Hunger
Hunger! That was the word that stood out the most from our conversation with Jeffrey Paine.
Having spent the early years of his career in China, Jeffrey Paine has always been exposed to competitive environments. After co-founding a market entry advisory firm there, he decided to move to the US. He worked in an equally demanding environment of Silicon Valley. Right at the heart of the Valley, Jeffrey Paine experienced it all, both the electrifying and palpable atmosphere of innovation that enveloped his work. And the grueling 14 hour workdays, living off nothing but instant ramen. Yet, it was actually his experiences in these two places that cemented the significance that hunger held for him. To him, this determination and drive that he observed and felt were what he believed separated successful entrepreneurs from the others.
Entrepreneur Paine
Since his beginnings in private equity, Jeffrey Paine has moved on to become one of the most prominent entrepreneurs in Singapore. He’s known as the Director of Founder Institute and Executive Director of Battle Ventures. Jeffrey Paine is the CEO of Pyrks Pte Ltd and a founding partner of Golden Gate Ventures. Aware of all his achievements, we were naturally intimidated as we prepared to meet him for the first time. But he was different from what we had imagined him to be like. Exuding a sort of laid-back charisma that disarmed us, we settled down into our discussion. He was friendly, warm and down-to-earth. His earnest demeanor quickly dispelled all our fears.
Session With Paine
Our short session with Jeffrey Paine was enlightening and entertaining. Behind that exterior of a successful entrepreneur, lay an easygoing, quirky and passionate individual that loves ideas and innovation. In fact, the personal stories he shared were so infectious that we suddenly found ourselves considering careers as entrepreneurs at the end of the day. As he spoke about some of his mentees and the innovative ideas they came up with, we began to feel that very passion. There was just something different a new gleam in his eyes, a different tone to his voice and a sudden life within him all emerged as went through the details and intricacies of the ideas.
His Genuity
But more than that, we felt his sincerity and concern for his mentees as he revealed minor details of their relationships. As he connected with us, we could feel that same genuity. He shares that he very much welcomes new ideas and new people, and that his network is a big part of his work and success. Being not only a mentor, but the person who set up Founder Institute in Asia, he is most uniquely qualified to aid starting entrepreneurs and provide them with sound advice another reason why many have approached him or tried desperately to enter the program at Founder Institute.
As he revealed more and more about the program and what took place at Founder Institute, we found out just how tough and yet fulfilling the experience could be. We also found out more about his company, Pyrks. Pyrks takes over the hassle of handling employee benefits from its clients. Thoughts of trying our hand at entrepreneurship, once again, slowly crept into our heads as we heard innovation after innovation from him.
Jeffrey Paine is an entrepreneur with a big vision and a warm personality. Lend him your ears and he will be more than willing to share his wealth of experience with you!
You may want toread about our 2012 guest, Greg Hauw, here after this.
