The Early Stumbles and Mess-Ups That Shape Us

Startup Stories

Mistakes that you can avoid, too!

Alright, let’s dive in and chat about this whirlwind adventure of diving headfirst into the IoT scene with my squad at MIMOS. You know, being under the wing of MOSTI really gave us that, “Yeah, we can totally revolutionize wireless tech,” kind of vibe. We were all about pushing the boundaries with the 6LoWPAN standards — like, who even knew what that was back then?

But let me tell you, jumping ship to the telecom sector was like swapping a comfy bean bag for a stiff office chair.

Launching our IoT platform under Favoriot in 2017?

Man, we were on cloud nine, picturing this tech-hungry market just waiting for a slice of IoT magic.

Turns out, it wasn’t all confetti and fanfare.

Now, let’s talk facepalm moments — seven of them, to be exact.

First off, we thought the talent pool was Olympic-sized, but when we dipped our toes in, it was more like a kiddie pool. Getting folks to jump on our platform was like trying to start a campfire in a downpour.

Then, we peered into the halls of academia, hoping to find IoT wizards in the making. Spoiler alert: IoT education was basically a chapter they skipped. Back to the drawing board, right?

And oh, our brilliant idea to use YouTube as a training ground for Favoriot?

Big oops there.

People craved real-deal courses, not just snack-sized tutorials.

Client onboarding was another story. Imagine trying to explain rocket science to your grandma — that was us with IoT to our clients. They needed that guiding star, and we were still fumbling with the telescope.

Budgeting was another beast. Picture a snail race — that was the pace of decision-making in these orgs. No one wanted to sign the check without knowing the full menu.

The lack of a project catalyst was like waiting for paint to dry. But then, good ol’ 2020 hit, and suddenly digital transformation wasn’t just a buzzword anymore. Thanks, Covid?

And those training opportunities we breezed past? If only we’d hit pause on coding and marketing and actually looked around. Hindsight, huh?

Wrapping this up, those facepalms?

Gold mines, each one. They schooled us big time.

Now, we’re riding the IoT wave like pros, all thanks to those early stumbles that turned into our roadmap.

So, here’s to the mess-ups that shape us — cheers to the lessons learned and the wins scored on this wild IoT ride.

Author: Mazlan Abbas

IOT Evangelist View all posts by Mazlan Abbas