Start Up with Trust

Wong Wai Ken
Country Manager, StashAway Malaysia

On whether big really is better: “People tend to think that big is better. For example, banks are too big to fail, as they have more to lose. But ultimately a question that needs to be answered is, “Does it align to your interest?”

On how technology and communication builds trust: “We get questions all the time about how our technology works in helping people to invest. Having technology doesn’t mean people trust us more. What they want to know is how we can protect their interests if they put their trust in us.”

Francesca Chia
Co-Founder and CEO, GoGet Malaysia

On earning trust: “Trust is at the heart of any business, but it’s the one thing you don’t have in the early days of starting up. So you have to buy, borrow or create trust.*”

On being aligned: “Experience is important. I ask everyone we work with, “Have you tried it (the GoGet app)?” because you need to experience it before you can begin to trust us.”

On how big and small co-exist: “Sometimes, an established reputation may hinder big businesses from entering a new market. To address that, a company may spend time cultivating a separate brand identity through spin-off businesses that’s disassociated from the mother brand.”
 

^{*in promoting the startup in the early stages}

Dinesh Ratnam
Director, Catcha Group

On the importance of values in investor-startup relationships: “Just because you have someone’s trust on day one, doesn’t mean you have their trust in year three. As investors, we want to work with founders who share the same values; we continuously re-evaluate our relationship to make this work.”

On scaling trust with technology: “Building and then replicating trust across a community takes a long time, but technology allows you to scale that, and build trust faster. Putting a service on a platform crowdsources trust by allowing people to weed out the negatives, and share the positives - the platforms then become a ‘trust bank’.”