BIO: Andre Hsu is a thinker and business strategist based in Singapore. He is the author of three books about qualities, mindsets, and frameworks relevant to business, which he observed in several business tycoons who left a deep and lasting impact on his life.
STORY: Andre partnered with a software company with an excellent business idea, but the partners were poor in managing the company and selling the product, so it failed. Andre lost his entire investment.
LEARNING: Research the people who own a business as much as you research the business.
“No matter how great the idea is, you’ll not succeed if you cannot trust your partner.”
Andre Hsu
Guest profile
Andre Hsu is a thinker and business strategist based in Singapore. He started his entrepreneurial journey at 17, working on a real estate project while juggling three academic degrees completed concurrently in Australia.
He is the author of three books about qualities, mindsets, and frameworks that are relevant for business which he observed in several business tycoons who left a deep and lasting impact on his life.
Andre likes to use multiple techniques to read, predict people, assess situations, and formulate strategies that are suitable for properties and negotiations, deal structuring related to the assets.
He likes to educate, share knowledge, insights, and reasoning of strategies to business associates who then proceed to implement them. He looks forward to doing this with people who share similar values and visions.
Worst investment ever
After finishing university, Andre went into the family business, and after a while, he decided to venture into his own business pursuits. He got involved in a small software company that was dealing with Point-of-Service systems.
At the time, this was a very lucrative business because not many companies were using POS systems. Andre was, therefore, happy to partner with the company and invest in this venture.
The mistake Andre made was investing in people who didn’t take the business part of the venture seriously. They only created a good product, but they never invested in sales or management, so the product never really took off.
Lessons learned
- You need to research the people who own a business as much as you research the business.
Andrew’s takeaways
- When investing in a startup, you need to look for trust, a good idea, the ability to execute the idea, and capital.
Actionable advice
If you cannot trust the person you want to partner with, forget the idea. No matter how great the idea is, you’ll not succeed if you cannot trust your partner.
No. 1 goal for the next 12 months
Andre Hsu’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to step back from the business and have his partners run it to have more time to do strategic thinking and come up with new ideas.
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