Alternative CV

Richard is a serial startup junkie.

He left a safe normal career in Finance and Accounting in 1996 to join a bunch of guys to start up an internet business. Netscape had recently listed and this thing called the internet looked kinda interesting. After a few months he concluded that the business was going nowhere and he went back to a safe normal job in 1997. The bunch of guys continued and today call themselves Jobstreet.com Lesson number 1. You make mistakes.

While he was working his safe normal job he managed to get state government funds to build an internet incubation centre. It was called Johor Incubation Centre, jic.net.my. It helped young people create business plans for internet based and technology ideas. JIC launched in 1999 at about the time of the dotcom boom and at one stage, valued itself at RM100m. Lesson number 2. It is a very great danger when you believe your own bulls***. He closed JIC.net in 2002 shortly before his contract expired. Lesson number 3. Even safe normal jobs are not.

Having not much to do and being rather impossible to hire he helped a bunch of guys start a software company. IKCM (Integrated Knowledge and Campus Management Sdn Bhd) today produces ERP systems for Universities. www.ikcm.com.my IKCM has made a lot of money and lost a lot of money. Lesson number 4. Listen to your wife.

He helped some friends build an internet stock exchange for high quality wristwatches. He travelled frequently to London and Geneva. www.twr6060.com failed spectacularly and burned a lot of resources.

In 2003 he got a grant from Cradle www.cradle.com.my and set out to build an Online Company Secretarial System www.sdnbhd.net.my. It failed to launch and has now morphed into www.berhad.net Berhad.net is currently being developed on dot.net and hopes to launch in the first quarter of 2009.

In 2004 he assisted some friends list on Mesdaq. He owns about 5% of www.tmsasia.com He is still working out what lesson this will teach.

In 2005 he helped some Australian friends to build an accounting outsourcing business in Cyberjaya to service accounting firms in Australia. www.macqos.com.au This was sold in 2006 to MYOB.

In 2006 he became a Cartographer and applied for a patent to convert latitude and longitude to a single string. He is now trying to change the world's postcode. Some people are concerned that he has gone completely mad. Proof of this is www.geotude.com and www.ziptu.de

In 2007 he started an outfit; Ruby on Rails Sdn Bhd and renamed the holding company as Web 2.0 Sdn Bhd. If you do not understand the significance of both these names, then it really does not matter. It is still too early for any lessons from this. In any case Richard is quite beyond salvage and not much can help anymore.