“It’s never sunshine and rainbows”, but that's normal

Mistakes and failure are often associated with entrepreneurship. Perhaps that is because one eases the other.

“Sometimes we fail, and we fail quite a bit,” Wong said. “The challenge is to not be afraid to fail, and to learn from it. It’s a lot of work, you have to be consistent and keep trying.”

He adds that the reason passion is important is because it “helps you face failure. So don’t be an entrepreneur unless you’re really passionate about it”.

For those who pursue innovation for the right reasons and are ready for the stumbling, he had one final bit of tough love.

“Find your passion and throw yourself behind it 100 percent. There’s no in-between.”

Sometimes a pivot is exactly what you need

Sometimes innovation means breaking down barriers. Chan began his career in academia before becoming an advocate for others with ideas that have the potential to reshape our world.

“I was looking for scientific discoveries when I was doing my PhD, and that’s amazing and fantastic,” he said. However, upon graduation he “realised that a lot of scientific findings stayed in academia for a long time, and translation of these findings needed commercialisation, which is how I joined Science Park to run the Incubation Programme to help bio-tech companies grow and develop.”

Being no stranger to the academic or entrepreneurial worlds, Chan was able to share the parallels he’s observed in both. 

“You have to be really passionate about your projects and make it happen,” he said. “There’s a lot to learn. Enjoy the science, embrace the technology and strive for perfection.”

Read more: This Hong Kong Entrepreneur Is Making Construction More Sustainable. Here’s How

Giving back is as important as giving it your all

For Anushka Purohit, there certainly was no in-between. Breer is something that had been brewing in her head since childhood, when she first learnt that 3,600 tonnes of food go to waste in Hong Kong every day, with 47 percent of it being bread. 

Passion was not her only driver, though. 

“I never thought, ‘let me grow up to be an entrepreneur’,” she said. “I wanted to give back to the city I call home, to find a way to make money but also do good.”

While juggling entrepreneurship and university may not be everyone, Purohit believes it can also be the perfect time, because “as a student, the stakes are really not that high. If Breer didn’t end up being a company, it’s not like I’d lost years and years of my professional career.”

Read more: One Entrepreneur’s Race To Save Hong Kong’s Coral Reefs

The right time, mentality and team make all the difference

Those on the panel who have witnessed innovation and technology evolve in Hong Kong over the last 20 years agree it’s more vibrant now than ever before.

“It’s the perfect time [to begin a company],” Chiu said to Purohit. “Investors definitely want to see companies like [Breer] and young entrepreneurs like you.”

That, in fact, is the best reminder that at its core, “tech is about people, tech is about talent,” Chiu said. “But [running a] startup is not an easy job. It’s actually not a job, it’s a lifetime experience.” A lifetime experience in which to make lifetime friends, it would seem, as Chiu shares how proud he is to be a part of the technology and innovation community.

He also provided one final piece of advice for young entrepreneurs: “Be prepared, stay positive, build a good team, be adaptive and enjoy the process.”

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