My cofounder and I were rivals at hackathons. At 21, I've put college on hold to build a startup with him.
He was accepted into Singapore's top university, but had to request a leave of absence before his first day to build a startup in San Francisco.
Raymond Loong Ng left his college plans behind at just 21 to co-found Makeable, a startup based in San Francisco. After his startup gained $250,000 from Afore Capital, Ng and his co-founder spent two months in a program in San Francisco, working tirelessly on their venture. Another investment boosted their total funding to $1 million, and they are now awaiting O-1 visas while residing in Singapore.
This is an as-told-to essay based on an interview with Ng, 21, the co-founder of Makeable. Ng grew up in Singapore, where he developed a penchant for entrepreneurship from a young age, selling various items to his classmates. His fascination with Silicon Valley technology led him to apply to US colleges despite being rejected by all.
After serving his mandatory military service, Ng applied to venture capital firms in the US and eventually caught the attention of Afore Capital, which provided a $250,000 pre-seed investment in Neural Drive, their startup. Ng and his co-founder joined Afore Capital's two-month Founders-in-Residence program in San Francisco, where they developed Makeable, a platform that allows users to turn their ideas into physical products.
The startup's success led to another $750,000 investment, and Ng and his co-founder are now planning to return to San Francisco for the next few years to continue building their company.
Written by urgent.news from Business Insider's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
