Prof Datta on entrepreneurship

GENIAL and garrulous, self-styled 'serial innovator' Anindya Datta's mind is always alive with ideas. Here, he talks about:

The pros of being a serial innovator

'We don't give up easily, are willing to see through an idea till it dies or succeeds, and have an incredible ability to withstand failure.'

The cons

'Failures are your entire life, from the moment you wake up in the morning. We have the highest divorce rates.'

Why he is an entrepreneur

'If you put me in a big company, I'd be a complete screw-up because I'd get into fights with people over pushing my ideas.'

Why Singapore is not an entrepreneurial hub yet

'You think of its great airport and world's largest container port, but what really matters is that eight high-potential companies set up here and get people talking about them.'

What Singapore lacks

'It has capital but not the right institutions to deploy them - in that there's capital thrown at something which then doesn't work very well.'

Why so much of the Internet's potential is still locked

'It was invented to share documents. It was not invented so that one day people could use it to find wives and husbands.'

Why Google still cannot deliver deeper search results

'When you are riding a fast-running tiger with a mind of its own such as Google, it's very difficult to make the tiger change direction.'

An entrepreneur's worst nightmare

'Having technology that is looking for a solution.'

The No. 1 thing budding innovators must know

'If you think, 'Hey, I'm doing this to become rich', it's almost a sure recipe for failure.'

Why entrepreneurship is an all-consuming passion

'The truth is that every entrepreneur who tells you, 'Hey, this is my swansong and I'm buying a home in Bali', is really looking for the next problem to solve.'

Cheong Suk-Wai

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This article was first published in The Straits Times.