Growing up in Malaysia, I told my mom I wanted to "marry a computer" and maybe become a hacker. I definitely had an early tech obsession! Later, while on an ASEAN scholarship in Singapore, my love for gaming started causing... let's call them 'academic challenges.'

That continued at Melbourne Uni. I aimed for Law/CS but ended up with a BA in Media/Comm & History/Philosophy of Science – partly because DotA tournaments were more compelling than some lectures (I failed 5 subjects!). But hey, those gaming sessions taught me invaluable lessons about strategy and teamwork. More on that here.

My first "real" venture was pure accident. In 2007, my uncle needed help selling products on eBay. What started in a garage grew into OZHut, an e-commerce business hitting ~$300k revenue in its first year and eventually reaching AU$5M. It was a crash course in execution.

After exiting OZHut, I needed a reset. Went to Shanghai to study Mandarin. Seeing a friend's clunky POS system in Fuzhou sparked that "holy discontent" – a deep frustration that good businesses deserved better tools.

That spark led back to Malaysia in 2013 to co-found StoreHub (initially called RiseHub, until people kept confusing it with 'rice-hub' – true story!). Our mission: give local F&B and retail owners the powerful, easy-to-use tech they needed to thrive, not just survive.

From that initial iPad POS, StoreHub evolved into a full ecosystem for Southeast Asian SMEs. We built features businesses actually needed – integrated payments, inventory management that made sense, customer loyalty programs, and eventually our own e-commerce and food delivery platform, Beep. Today, we're helping over 15,000 businesses across Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and beyond manage and grow their operations.

It hasn't been easy. Scaling across diverse markets brings unique hurdles, and the journey is full of tough lessons. When COVID hit in 2020, our F&B clients faced lockdowns overnight. We had to act fast – the team pulled together and launched Beep Delivery in just 48 hours, helping thousands survive the crisis. It was a stark reminder that our mission isn't just about software; it's about resilience and supporting the 'small guys' through thick and thin.