After spending 15 years abroad, Singaporean entrepreneur Gillian Tee decided to return home in 2016 to be closer to her family.
It was what she called “the proper storm.”
Three of her close relatives were living with chronic illnesses and Tee quickly discovered the “pain points” of caring for people who need specialized care.
“To illustrate you fell and broke your hip, the medical part is sort of clear. You may have to search out specialists, you may go to… [a] public hospital or private hospital,” Tee said.
“But what happens when it’s good to come home, when it’s good to transition back to your community and your house, what’s the care plan? What’s the suitable thing to even take into consideration, when it comes to proofing the house, mobility aids?”
Homage provides a variety of home care services, including day by day living assistance, nursing care and residential therapy.
Homage
That is when she decided to start out Homage, an organization that matches patients who need long-term home care with qualified caregivers.
Since 2017 when the corporate was founded, the startup has raised $45 million, she said naming notable investors corresponding to Golden Gate Ventures Sheares and Healthcare Group — a Temasek wholly owned subsidiary, in addition to early stage enterprise firm 500 Startups.
Homage is now valued at greater than $100 million, in response to Tee.
But this isn’t the 40-year-old’s first foray into entrepreneurship. She was a management consultant for Accenture when she chanced upon a book that modified the course of her profession.
“I began off as a software developer and I used to be just very drawn to it because I liked constructing things. But what really hit me was this idea of application,” she told CNBC Make It.
How do I take advantage of technology to construct something that individuals can use, and it impacts their lives?
Gillian Tee
Co-founder and CEO, Homage
She was referring to the book Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days, written by Jessica Livingston, who co-founded seed stage investment firm Y Combinator.
“How do I take advantage of technology to construct something that individuals can use, and it impacts their lives?”
And so began Tee’s entrepreneur journey, which incorporates spending two years in Silicon Valley, where she co-founded Rocketrip in 2013. It’s a web site that incentivizes business travelers to avoid wasting their employers money on trip expenses.
The corporate raised $32 million — including $15 million from Google Ventures — before being acquired by Mondee Holdings in 2020.
This serial entrepreneur shares her top suggestions for running successful startup.
1. Know your market
Be it constructing an app for travel or health care, the business fundamentals never change, said Tee.
“You want to know your market rather well. Know your cost drivers, growth drivers and demand drivers.”
Homage is currently in three markets — Singapore, Malaysia and Australia, where there are “unique characteristics” that connect well to the issue that the corporate is trying to unravel, Tee added.
“We checked out caregiver shortage, the character of the aging population and chronic illnesses — which interestingly, isn’t just attributable to age, but highly correlated with urbanization.”
While users of Homage extend beyond seniors, the chance in eldercare technology continues to grow as people live longer. In Asia alone, one in 4 people shall be over 60 years old by 2050, in response to the Asian Development Bank.
Nonetheless, Tee said she is “an enormous fan of going deep and never overspreading” the business.
“Focus is every little thing. We do have a really clear view of what the markets are, if we must always expand to more [countries]. But without delay the present focus is on deepening our current markets,” she added.
2. Construct an excellent team
Business fundamentals are necessary, but entrepreneurs should “anchor first on people,” said Tee.
This has served Homage well in providing the very best look after its clients, and for Tee, who had no prior experience within the health-care industry.
I attempt to do the very best I can, but I bring on people who find themselves a lot better than me.
Gillian Tee
Co-founder and CEO, Homage
“It is important to lean on specialists for clinical governance and compliance. That is why we’ve got our director of nursing, for instance, who has 20 years of experience across different medical settings,” Tee shared.
“An enormous a part of what we do is we want to synthesize care quality with the product and technology. That is the team it’s good to construct — I attempt to do the very best I can, but I bring on people who find themselves a lot better than me.”
3. Give attention to the ‘100 good things’
Being an entrepreneur could be isolating, said Tee, especially so when you find yourself a girl.
“You get snide comments, but in fact, less so now because there is a status and respect that is been built up.”
But things weren’t at all times easy at first. “For instance, [a director] once told me, ‘, now I do know why the newspapers feature you, because your eyes are so beautiful.'”
“That is my mantra like every little thing I’m going through: I actually have to be twice as assertive, more data-driven and be super sharp. I do think we [female entrepreneurs] need to do more to prove our point.”
Even so, Tee has learned to take things in her stride and lean on the individuals who matter.
“There’s 100 problems, but there’s also 100 good things. You bought to actually tune out the noise and be okay going through that intensity,” she added.
“It’s exhilarating in some ways, but tiring in lots of others. Lean in your team, be open, vulnerable, transparent with them. I feel that is crucial thing.”
4. Innovation drives impact
What does innovation mean to Tee? It’s about making an impact on users.
“The mission of Homage is so near and dear to me. At the tip of the day, there’s nothing higher than constructing something that individuals can get an answer out of,” she said.
“At the tip of the day, there’s nothing higher than constructing something that individuals can get an answer out of,” said Gillian Tee, co-founder and CEO of Homage.
Homage
