiclisted Groupon [GRPN], the world’s fastest growing company ever (noted by Forbes).

Joel was published on the cover of Men’s Health Magazine and named to the “Top 40 Under 40″ list in 2011. In 2012, Joel was appointed as a key line-up speaker for The London Speaker Bureau and Asian Business Angel Forum.

Joel also serves in the Advisory Board for the School of Business, Monash University.

Joel is one of the talents which were featured under the Talent Roadmap 2020 Book, by TalentCorp and Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Ann:  As we know that your first success was a million ringgit business venture at the age of 20 while still in university. What ignited the spark in you to start a new business venture? How did the idea for your business come about?

Joel: When I was young, I always believed that to succeed in life, passion is an important recipe. The drive to study hard came from my parents who wanted me to do well academically.  By the age of 19, I began my campus life and started to explore my options besides my course of study. Despite enrolling into an engineering programme, the concept of marketing, organization development and value proposition fascinated me. 

This fascination eventually had me sneaking into my friend’s business classes in my university. While exploring the business syllabus, I also ventured into sports and fashion to experiment and see how far I could go. Modelling after famous brands and representing Malaysia in Australia for rock climbing was an exciting opportunity which paved my journey to be more fulfilling.

Despite all the opportunities which came my way, the curiosity to build a business continuously grew in me. This led me to starting up a student agency when I was 20, where I earned my first million within the year of the business inception, which also thought me to be a wiser businessman moving forward. The first milestone only affirmed me of my passion for entrepreneurship. I then joined a corporate reality show, the Malaysian version of ‘The Apprentice’, to further showcase my interest in taking up entrepreneurship as a career. 

Joining the show and winning it was the only way to get my parents to support my decision to venture out of engineering despite graduating as one of top three students in my engineering programme. Although I was the youngest contestant, I came in as a winner and my journey as an entrepreneur continued with the blessings from my parents.

I then co-founded Youth Asia, an award winning group of companies that invests in launching and growing innovative companies in the internet industry. The company also won the coveted Dream Malaysia Awards: Youth Friendly Company of the Year in 2007. My passion for working with youth and entrepreneurship continued with National Youth Entrepreneur Convention, which took place in 2008, 2009 and 2010. 

The NYEC is the first and the largest youth entrepreneurship conference, featuring top Malaysian entrepreneurs under the age of 30 and gathering over thousands of youth for three consistent years. The 2010 festival, YOUTH’10 generated over RM6 million worth of PR value and won #1 Promotional Activity of the Year at The Malaysian Public Relations Awards 2010.

Through these series of events, I was then inspired to formulate a business model which would also shape and grow the e-commerce space in Malaysia, realising the potential it holds. When I came across the Groupon model, it struck me that collecting the power of people to pursue good deals was a great concept which we would love to adapt here in Malaysia. 

With the wealth of knowledge and fundamentals in establishing social web-based projects from my YouthAsia experience it was relatively straightforward for us to setup a similar model in Malaysia. In September 2010, I set up Groupsmore along with eight other dynamic young individuals. With brand differentiation and unique positioning, Groupon US then invited us to be a part of their family in January 2011 and today with over 48 offices in Malaysia, and 38 million customers worldwide, I am currently overseeing the operations of Groupon in India, Singapore, Thailand while leading my team in Malaysia.

Ann: How do you see yourself in 10 years time?

Joel: 10 years is a long time. For me the best is yet to come, so I’ll strive harder to see how far and how much difference I can make especially in the area of social e-commerce in Asia. The potential of this channel is vast and one of my goals is to seek for opportunities which would support my vision to develop and grow the e-commerce space to its fullest potential in Asia.

Ann: What are some of the pros and cons of being an entrepreneur?

Joel:  

Pros

• Excitement: Due to its high capacity for risk, there is a lot of adventure.
• Less bureaucracy: Fluid organisations and less red tape
• Flexibility: Entrepreneurs can schedule their work hours to spend quality time with family or any other reason.

Cons

• Work schedule: The work schedule of an entrepreneur is never predictable; an emergency can come up in a matter of a second and late hours will have to be put in.
• To find the right talent for the right role: Individuals who are misfit for a role might slowdown the growth of a business so it’s always important to screen through talents to ensure both the company and individualwould achieve desired growth.

Ann: Looking back on your experience, which of the following do you feel is the most critical:

Joel: Good attitude leads to positive differentiation.Differentiation sets you a part from others and accelerates personal growth even further.

Ann: What are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?

Joel: Hunger to learn, passion and good time management.

Ann: Who has been your greatest inspiration?

Joel: I must say my parents. My parents, who are both academician had always motivated me to give my best in whatever I pursue.

Ann: What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur?

Joel:  Always stay hungry to learn, change and improve – always believe the best has yet to come.

Ann: How do you define success?

Joel: You’ve heard the cliché, success is a journey, not a destination which I agree. To attain success, there needs to be a series of goals you set for yourself as per your own definition of being truly successful. Overtime your goals evolves, thus your action in realising your goals has to be consistent to coin success. For me, success is when I have the peace of mind and personal fulfilment that I am consistently making a difference to benefit a larger community.

- Source : Post by Chew Ting Ann, ASEANpreneur Malaysia's ambassador, 2013, www.aseanpreneurs.org