“Adapt or die.”

That was the concluding advice on entrepreneurship given by the CEO (or Solutionist, as he prefers to be called) of Major Drop, Lim Sheng Feixiang. Together with Danny New, the Brand Manager of Pestle and Mortar Clothing, and Chin Renyi, the co-founder of MyBurgerLab, they shared their perspectives during Starting Up A Conversation, an event organized by Monash Entrepreneur Club (MEC) and supported by eiHub on the 19th of April.

By the time the event started at 6PM, the plenary theatre was already half-filled by students eager to gain insight on entrepreneurship. The event started with a warm welcome by the amiable MC Raj, who also mentioned about him skipping GS to be there instead. Next was a short speech by Amelia, the Vice President of MEC followed by a few words by Professor Pervaiz Ahmad, Director of Monash’s eiHub.

The sharing session by the invited speakers started promptly with Fei, a Monash alumni was also a member of MEC before starting Major Drop! He shared his experience in self-discovery and in joining several ventured like EPIC Homes and later about crucial traits in entrepreneurs. This was followed by Danny, also a past student of Monash (although he dropped out after a year) who talked about his journey pre-Pestle-and-Mortar and later on the five takeaways from him to become an entrepreneur. Lastly, the audience got to learn how MyBurgerLab was found as Renyi gave useful tips to have in your company.

The audience jumped at the opportunity to have the speakers answer their questions during the Q&A session. Some of the highlights include a question on the biggest misconception of joining startups in which Renyi answered that a lot of young people think it’s fun when there’s a high failure rate which was agreed by Danny who asserts that you won’t get hired just because you think the company is “cool”. Another interesting question was on how to be up-to-date with the latest trends and stay relevant.

“If your brand wants to jump on a trend, then make sure you’re damn good at it,” said Renyi. Who could deny MBL’s magnificent nasi lemak burger which is still very much relevant until now?

With the event almost ending, the speakers gave their last words which were full of wisdom. As mentioned previously, Fei emphasized on the importance of adapting. “Do whatever you want. Don’t change your goal. Change the way you get to it,” he said. For Renyi, he advised the students to look for a coach to learn from. Meanwhile, Danny asserted on connecting with as many people as you can because opportunities can arrive from anywhere. The event ended with a photography session and short quizzes in which those who answered received limited edition Pestle and Mortar T-shirts.

The event was indeed a success and I would like to applaud MEC for conducting it smoothly! It also gave me a bigger sense of respect and appreciation to MyBurgerLab, Pestle and Mortar Clothing, and Major Drop, now knowing their back stories. However, my bank account is definitely not thankful to have me being influenced to spend on them after this event!

Article by Durrah Sharifah Ahmad Azlan

Photos by Christal Fong