When going all in doesn’t pay off: Meet the ex-entrepreneurs who chased their dreams and failed

The dream of starting a business can be alluring, but founders told CNA TODAY that the reality often meant punishing hours, financial sacrifice and the sobering discovery that even a useful idea may not make for a viable business.

Mr Admond Lee, who co-founded a financial technology startup that hit trouble, on Sep 7, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Lim Li Ting)

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In 2017, Ms Madeline Toh left a promising corporate career to take over a handmade udon restaurant in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia.

She had learnt through a friend that the two owners of the restaurant were retiring to return to Tokyo and were looking for someone to take over.

"I had a pretty solid corporate career trajectory that I was actually looking forward to," said Ms Toh, who was then 28 and a management trainee at a multinational company.

But the draw of running her own business was too strong especially since the restaurant was already up and running, with staff and equipment in place.

It was the opportunity Ms Toh, who had long imagined opening a cafe or restaurant of her own, had been waiting for.

After taking over the restaurant, Ms Toh and her three investors expanded into two more outlets in KL selling freshly made tamagoyaki (Japanese omelette) – a concept that became popular and drew media attention.

But by late 2019, declining footfall and mounting costs forced Ms Toh and her partners to decide whether to commit more funds or walk away.

By then they had pumped S$150,000 (US$118,000) into the business and in the end they chose to wind up the business.

"Winding the business down seemed like a failure," said Ms Toh.

Like her, many workers in Singapore feel the need to scratch that itch of venturing out on their own and starting a business.

A 2026 survey by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) found that out of 11,389 accountancy and finance professionals across 160 countries, 54 per cent wanted to become entrepreneurs at some point in their careers.

The survey included 140 respondents in Singapore and found that 46 per cent of them had similar aspirations.

Another 2022 study by the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) and insurer Great Eastern, which surveyed 2,500 Singaporeans aged 16 to 25, found that one in five respondents under 20 was looking to start a business.

While the appetite for starting a business remains strong, the challenge of launching and sustaining a business has doused the fire of many an aspiring entrepreneur.

Former business owners told CNA TODAY that striking out on their own proved harder than they had imagined, and that failure is the norm, not the exception.

Figures from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) from January to August this year show this too: While 56,548 business entities were formed in Singapore, 42,741 ceased.

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Ms Madeline Toh pictured in Orchard Road on Sep 8, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Mak Jia Kee)

100-HOUR WORK WEEKS, ENDLESS PIVOTING

The startup formula can seem deceptively linear and simple: have an idea, raise money, scale fast and, if all goes well, become the next unicorn, or a company valued at over US$1 billion (S$1.27 billion).

However, as many founders told CNA TODAY, the reality is much harsher. Hard work, they found, does not always translate into wins – and many were blindsided by unexpected challenges.

Mr Admond Lee was 27 when he quit a steady job in data science to take the leap into the unknown, even when he "wasn't entirely sure about his business idea".

In 2021, he joined the Entrepreneur First incubator, a programme that brings aspiring founders together to develop startup ideas. He met his co-founder at this programme.

The pair spent the next two years trying to find a viable business idea, pivoting four times and exploring ideas such as an app for food delivery riders and food and beverage (F&B) recruitment before settling on a financial technology (fintech) product that would help digital lenders access small and medium-size enterprises' financial data.

Even when they finally landed on the idea, it was no silver bullet.

Looking back, Mr Lee said he and his co-founder had effectively adapted a model they had seen in the United Kingdom without doing enough research into whether it would work in Singapore.

Since neither founder came from a fintech background, they spent roughly six months understanding the problem and another three months building the product.

Once they had the product ready, they approached prospective customers, but few were willing to bite. Some raised compliance concerns, while others simply didn't think it was worth paying for.

The S$100,000 they had raised was rapidly running out with no paying customers to show for it.

"We spent almost a year building the product and talking to customers, but we ended up with no revenue and no commitment. Eventually we ran out of cash," said Mr Lee, now 32.

Their final hope, an acquihire deal where a startup is purchased for the skills of employees rather than the product, fell through after four months of negotiations, leaving them with no revenue, no fresh funding and little choice but to shut down.

After I shut down the company, the next four to five months were the darkest period of my life.

"After I shut down the company, the next four to five months were the darkest period of my life," said Mr Lee, who suffered bouts of burnout during this period.

"My expectation was that I'd raise money from investors, make money, exit the business, get rich and retire. The reality was very different."

Mr Lee said that if he had stayed in his full-time job, he would have earned at least S$200,000 over those last two years and attained at least a senior or managerial role.

"I thought I was going to become the next Anthony Tan," said Mr Lee, referring to the co-founder of ride-hailing app Grab.

"Instead, after two years of building my company, I was back to almost nothing, and some of my friends were mostly senior-level executives, with some already at the C-suite level."

After shutting down his first startup in 2023, Mr Lee joined a friend’s influencer marketing agency as a full-time chief technology officer and minority shareholder, helping to build its tech arm from scratch.

The business was acquired about a year later. Mr Lee then started The Runway Ventures, a newsletter that shares failed startup stories and lessons from founders in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Mr Varick Lim left his job in 2023 to co-found a tech startup that used artificial intelligence to help consumer-facing companies consolidate and analyse customer feedback. (Photo: CNA/Lim Li Ting)

For software engineer Mr Varick Lim, he was taken in by the deluge of success stories about other founders who had set up businesses and made it big.

With his background in tech, Mr Lim said entrepreneurship seemed like a natural next step, something he "should be" doing.

He left his job in 2023 to co-found a tech startup that used artificial intelligence (AI) to help consumer-facing companies consolidate and analyse customer feedback.

However, Mr Lim soon realised that being a founder involved far more than building a product.

"Part of being a business owner is that you have a lot of responsibility. Every question, every decision goes back to you, and I didn't like that," he said.

He also had to take on other day-to-day responsibilities which he neither enjoyed nor wanted to pursue.

"I didn't enjoy most parts of the job, especially sales. It was new and uncomfortable, and I kind of sucked at it."

As a founder, he didn't get much time to do what he enjoyed: building and making products.

Mr Lim said that because his start-up was venture-backed, there was pressure to become profitable and deliver returns of 20 times or more on investors’ money, something he soon realised was not what he wanted.

I didn't enjoy most parts of the job, especially sales. It was new and uncomfortable, and I kind of sucked at it.

"I was spending a lot of time on the business, and I wasn't doing much else that I enjoyed. So even though I'd get some wins in the business, I didn't feel much satisfaction."

He added that he was well aware of the challenges that came with setting up a business, but he hadn't thought it would be that painful.

"I've played sports and used to be a performer, so I'm used to tough rehearsals, training and late nights. That kind of pain can still feel rewarding," said Mr Lim.

"With the business, I think the difference was that I honestly didn't have a strong conviction about why I was doing it."

Mr Lim closed the business in 2024 and is now working as a full-time software engineer at an early-stage tech startup.

Despite all the high-profile tech startup success stories, the sector also proved tough going for Ms Lu Mei Ling, who built up an AI health-tech firm, pouring nearly all her savings into the business.

The 35-year-old was no stranger to gruelling hours, having worked 80-hour weeks in management consulting. Even so, co-founding a startup took that intensity to a whole new level. With the United States as its main market, she and her co-founder once worked more than 100 hours a week, taking calls early in the morning or late at night and travelling to meet customers, collaborators and other partners.

"I really couldn't take any break. The funding from the venture capitalist was in the bank the week after my second baby was born," said Ms Lu, who gave birth to two of her children while running the startup.

The company eventually attracted more than 150,000 users globally and developed patented technology, but its business model did not generate enough revenue to keep the company afloat. Ms Lu made the difficult decision to step away in 2025, and the company was formally shuttered this year.

"We went really all in. It was really a bitter moment to say that this is where it ends for me," said Ms Lu, who also suffered from burnout from the venture.

BRILLIANT IDEAS CAN'T ALWAYS MAKE MONEY

Former business owners told CNA TODAY that aside from putting in immeasurable time and effort, what they learnt was that the best-intentioned ideas do not necessarily translate into successful ventures.

For example, Mr Cedrik Lim, 32, started uWave with three other co-founders in late 2019 as a fourth-year student at Nanyang Technological University. ⁠⁠The app allowed students to track campus shuttle buses, generate their class timetables, check campus crowds, and served as a forum for students. At its peak, he said about 90 per cent of NTU's student population was using the platform. The company later expanded to the National University of Singapore, where it attracted several thousand more users, and raised US$260,000 in an early funding round.

"We realised that we cannot just focus on getting students to use the app. How are we going to make money?"

He added that while students thought uWave was useful, they were not willing to pay for the app. Furthermore, student activity also fell during term holidays, making usage seasonal.

The company later tried selling uWave directly to universities and eventually secured a paid pilot. But getting the pilot off the ground took about nine months – a punishing sales cycle for a young company that was continuing to burn through cash in the meantime.

Ultimately, the business wasn't viable. He decided to close it in 2023.

"You build something that's helpful for people, but if you can't earn anything out of it, then there's no business in it. It's just a project," said Mr Cedrik Lim.

For other fledgling businesses, securing investment can feel like a major breakthrough. But funding is only one part of building a profitable company.

Ms Lu's health-tech company raised more than US$1 million in venture funding, but she said some aspiring founders, including herself, fail to appreciate the discipline required in spending capital and facing the challenge of turning that investment into revenue.

"If the money is not revenue, it's borrowed money," she said, adding that founders should build leanly towards clear revenue targets.

She added the other challenge was timing. While AI and AI-related products are now all the rage, Ms Lu said the company entered the AI space when the technology was still relatively nascent and unfamiliar to many consumers.

People weren't used to AI in their healthcare products, so the team had to spend considerable effort educating the market.

"Being too early in the game sometimes is just not really that fun," she said.

Mr Cedrik Lim, who co-founded a firm with an app used by thousands of university students, but that could not be monetised. (Photo: Cedrik Lim)

PICKING UP THE PIECES

As painful as shuttering their business was for many founders, deciding their next move after closure was equally daunting.

Some founders said that their time as business owners had forced them to wear many hats. As such, they later found it hard to fit into corporate roles that demanded more specialised skills.

Mr Admond Lee and Ms Lu said this made their return to full-time employment after their business ventures particularly challenging.

"I was a tech guy, but I also did product, business and sales," Mr Lee said.

"I've always been a generalist, so it was difficult for me to fit into a job market that, most of the time, is looking for specialists."

For some, it was a relief not to have to call the shots anymore.

After winding up her F&B business in 2019, Ms Toh started an assistant manager role in e-commerce.

"I was quite happy to go back (to corporate life) because ... that meant I still had somebody else to guide me and coach me," she said.

"For once I felt: 'Okay, I'm not doing this entirely alone'," added Ms Toh, who is still in e-commerce.

Mr Varick Lim, too, returned to full-time work as a software engineer at another tech company in Singapore.

"As an employee, even (when) I've been given a lot of work, I know that if I can't handle it, there's someone else above me to handle it. That gives me a lot of relief," he said.

Others haven't ruled entrepreneurship out, but would approach it more cautiously after experiencing failure.

Mr Cedrik Lim is more cautious about growing too quickly. After uWave ended, he moved into full-time employment, joining dating app Tantan as its head of product for two years.

Rather than quitting immediately, Mr Cedrik Lim built a new product, Hopper.so, on the side for about a year, working after hours and on weekends with a lean team. Hopper.so is a platform for online educators to sell courses and host their community.

Once the product was ready, he left his corporate role in May this year to work on it full-time. But he's now more measured about what he wants for his current venture.

"You have to accept that startups are high-risk. But I'm not aiming for my startup to become a unicorn – my target is now different," he said, adding that he will focus on growing Hopper’s customer base, before he will even entertain thoughts of scaling up.

While some former business owners have no plans to venture into the entrepreneurial space again, others weren't set on ruling it out.

Even after facing all the bumps along the way, Ms Toh said she enjoyed the problem-solving process, and the immediacy of her decisions was a major plus.

"The flexibility was something I enjoyed. If I thought we should sell something the following week, we could just do it," she said. "In (the) corporate (world), launching a new product could take a year."

Unlike some of the other founders, she also finds that recruiters and employers value her entrepreneurship experience when she applies for new roles.

"I'm glad I made the decision (to run my own business). Even though it didn't work out in the end, it's still a very solid part of my career progression."

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创业的梦想可能很诱人，但创始人告诉 CNA TODAY，现实往往意味着艰苦的工作时间、经济牺牲，以及令人清醒地发现，即使是一个有用的想法也可能无法成为可行的企业。

2026年9月7日，曾联合创办一家陷入困境的金融科技初创公司的创始人李安德先生。（图片：CNA/林丽婷）

这段音频是由人工智能工具生成的。

2017年，Madeline Toh女士放弃了前途光明的事业，接管了马来西亚吉隆坡的一家手工乌冬面餐厅。

她从朋友那里得知，这家餐厅的两位老板即将退休回东京，正在寻找接手的人。

“我当时有着相当稳定的企业职业发展轨迹，我真的很期待，”当时28岁的Toh女士说道，她是一家跨国公司的管理培训生。

但经营自己事业的诱惑实在太大，尤其是餐厅已经开张营业，员工和设备都已到位。

这是 Toh 女士一直梦想着开一家属于自己的咖啡馆或餐馆，而她一直等待的机会终于到来了。

接管餐厅后，Toh 女士和她的三位投资者在吉隆坡又开设了两家分店，出售新鲜制作的玉子烧（日式煎蛋卷）——这一概念广受欢迎，并引起了媒体的关注。

但到了 2019 年底，客流量下降和成本上升迫使 Toh 女士和她的合伙人决定是投入更多资金还是退出。

到那时，他们已经向公司投入了 15 万新加坡元（11.8 万美元），但最终他们还是选择结束这家公司。

“结束这项业务似乎是一种失败，”杜女士说。

和她一样，新加坡很多上班族都渴望自己创业，实现自己的梦想。

2026 年，特许公认会计师公会 (ACCA) 的一项调查发现，在 160 个国家的 11,389 名会计和金融专业人士中，54% 的人希望在职业生涯的某个阶段成为企业家。

该调查包括新加坡的 140 名受访者，结果发现其中 46% 的人有类似的愿望。

新加坡社会科学大学 (SUSS) 和保险公司大东方保险公司在 2022 年进行的一项研究调查了 2500 名 16 至 25 岁的新加坡人，结果发现，五分之一的 20 岁以下受访者希望创业。

虽然创业的热情依然高涨，但创办和维持企业的挑战已经浇灭了许多有抱负的创业者的热情。

前企业主告诉 CNA TODAY，自主创业比他们想象的要难得多，失败是常态，而不是例外。

新加坡会计与企业管制局 (ACRA) 今年 1 月至 8 月的数据显示，虽然新加坡成立了 56,548 家企业实体，但有 42,741 家企业实体倒闭了。

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2026年9月8日，杜美玲女士现身乌节路。（图片：CNA/麦嘉琪）

每周工作100小时，无休止地调整方向

创业模式看似线性且简单：有一个想法，筹集资金，快速扩张，如果一切顺利，就能成为下一个独角兽企业，或者一家估值超过 10 亿美元（12.7 亿新元）的公司。

然而，正如许多创始人告诉 CNA TODAY 的那样，现实远比这残酷。他们发现，努力工作并不总能转化为成功——许多人被意想不到的挑战打了个措手不及。

阿德蒙·李先生 27 岁时辞去了数据科学领域的稳定工作，毅然投身于未知领域，即使他“对自己的商业想法并不完全确定”。

2021年，他加入了Entrepreneur First孵化器，这是一个旨在汇聚有抱负的创业者，共同发展创业理念的项目。他正是在这个项目中结识了他的联合创始人。

接下来的两年里，两人一直在寻找可行的商业理念，他们四次调整方向，探索了诸如外卖骑手应用程序和餐饮招聘等想法，最终确定开发一款金融科技产品，帮助数字贷款机构获取中小企业的财务数据。

即使他们最终确定了这个想法，它也不是万全之策。

李先生回顾往事时表示，他和他的联合创始人实际上照搬了他们在英国看到的一种模式，而没有充分研究这种模式是否适用于新加坡。

由于两位创始人都没有金融科技背景，他们花了大约六个月的时间了解问题，又花了三个月的时间构建产品。

产品准备就绪后，他们开始接触潜在客户，但鲜有人问津。一些人担心产品不符合合规性要求，而另一些人则认为产品不值得购买。

他们筹集的10万新元资金很快就要用完了，却没有带来任何付费客户。

“我们花了将近一年的时间开发产品并与客户沟通，但最终既没有收入也没有客户承诺。最终，我们的资金耗尽了。”现年32岁的李先生说道。

他们最后的希望，即通过收购员工技能而非产品来收购一家初创公司的交易，在经过四个月的谈判后失败了，导致他们没有收入，没有新的资金，别无选择，只能关门大吉。

公司倒闭后，接下来的四五个月是我人生中最黑暗的时期。

“公司倒闭后，接下来的四五个月是我人生中最黑暗的时期，”李先生说，他在这段时间里饱受职业倦怠的折磨。

“我原本的预期是，从投资者那里筹集资金，赚钱，退出公司，发大财，然后退休。但现实却截然不同。”

李先生表示，如果他继续从事全职工作，过去两年他至少可以赚到 20 万新元，并且至少可以晋升到高级或管理职位。

“我以为我会成为下一个安东尼·陈，”李先生说，他指的是网约车应用 Grab 的联合创始人。

“然而，经过两年的努力，我的公司几乎一无所有，而我的一些朋友大多是高级管理人员，其中一些已经是首席执行官级别了。”

2023 年，李先生关闭了他的第一家创业公司后，加入了一位朋友的网红营销机构，担任全职首席技术官和少数股东，帮助从零开始建立其技术部门。

大约一年后，该公司被收购。之后，李先生创办了《The Runway Ventures》电子报，分享新加坡和东南亚创业失败的故事以及创始人的经验教训。

Varick Lim先生于2023年离职，联合创办了一家科技初创公司，该公司利用人工智能帮助面向消费者的公司整合和分析客户反馈。（图片：CNA/Lim Li Ting）

对于软件工程师 Varick Lim 先生来说，他被其他创始人创办企业并取得巨大成功的众多故事所吸引。

林先生表示，凭借他的科技背景，创业似乎是顺理成章的下一步，是他“应该”去做的事情。

2023 年，他辞去了工作，与人共同创办了一家科技初创公司，该公司利用人工智能 (AI) 帮助面向消费者的公司整合和分析客户反馈。

然而，林先生很快意识到，作为一名创始人，所做的事情远远不止是开发一款产品。

“作为企业主，你肩负着很多责任。每一个问题，每一个决定，最终都要由你来决定，我不喜欢这样，”他说。

他还不得不承担其他一些他既不喜欢也不想做的日常职责。

“我不喜欢这份工作的大部分内容，尤其是销售。这对我来说是全新的领域，让我感到不适应，而且我做得也很糟糕。”

作为创始人，他没有太多时间去做自己喜欢的事情：打造和生产产品。

林先生表示，由于他的创业公司获得了风险投资支持，因此面临着盈利和为投资者带来 20 倍或更高回报的压力，但他很快意识到这并不是他想要的。

我不喜欢这份工作的大部分内容，尤其是销售。销售对我来说既陌生又不适应，而且我做得也不怎么样。

“我把大量时间都花在了生意上，没有太多时间做自己喜欢的事情。所以即使在生意上取得了一些成功，我也没有感到多少满足感。”

他还补充说，他很清楚创业会面临哪些挑战，但他没想到会这么痛苦。

林先生说：“我以前是运动员，也当过演员，所以我习惯了艰苦的排练、训练和熬夜。那种痛苦仍然会带来成就感。”

“就商业而言，我认为不同之处在于，我真的没有强烈的信念去解释我为什么要做这件事。”

林先生于 2024 年关闭了公司，现在在一家早期科技创业公司担任全职软件工程师。

尽管科技创业公司取得了诸多成功，但对于创办了一家人工智能医疗科技公司的卢美玲女士来说，这个行业也并非一帆风顺，她几乎把所有积蓄都投入到了这家公司中。

这位35岁的女性对高强度的工作并不陌生，她曾在管理咨询行业每周工作80个小时。即便如此，联合创办一家初创公司还是将这种强度提升到了一个全新的高度。由于美国是公司的主要市场，她和她的联合创始人一度每周工作超过100个小时，经常在清晨或深夜接听电话，并出差会见客户、合作伙伴和其他合作伙伴。

“我真的没法休息。我第二个孩子出生后一周，风险投资家的资金就到账了，”卢女士说道，她在经营这家创业公司期间生下了两个孩子。

该公司最终在全球吸引了超过15万用户，并开发了专利技术，但其商业模式未能产生足够的收入来维持公司运营。卢女士于2025年做出了艰难的决定，选择退出，该公司也于今年正式关闭。

“我们真的全力以赴了。当不得不说我的事业到此结束时，真的非常痛苦，”卢女士说道，她也因为这次创业而精疲力竭。

绝妙的想法并不总能赚钱

前企业主告诉 CNA TODAY，除了投入大量时间和精力外，他们还了解到，即使是出于好意的想法，也不一定能转化为成功的企业。

例如，32岁的林先生（Cedrik Lim）在2019年底与另外三位联合创始人共同创立了uWave，当时他还是南洋理工大学（NTU）的一名大四学生。这款应用程序允许学生追踪校园班车、生成课程表、查看校园人流情况，并作为学生交流的平台。林先生表示，在uWave的鼎盛时期，南洋理工大学约90%的学生都在使用该平台。之后，uWave拓展到了新加坡国立大学，在那里吸引了数千名用户，并在早期融资轮中筹集了26万美元。

“我们意识到，我们不能只专注于让学生使用这款应用。我们该如何盈利呢？”

他还补充说，虽然学生们认为uWave很有用，但他们不愿意为这款应用付费。此外，学生在学期假期期间的活跃度也会下降，使得uWave的使用具有明显的季节性。

该公司后来尝试直接向大学销售uWave，最终获得了一个付费试点项目。但启动这个试点项目花了大约九个月的时间——对于一家在此期间仍在不断烧钱的年轻公司来说，这是一个极其漫长的销售周期。

最终，这家企业无法继续经营下去。他决定在2023年关闭它。

“你开发出对人们有帮助的东西，但如果你从中无法获利，那就谈不上生意。它只是个项目而已。”林先生说道。

对于其他初创企业而言，获得投资可能感觉像是一项重大突破。但资金只是打造盈利公司的一部分。

卢女士的医疗科技公司获得了超过 100 万美元的风险投资，但她表示，一些有抱负的创始人（包括她自己）未能认识到使用资金所需的自律性，以及将投资转化为收入所面临的挑战。

“如果这笔钱不是收入，那就是借来的钱，”她说道，并补充说，创始人应该精益求精地朝着明确的收入目标发展。

她补充说，另一个挑战是时机。虽然人工智能和人工智能相关产品现在非常火爆，但卢女士表示，公司进入人工智能领域时，这项技术还相对初级，对许多消费者来说也很陌生。

人们以前不习惯在医疗保健产品中使用人工智能，因此团队不得不花费大量精力来教育市场。

“有时候，过早地参与游戏真的没什么乐趣可言，”她说。

林先生曾与人合伙创办了一家公司，该公司开发了一款被数千名大学生使用的应用程序，但该应用程序未能实现盈利。（照片：林先生）

收拾残局

对于许多创始人来说，关闭企业固然痛苦，但决定关门后的下一步行动同样令人望而生畏。

一些创始人表示，创业期间他们不得不身兼数职。因此，他们后来发现很难适应需要更专业技能的企业职位。

李先生和卢女士表示，这使得他们在创业结束后重返全职工作岗位变得尤为具有挑战性。

李先生说：“我以前是搞技术的，但也做过产品、业务和销售。”

“我一直都是个通才，所以很难适应现在这种大多数时候都在寻找专业人士的就业市场。”

对一些人来说，不用再发号施令反而是一种解脱。

2019 年结束餐饮业务后，Toh 女士开始在电子商务领域担任助理经理。

“我很高兴能重返（企业界），因为……这意味着我仍然有人可以指导我、辅导我，”她说。

“我当时感觉：‘好吧，我不是完全孤军奋战’，”仍在电子商务领域工作的杜女士补充道。

Varick Lim 先生也回到了新加坡另一家科技公司，担任软件工程师的全职工作。

“作为一名员工，即使我被分配了很多工作，我也知道如果我处理不了，我的上级会处理。这让我很放心，”他说。

其他人并未完全排除创业的可能性，但在经历过失败后，他们会更加谨慎地对待创业这件事。

林先生对快速扩张持谨慎态度。uWave结束后，他转而全职工作，加入约会应用探探，担任产品负责人两年。

塞德里克·林先生并没有立即辞职，而是利用业余时间和周末时间，带领一支精干的团队，花了大约一年的时间开发了一款名为 Hopper.so 的新产品。Hopper.so 是一个供在线教育者销售课程和建立社群的平台。

产品开发完成后，他于今年五月辞去了公司的工作，全职投入到产品研发中。但现在，他对目前的创业目标有了更审慎的考虑。

“你必须接受创业风险很高的事实。但我并不打算让我的创业公司成为独角兽——我的目标现在不一样了，”他说道，并补充说，在考虑扩大规模之前，他将专注于扩大 Hopper 的客户群。

虽然一些前企业主没有再次涉足创业领域的计划，但也有一些人并没有完全排除这种可能性。

尽管一路走来磕磕绊绊，Toh 女士表示她很享受解决问题的过程，而且能够立即做出决定也是一大优势。

“我很喜欢这种灵活性。如果我认为下周应该推出某个产品，我们就可以立即行动，”她说。“在大公司里，推出一款新产品可能需要一年的时间。”

与其他一些创始人不同，她发现，当她申请新职位时，招聘人员和雇主都很看重她的创业经验。

“我很庆幸自己做了（自主创业）的决定。虽然最终失败了，但这仍然是我职业生涯发展历程中非常重要的一部分。”

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