I grew the company 4x in 3 months

In one line, what do you do and what is your most significant achievement?

I grew the company 4x in 3 months.

Who are you and what business did you start?

I'm Jo Olivia Lee, Co-Founder of Lendor. Lendor is a circular startup for tech rentals. Our mission is to maximise the utility and value of every device by encouraging collaborative consumption to reduce carbon footprint.

What's your backstory?

Due to supply chain disruption from global events over the past couple of years, we saw that a lot of individuals and businesses were impacted and were unable to have access to the equipment they needed. We wanted to bridge that gap and create a sustainable tech rental ecosystem and community within Singapore.

What should be the first steps to take to enter your industry?

At Lendor, we believe in being at the right place at the right time paired with the passion for sustainability in order to find the right ecosystem partners.

How did you spend your First 100 Days of launching your business?

For me, it was understanding the business, its current workings and changing the demographic. To keep exploring and trying. If it's not working, follow the numbers and pivot with no attachments. It was reaching out to more than 100 net new customers, educating them about the value of sustainability and keeping more cash flow for their business growth.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain partnerships/customers?

Good and readily available service. At Lendor, we focus a lot on customer experience. My role as the ex-VP of Citibank Customer Experience gave me a lot of insights on customer acquisition and the journey of customer success.

What has taken you from 0 to 100?

When we supported the F1 Singapore Grand Prix, there was so little time to put it together. It was during that stressful period that we truly embraced the importance of team synergy for success; the belief that we really can come together to resolve anything and everything. Our team is our most valuable asset.

What is one underrated thing in your industry that business owners should start doing/using?

Thinking about their cash flow and understanding that ownership comes with a high cost. Also, it's time to think about ESG.

What was one failure you had to go through that others in your industry should look out for?

Being too positive about forecasting. Especially in the startup industry, you might think that it will work cause this or that will happen but when it doesn't it can lead to a false sense of hope that is detrimental to decision-making.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

We've recently moved to Notion and it's been amazing. Before this, every department used their own platform to communicate and track tasks. We were interested in Notion because we wanted manage our remote-working team on one platform and also make the internet and working experience feel a lot more… tangible. It's been a great tool for collaboration and it's simple interface makes your brand the star with little to no distractions.

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

I'm happy to share that we are on track to profitability by EOY and I believe that there's a lot more good work to be done. While profitability is a great target to have this year, we also aim to continue supporting foreign domestic workers, female inmates and those from marginalised communities by providing accessibility to tech devices through our EduTech initiatives.