Disruptr: Vincent Cheng Yin Hoong, CEO and Founder of Engame (Enidea Sdn Bhd)
Share with us on what you do and what inspired you to start the business.
- To be honest, we were in for the money back then when we started in a mamak, and we have no idea what we were doing, because we started with literal zero capital, it was all grind and no money, it wasn’t even a game studio back then.
- As time goes on, people from different industry joined our adventure and somehow it
became a game studio, and we started to make games and trying to make a living with ad money, it didn’t work out because we realized we need money to market our game; we then turned our game into a business solution that allows businesses to engage our player base and their customers directly, at a very affordable monthly subscription, or even free - After some little success with our clients and journey, we believe games can enchant the way we live, learn and work by making everything playable, fun and most importantly, creating value.
What has the journey been like?
- It’s like driving to a destination without Google Map, with millions of potholes on the road, not easy at all, always doubt ourselves, feels like giving up all the time and go home
- Let’s be real, if we are in just for the money, we would have winded up the company years ago, but something changes during the journey and we now strongly believe in what we do, and we have gain very powerful supporters along the way that kept us alive, shout out to my shareholders, we won’t be here without you.
Biggest achievement and what is one regret that you wish you had or had not done?
- Got Tealive as one of our early customers in the first month of lockdown and we did not turn Tap Master into a business solution earlier, despite knowing it will work.
Where do you see yourself in the next 1 year?
- Busier with market expansion in Japan and Philippines, working closely with partners
abroad; and designing our story telling and level progression feature that will bring
customers and players from shop to shop.
Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
- Running a multi-national startup, enchanting the way we do business, learn and work,
developing the game we want to develop “Rogue Planet” (currently writing the story and lore for it)
What keeps you going to keep running the business?
- As I journeyed, I have discovered a new fondness for game development (I’m a gamer and wanted to make my own games since young, drawing and designing games in exercise books), I wanted to create game worlds that matters in the real world, wanted to make business, learning and work fun and engaging, I think this is what pushes us forward now.
What is one local startup you would like to work together with and why?
- Storehub, so we can provide our games to all Storehub users, and their customers and
close the loop in our customer data flow, such as how many people redeemed the vouchers in stores and so on.
Who is one founder (local or international) that you look up to?
- Philipp Dettmer, founder of Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell, nothing is boring if you tell a good story. He was a dropout and found himself a new passion for learning when he met one life changing teacher; I love knowledge and science as well; so, we are trying to make business, learning and work not boring with good story, game and engagements.
Why should investors invest in your startup?
- We believe that games can be an extremely powerful connector or motivator, not just in business, learning or workspace, if done properly, it requires a delicate balance of games, contents and audiences hence it’s extremely difficult to achieve
- This believe actually pushed us this far, with little funding and lots of struggling, we are not the perfect or the S-team to be frank, but we have a strong heart and will to make it happen, no matter the struggle.
- When you invest in us, you are not just investing in a game studio, you are in for an
unforgettable journey of how we going to enchant the way we live, learn and work by
making everything playable, fun and most importantly, creating value.
Engame is a member of 25 Startups, a startup incubator with presence in Sarawak, Penang, Cyberjaya and Johor.