Don't Worship Work

father thank you you are the lamb that was slain for the beginning of the world you're also the lion of Judah … we just pray this would be a time now of encouragement for us as we really weigh on how our journey as entrepreneurs um is really part of your kingdom

we Market U alternative investment product and um yeah so some of the products we are marketing like Quant fund that can generate [annualised] return of 80% now it's a pretty good one if you're okay well we can talk [further]

I run my own family office and uh we do a selective Investments uh into uh places with high social impact … my distribution is in Indonesia uh so I spend almost 70 80% of my time there

I'm still you know very new in my faith … I have been uh unemployed for 2 years uh retrench and employed for 2 years um and just only recently started coming out of a very bad mental health State … I'm glad you know that it's true God that I managed to to Really find my way out you know I just push everyone away

I'm a freethinker by the way … like I said for the past two times maybe God leads me to meet all of you guys and come to this uh community and I I do enjoy uh being around here actually

hello everyone my name is [F039] today I come is because I'm interesting who is here and and I'm 6 years old and I'm K2 next year I'm going to be P1

I believe in in being able to use like whatever the Bible has made and has shared with us in in a way to be able to be used in uh business activities which will in a way enable people empowers people more

I believe Jesus is uh the key to business and the key to life … I was just at this um big Christian convention in Korea called [Lausanne] … there is a big thing in the work track … how do you integrate work and Mission … are we achieving Great Commission throughout work

I've got three kids and I'm bringing them for FD to let my wife rest a little bit at home … especially in Asia in the culture here especially when you run a startup sometimes work become our identity and vice versa … the face family and work and then Fitness uh I'm still uh keeping up on the last one

the hormone is released the most not the one monkey eat banana but a few seconds before he actually started eating banana and sometimes I feel me personally many entrepreneurs around me they indeed chasing that banana … they think that the happiness will happen in the future when they get $1 million [ARR] … we are very Spiritual Beings and creatures and uh we actually not created to um feel happiness from the all the material things

likely to experience like uh suicidal [thoughts] ADHD which is I guess six times as I think I have ADHD as well um uh but yeah it's it's it's actually nice to know that um I have some excuse for that

I'm not officially diagnosed but I believe that you know I do have it same a lot of stuff um and uh comorbidity with with depression as well … because of unrealistic expectations … it's always be a unicorn be a unicorn right um VC's coming to you they're always you better 100x or you better at least 10x cuz I know the rest some of my other are going to fail … hustle hustle … Led Led to that burnout

my happiness used to be when can I make my first $10 million when can I then go to $800 million and be off on the Forbes … that was the measure of success or or satisfaction um but really looking down like you know I've got family right now … be more grounded be more realistic

for the past two years like I was really down I I pushed everybody away um I I was suicidal almost every day … we live in a broken world but for me listening to to gods and to God and sermons um help it at the very start actually the more I listened to the more angry I got … a lot of times I just got you know really really angry but as I read more a little bit more time I'm just like well learn learn to let go and and Trust more

it's very easy to say oh it's not my decision is I'm doing it for the whole company so then I'll uh go against what God tells me … there so many ways to explain to yourself a wrong decision … making God your co-founder or I even a CEO of your business rather than just you know uh some Far Away partner

one of the biggest reasons for having this uh sense of uh depression or suffering is because um it's an identity issue especially for someone who is an [alpha] type who has done well in school has uh had some success in life and then you embark on to an entrepreneurial journey and then suddenly you face rejection you face that you're not as good as what you thought you were … I know I am a child of God uh I have accepted Christ uh he is in me I have the Holy Spirit and by faith I claim that … because we are not our own we've been redeemed by Christ

I look at it as every time it's a no it's a protection because we don't know any better so if we fail in something it's not a failure at all it's a protection because God knows better and he's watching and very often that failure leads to much greater success

there is a book um called [Screwtape] Letters by CS [Lewis] if you haven't read read it just read that book that's a lot about how devil actually manipulating us on using our imagination to paint all kinds of failure that we going to meet … humans are very good in painting it in the worst uh paint in the worst colors and then uh get obsessed by it

when something good happens or we have a breakthrough there's a relief because maybe we've been under stress but I don't think that's happiness that's just like you know the pain has gone for a moment … they finally raise money and they're like okay now all my problems are over I'm like no just your problems have just moved up to another … level you've got now you know You' got some some Uncle breathing down your neck

I think sometimes if you're absolutely completely normal you wouldn't be an entrepreneur … I think you have to have something a bit quirky about your your attitude to just want to be an entrepreneur there's got to be a fire in the belly or something so I think we're more vulnerable people or entrepreneurs

worst thing could possibly happen is I die … if I'm a Christian then I'm with God and everything is good … God is always there God has not left his throne God has not lost his power God is no less God because I've had a really my my business is has cratered

she basically sold off a lot of her own own assets and put them into the business … it's not just the business but it's actually her own personal like her home … she was just too obsessed too obsessed with success or with not failing and when we get too obsess with with success or not feeling that's when often we make do things that are very unwise and unhealthy

I have it on my phone and there's this app where it'll send you random reminders it'll just pop up on my phone to remind me … I hated all my toil in which I toil Under the Sun … when you start something you want to build kind of build an Empire and um that's not not what the Bible calls us to … we're foolish if we're like no I still need to strive and accomplish a lot … the whole point is him and it's not the the striving

I'm one of those uh uh Soviet Union kids whose parents lost all their jobs in 19 and uh completely no money nothing to eat so the engineers that had to went with the market to sell cloes uh from China … I remember myself going selling different stuff flat by flat when I was like 8 years old 7 years old just just with a small margin

not Christian by the way but I mean you don't need to be Christian to to do good to people … I didn't realize too much of the differences compared to me traveling exactly in the same place and living in a hostel … God giving me this kind of a live demo of what it is of having all this and actually making completely no difference to your life … as a live demo to understand that uh the [breakfast] cake is the same in the morning

you raise money you actually get more problems … you're getting money inorganically you didn't earn it … Venture winter right everybody now have to earn or die … the difference is that you're not going to meet Jesus immediately after your company bankrupt

later we will beep you in in a videos if you will name U some companies

I don't really face uh such uh uh faulty Justice in uh systems because I feel that in Singapore we have uh just systems in place um however I'll put that on YouTube it's fairly tight uh in terms of um um Justice in in Singapore and the policies in place nothing is perfect um but however I do see that there are loopholes here and there

The Book of Proverbs tells us that you know that wisdom and and knowledge and doing right will help you grow and uh you will be rewarded but likewise in the book of um job … even job um who is so successful has been um put to a test whereby everything is lost … by read deeper I understand that he is a deeply flawed king … as [F022] as you seek God and do his will and I think that that in itself is a a a a fruit of joy in me

I actually ever heard of someone say if you really feel down and everything like doesn't go your way go and look for a spiritual spiritual [mentor]

since I started running FD I received so much business blessing that directly not related to this activity but a very clear sign that this is what we doing is right that we should meet [and] help each other because it's a very [lonely] Journey but it doesn't need to be

Father Lord, we pray. We pray we meet this time in a new place, but nothing else will change us. We we will we will be still focused just on you and our businesses who you are the true CEO. They will be working because we sacrifice we sacrifice to win together as a community for us being not the Christians on Sunday only but the Christians throughout the whole week in our marketplace and everywhere we going to so that our employees sense sense you God. So our clients sense you God.

My name is [PERSON] [PERSON]. Uh it's my second time at the FD series though I've been to the other conferences uh two years. So I got to know uh professor [FACILITATOR] and then he's been very consistent uh to invite. So thank you. Um so what do I do? I'm I am a connector basically although I've worked in my last role is in a client relations manager in an environmental services company. So currently um the two projects that I'm working on it's um a jewelry business for um like really good lab made diamonds. It's not zakonian and also uh precious stones uh and gold. Uh so that's one. The other is um and it's really uh uh software uh technology company CRM and all that for travel business. So um if you knows anyone in this area of work, let me know. Happy to connect. … I'm connected with the um Jewish community, the Israeli embassy and ambassador. We just had a 77th Independence Day uh celebration last evening. Um, so, uh, connecting communities, Christian and, uh, Jewish community in Singapore, especially with the rise of anti-semitism. So, I've got a heart for Israel and my name is [PERSON] [PERSON]. So, I really am uh, living that out as part of my um, the root of my faith in a Jewish Messiah. So I am spending a lot of time researching, getting to know more that Israel is not just Israel in that land in the Middle East. We've got people, Singapore Jews, in our meets as well. And so my prayer is to also be connected here and let the Lord work through the relationships so that they will see and be provoked to jealousy that we have faith and we are grafted in.

Hi, my name is [M038]. So, currently I'm looking for opportunities, still no passion. That's why I pray to Jesus Christ to find something that can inspire me. And most of the time I see a lot of content from prophet TB [M020]. Those kind of like miracle healing, instant one. I'm looking for instant miracle healing because my lower back is very pain and nothing has changed since. So I pray to God to help me find back my life. Thank you. Fun fact. Fun fact. There's nothing fun about me, man. Fun. Well, that's uh there's there's there's some Yeah. So, actually I my intention is to maybe go to Dubai or somewhere to find business opportunities. I cannot find it here.

Hi, I'm [M048]. Uh I'm uh I'm a tech uh founder. I run a company called [COMPANY]. And it uh it's a predictive intelligence platform that helps companies predict their narratives, analyze their narratives, and run the right narratives to help their brands grow in the market. And uh this is my second company. I exited my first and this is my first time here. So uh uh I was invited by uh NG and uh and uh it was I mean I I'm looking for communities where I can uh get plugged in because I tend to be too much of a so don't worship work is good because I do tend to be quite a workaholic and uh and I'm learning how to sort of you know find uh my footing in in the my faith and uh the intensity of a startup. So it's really nice to be connected with other believers uh like yourself. So, uh, yeah, looking forward to to hang out with you guys. Yeah, fun fact. Yes, one fun fact. Uh, I lost 30 kilos in 6 months.

Hi, I'm [F024]. Um, so I'm an investor from App Works. I came from Taiwan. I'm on a business trip and um, I met [FACILITATOR] through AppWorks cuz he was part of our accelerator program. Um, so if any of you entrepreneurs want to learn more about the resources, you can talk to me later. It's free. Everything's free. Um, and a fun fact is I guess [FACILITATOR] one day, well actually it was Easter and he just said happy Easter and I said God bless. I guess he then figured out I'm Christian through that text and then he asked me if I'm interested in implementing um FD in Taiwan um since I also know a community of entrepreneurs in Taiwan. And so I guess I'm all This is also my first time here, but I'm just kind of checking it out. And then hopefully if you know, we're gonna run one in Taipei soon

My at night uh part I I actually am a coach, a men's coach. So like like men's mental health kind of co the community is called real men co. So the idea is a lot of men wear masks, right? Like cuz we want to pretend like oh we're strong and like we're not emotional and whatever, right? Toxic masculinity. Uh but I think a real man is a one who be able to put on his mask and be his true self. I think uh when a man can love himself, accept himself through the love of Christ. I think that that's that's the idea.

So, I actually ran FTE in Bali a few years ago and I'm so glad [FACILITATOR] is doing it in Singapore so I can just relax and enjoy and not lead something. … I used to be a social media influencer like 14 years ago, but God said, "I want you to choose. Do you want to build your followers or do you want to follow me?" Yeah. So, that's another story for another time. Oh, and I'm really passionate about like missional entrepreneurship. So something I've been thinking about is how do we help to train and equip the next generation in missional entrepreneurship and some of my friends are in the midst of building a missional entrepreneurship school in Malaysia and I'm part of the team for that. So which which social media channel you were entrepreneur in? So the influencer in Oh well I had a blog called love you wrong time. So I wrote like where to eat drink and party but now yeah it's just like yeah totally dead and it's a new season. So now I write about God and everyone stopped following me.

Oh, and I'm really passionate about like missional entrepreneurship. So something I've been thinking about is how do we help to train and equip the next generation in missional entrepreneurship and some of my friends are in the midst of building a missional entrepreneurship school in Malaysia and I'm part of the team for that.

my parents are you know I'm a missionary kid. So usually my dad and I when we have conversations we are like he's a grassroot missionary I'm a marketplace mission. So we you know it's the conversations are quite interesting. So I left him that book FD and and he's reading it right now in India. So anyway, that's how I came to FD. Uh I am from the pharmaceutical industry. Uh I'm in R\&D, regulatory and safety. I've been there almost three decades now. Just transitioning out because of you know industry restructure and all that. So I am uh in a in a point of transition to see what uh you know God wants me to do. I'm saying this, it all sounds very what God wants me to do. But believe me, every morning I get up, it's a it's a whole different turmoil in my head because uh it's very difficult to know how to sit still after working non-stop for 30 years. So you know, your constantly mind is thinking about different things. But it's a it's a period that's uh I think precious when I look back in some time.

Hi everyone. My name is [U025]. Um I actually run a high-tech uh political farm in Singapore. So, we're building it right now and we've got a big farm in US as well. It's about 13,000 acres. So, we're going to grow different crops in the different places. Um, I'm here because I find the journey of being an entrepreneur very fascinating. I gave God gave us creativity. So, um, and 88% of Singap Singaporeans actually are working for other people. So, I think you know the people here are pretty rare and you know the journey of entrepreneurship and God leading it is is something that's very, you know, fascinating for me. And um that's why I'm here.

Hi. Uh [M002], third time here. Oh, wow. Somebody better going to get a book today. Yes, I came here for the book. I'm kidding. Uh uh so I have two jobs. So one is the one that pays the bills and one is the one that I want to pay the bill in the future like I hope to. So the day job is I am a solutions implementation engineer for a tech company and the the business that I hopefully I'm working on right now is still in the works trying to figure out the all the details but started up with um consulting for uh technical architecture for software for some friends right now and just got under contact today. So, yay. Um, fun fact about myself. Um, I was just talking with Sreen earlier and like she was they're working on some agree like things and I just told her that I I dream of being a farmer. So, yeah, like I hope to retire like and become a farmer and just sit and watch plants grow.

Hello, my name is [M061]. Uh, why am I here? I think I'm here because of my two girls here. I went so to encourage them to join the widely at their very productive age. Like most of you all, I am already retired myself. Fun fact, uh, I'm an Uber papa. I'm an Uber papa. That's what I do. Okay. I drive my kids around.

Hi, I'm [F026]. I am actually a speech therapist. I'm here because my dad's friend invited us over. So, yes. So, this is the first time we're here. Um, yeah, I guess I do have aspirations to sort of start my own business or just learn about business because as you know, speech therapy is just totally different.

now I actually work for a British consulting firm doing market expansion for western clubs going to Asia. Uh fun fact about me I go to uh I go to work I commute by ferry to Singapore. So um yeah so it's sort of like a whole life hack here and I think I sort of saw from okay and the reason I'm here is actually because I I ran to [FACILITATOR] in Echelon yesterday and it's like okay no excuse I saw you

I've been my second time officially in FD. Heard about FD of course years back uh before [FACILITATOR] took on before [FACILITATOR] uh ran this like a inerson thing. It was like via email. So I've got all the emails. So glad that [FACILITATOR] did it. Uh I run a cyber security company with services. We serve a lot of government contracts. Uh we also build a software and that's why I was also at Agelon. That's why I can make it here today because most of the time I can't. Uh I'm affectionately known as Dr. Cyber Pastor by many people. So cyber I I I say I speak on cyber security and I also speak on eternal security.

Hello, my name is [M030]. I am both of director of uh agri food industry but I'm more active now together with my wife managing the family money and our operation agree food have a regional cover and in regional and we involved in the poultry business agriculture processed food uh dairy all this operation and we just privatized the company recently here uh that's it and we quite active every morning I with my wife to discuss about economy geopolitic because my wife is our fund manager in the family money so very important is it fun is it fun the the funny thing usually we are discussing about with my wife about what President Trump will do. Oh yeah. So every time they they have a lot of news about President R. But we actually what we are discussing because we are thinking about investing. So whether Trump will revalue the crypto and also as gold reserve because in the past they have two experience where the United States revalue the gold reserve which is in 1933 and in 1977 not mistaken by Dixon. So every time they revalue the gold the gold price shoot up. So we guessing that the goal will shoot up quite a lot.

Essentially, I'm in the personal wealth space. I run my own practice. At the same time, I was bootstrapping my own education company to help people who are underserved by the banks, oversold by insurance agents. And one fun fact about me actually I was homeless once. So God has really provided

my name is [F050] and we are from Indonesia actually. So uh after 201 18 uh 2020 after co we decided to stay here and uh I know about FDE I was uh involved in Jakarta but um last week I saw it in event bright. Oh I didn't know it was you have one here. I mean I didn't know you have it weekly. I met the annual meet. Uh you have monthly. Monthly not weekly. Monthly. I thought weekly. We we have it weekly in Jakarta. Yeah. So she should be doing it weekly and actually becomes a community and actually it serve my passion. My passion is how to make um Christianity relevant. Christian Christianity is very relevant in the business. If you do your business God's way, you will achieve much more. And that was my regret. Why didn't I know it earlier?

Hi, I'm [F044] and I'm currently working for a VC uh tenant. I'm not sure whether you guys know. I saw the sticker on your laptop. You you see the sticker where on your laptop? On your laptop. Okay. So I was invited by Auntie [F050] to come and yeah, we are in the fintech space and we run accelerator programs as well.

Hello, my name is [M025]. I am in the textile manufacturing industry. Not based here, but um, based in Indonesia. Um, I was invited by Uncle [M061]. Um it's a very pleasurable to meet you all. Um very interesting. A lot of people coming from different places. And fun fact about myself, if I could choose the ideal career, maybe somewhere in the sports industry would be fine.

My name is [F001]. Uh today I'm very happy uh that this event is held in my church city harvest church. Yeah. So uh I'm a marketing professional for more than 10 years in various industry like uh consumer electronics, beauty and healthcare. So um recently I'm venturing uh starting my digital marketing business and then um I'm also passionate about coaching. So um I am in the space of uh I think mindset and transformation. Okay. So uh fun fact I would say recently or this year uh I went to this uh father heart conference and uh I mean it's fun and like for me it's uh it basically my heart was transformed and I felt my life was I mean my heart was revived.

my name is [F029]. I'm invited by Riy. So uh I was at the event echelon like downstairs for the past two days. So in my day job, I'm the client relationship manager uh of connector as well for IT space and uh surfing a local bank. So for my I don't know other day job is that um I teach people to eat and lose weight and also um in my this business is a more kingdom entrepreneurship and uh I'm part of CHC also and it's in the marketplace uh dinner I bump into a woman uh empowerment group women of courage Asia so uh [M048] is the man side I'm the ladies side

More than 12, 15 years ago, there was this songwriter Matt Redm[a]n who wrote the song Heart of Worship. He wrote it in the context of uh bringing music to the Lord with music just being a tool and it should not take over the heart. And today we here are bringing our work to the Lord and as we sing the song we can always sing it with a heart of worship that says Lord it's not my work but it's my heart that I bring to you.

I started my business about two years ago. Um, I've been doing videos and film for 15 years. Um, but our new business focuses on creating content for industries and business players so that they can be more social for the digital age. Um, in my past job as a creative director in a video tech company, I worked with 40 plus MNC's at the height where I advised them on content creation. During that time, I saw this issue uh that I think a lot of industry players are facing, which is um legacy. They're very quickly dying. They're not able to attract younger generations into their business. Um and they're very pivotal and foundational to our society. Um and they actually do a lot of amazing things. They're not all evil evil corporates. Uh so I found this mission to be quite valuable and given my experience in video creation I found that videos is a way to amplify the right message. So I cannot contribute directly to what they do but what I can do is help amplify the right messages. That's why we watch videos here in FD as well. Exactly. It is the one way to scale the message indefinitely. So what SAS does for software, videos can do for stories. So after this session, pick up the video we watch and send it to three of your friends to scale it. Okay. What's a fun fact? Fun fact, um when I quit my job to start this company, uh two weeks later, my wife told me she was pregnant.

at the very first session I was didn't know it is a faith-driven place. I was even not a Christian at all. Yes. I just came here because I I knew [FACILITATOR] and then uh I was supposed to attend his other events but I could not. So I just say oh okay I come from the second one which is this one. So uh which over here I I I get to expose to uh how to run a business in a faithful manner. So throughout a few events and of and off and also we met I met uh my church leader at over here as over the FD events which is not here today anyway. So uh so that's where I I went to alpha and got more exposure and then and converted in last year in November. … I was actually exposed to uh Christianity during my school time in Singapore. By the way, I'm from China. I was from China. So yeah, I was exposed to Christianity [F022] times ago. But is the is the FD is the trigger for me to really step uh step forward.

There's many backsliders among entrepreneurs because they're very busy, right? So think of your friends who you can actually bring in here to spend some time with us. I think that's not a church service but it's something that might bring

Um so basically I have two projects that I'm running. So my name is [M031]. Yeah. Uh nice to meet you all. Um so I was invited by [FACILITATOR] to to to join this community and uh this is my second time here. Um so the two things that I run is mainly the first thing is an accelerator program. I think someone mentioned about that you should connect. Um so basically this accelerator we helpmemes go global um through three things right mentorship connections and fundraising. Um the second thing is in uh recently I go into the web three space. Um so I'm basically uh working with the uh exchange uh to manage KS basically influencers to market the uh products and and services in exchange. Um so my background is 10 years in tech. Uh so recently I also started my entrepreneurship journey. Um and right now I'm in the crossroads. Um yeah so right so right now I'm also figuring out what to do next. … by the grace of God, I came out Mexico alive.

So my name is [FACILITATOR]. I'm happen to run this here in Singapore. Uh I have a startup in AI space. It's uh for marketers to build marketing strategy and find narratives faster through the AI and uh for them to execute advertising campaigns. A fun fact about me apart from running this community is that I'm also a musician. I play accordion and professionally and I've been playing in many places from esplanade to Victoria and pretty much across Singapore. That's my hobby that I'm doing way longer than business or even study in my life.

I really like the point about uh happiness I think happiness is what we couldn't get from the material things. Unfortunately, unfortunately, that's the way we created. We're not happy because of material things. We are fooled by the evil one. We get, you know, another car, another watch, another, I don't know, $1 million or hundreds million dollars. We like have this carrot hanging inside in front of us and we always try to chase it and maybe when we are I don't know how old 18 years old and we eventually understand the center there's always another carrot but it's actually not there's no any substance in it

um well I moved back to Taiwan in the US Yeah, it was actually for a personal reason. Um, but it didn't work out. So, I'm still trying to figure it out.

I think for me personally when it comes to risk and staying true to that is that uh as entrepreneur you're always looking at it particularly when you have dominant expertise to some extent is you stay true to it even when sometimes VCs or people you know that you speak to don't like fully you know believe it and you just stick true to your gut you stick true to what you believe and it's centered on not so much just my success but also a sense of that God has given me the wisdom and the capability to to create a first you know success in where where I'm at and that that he will continue to lead me through into another new domain because I came from the consultancy world and to some extent can I extrapolate that into the tech world is always a risk you know and I feel like uh uh even I mean uh as of you know today there's still no sure that for me that that what I'm running now will be successful and it's based on really like trusting God as as God open doors for me and all that. So I think uh uh that's how I look at risk that I stay true to what God has given me as a as a as a sort of a goal post to go for and ask God for signs along the way that uh even if things don't go right there was a sign that he gave uh and that sign behind it. there's some plan behind even if it's not a successful situation that is a sign that I had to go this way you know and and I've seen then God come through in multiple times in my life but sometime some of those things have not yet come true and I'm still figuring it out but then I stay true to that whatever the risk is God is behind it and then eventually it's not really a risk at all obviously that's nice to say but a bit hard to leave out uh but we try I mean I try yeah so so that's that's that's the the battle every day

like back in school when we learned maths we have many dimensions right here in the world we have 1 2 3. Yeah. So if we move that we have you know been moving in that three-dimensional space but uh you know when there is more dimensions is coming into it. We could be not moving at all if we look at this world from those dimensions and vice versa. something there could be really moving but for us it could be like we are stuck right so I think my experience is don't measure your progress and and even don't define what the progress is whatever you do in business from the earthly terms sometimes it could be you're you're doing something nobody would appreciate but it eventually not just changing your life maybe changing thousands of people out there

someone in this room today might be the one changing the whole Asia being inspired by this video that actually came from us or you know by some of the talks that they encounter here or by walking into the wrong room and actually becoming a Christian and maybe becoming a unicorn

I think what I really relate with is that there's no guaranteed outcomes. You know I think nowadays in this vaua crazy AIdriven world where you know it's like 60% of jobs are probably not going to exist in the next 5 10 years and entrepreneurship itself is like an uncertain but also this this faith journey right and this quest of adventure and risk you know what are some things that help us to stay anchored or in balance I think what really comes to mind is like the verse that the word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. And someone who has unpacked this verse before kind of explains how a you know when you think about a car right and a light beam it you can see like 10 m in the distance and sometimes God gives us that 10 m vision so you have some sense of like okay this is my one-ear plan or my three-year plan but then he also is and the word is a lamp unto our feet right and that means you sometimes only see the next step and sometimes it is a dance right? Where it is stepping out in faith and sometimes it is obedience to sit and wait and hear God's voice. Something that is helping me a lot or that I'm trying to do is to really eliminate hurry from my life. Especially as someone with ADHD, you know, it's like I have to really catch myself like, okay, where am I over functioning right now? where am I running ahead of myself or running ahead of God, you know, and and yeah, I just pull myself down to like slow down and hear from God because I think we a lot of us are like we are living at the speed of the world instead of like being at the living at the speed of God and living at the speed of of God's pace is so different to yeah the the speed of the world. So what could it look like to do entrepreneurship in a more healthy way that is better for our souls and also where we are more in tune with God

I think I'll come back to attitude and um something that I have been mauling about um is because this is like from John Maxwell that there is this uh program it's called beyond success and so one of the point is about attitude like what the attitudes that we have so I I take that into the context of health uh healthy and wise risk right um so you can look at the same thing but different people have different perspective so it comes with our belief our uh my belief my values. Um so I think those need to be examined. So then the other point is if you make go a goal your destination then when you have achieved the goal or not achieved the goal it affects you. But if growth is your um goat, if if growing is the goal, then the risk that you take even if it looks like a failure, it's it's an opportunity to learn something within there, you know. So this is this is my approach. So for example, my company went through a restructuring and that's why I'm out of job and and I was very happy actually and my friends were like I this is the first time I meet someone who um uh was in form of you know uh restructuring made redundant. I think I my attitude and my belief is this has to happen so that God can take me to where I need to need to be next and and with decisions like this um business or management to me the relationships are the key points uh in in the situation like if it's an employer manager uh team member situation the decisions that I make or to consider the risk If I take the lives of the people in consideration u as as an entrepreneur business owner as like a shepherd then the decisions I make may be very different from um how much I'm profitering how much I'm going to gain or lose because to me that is the heart of God like he he he's looking like for example if he's looking at Abraham and Isaac and he says offer him up to me. So, you know, the risk is I'm I'm going to lose my son, right? My one and only son. But then if I consider like my attitude and my how what do I know about God? then on this mountain he is going to provide the the ram you know and so going through with that risk but knowing that at the heart of it God will provide even up to the point where he Abraham was willing to even put the knife onto Isaac and God stopped him. I I I think to to walk that journey um is an experience and encounter with who God is in our lives.

when I'm dealing with my kids sometimes, uh my daughter might just feel angry at me that I don't give her like sweets or cookies and she feel I'm just really greedy and you know I don't want to pass it. Um but I know that you know ultimately ultimately that's good for her health right maybe good for all her life right I think dealing with entrepreneurs and generally people quite often a very similar fashion we might be very angry or very upset on like why why why we don't get our serious a why we don't get our pain stop why something why somebody pass away that's happening as well Right. And then ultimately after maybe 10 years we understand okay that's why that was actually my joy

I'm 69 years old. So I am a father of three. My son's 37, my daughter to 36 and before three of them are having startup company quite successful but I'm uh I used to run the venture capital when I was uh in Indonesia at the time. uh beside I sit the board of director of the family company during the coit that the reason why I coming here is during the coit I came here on March 2020 and then co come then I'm staying here then I realized that life is uh is uh you you don't have to be try to do everything because when I'm do a venture of capital I'm quite successful in investing a few company I'm been selling but the more you're successful sometime you're more ambition ambitious you you're more ambitious and you think you can make double or triple the investment you make then I realized that when I set up I thought when first I set up a company I've been successful style once twice three time but then you become very unbused. You invest in everything you thought that you are so good then you any business you you can build the team of the management and then successful then I have a lot of a problem in my investment actually if I realize that this is the experience which is very important for the young people … try to do something which is you are good at be more focused But actually you think over life is so short right I I'm always remind my my my life I'm 69 my window go to 80 only another 10 years so what I want to do my 10 years so my children is there already I said to my children you can be ambitious you can be um very daring because you are lucky you have a father who are already have asset to invest. So actually you have something to fall back if something happened to them rather than we have to be more conservative because as a parent we have to be more consistent in our investment to make sure that the younger people can make the risk but they can have something for at least when I was young and that time I never think about about all this thing but when I have a lot of failure then I realize that it's not worth it to do everything you want because you're comparing yourself with other people because you always want to compete with other people. But actually, if we think it over a we have to do it for ourself. … If you enjoy what you do, try to do it. Be ambitious. But you have to think about your fallback. Even your fail doesn't matter. The most important is not success or fail because it's all the problem will be solved by time. Actually if you fail you coming back you focus in your in your field I believe one one time you will be past this problem as [F022] as you focus and you don't broken your heart. A lot of people who fail because they broke before the success. But most of people who are success actually a lot of failure before the success. This is very important. So when you young people be failure doesn't matter because you are still young. Then you try your best but don't be broken your heart. Some people because they are too too ambitious and then they broken their heart. Then when you broken your heart you will never coming back. So actually life is I think you should take it easy. You try your hard as hard as possible. You ambitious but don't comparing with other people. I think that's the most important.

I've experienced it all my life and next reach a next milestone I couldn't even dream of before and then eventually that's it's just as as as nothing as whatever I had in the past. That's not where the that's not where the real happiness coming from.

life actually we think over we can cut our spending if we income is less don't follow our uh our spending follow other people we always follow to our our income as [F022] as we how much we you had we don't have to compete with each other we have to compete with ourselves that mean we learn how to control ourself we learn how to be failure we learn how to be success Yes, that that is the journey being the entrepreneurial. I hope I can be a good model for my children and they are can be ambitious but always be uh be being themsel not comparing always to other.

I think God is a very good coach. Our so-called failures they are training for us to to actually get on the next step in our life. Right? So um let's say my kids and this is why this I'm thinking about them right so some of them might become maybe a good very good doctors or entrepreneurs or whatever right but you cannot just take them now with all the capital in the world and you know make them a CEO of the company whatever the IQ EQ whatever they have it wouldn't be sufficient to make that work they definitely got to fail fail a number of times

So if you think about failure you can actually think of fail as an acronym uh to uh first attempt in learning. When we think about failure and you think about learning something new is more often the outcome that you fail the first time with anything new. Uh if you're a first- time entrepreneurship or even if you're a young uh if you're raising kids, you'll see them fail often. The goal is you want to be able to fail within a safe environment so that you don't feel so hard that you lose track of why you're doing certain things, your purpose. I think as uh big boss here over said for his his own children he's blessed that he's uh developed a foundation that has allowed his kids to take bigger risks that allows them to fail without having to fall which is a real blessing for his kids. But for anyone else that doesn't have that uh you can always think of failure as a first attempt in learning. So when you fail, you're just learning. That's one. Um the other one that I like to joke about, even though I'm not technically a Christian anymore, but I used to have this saying where I think it's quite common. It's like pray not for an easy life, but pray for the strength to live a hard one. And when you face difficult times, then you can just think about, well, you know, God is uh giving you some hard hard lessons to learn from. Uh this is what you prayed for. So he's giving that to you. Of course, I also came to the conclusion I could have just prayed for an easier life. And it would be great if you just let things happen, too. Um but that's not how life and reality works. I try usually does not work. It is more often that you will find a hard life and if you want to succeed, good things don't come easy and things that come easy aren't necessarily that good.

My way is really to dive deeper in a situation and see with this experience now of that particular failure. uh what does what kind of new skill what kind of a new thing God actually gave me an opportunity to learn and what that would make my business or uh uh myself in the future some something maybe better um a very recent example from my company I uh I had some really really crazy guy from US uh to to tell about us that we are scammers ers and cheated them and all those kind of things and then both and want to fail a court case against us here in Singapore, right? Uh and I talked to many many people I really get to confirm that we are right in that situation because I thought maybe I just don't understand something. Maybe we are scammers or something. I don't know. It didn't feel like we did anything like that. But who knows, right? Maybe there's another winner. No, everybody feels really crazy. But then I feel wow, I'm so blessed. I'm a entrepreneur that already fundraised already uh faced a war get my business to zero dollars and then grow it back and pivot it and had a 50 people in the company and then had a 10 and then had the situation when you have uh you know have no money to pay next salary and salary comes in seven days that's so cool but I still don't have a court case that's so blessed to God to give that case to me so I can learn it so next time I really fully accomplished I really all the bullet points I should get into. Right? So like it's like in university you're going to take all the courses, you know, to to to to graduate, right? And then I call my CEO of friends and then they say, "Oh, yeah. Uh welcome, welcome. You never had that before. Welcome." Yeah. So So and that what makes you grow. So God does allow these things to happen to you. for you good for your employees good for your business

I think when we compare ourselves with the people of the world, the secular guys, and they get all the achievements and the awards and the the the income and the blessings there, then you feel like, hey, why why am I not doing right? I think it's more common for for Christians where we start the journey of doing to be more aligned with what God wants and God's will. We get struck with a lot of unspeakable challenges. Um I'll call them like spiritual warfare where where you get temptations, you get offers that are way out of this world to tempt you from doing what God wants you to do to stray you away from God's will. and and that is the real testament to really stick to the journey because you know that the enemy is here and to really pray even harder and get into a in a group of council and a community to really pray together that hey I'm going through this I really need help um the the the secular deal is so sexy and so juicy and I really want to take a bite of it but no it's it's it's not right for me and be very aware and be sensitive to that that the more you chase after God the more the devil will come after you because that's for sure the devil doesn't need to worry worry about people who are just chilling, right? And and that's where don't feel discouraged. Don't feel that you're losing you're getting left out by the world, but you're running your own life. And like what like what part just mentioned that hey, don't compare yourself to others. Leave your own life for God.

Sorry I just was like quite inspired by what you shared about the hard life. Right. I mean if if we if if we look at ourselves here in Singapore, I mean I I take in context with what is happening in Israel because I I do communicate with the startups or the entrepreneurs there. I mean for them it's it's a story of courage. It takes courage and it keeps coming back that resilience. Um when when you know you you have to run your business while you are in the field fighting a war run out and make a phone call um as a reservice and then go back in into I was like wow you know and you're growing your business in Indonesia you know um so so it's really inspiring for me that you know I mean if we're comparing like there is always someone better or someone in a worse off situation, right? So, so the contentment and the gratitude is is a huge component and and it takes courage to keep going at it. Um and then you know like the example of a father who would want to give a safety net for the children. I I don't have that you know physically like my father didn't give me a safety net but Singapore have a government. Yes. Yes. In a way, you know, in a way. But but what I really wanted to say is that we have a heavenly father and I I truly believe that regardless of the situation you are in in even if you're very hard situation almost bankrupt. … as an earthly father to consider the safety net and then what more my heavenly father that he can turn things you know around even when you do make failures or mistakes that are of your own doing you know and and that is the grace and the redemptive story that we have in this relationship with with our father and and um I just hope you you know that we continue in that journey of encountering him uh in in that sense even in the area of business.

I think in Singapore are lucky. You have a very good government preparing for all your population. But you are a country like Indonesia. If you are the success, you can be die yourself. But here at least you have a government to prepare. So I think the safety, you know what I mean? So the but the drawback is I I have a lot of Singaporean friend. I say to them you should go out. Yeah. So stay in Singapore comfort zone, right? Singapore is home for you when you fall back. But you have to try yourself go outside because why? Because the Singapore government is too good pampering the the population. … So I think it's good if you go out and then you still have a government to fall back. That's good. So So people like to do businesses here because the law is everything is good and in order, right?

through my Singaporean girlfriend I was exposed to church here in Singapore and how it is which is very different compared to how [it] is in Germany and I've been really enjoying it [...] Covenant [EFC]. So now that I moved I'm gonna go to the one at Suntec, I believe.

I'm a practicing lawyer also recently founded AI tech business [...] we automate admin work for lawyers [...] We also automated work for social service agencies. And what brought me here, actually [FACILITATOR] brought me here.

Hi everyone, my name is [FACILITATOR] as well. [...] Professionally, I'm a financial planner, so I structure financial portfolios. [...] One thing is I [serve in] Sunday School Worship also.

I'm from France. I came to Singapore to start a company where we do project management for real estate [...] I was introducing 3D printing technology in the market.

I met [A]lex in City [?]. [...] I was attending another market[place] ministry with city [harvest?]. So I come from Kingdom City, this church [...] And what I do, I'm in with the SME Centre for Enterprise Singapore. So Business Advisory for [...] SME companies, startups

So interestingly, I'm in transition actually. So my start-up is running quite well, but I'm looking to actually move on to something new. [...] I'm writing a book is to inspire you to dream and think big. [...] I worship in a Baptist Church

Yeah, so, one thing about myself, I always [run] into [...] very weird occurrences. The point of time when my business needs something. [...] But somehow I can see it somewhere, in some conferences.

I've built businesses from scratch for the last nine years. For Christian entrepreneurs, mostly wanting to set up in Vietnam. So I'm based in Da Nang. [...] And then I had three separate Christians confirm this specific FDE event across all my meetings in the last two weeks, which I think God was really [pointing] to us.

That's called product market fit.

I'm very [?] to see what God is doing here in Singapore because Vietnam is a very persecuted church. We get shut down by the police a lot and so I think, you know, seeing this happen is a very blessing and grace.

Decentralized physical infrastructure network. So that's what I do. I'm quite blessed. [...] So we've got about 600,000. We developed this platform. I said Uber [f]or GPU. So any AI start[-up], anybody who need compute, they come to me. [...] I attend the [New] creation church.

FDE is for any size of the business whether it's 600,000 or 60 million [...] We are more on sharing and we are all here in the presence of [being] baptized by Holy Spirit so that we can actually exchange experience as brothers and sisters

Hi, I'm not a founder, but I have some family history. My dad, side of the family, my grandma, they are all business owners. And I think this makes me interested to actually know what goes on in the business owner's mind

doing business development, but I was doing 12 years of corporate marketing. [...] we just ended a cohort five, so it's called Redemptive Labs. It is about eight [r]edemptive ventures around Southeast Asia, gathering together, learning about the practices

Right, so I went through the program too. In fact, after that program I met [M043] [Kaestner], who is the founder of [FDE], and he encouraged me to start one here in Singapore

My name is Yutting. I'm from the City [Harvest] Church and I joined FD[E] since last year. I used to be a marketer and I ventured to entrepreneurship last year with a business partner. So now we are into like AI solutions, automation and digital marketing. [...] I'm born in Taiwan b[ut grew up] in Singapore.

Hi, my name is [U020]. I worship with this church. [...] let's say you're trying to sell satellite [...] we stitch it together [...] you get a dialogue with the satellite model, the digital twin, right?

I work at various companies in Silicon Valley ranging from Google Coinbase to Start-Up[s] [...] And I came to Singapore to set up a [fund] [...] in Singapore as well as the surrounding areas.

[Garry Tan] [...] So he's actually a Christian and Singaporean and [Y Combinator] is a very famous figure and also he's actually gathering the Christian business startup fellowship in the mountain view [...] every month.

I have a family, and I have a four year old [...] It's always joy to see him and go home, you know, after work.

My name is [M024]. I have been in the city for the past few years. Basically, I am an investment banker. I am an investment partner, right? I am a coach and mentor. [...] I am staying in [?] and I am a Catholic by faith. That's it.

How I found out about this was through [[COMPANY]] as well. I used to volunteer there [...] So I'm totally very passionate about financial freedom, and [...] very passionate about how capital can really influence our culture

I'm an [AML] and compliance officer by day in the trust company. [...] I'm also looking out for other business to venture to. I attend New [Creation?] Church.

my background is in theology and education, also psychology. [...] Bible study [...] in Japanese [...] there's a group of Japanese disciples and also pastor, that [were] eventually sent back to Japan to preach [the] gospel [...] I might, if God's will, under God's will, I might give you some benefit

but I'm no longer a pastor in a proper church. My church is in my home. Maybe a fractional pastor, like fractional C[F]O. Yeah, so I'm freelance, I'm self-supporting. [...] help people mentally, emotionally troubled [...] I also help out with prison [ex-offenders] who are trying to reintegrate into society. [...] I'm the one who posts the advert for home-based alpha.

Actually, I don't think anyone in this room doesn't like to work. That's maybe the one single reason why we're entrepreneurs [...] sometimes I have to spend time with the family instead of just writing another email or something like this. Sometimes I might need to skip a trip that might be very important

So my take on that is to just also be very aware of what my body says and treat my body like the gift that I have received. So for that question I think my own mental and physical health is [...] my number one priority and I think I would notice that very clearly if it's too much work or the wrong work that I do.

How about you are young, which many of us are, and your body, okay. [...] But, you know, you've got your family, you've got your [?], you've got your church, you've got even this quality time with God

I mean, we mainly work five days a week. [...] But on Sundays, and Saturdays typically, we don't work work. Occasionally we have this strategic meeting that my co-founder will call [...] if I'm worship[ping] [...] you really have to put everything down because otherwise [...] we wouldn't be entering in the right spirit.

So when your business could in all means face the worst bottom line or bottom line issues, how would you still choose to do the Sabbath, to go to church, to join the ministry?

I think so Sabbath again, I've not really done that, but [when I was in Israel?] [...] It's like you can't even operate a coffee machine [...] you eat cheese and bread [...] So I've never done that having said that in business, you always have a pressure to compromise things like I do a lot of business in China it's very common to [bribe] your customers to get [the business] [...] You don't have to outright [give] money. You [...] have lunch, have dinner, bring [them] to a holiday.

So, there is this perspective that you have to crush your competition. [...] After eight years of operating, we end up buying one of our competitors. [...] It's also good to have competitors to build the industry [...] So every time when I ask [...] entrepreneurs, they tell me they have no competitors. I'm like, you're either lying or no business is [...] there.

Some of my colleagues, they complain when I [keep the Sabbath?]. [...] by using a religious reason to have one less pair of hands [...] But I mean, this went all the way up to top management to review this case. I mean, this is scary, right? I mean, it was quite intimidating [...] They sent a senior Christian [officer] to interview me to ask, why is this going on? [...] So it was hard.

So the [Sabbath] was created for men and not [man] for the [Sabbath]. So that was the gist of the story. [...] So you're meant to rest, but you have to be willing. [...] I think his main point is it's more important to save life [...] So in this case I actually pray[ed] about it, like you know what should I do [...] and decided to help my colleagues. [...] my [job] here is to support them and save them from the crushing [pressure] that they're [under].

I think when we start to focus on the rule itself [...] It's always not very healthy situation. [...] I don't really want to criticize any church [traditions], any convention, but I just want to say that sometimes people are already too focused on the what. And even in business, right? The what, not the why, not the how, but the what.

So what is it for and why do we do this do we use all those urgency [tactics] [...] to persuade to get a person to buy [...] or [...] it would be marketing, actually, focused on giving the message to the people who might have no kind of chance to receive that message otherwise. [...] We are much [...] more sensitive to losing something as compared to giving something.

Okay, hi, my name is [M082]. [...] my mentor from Indonesia, He is a multi-[millionaire] right now. In [the] past, he [did] accounting. [...] Those gangsters [...] asked my friend to create a fake account. [...] you know my secret, you cannot [leave] the room. I will kill you. [...] you kill me, you kill me. You don't kill me, I just walk out the room. [...] So eventually, he get that wealth

He['s] faith that he trust[ed] God that God will have a path [...] So now, even every year when we go visit him in Indonesia to do charity, as a boss, as a multi-millionaire, he also drive[s] [...] children [...] Today, I'm a bus driver. So it's very, very humble.

So sometimes I like to call the customer [...] and tell them, hey, you don't need to spend money on us. [...] Call your customer and say, you don't need me. Don't pay me. Go pay someone else. [...] In fact, in my situation, it always comes back from somewhere else. [...] But that's the world explanation.

That's why somebody wrote to me, [FACILITATOR], you're funny, you're writing this WhatsApp message [...] We are inviting people to this [FDE]. [...] It's not always simple. [...] don't be afraid to look stupid or something like this, right?

I work [with] him for like, 15 years now. [...] And back then, he was a staunch [atheist?]. [...] recently, he's into a lot of meta[physical] stuff. [...] So I think he's coming around with that. [...] in China, if you want to acquire this [...] client [...] the client is asking [...] do we do it? And [...] my co-founder would be like, yeah [...] that's the cost. [...] what you react to the situation, that's the influence

So I think in terms of where my faith comes in [...] sometimes I can openly talk about my faith. I'm trying to be more intentional. [...] Recently I started doing that [...] And my wife used to tell me [...] you just take a step back

In the previous session [...] It's just too easy to replace your actual identity with your business's. You become your identity, then you start working with work, and end up being a very angry, frustrated person.

I'm actually being b[ought] out, and s[t]epping out of my business and doing something new, right? [...] I never knew that leaving [would be so hard]. And many of us don't have the experience of having a role of [exiting] our business. [...] So sometimes starting a relationship is easy, but letting go is really [hard].

So our company helping marketers to be better marketers so that they are more productive so they don't need to work super hard. It's like a spend time with their family and spend time with God. [...] tools, AI, whatever [...] that is not something that's supposed to replace human or our identity. It's actually something that's helping people [...] making them more human.

I think it's, whatever we do, we have a mindset that is serving others. [...] separate a time for building up others, encouraging others [...] do all things, it is ultimately is for God. [...] It's not for the human master, but it's for the God.

I think, more importantly, it ultimately is ministering to people. [...] Last time, my brother [had] this medical and [aesthetic] company [I was there] as a trainer. And I find that sometimes business people are only looking about the [bottom line]. They forget the people. So people are being used, rather than being loved. [...] The turnover in your company is very high. It means that you're using people, not loving them.

In [Praxis], we have this framework. Exploitative, ethical and redemptive. [...] The vision when I sacrifice first, then we win [...] I sacrifice and we win.

We had such a position of authority to trust us. They trust us in all the business integrity and [...] It's how we're supposed to be. We are not doing this [as] underperformers [...] call the KPI.