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SINGAPORE \u2013 Entrepreneurship has long run in Kingsley Peh\u2019s blood. He and his wife Elfaine Tan, whom he met when they were both 13, started their first business together at 15, selling second-hand clothing online and at neighbourhood market stalls.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchool was closed during the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak, and instead of simply sitting around, we decided to try selling second-hand clothes at a neighbourhood market,\u201d said Peh, 37.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had very little capital and no business experience, but we were curious to see whether we could sell something and make money on our own,\u201d he said, adding that the experience gave them their first taste of entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n
When they were 20, Tan started Singapore\u2019s first online \u201ctryvertising\u201d platform, The Sample Store, with Peh. The platform allowed customers to order free beauty samples and try them before buying, and earn more samples by posting reviews. It was eventually acquired by Singapore Post in 2013.<\/p>\n
In 2015, the couple went on to launch lingerie brand I\u2019m In.<\/p>\n
Tan had suffered the discomfort and pain of underwired bras and was convinced that women would want more comfortable, wireless support.<\/p>\n
The duo poured $100,000 into raw material research and development, fabric chemistry, and custom steel mould engineering for wireless bras.<\/p>\n
Today, they have scaled I\u2019m In from an online store to five physical stores in Singapore and regional distribution in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei.<\/p>\n
Peh has a diploma in infocommunications, and Tan has a diploma in biomedical informatics and engineering, both from Temasek Polytechnic. They have a six-year-old son and a baby girl on the way.<\/p>\n
Our biggest investment has consistently been back into I\u2019m In. Whenever the business does well, our instinct has usually been to reinvest in products, people, technology and expansion. It probably isn\u2019t the most diversified approach, but it keeps us very committed.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nowhere to hide either. The results are brutally honest. If we make good decisions, we see it. If we make bad ones, we learn very quickly.<\/p>\n
Tangibly, it would be I\u2019m In. But increasingly, I think the more valuable asset is actually intangible: the people behind it. Products can be copied and strategies can change, but having a strong team that learns, adapts and grows together is very difficult to replicate.<\/p>\n
I think of it a little like a slow cooker. I\u2019m less interested in chasing 10 different opportunities and more interested in building one good system that compounds over time, with good people, good products and good fundamentals. It may not always be exciting, but I like the idea of quietly building something that becomes stronger year after year.<\/p>\n
Not seriously. I\u2019m more of a casual collector. For me, the story or idea behind something matters more than its rarity or resale value. I can enjoy a PopMart figurine simply because I like the character or the story behind it. Not everything I buy needs to become an investment.<\/p>\n
Probably buying stock for our little market stall. We didn\u2019t have much money then. When we made some, we treated ourselves to a good meal and put almost everything else back into buying more stock. Looking back, that was probably my first lesson in reinvestment and compounding, although we definitely didn\u2019t use those words at the time.<\/p>\n
When we were 25, we sold The Sample Store, a business we had spent about five years building, to SingPost for $1.2 million. There was a strategic fit. We had built something innovative and agile, while SingPost had a much larger distribution network and infrastructure. The acquisition took roughly a year of discussions and negotiations to complete.<\/p>\n
At that age, going through an acquisition taught me much more than the dollar value of the deal. I learnt how businesses are valued, how deals are structured and negotiated, and how two companies can create value by bringing different strengths together. It also taught me something I still believe today: When you\u2019re young, time is one of your greatest forms of capital. You can afford to try, fail, learn and rebuild.<\/p>\n
I grew up in a simple household. My dad was an SBS bus driver, and my mum was a housewife, so being prudent with money was something we learnt very early. We also saw the anxiety that comes when a family has to make ends meet. I don\u2019t look back at that negatively, though. Starting from a more modest place made every bit of progress feel meaningful and it shaped how I think about money today.<\/p>\n
I wanted to be a computer scientist. Somewhere along the way, I became an entrepreneur instead, although with how much time I spend thinking about AI now, perhaps I\u2019ve somehow gone full circle.<\/p>\n
My first full-time job was technically CEO of our first start-up, The Sample Store, though \u201cCEO\u201d makes it sound much more glamorous than it was. In reality, it stood for \u201cChief Everything Officer\u201d. Sales, marketing, packing, operations, customer service \u2013 whatever needed to be done that day.<\/p>\n
We live in a terraced house in the central area of Singapore.<\/p>\n
We currently drive a Porsche Macan EV and a Mercedes-Benz CLA.<\/p>\n
Probably paying a ridiculous amount for front-row tickets to a K-pop concert. Flying business class for a short flight purely because I desperately wanted a few hours of sleep comes pretty close.<\/p>\n
I prefer the idea of work-life harmony rather than perfect balance. There are seasons when work genuinely takes 80 per cent of my energy and life gets the other 20 per cent. And there are other periods when family, friends and travel take 80 per cent, and work sits quietly in the remaining 20 per cent.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think my life naturally divides itself into a neat 50:50 every day. For me, what matters is recognising which season I\u2019m in and being fully present in it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d probably put a significant part of it into finding and developing great people for I\u2019m In. The longer I build a business, the more convinced I am that the quality of the people around you determines how far the company can go. So I\u2019d invest in increasing our talent density \u2013 with people who have both strong capabilities and the right attitude.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d give it to my kids, then I\u2019d start again. I\u2019ve built from very little before, so I\u2019d trust my ability to figure it out once more.<\/p>\n