Tag: Self Improvement

“Eh, kenapa kawan sendiri tak support bisnes kita ya?”

That question used to haunt me. When I first launched FAVORIOT, I genuinely believed my first supporters would be the people closest to me — ex-colleagues, industry friends, fellow alumni, even family. They knew my journey, my passion, my sacrifices. Surely they’d be the first to sign up or share the word, right?

Wrong.

What actually happened?

It was strangers.

Total strangers.

People I never met, never had teh tarik with, never sat on the same conference panel — they were the ones who registered on our platform, joined our trainings, and even told others about us. I was puzzled at first. Then, a little disappointed. Then curious.

And now? I understand. Strangers are often your best and truest customers.

Let me explain why.

1. Strangers Don’t Know You — And That’s a Good Thing

Wait… what?

Yes. Strangers don’t know you personally, and that’s precisely why they can trust your product more objectively.

Your friends and family see you through the lens of personal memories — they remember the time you made that bad joke at the wedding, or when you flunked your first job, or how you always took the safe route. You, to them, are not a business. You’re a “bro,” “adik,” “sir,” or “uncle.”

So when you suddenly pivot and say, “I’m launching an IoT platform for smart cities,” their brain glitches a little.

“Huh? Dia boleh ke buat ni?”

Meanwhile, strangers judge you purely on what you present today. They don’t care about your past karaoke fails or awkward teenage phase. They see your landing page, your pitch, your clarity. That’s it.

They evaluate your offering, not your origin story.

2. Strangers Don’t Owe You Anything — Which Means Their Support Is Pure

This is where it gets even more interesting.

Friends sometimes want to support you — but they overthink it.

They don’t want to be seen as biased. They feel awkward asking for discounts. Or worse… they assume they’ll get it for free.

Strangers? They come in with no emotional baggage. No expectations. No history.

They want a solution. They see you offering one. They buy.

Simple.

No drama. No, “Nanti lah bro, aku tengah tight.” No, “Support-support tapi boleh free ka?”

“Would I do that to a stranger?”

No. That’s why strangers make better customers. They treat your business like a business.

3. The Trust is Earned, Not Assumed

With people who know you, there’s often an invisible hierarchy of roles.

You’re the junior. The class clown. The reliable IT guy. The academic.

Suddenly, you say you’re the CEO of a startup? That role doesn’t match their stored mental image of you.

It’s not malice. It’s memory.

Whereas with strangers, your LinkedIn profile is your identity. Your pitch deck is your first impression. You start from zero — and you build up trust.

And trust that’s earned is far stronger than trust that’s assumed or inherited.

4. Strangers Spread the Word Faster

It shocked me — the most virality FAVORIOT got wasn’t from my own alumni network. It was from strangers who stumbled upon our blog, tested the platform, and raved about it on their own channels.

Why?

Because strangers are hungry for something that works. And when it works, they want others to know they found it first.

Your close friends?

They might still be trying to “figure out what you’re doing.” Or too shy to post about you — “Nanti orang cakap aku biased pulak.”

I say, give me a thousand strangers over ten overthinking friends.

5. Familiarity Breeds… Hesitation

Here’s the paradox.

The more people know about your past, the harder it is for them to believe in your future potential.

When I transitioned from academic life to startup founder, there were people who couldn’t bridge that mental gap. “Mazlan? The MIMOS guy? Dia buat startup ke sekarang?”

They hesitated.

But when I met fresh faces at expos, conferences, or online — they didn’t carry that baggage. All they saw was a man passionate about IoT, solving a problem. Period.

And they said yes.

6. Friends Wait For You to Make It. Strangers Help You Make It.

It sounds harsh. But it’s true.

Friends often support you when it’s safe.

When you’re already on stage. When you’ve already raised a round. When others already validate you.

Strangers, on the other hand, often jump in before the spotlight.

They’re the ones who say:

• “I believe in your idea.”
• “Let’s try it.”
• “Your story resonates with me.”

They’re not doing it out of obligation. They’re doing it out of alignment. And that’s the customer you want.

7. You’re Not in the Business of Convincing Friends

This was a big mindset shift for me.

“Shouldn’t I be convincing my old buddies to try FAVORIOT?”

No.

Your job isn’t to sell to friends. Your job is to build something so good that even strangers trust it. And ironically, that’s when friends finally take notice.

Build for strangers. Serve them well. And over time, your friends will quietly hop onboard — when they see you’ve built something real.

8. It’s Not Betrayal. It’s Just Human Nature

One final note — don’t take it personally.

I used to feel hurt. “Why are people who barely know me supporting me more than those I’ve known for 10 years?”

But now I realize… it’s not betrayal. It’s just how human psychology works.

Proximity creates assumptions. Distance creates curiosity.

And curiosity is what drives people to explore, ask, and buy.

So don’t waste energy resenting your circle. Use that energy to serve your real audience.

My Advice? Focus on Creating Real Value

That’s what attracts the right customers — regardless of who they are.

If you’re honest, passionate, and solving a real problem, people will come.

Some may be old friends. Most will be strangers.

But all of them are humans searching for a solution. Be the one who provides it.

And remember — in a world where everyone expects support from the familiar, be grateful for the unfamiliar who believe in you first.

Those are your true customers.

And maybe one day… your friends will join the queue too.

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“Thank you, strangers. You made FAVORIOT real.”

I’ve been on both sides of the table. I’ve sat in plush boardrooms of corporates, armed with strategy decks and Gantt charts. And I’ve stood in startup expos with nothing but a prototype, a vision, and hope that someone out there believes in me.

So believe me when I say this — corporate-startup partnerships sound exciting on paper, but on the ground? It’s a minefield.

Let’s strip away the buzzwords. Let’s talk about what really happens.

1. Different Clocks, Different Worlds

“Why are they taking so long to approve this?”

I remember asking my co-founder this after waiting three months just to get a feedback email. In the startup world, three months is a lifetime. In the corporate world? It’s just the first round of internal vetting.

Startups run on urgency — every day matters when your burn rate is ticking. Corporates move with caution — risk is the enemy, and layers of approvals are the armor.

The fix? I learned to stop hoping they’d change. Instead, we created parallel timelines — one for them, one for us. We chased quick wins while waiting for their green light. Buy time by building elsewhere.

2. Innovation Theatre is Real

Let me be blunt — some corporates just want to look innovative. They parade startups like trophies at conferences, but behind closed doors, there’s no intent to integrate, support, or even pilot your solution.

“We love what you’re doing, let’s explore synergies,” they say.

But three meetings later, you realize it’s all talk. No budget. No timeline. No real stakeholder.

My lesson? Qualify them like investors. If they don’t allocate budget, assign a champion, or agree on KPIs — walk away. Your time is precious.

3. Lost in Translation

Corporate teams speak in terms of “quarterly performance metrics,” “compliance risk mitigation,” and “cross-functional alignment.” Startups? We speak in MVPs, pivoting, and product-market fit.

The result? A communication chasm.

I once pitched our IoT platform and got blank stares. Only later did I realize I was talking in features. They wanted outcomes. Not “real-time temperature monitoring,” but “reduce asset loss by 40%.”

Solution? Translate your pitch into their language. Learn their pain points and talk like an insider. Better yet — get an internal translator. A champion who believes in your tech and knows how to navigate their maze.

4. The Procurement Wall

You’re excited. The business unit loves your solution. A pilot is greenlit. Then — boom — you hit the procurement department.

Suddenly, your lean startup has to fill in 30-page tender documents, meet cybersecurity standards that even banks struggle with, and compete with legacy vendors who have been on their vendor list since Y2K.

I remember sitting with my team, demoralized, staring at a compliance checklist longer than our pitch deck.

Advice? Don’t wait until it’s too late. Ask upfront — “How do you procure innovation?” Some corporates have fast-track routes. Others… just don’t. If they don’t, you’ll need a partner who does.

5. Data: The Gold No One Wants to Share

Ah, data — the lifeblood of IoT. We once proposed a predictive maintenance pilot, only to be told: “We can’t share historical data. It’s sensitive.”

So… how do we train our model?

The irony? They want innovation, but won’t share the fuel to drive it. Understandable from a legal standpoint, but fatal to progress.

Workaround? Create synthetic datasets. Offer edge-processing solutions. Or suggest on-premise pilots where data never leaves their servers. Be flexible — but set boundaries.

6. The Pilot Trap

Startups get excited about pilots. I used to. Until we had three unpaid PoCs running simultaneously — draining our team, delaying our roadmap, and giving us zero revenue.

That’s when it hit me.

“We’re giving them our IP for free. They’re testing us. But we’re bleeding.”

Some corporates see pilots as “free R&D.” You think it’s the beginning of a contract. They think it’s an experiment they’re not committed to.

My hard-earned rule? No pilot without commitment. Either pay a fee, or sign a letter of intent for scaling if KPIs are met. If they won’t commit, neither should you.

7. Change Champions Leave. So Does Momentum.

You finally find someone inside the corporate who gets it. They push your agenda, unblock bottlenecks, and champion your startup like it’s their own.

Then… they resign. Or get transferred. And suddenly, you’re back to square one.

“But this was approved…” you plead. Doesn’t matter. The new person wants to ‘re-evaluate the strategy.’

Reality check? Build relationships beyond just one person. Map out decision-makers. Secure documentation. Get agreements formalized — not just verbal promises.

Final Thought: Don’t Just Survive, Learn to Navigate

I’ve had great corporate partners. Truly. Some believed in us before anyone else did. They gave us a platform, feedback, even funding. But getting there wasn’t luck — it was surviving the gauntlet above.

So if you’re a startup founder:

Don’t jump at the first handshake. Qualify. Question. Protect your time. And never forget — you’re not a vendor. You’re a co-creator of the future.

And if you’re from a corporate reading this:

We know your world is complex. But don’t let bureaucracy kill the very innovation you seek.

The magic happens when we meet halfway — speed with structure, ideas with scale.

Let’s stop the theatre. Let’s build real things.

“We’re not just a startup. We’re your unfair advantage — if you let us.”

Do you have a story like this from your startup or corporate journey?