How did you spot the need for BUILK?

After graduating from Chulalongkorn University, I started working as a civil engineer and a general contractor, but I lacked commercial, financial and marketing knowledge. I failed to survive running my own company, and racked up debts of B3 million. After that, my focus shifted to working on software for contractors instead. Even though no one used my software, I didn’t give up, and later that software was developed into BUILK, which is designed to help contractors save time, reduce costs and gain more profit. 

What is your Science of Failure workshop? 

I have failed so many times in my life, like every year. But in the process of developing BUILK, I genuinely think that the more I failed, the more knowledge I gained. I embrace the concept of failure because if we don’t experience it, we have no idea how to measure success. Thais are afraid of failure, and that’s why our startup rate is growing so slowly compared to other countries.

Is there any formula to startup success? 

Being a startup means turning your assumptions into reality. To do that, you must first build your product as fast as you can. Then, measure how well it works by asking for clients’ feedback. And finally, learn from that feedback and use it to develop your product. It’s all about the speed of development. If you’re fast, the risk will be reduced and you’ll get the whole market.

Is there anything you feel drags Thailand behind?

In my opinion, we don’t have an effective government to provide and support sustainable development. So launching the Thailand Tech Startup Association is a good way to maintain our standpoint and educate people on how tech startups can be used to generate income. The government has been over-focusing on creativity, projects like OTOP, and they don’t see the value in technology.

How important is originality? How do you feel about businesses that use someone else’s idea as a starting point?

Everybody does me-too businesses. If you do this, then I do too. It’s totally fine to share ideas with other people, but what really matters is execution. You have to show that your service is unique. If you dare to create a new thing, it might be a great chance to create a difference as well.
 
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