Confidence breeds confidence: 500 Global’s Khailee Ng on “entrepreneurs’ superpower”

Setting the stage of Tech In Asia’s inaugural conference in Malaysia, 500 Global managing partner Khailee Ng took to the stage to deliver his keynote speech titled “Malaysia on the Rise”.

During that keynote speech, Khailee shared many inspiring pearls of wisdom for entrepreneurs and investors alike.

One particular value that he not only embodied but championed was: confidence.

Don’t base your confidence on the news

Calling this “probably the most important lesson of this whole presentation”, Khailee spoke about the subtle hidden link between market outlooks, confidence, and plans that are being made.

“I observed that for most people, when there’s good news in the market, the confidence rises,” he pointed out. “And then, they make plans based on the confidence that is derived from the markets.”

Likewise, when there is bad news, then these people will lose confidence and may play small. This is not a bad thing, just how the world works.

“Very few people have a different relationship between market outlooks, plans, and confidence.”

Some people would wait to see how markets go up and down, and then they adjust their plans—not necessarily based on their confidence.

But Khailee pointed out, “Most fortunes are made because of the plans they made when the economy was down. So, when markets change and shift, what are your plans?”  

For companies that have made it into the top percentile, their plans will end up shaping the market, and thus give rise to confidence in others.

“A lot of regional champions are built in the worst of times and without any good news,” Khailee said.

So, like them, Khailee believes that Malaysian entrepreneurs, investors, and talents must not let their confidence waver in the face of the news, but rather, make their own plans rationally and have confidence in those plans.

Power of confidence

Although there are many reasons for Malaysians to be confident, a lot of VCs and investors may not be.

“This is the game of confidence,” Khailee said. “This is where confidence should rise. We’re going to need a way to build this confidence and let it spread, because confidence breeds confidence.”

Recently, Khailee found himself in a due diligence call, where a foreign VC was checking in on his experience with a startup he invested in.

To that, Khailee shared the candid initial experience he had with the startup founder.

While walking in Bangsar one day, he was suddenly stopped by a man on the street. Although he initially thought he was being robbed, that man turned out to be a startup founder and just wanted to pitch his business.

His confidence and ability to accost Khailee in public—though Khailee does not recommend this at all—got him the start he needed.

After raising his seed round, though, he was unable to raise for another six years. The seed funding was not enough to instil confidence in others.  

But the founder kept his core team together and continued to bootstrap to sustain the business. One day he called Khailee up again. He requested for just $50K (the currency was not clarified) to pivot his business.

This business would be iMotorbike, a Series A startup that most recently raised US$2.6 million.  

This story just goes to show how you shouldn’t let the industry trends sway you, but rather shift your business accordingly and find a way to build confidence.

Hopefully, founder Gil Carmo’s confidence may inspire yours too.

In any case, to Khailee, confidence is a superpower to entrepreneurs.

“Keep up the confidence,” he said. “Rain or shine, good news bad news, keep up the confidence. Confidence in your plans. And keep executing.”