Rome wasn’t built in a day — and it took three decades for the small city-state of Singapore to take flight. Behind any entity’s success is a group of men (and women!) who are responsible for driving its growth. We’d like to call them: Founding Fathers.
For Mother’s Day, we honoured angels of all kind; For Father’s Day, all of us at Pitchspot pay tribute to the men (and women) who’ve contributed their life’s work to creating something remarkable. Some of the nation’s founding fathers are Sir Stamford Raffles, Mr. S Rajaratnam and of course, the late Mr. Lee Kwan Yew. Mr. Lee was an exceptional statesman, and dedicated his entire life to the building of modern Singapore. His wisdom, vision and relentless efforts transformed our nation into the global city it is today.
Here’s one for the founders
Those referred to as founding fathers are typically individuals who have made priceless contributions to the nation. However, founding fathers aren’t just found in history books. By founding fathers, I don’t just mean men, but founders as a whole. To me, it is a blanket term encompassing both men and women, from widely-known historical figures, to startup entrepreneurs, to fatherly-figures in one’s personal life. Founding fathers are individuals who start or develop a new movement, idea, or organisation.
As a noun, founder means the beginner or originator of something. As a verb, founder can mean stumble, like when we trip and fall. As different as the two definitions may seem, they do make sense on further thought — the creation of something new inevitably buds setbacks along the way, yet these setbacks pave the way for the creation of something better.
Rolled up sleeves, and grime-filled fingernails
Apart from those who have rewritten history, or impacted thousands through the founding of something new, founding fathers do not always have to wear a cape; they can be the one with grime in their fingernails, the one who taught you how to ride a bike, the one who helped fix your bathroom sink, and the one who made you who you are today. My dad is a wonderful, loving, and supportive father, but over the years, I’ve gotten to know some founding fathers — or what I call bonus dads.
My older cousin Jon was my first bonus dad. He started out as my nemesis (of what a 6-year-old knew), but quickly became my best friend and confidant. Growing up, our parents had to work long hours, so the school bus would take us to Grandma’s and we’d spend the afternoon together.
Jon taught me how to build my turtle shell. “You need to be like Leonardo”, he said: “Build a turtle shell, Mei”. I only found out later whilst watching the TV together, that Leonardo’s the leader of the pack in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (we might recognise him better with his blue mask and double swords). Leonardo had a relentless demeanour for not letting anyone get to him — and that was the analogy Jon shared with me. Fast forward 10 years, I’ve got my turtle shell on — I have a force field, a Patronus Charm, a mentality to keep me sane so that nothing negative can ever get to me.
Founder stories
My colleagues at Pitchspot run a media outlet, Refuel, covering various founder stories and how they came to be and what they believe in.
I read about Eddie from Thryft who aims to create an ecosystem where individuals are not at a disadvantage for trying to be sustainable, and Vanessa from IglooWear who has had to pivot her idea several times. These stories remind me of the blood, sweat and tears that go into building something from scratch, or being a founding father.
We can only create something revolutionary, only if we break it down in phases
As an intern at Pitchspot, my founders See Ting and Ryan shared a common goal. When they were both still in university, they met in the basement of N-House, an entrepreneurial-themed residence managed by the NUS Overseas Colleges, where the idea for Pitchspot was born.
Pitchspot is now a social and collaborative platform for anyone to discover, share and build validated ideas. However, this did not come easy. The duo faced with adversities along the way, but took it in their own stride and found ways to jump over hurdles presented to them.
“Find what drives you, and let everything you do from hereon be in service of that.”
When Ryan said this, it resonated with me because what he really meant was to use that reason or cause to motivates you, and to channel everything you can muster to achieving that cause. We’ll have to find that one thing, and work towards it despite any challenges. It may take months or years, or one’s entire lifetime, but that’s the only way we can —
“Create something revolutionary, only if we break it down into phases”
— See Ting shared. Entrepreneurs too can be considered to be founding fathers, as they are the ones who’ve built something from scratch despite the unknown and uncertainty — It carries along tenets of creativity and innovation, determination, native intelligence, and a sense of fearlessness.
Reflecting on Father’s Day
This Fathers’ Day has made me reflect back on all of the founding fathers I have collected and met over the years. Be it the one who built the nation, the one who created something out of nothing, or the one who’s always believed in you — they are all founding fathers. They could be a collective figure known by millions, or a personal fatherly figure you look up to.
You know, I feel a whole lot more stable and secure, though I don’t pretend that I’ve got it all figured out. I still rely on my real dad, and bonus dads, but in time, I too will be ready to become a bonus dad for others, to inspire action, and be there in times of distress. For a long time, I was the kid: the younger child, the baby of my extended family, but as I grew older, I look around and realised I’m no longer the kid. We honour all the Mr. Lees, Jons, and all founding fathers in our lifetime.
Happy Father’s Day to everyone who is blessed with children old or young, biological or adopted or befriended, to love and nurture.
Pitchspot is your global launchpad for ideas — it is a social, collaborative hub of frameworks for business strategy and innovation. The open-access platform allows users to discover, share, and build ideas and insights through business strategy frameworks and templates. Learn more.
