- December 9, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
When former wealth manager Keith Tan gave up his finance job in 2015, he was scarcely aware of the entrepreneurial journey that lay ahead.
What started as plans to launch a chain of coffee shops soon turned into a technology company with aims to improve efficiencies in the food and beverage industry.
Six years on, the company’s debut product, automated coffee robot Ella, is already serving up lattes and cappuccinos at select train stations in Tokyo, Japan. There are similar plans for his native Singapore in 2022.
But the path to success involved “a lot of learnings,” the Crown Digital CEO told CNBC Make It, sharing his best advice for other would-be founders.
1. Evaluate rigorously
First of all, it’s important to “rigorously evaluate your ideas,” and ensure that they serve a purpose.
In Tan’s case, when he designed Ella in 2018, it was not for sheer novelty. Rather, he wanted to find a real solution to the manpower shortages that afflicted his coffee shop…
