Tay: I strongly believe taking a conscious effort towards achieving those goals and having plans to reach them, whether you are able to execute them or not, is incredibly important (Photo: Soo Phye)
The term “multiplier effect” is most often attributed to British economist John Maynard Keynes. In his treatise titled The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936), Keynes posits that fiscal stimulus would help generate cycles of increased economic benefit greater than the initial cost, resulting in compounding prosperity. In other words, money begets money.
In 1997, American businesswoman Linda Rottenberg founded Endeavor, a community-based non-profit organisation, under a similar conceptual framework. By investing in emerging-market entrepreneurs and helping them scale their businesses, they would, in turn, pay it forward by teaching, hiring and investing in others within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. On paper, it seemed idealistic. But 28 years later, Endeavor now operates in 45 countries around the world, supporting and uplifting start-ups while generating exponential social and economic impact. The community provides tailored guidance, mentorship and networking opportunities for enterprising individuals to make informed industry decisions and develop relationships with established business players, setting them up for long-term growth.
“I knew Endeavor as a start-up community in Malaysia, but I didn’t realise how huge it was globally,” says Shan Li Tay, who was appointed managing director (MD) of the organisation’s local outpost in January this year. “One of the earliest Endeavor entrepreneurs is from Argentina. [Marcos Galperin] co-founded Mercado Libre, and it has a market cap of US$103 billion! When our CEO [Rottenberg] started out, people questioned why she would embark on something like this. But if you look at the number of people Mercado Libre alone has touched, it proves that every time someone helps and educates an entrepreneur, they do grow and pay it forward.”
Newly minted but no stranger to the highs and lows of the business world, Tay is as warm and charming as she is astute, enthusiastically regaling us with anecdotes about her fascinating background and how the community’s mission attracted her to the role. Her diverse experiences and can-do attitude drive her goal to help scale Malaysian companies and propel them to an international level.
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Jill of all trades
The best journeys have their twists and turns, and despite what teenagers agonising over which degree to shackle themselves to seem to believe, exploration and discovery can be as rewarding as staying a single course. This was certainly the case for Tay, whose road to working at Endeavor was anything but cut and dried.
She began her career in the banking and finance field, first coming into contact with the digital world as a platform for commerce during her time at CIMB. “Towards the end of my 12-year stint there, I was brought from the investment banking side of the business to marketing and communications. I was asked to head what was then called ‘internet strategies’, to look at what the group could do with regard to social media, which was just starting to pick up at the time. We’re talking 2010; so, it was a long, long time ago,” the chartered accountant adds dramatically.
Interacting with a network of digital agencies and marketing folk exposed Tay to entrepreneurial work for the first time. This led to her co-founding Babydash, an online shop selling mother-and-baby products, as a side project in 2011. While she initially played the relatively hands-off role of investor, it was not long before the realised there was more to gain by rolling up her sleeves and taking the lead with this opportunity. “After three years, I decided to leave corporate life and just throw myself into this thing called entrepreneurship — so, that’s what I did!”
Back in the pre-Lazada or Shopee era (a darker time for those of us who have grown accustomed to having anything delivered to our doorstep at the click of a button), she recalls educating a market only just warming up to the idea of a digital marketplace, especially distributors not yet familiar with e-commerce. Finding her way in the ecosystem was an invaluable learning opportunity for Tay, but growing one business awoke her need to share her knowledge and uplift others trying to do the same.
This culminated in her launching ScaleUp Malaysia, alongside five partners in 2018. Much like American accelerator Y Combinator, ScaleUp assumed a venture-capital model, seeking out early-stage companies and providing workshops to assist in expanding their businesses. After four years, Tay, compelled to don the entrepreneuring cap again, elected to give start-ups another shot — this time, in the form of Swipeless, a dating app born of her own dissatisfaction with the existing singles platforms available and a wish “to connect people in real life”.
Though a cursory glance at her track record may convey it as disconnected, Tay explains how the very tangible thread of wanting to address and apply herself to challenges navigated her through these moves: “For me, it’s always down to the pain point. If I feel there is a strong enough problem and I think I can help, I start to build a business model or solution around it. Regardless of the industry, I ask myself: What is the problem? Is it large enough? Can I do something to help it?”
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Exponential effects
So, how does one go from dating app to MD of a large-scale entrepreneurial community? According to Tay, the opportunity arose during a conversation with Fave co-founder Yeoh Chen Chow, from whom she was seeking advice on her platform. “He said, ‘It sounds like you have built a very good community, but it may not be something you can, or even want to, monetise. Why don’t you look at doing something within the ecosystem?’” Hearing of the open MD position from Yeoh, she promptly applied, officially succeeding Adlin Yusman on Jan 6. Though her tenure is still in its infancy, she fervently advocates the organisation’s capacity to effect meaningful change and touch lives across the globe. Success stories of its members — such as those of Mudassir Sheikha, who brought Endeavor to Pakistan after it helped him scale his ride-share company Careem to US$3 billion in 2020; and Yemeksepeti founder Nevzat Aydin, who shared US$30 million from his business’ acquisition among his employees to allow them to start their own ventures — inspire her faith in the system, says Tay.
“At Endeavor, we’re looking for high-growth companies at that pivotal stage. They have gotten from zero to one — in fact, they’ve maybe even gotten from one to 10 — but they’re trying to get to 100. We are seeking firms on the cusp of that huge scale because they are the ones who, when given the right guidance and resources, can make it happen.” As a non-profit, the organisation urges those who have benefited from the experience to repay the favour by sharing their own expertise, contributing funds or joining their respective local boards.
“In Malaysia as well, our board currently has two members who went through the programme: Eric Cheng of Carsome and Uncle Loi [Tuan Ee] of Farm Fresh. Very recently, we just had Gil Carmo of iMotorbike join us and he said, ‘I’m here, how do I mentor? Who can I speak to?’ This is how they’re paying it back, helping the brand and teaching others. We are all about generating a lasting effect.”
Reflecting on her move, Tay feels the role was a sensible next step, given her prior experiences. “I was in corporate for many years, so I have friends who are now in high places; I’ve been in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, so I know what help it needs, and I’ve been an entrepreneur! Even now, as we try to get individuals into Endeavor, I know what they’re thinking: Why should I join you? What will I have to do?”
Equipped with a first-hand perspective from working on Babydash and Swipeless, Tay is not only able to empathise and resonate with the businesses boarding the Endeavor ship but also possesses a keen understanding of how to cultivate a strong start-up. “Companies need to solve a real problem; it must be big enough, with a sizeable demographic. There are lots of companies with amazing ideas — I would say Swipeless, to me, is an amazing idea — but while the issue is painful, the market is not sufficiently big, since it is being alleviated right now by other apps. If you build a business that doesn’t solve the right problem, you have nothing,” stresses Tay, stating further that good execution and resilience are instrumental.
“Without these three factors, at some point you will just give up. Even Uncle Loi, when I spoke to him, said success wasn’t overnight. It started with people thinking he was mad for quitting his job, buying 60 cows and just sinking his whole heart and soul into the dairy business. Who would have thought it could do what it’s doing now?”
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Business barriers
Asked what obstacles the entrepreneurs of today face, Tay admits there are many roadblocks for smaller businesses both nationally and globally that Endeavor attempts to help its community overcome.
“Access to capital is a problem everywhere, and it’s not easy to fix,” she observes. “Ten years ago, it was more feasible to just say you had an idea and gain financial backing, but because there have been several failures or not as many successful exits as people would like to see, there’s not so much money being thrown towards the start-up ecosystem anymore, globally speaking. People start looking at other investment opportunities, such as cryptocurrency, for returns. Talent and market access are also struggles. Malaysians also suffer a lot from our talent being poached because they’re cheap, and it becomes hard to bring them back.”
In addition to education and personalised advice, Endeavor offers members the option to join programmes or business schools via their tie-ups with prominent US universities Stanford, Harvard and MIT, while events such as MatchCAP pair investors and venture capitalists to businesses seeking funding. The organisation’s rules-based co-investment fund, the Endeavor Catalyst — which has raised more than US$540 million and made 348 investments so far — was set up to invest exclusively in member companies as well as sustain global office operations.
“A lot of what they need is sharing,” emphasises Tay on the importance of connecting the right people and mentors. “It’s [having] someone to bounce ideas off of and learning from the experiences of someone who has walked in their shoes — not necessarily just in Malaysia! By speaking to people in completely different parts of the world, you learn something new, see what hurdles they faced and how they resolved them. It doesn’t have to be industry-specific, but challenge-specific, so that whoever we match them with is able to assist with overcoming that issue, whatever it may be.”
There is also a noticeable gender disparity in the network, which Tay characterises as an issue of visibility. “There are not enough female entrepreneurs. We don’t have one on our board, and if you look at the ecosystem today, you’ll notice there aren’t that many to begin with. This is not because we’re treated differently, but because there haven’t been enough success stories told.
“I spoke to Anne Tham from Ace Edventure — she is an Endeavor entrepreneur and was nominated for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur Of The Year (Women’s Category) in 2015 — and she said going through that selection process made her fine-tune her business model. The panellists really made her think about her answers and that set the tone for how she operated moving forward. Why aren’t these kinds of anecdotes out there? Why aren’t more people hearing about it? We need to continue to create and develop young talent, and give them the confidence and tools they need to achieve their goals.”
Endeavor also hosts an annual event called EndeavHER to support and accelerate the growth of women-founded companies. “I’m very active when it comes to female representation. I’m part of the 30% Club, which works towards having 30% board membership for women. I don’t think women need to be or feel like they’re being treated differently,” says Tay, who regards the sense of solidarity and community among the fairer sex as a boon. On a personal note, the single mother smiles, “I’m very fortunate to have an amazing daughter who is very independent, and I learn from her every day. I have a supportive family, and people around me to lean on.”
Hard knocks
Diving into uncertainty and starting from scratch requires full surrender and the acknowledgement of one’s vulnerability. When it comes to starting a business, trusting the process is easier said than done, especially when money and livelihood are on the line. Despite this, fear has done little to deter Tay, as she insists the bumps on the path to greener pastures should not blind us from pursuing new avenues.
“I’m not afraid to fail. I know that I have failed several times with entrepreneurship,” she offers candidly. “We didn’t manage to build Babydash into a US$100 million company or sell it off to Lazada, but I learnt so much. I made so many contacts and friends. The same thing happened with Swipeless. I wasn’t able to raise any funds, but I discovered how to build a business solo. I was able to consolidate a database of about 1,300 people, organically. I gained so much knowledge about the tech ecosystem and fundraising as a single founder.”
Passion and perseverance are the fundamental necessities that have guided Tay to walk confidently towards success — though she modestly objects to the claim.
“Actually, I don’t think I’m successful!” she laughs bashfully. “I am a very goal-oriented person. I need to know what I’m working towards, and I strongly believe taking a conscious effort towards achieving those goals and having plans to reach them, whether you are able to execute them or not, is incredibly important.” This clear sense of direction informs her leadership approach as well, as Tay heads Endeavor Malaysia’s small but mighty troop of nine in supporting the local entrepreneurial network. “James Clear [author of Atomic Habits] says every little thing you do makes you that one per cent better or closer to whatever it is you’re working towards. I tell the team that all the time, every day. If you never take the first step, you’re never going to get there.”
For Tay, life at the moment is filled with meetings and involves getting to know the operations (“There’s plenty of paperwork that needs to get done!”), but she does have a vision for the future. “I want a lot more companies to get onto that international stage. I strongly believe the minute they get selected by the international panel, a lot of things will start to work out for them, because they will get to meet investors and businesspeople from different parts of the world. So, my main aim is to put entrepreneurs first, get more companies across the selection process and help them leverage this community as a platform to gain global positioning.”
Consolidating and sustaining a healthy ecosystem is also high on the checklist for Endeavor Malaysia, accounting not only for the active participants within it but also the wider support and overall attitude in place to facilitate continued, effective and increasing growth.
While many have gained from the system and are putting good back into it, there is still room for improvement. Tay affirms: “As it is, we don’t have enough unicorns returning to the network and giving back and investing. It’s a ripple effect — if you can get more companies out there talking about Endeavor and how it has helped them and how they want to give back, it then invites the next level of people who wish to join us. We need more of these thriving entrepreneurs to come back and contribute to the community.” After all, success begets success.
This article first appeared on Mar 3, 2025 in The Edge Malaysia.
