Singapore — the world’s biggest startup
The feedback loop and customer-centric approach
Singapore is an extremely unique place on Earth. Stable government, excellent infrastructure (I feel the whole country changes every five years), top-notch educational institutions, safest communities and a whole plethora of other “bests”. I was born in India but moved to Singapore before I turned 2 and lived there for almost 17 years before coming to the Berkeley to pursue my higher education. I’ve grown extremely accustomed to the Singaporean way of doing things and get frustrated at times when things are not done well. From getting my order in the restaurant to commuting on the public transport to the maintenance of public housing — Singapore is filled with stories of startups.
Now, most people must be confused at this point. After all, Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/Quora/blah blah blah wasn’t founded in Singapore. Sure. Singapore might not have had a huge technology company success story yet, but we do have the largest builders of oil rigs (SembCorp and Keppel), we do have the best airport on Earth (I say this with confidence), we do have the world’s largest Louis Vuitton store and etc.
They didn’t start out being the best from the day Singapore was founded. The Singapore Story is a story filled with startups — albeit not technological startups.I would go so far as to say, the government runs like a startup.
Take public housing as an example. I’ve heard tons of stories where the local community in-charge mandates for ramps to be built to make it easier for elderly to move about on their own after getting feedback from families with elderlies. And it doesn’t take years for the change to happen, it happens within the month. (e.g. http://globalaccessibilitynews.com/2011/11/15/hdb-improving-accessibility-for-people-with-disabilities/). The whole housing system is run like a tight ship. Every week, any resident can raise their concerns at a private meet-the-people session with the locally elected representative who then writes an appeal to the appropriate ministry that will resolve the issue as soon as possible.
Community leaders are constantly soliciting feedback and actively listening to the citizen’s concerns. This is the best feedback system I’ve known! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet-the-People_Sessions). In a startup, we’re constantly listening to our customers as well (metrics, direct feedback, customer interviews, etc) and building based on the problems they experience. The housing system in Singapore sure runs like a startup.
There are many other examples where the Singapore brand doesn’t just represent quality, it represents efficiency, it represents being customer centric, it represents a doing everything that it takes to make sure the ship runs smoothly.
In recent years, the housing prices in Singapore were rising rapidly. The government paid attention. It heard the woes of the common man in Singapore. As houses were getting unaffordable, several cooling measures were put in place. When the first set of cooling measures didn’t curb the prices, more measures were put in place. There have been tons of measures put in place to prevent a housing bubble from occurring. (http://www.property-singapore.sg/singapore-property-measures.html) And I’m sure that the government is listening to the woes of the builders as well. At the end of the day though, the government’s main customer is the citizen. Keeping the citizen happy is the government’s primary goal.
Aside from government, even the food-chains, airport, transportation system and airlines are run like startups. I say this from the perspective of a customer.
The Subways, McDonalds and the likes deliver food faster, neater and with higher consistency. The Airport: On an unlucky day, it barely takes me more than 20 minutes from the time I step out of the plane to the time I get a taxi. Every step along the way is over optimized. The Transportation system: At peak hours, trains come at 2-3 minutes intervals. And when shorter intervals became physically impossible due to the strain on the tracks, the government upgraded the 30-year old tracks!
This is the sort of customer eccentricity I love.
Let’s analyze the airport in detail. The moment I step out from the plane, I see clearly marked arrows to the immigration. Traveling to the immigration takes about 5 minutes at most — even if the plane was parked at the end of the airport (thanks to the travelators). At the immigration itself, there are electronic booths to help me clear the immigration. When I have to go through the manual system, it takes me at most 10 minutes to clear immigration on an overly crowded day. When lines get too long, there’s an additional staff member to help optimize speed for everyone by reallocating the crowd in the lines. Once I’m done with the immigration, my baggage is already there for pickup (keep in mind, it took 15 minutes up till here). In most of the other countries I’ve visited, reaching here takes at least double the amount of time and even then, my baggage has not arrived. Not in Singapore; my baggage is always waiting for me. And finally, there are clear arrows to the taxi-stand where there are at least 10 taxis in line waiting to attend to a customer. No booking or waiting required. The airport staff helps me with the luggage and hustles me to one of the taxis (it doesn’t matter which taxi I take. All taxis are priced the same). 20 minutes and I’m on my way home.
Contrast this experience with others you might have had at numerous other airports. You’ll instantly know the ton of problems that can be easily solved with just a bit more care.
The startup world hammers into you to always pay attention to your customers pains and be all ears. Although many will criticize Singapore for the lack of whatnot, I feel blessed to be ingrained with the customer-centric approach to solving problems.
Singapore might in fact be the biggest startup on this planet; 5 million employees and growing strong.
