Desmond Lim, co -founder and general director of Workstream.
Thanks to the kindness of Desmond Lim
Desmond Lim is not alien to hard work.
At the age of seven he fell in love with basketball, but when his family could not afford to buy his own ball, he came up with money himself.
“The money was always tight,” Lim said CNBC Make It. “My parents are employees every hour. My dad is a driver. My mother is cleaner. “
“I chose a sport that is free, so I can play every day I wanted,” Lim said. “I saved for 60 days, not eating lunch to (have) enough money to buy the ball. Then I kept this orange rubber ball and played for five years, every day, to Bald. “
This approach served him well in his life. Today, the 39-year-old is a co-founder and general director Working streamHuman resources, wages and recruitment platform created for the hourly workforce. Until now, the company has collected about $ 120 million.
Humble beginnings
Lim was born and raised in Singapore and was the first in his family to attend the university. From the sale of eggs on the local market to driving trucks, Lim says that most of his further family, including his parents, were – and still are – hourly employees.
“(My parents) both took only fourth grade,” he said. “My dad is at 5 am every morning, and he returns home at seven, and he works six and a half days a week. He barely stops for lunch. “
Desmond Lim, co -founder and general director of Worktream, with parents.
Thanks to the kindness of Desmond Lim
Lim saw the ethics of sand and work his parents had, and they applied these qualities to their lives. In Wysokie SchaboutOl, not only was the best student, but also led his school basketball team as a captain, to win national competitions.
“When they won the high school championship, I was a captain who carried our school flag and ran all over school when the school cheered on our victory … I think that this moment changed my life,” he said. “Sport taught me that you need time, patience and a team of people to build something great.”
Lim was also chosen for professional basketball playing for the National Youth Team in Singapore in high school. It quickly became clear that he had chops to get to the best university, but his family had no means to support his education.
Desmond Lim with his basketball team in Singapore.
Thanks to the kindness of Desmond Lim
“My mother told me:” I can't pay for your university. You shouldn't go to college. You should go and work, “Lim said. “It prompted me to come up with how to go to college.”
Ultimately, Lima's entrepreneurial journey was largely born out of need. He said he founded the company because he was young to be able to afford school fees.
In addition to focusing in college and basketball, Lim started his own business tutoring at high school. He says that in two years business brought around $ 100,000 revenues, which was enough to pay for university education.
This tutoring company became only the first of several companies that Lim started.
Similarly, studying at Singapore Management University, Lim set his new goal – he wanted to move to the United States to get a master's degree. To save money, he started and founded another business – Thai food restaurant – Still working on completing the degree.
After graduating from the University in 2010, Lim worked in investment banking for several years before he moved to the United States to master's degree at Harvard University in July 2013.
“I was so hungry”
During his stay at Harvard Lim, he broke up to establish his own technological startup.
“I was so hungry when I was on Harvard, I felt like I was drinking with Firehose. Types people take four classes – I did seven classes every semester, “he said.
During the first year at Harvard Lim Cold, he sent about 50 startups in the San Francisco bay, hoping to get a start -uts. This winter break flew to California, where he slept on his friend's couch and worked in an educational startup for free.
Desmond Lim with his colleagues from Harvard during the landline week.
Thanks to the kindness of Demonda Lim
“And the next summer I worked for free for Wechat … before they transformed me into a full -time role. So I was so hungry when I learned about everything, startups and building a company, “said Lim.
In 2016, Lim sat in a friend's class in Stanford Graduate School of Business entitled “Startup garage. “
“This is the same class from which companies such as Dordash and Sofi came out,” he said. “Our task was to talk to the owners of companies, so we talked to dozens, if not hundreds of company owners in Palo Alto, and we heard about pain points.”
One of the companies they talked to was Cafe Caupa, a family chain of cafes with shops around Stanford and Palo Alto. During this conversation, Lim discovered an idea for a working stream.
He discovered that the company does not have adequate tools for effective management of hourly working force. They used seven different tools, including Google, and they just saved things with a pen and paper manually, said Lim.
“I thought (I thought) it was so much work. There must be something that we can do better for them, “he said. “So I think it was a moment, combined with my experience in running my own restaurant, combined with my parents, both hours of hours.”
Desmond Lim with his co -founders, Lei XU and Max Wang.
Thanks to the kindness of Desmond Lim
After graduating from the graduate program at Harvard Lim, he moved to Bay Area in 2016 and co -founder of Workstream in September 2017 with Lei XU and Max Wang.
Three short months later on January 4, 2018, the Worktream had its first customer paid-Cafe Cafe paid Lim and his co-founders $ 100.
Building a working stream
Earlier days in the field of workers included many gathering to the door.
“It was fun … (I was) I was selling door door, with some help of Max and Leia. So we were only three immigrants on the streets of Palo Alto, trying to knock on the door and talk to people. It was a bit funny (i) we learned so much – said Lim.
Desmond Lim with the first Workstream investor, Eric Yuan.
Thanks to the kindness of Desmond Lim
The company's first investment was a check of USD 25,000 written by Eric Yuana, founder and general director of Zoom.
“For the first time I contacted Eric about 9 to 10 years ago in the first year, when I went to the valley … I think it was a cold e -mail (i) I said:” Hey, can I meet you for lunch to Learn from you as a friend of the founder of immigrants? “Lim said. Yuan said “yes” and began a great hourly conversation during lunch.
From there, they both became friends for about a decade, and when Lim contacted to get funds for his company, the founder of Zoom quickly became the first supporter of Workstream.
“He didn't even ask me what I was going to build. I said I was going to build a platform for an hourly space, and he thought, “Okay, I believe in you,” Lim said. “Since then (Yuan) has actually doubled in every round. Over the past seven years, it has invested over seven data in the company. “
Desmond Lim with members of the working team in 2024.
Thanks to the kindness of Desmond Lim
Today, Workstream is a comprehensive HR software and payrolls built for hourly companies.
“The goal of our company is:” Direct desk deserves better. ” We believe that the hourly economy is very underestimated.
“There are many wage tools, but everything is built for people working in technologies who work in the office who (are) on the desktop first,” Lim said. “So we have built mobile software based on artificial intelligence, which will help (every hourly companies) to make payroll, HR, all in the same place to help them save money and time.”
Workstream customers are brands such as Burger King and Dunkin 'Donuts. Proponents of the company are Gold House, Peter Thiel and Ken Howery's Funders Fund, Jay-Z and Dordash's Tony XU.
What is “more important” than hard work?
Lim had a strong work ethics early. He was inspired by watching how his parents and family members fall as an hour employees to earn a living, but there is one feature that, he claims, can be even more important.
“Really try to discover and find out what you really want to do. Sometimes it seems to me that making the right choice is even more important than trying to work very hard, “he said.
“I think that one thing I did when I was younger was talking to many people,” said Lim. “I was really curious and wrote to professors at school, I wrote to the founders. I just talked to people where I looked for 20 minutes, for 10 minutes, at lunch. “
“I was just very hungry for learning from people and I think that it really helped me shape how I think and who I became today,” he said.
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