Many are talking about The Great Resignation; or as LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky puts it, The Great Reshuffle: the largest ongoing talent migration in history. This is especially true for Gen Z, the newest entrants to the workforce.
Having grown up in the shadows of the 2008 financial crisis, amidst economic shifts in Southeast Asia and a global pandemic, this new generation is driving to forge their own path.
Against this backdrop, the rising generation is rethinking how and why we work. With The Great Reshuffle, we’re seeing more and more of Singapore’s youngest workers eschewing traditional trajectories and instead choosing to venture into entrepreneurship.
In fact, 61 per cent of Entrepreneur First (EF) Singapore’s most recent founders – like Jackett’s Rachiket Arya and Avni Agrawal from SixSense – have spent less than four years in the workforce before founding their own company.
A collective burnout
There’s a growing sense of discontent in people’s work-life– with millions around the globe now leaving their jobs. So much so that in 2021, “How to start a business,” topped “How to get a job,” in Google search queries.
Recent turbulence has Gen Z searching for more meaning and purpose to the work they do, and a path of true authorship, not only ownership. Their definition of success has evolved beyond titles and compensation, and they’re increasingly motivated by career autonomy and financial control.
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EF has seen this first-hand with 85 per cent of our latest cohort having less than six years of working experience, before deciding to work for themselves.
Financial gains are the biggest driver for 65 per cent of aspiring entrepreneurs surveyed– but it’s not only about the money anymore. This rising generation is valuing autonomy as equally important as financial gains in influencing them to launch their own startups.
Their focus on autonomy extends beyond personal flexibility and decision-making, but rather a chance to shape products, industries and a future to their imagination.
This rang true for Natalie Doran, who left her secure role in a previous company to co-found security monitoring software platform, Lytehouse. For her, gaining flexibility has been the most important aspect of building her own business:
“Flexibility isn’t about work hours and location, it’s the flexibility of the role and the company itself. Anyone in a startup has the power to transform the lives of their customers, shape the product, even change the direction of the whole company in a single day,” she said.
It is the impact that a startup can have in revolutionising the status quo that motivates the entrepreneurs, which goes beyond financial gains.
Building a better world
Gen Z is on a mission to do things differently. They believe in their individual power to drive broad-scale change, often challenging convention to do so. Contrary to popular belief, passion is no longer the most important ingredient to building a successful startup, falling to the fourth important driving force in a business.
For younger entrepreneurs, the most important trait is problem-solving, against a backdrop of making meaningful and sustainable change. We see this in EF’s portfolio consisting of startups tackling hard, real-world problems that reflect emerging trends in the areas of fintech, food & agriculture, education, entertainment and cleantech – all sectors that are in need of improvements in this climate.
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We also get a sense that Gen Z is responsive to the world around them. Emerging entrepreneurs are solving for disruptions in production, demand, supply chain management, and shifting consumer trends – caused by the systemic vulnerabilities of the food industry that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exposed.
Food & Agriculture, the most visible area that needs growth, is a topic most Singapore founders are intent on addressing. An increasing number are working on streamlining the steps taken for food ordering and delivery, food science and developing new crops, robotics and automated farm management.
All around the globe, more leaders and future founders are championing sustainability to protect our ecosystem and preserve natural resources for generations to come.
We see this trend here in Singapore, where startups like ESGnie are using AI to enhance in-house ESG research capabilities and ensure that investments aren’t being greenwashed, and Green Li-ion who are pioneers in lithium-ion battery rejuvenation with a novel, patented technique which increases rejuvenation efficiency by 200 per cent.
Innovation is further bolstered by the Singaporean government’s commitment to R&D with the RIE 2025 plan. This plan invests S$25 billion over the next four years into talent development and mission-oriented research (amongst other priorities) to future-proof technology growth and delivery starting in Singapore, but built for the world.
The role of the Singapore startup community
These motivations are a window into why more are actively pursuing the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship.
In recent years, we’ve seen Singapore’s venture and startup ecosystem begin to flourish – and most recently, seeing regional juggernauts list on the NYSE and NASDAQ has lit inspiration for aspiring founders.
Singapore now boasts a strategic position in the top five ecosystems for startups in Asia with a growing pool of active investors entering the region from abroad.
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Twenty-three per cent of the aspiring entrepreneurs believe the support of strategic investors and venture builders is the important factor to establishing a startup, just after self-motivation. In fact, it is this support that helps accelerate growth and provide leverage, especially in the earliest stages of growth and uncertainty.
The support needed goes beyond the capital. Undoubtedly, financial support is still critical in building up momentum, but this rising generation of founders believe that it’s a candid advisory from trusted counsel that helps them achieve their goals. Being connected to other ambitious technologists can help to accelerate this journey.
For Phasio co-founder Harry, his team found the support of exited entrepreneur and EF Venture Partner Teik Guan Tan critical when building up their momentum, “we felt that we can be vulnerable with him, yet we also know that he will hold us to account. The importance of support such as this cannot be overstated,” he said.
Collective burnout, the motivation to fix ongoing issues in the world and the ever-prevailing support of the venture ecosystem in Singapore are seen as meaningful drivers for change in growing a more robust generation of founders.
No longer fulfilled by the status quo, more Gen Z aspiring founders are proactively forging their own path.
These emerging founders have all the necessary components to build right here in Singapore – and they are beginning to see and create their own future now.
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