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Steven Goh | CEO

Steven Goh | CEO

World's laziest CEO. CEO of NinjaPear. Ex-Founder of Proxycurl (10+M), Steven founded 5 other startups: Gom VPN, Kloudsec, SilvrBullet, NuMoney, and SharedHere.

335 posts published

Product as a business model; Product as a side project

I pride myself as a Product CEO because I build great software. And currently, I have two tiny project ideas written down in my todo list. A Chrome Extension to click on a number and open the number in Whatsapp Web I use Whatsapp Web almost exclusively because I do

You will be stupid to refuse

The real world frustrates internet geeks. In the real world, everything seems so much harder. In the real world, the geeks have to put on clothes. The geeks have to go to work. The geeks actually have to make money and pay for things. Luckily the geeks these days are

How I deal with human inefficiencies

Inefficiencies irritate me. Most of the time, inefficiencies exist for a good reason. An economic reason such as cleaners being cheap makes R&D for self-cleaning toilets prohibitively expensive. A carpark attendant is still required because for some reason; asshole drivers won't take "no parking"

I am a control freak

I am what I am. But as time races by and collagen weans itself off my face, I have noticed the few times I cede control, were the few times things worked out well. Cede control in the company With LandX, I could hold onto the reins if I wanted

It pays to be uninformed

There was a time by which I made a concerted effort to stave off the intake of the news. That is because the primary intent of news reporting is to alarm. The secondary intent is to inform. This is why "Breaking News" arises so often. The TV networks

Thriving in the gray area

The giant startups that shook up our lives such as Uber and Airbnb did so because they were, by nature, disruptive. But disruption is a nicer way of saying illegal. Then they got so big so fast that regulators have no choice but to regulate them permissively, The recipe for

Planning for failure is a bad thing

Especially so for someone like me who grew up trying hard not to take money from my mother because of tight financial circumstances. In a startup world, planning for failure is a recipe for mediocrity. Fighting this old habit has proved to be one of the harder battles on par

I do best when I do not feel

My investment track record, while limited in variety, has been pretty successful. They would be way more successful when I tune out my emotions. The times I didn't were led to outcomes that were less favorable outcome: * Like how I signed away an entire company I built because

I am friends with some weird kids in Indonesia

A designer with a soft pink cap. A programmer with a hair bun. These Indonesians have been growing proportionally in my product team. We speak different native languages, but we barter in the same currency -- respect. Despite dedicating an entire post [https://nubela.co/blog/your-first-reaction-is-a-snort-of-air-out-your-nose-with-a-half-smile/] deconstructing why I

I forgot to write a blog post yesterday

No, it is not the early onset of Alzheimer's [https://nubela.co/blog/i-have-early-onset-of-alzheimers/]. It was honest to goodness forgetfulness. I am making it up right now. But it does tie in nicely with what I was ruminating about yesterday. I should slow down. What I have been

fundraising

Summary: first week of fund-raising

Last week marked the start of the fund-raising process. It was a fruitful week, and it has shaped the work ahead of me in the subsequent weeks. This post is a summary of my thoughts. Funds as comfort; funds as a weapon I am raising funds for Sapiengraph because * I

You do not have any partners in life: I snapped back, NO!

I am a Singaporean with chutzpah [https://www.yourdictionary.com/chutzpah]. A Jewish term for near-arrogant bravado. As a Singaporean Chinese living in a Confucian society, it is not an easy trait to carry. But I carry my chutzpah proudly on my sleeve. In the past, my near-arrogant bravado has

Do not be lazy like me

Yesterday, I texted a particular NUS professor seeking an introduction to a specific angel investor. That turned out to be a dud as the professor was not acquainted. And I followed up by asking: > do you know of anyone with deep pockets who like engineers, whom I should meet?

I got my first rejection today

So I pitched to a VC today, and I got a same-day response after sending over the deck. > We usually invest at Series A and often write cheques of $2-3mil for a start. Perhaps we can continue to monitor your progress? If I was any younger, I might have

You should be investing in Sapiengraph

I am from the special forces, not because I served as a Naval Diver, but because my company operates as a small but lethal team. Two years ago, when it was just Bach and me, we built a database of businesses in the Asia Pacific region. Complete with employees, their

What is the most fucked up thing you have done?

This is my favorite question for people (over drinks). I will like to think that the craziest act that you sought out willingly defines who you are as a person. And this is important to me because I seek rebels. Rebels do whatever it takes to get to the destination

I have early onset of Alzheimer's

In the last month, I lost : * My car keys. It cost me $900 to replace it, thank you BMW. * Not one, but two Stojo cups. One of it got caught in my car's convertible top because I drove off while opening the soft top. * My Mi Band 4.