52 members in his clan, that's one big ass family he's got. With a net worth of $1b in 2021, his wealth divvied up 52 ways means each will get around $19m.
'Grandfather of S'pore tech': Sim Wong Hoo's Creative legacy is showing small country can make world-class products, say tech players
SINGAPORE — Creative Technology's founder Sim Wong Hoo put Singapore on the global map for technology innovations and showed that success was possible despite the country's small size. This was the legacy of the 67-year-old who died on Wednesday (Jan 4), industry players and observers said.
Mr James Chan, 41, founder and chief executive officer of Singapore tech startup Ion Mobility, said: “Its world-record-setting products and business run in its heyday, these remain firmly in tech history annals and continue to inspire future generations of entrepreneurs (within) our shores.”
Sim's achievements made Mr Chan proud that "Singapore could give birth to such an entrepreneur ... and company success story".
Mr Christopher Quek, managing director of tech venture capital firm Trive, said: "(Sim) was a pioneer to the tech startup industry, where a number of successful Singaporeans in the tech industry credit him as an inspiration.”
Entrepreneur Yee Jenn Jong recounted how Sim, who was invited with him to give a talk at a junior college more than 15 years ago, challenged the students to pursue what Sim called “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” or BHAG.
Mr Yee was then chief executive officer of startup AsknLearn, an educational technology firm. He is also a former Non-Constituency Member of Parliament for the Workers’ Party.
“His speech was very motivational and action oriented," Mr Yee wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.
"He challenged the audience to dream big. I recall some students coming forward after his talk and using the mic to share their BHAG. I hope they have succeeded.”
Mr Ku Kay Mok, senior partner of venture capital firm Gobi Partners, believes that besides putting Singapore on the world map, the success of Sim and Creative Technology in the 1990s was one reason why the Singapore Government provided significant financial support to catalyse the development of a vibrant venture capital sector in Singapore.
In 1999, for instance, the Government set up a US$1 billion Technopreneurship Investment Fund to co-invest in startups with venture capitalists.
“This has spawned a generation of Singapore venture capitalists who are now part of the global Midas list as they found success investing in the Chinese tech startup scenes in the 2000s,” Mr Ku said, referring to the yearly ranking by Forbes magazine of the most influential and best-performing venture capital investors.
'GRANDFATHER OF SINGAPORE TECH'
People who have followed the tech scene here closely dubbed Sim as the “grandfather of Singapore tech”, being instrumental in putting the country on the tech innovation map.
Former journalist Oo Gin Lee who covered technology news said: “He’s the one that first put Singapore on the map for high-tech consumer products imagined and built in Singapore.
“Every new player that I have met over the years… they always make a comparison to Mr Sim, whether they like him or don’t like him… the reference is always Creative Technology.”
Mr Oo, who is now the managing director of a tech public relations firm, said that when Creative Technology was at its height in the 2000s, it “set the standard and set a dream that people can follow”.
“It was an example of how Singapore may be a small country, but it could be a global champion in consumer tech even with our small population, and this is something that people will always remember,” he added.
Agreeing, Ms Grace Chng, a former tech news editor at national daily The Straits Times, said that Sim had put Singapore on the map not by luck or happenstance, but with sheer determination.
She added that she had been on multiple overseas trips with him to tech conventions and, from her interactions with him during those trips, she noticed that Sim was constantly thinking about how to take his company and innovations forward.
“He would expound on his ideas and where he wanted (his company to go). He was a man with many, many ideas,” Ms Chng said. She is now the editor-in-chief and strategic adviser for a tech media website.
FROM CHINATOWN TO TAKING ON CUPERTINO'S TECH GIANT
Sim founded Creative Technology with childhood friend Ng Kai Wa in 1981 as a small computer repair shop in Chinatown. Sim had been its chairman and chief executive since then.
The company was known for launching the Sound Blaster sound card in 1989, at that time a breakthrough in audio technology for personal computers.
The firm also launched the Nomad series of portable audio players, which competed directly with Apple’s iPod and Sony’s digital Walkman.
Sim sued Apple founder Steve Jobs for patent infringement in 2006 and won S$100 million in settlement from the American tech giant based in Cupertino, a city in California.
In an interview with business news channel CNBC in April 2020, Sim said: “It was something we had to do because Apple did not just, you know, infringe our patent."
He added: "Actually, Steve came to our booth, saw our products and liked the product. He saw the future of Apple there.”
Creative Technology was also the first Singaporean company to be listed on Nasdaq — America's tech-heavy stock exchange — in 1992.
However, it voluntarily delisted in 2007 and is now trading on the Singapore Exchange, closing at S$1.76 on Thursday, a three-month high.
At its peak in early 2000, the company’s stock traded at about S$64.
So fucking ironic the G refuse to back his sound blaster card when it first came out, yet now everyone is clamouring to wax lyrical about him. Hypocritical much?
Flashback: Toothpick Lim snubbed Sim Wong Hoo back then
https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/lim-swee-say-pap-snubbed-sim-wong-hoo.6858041
He has a Malay sibling wtf???
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/creative-technology-was-the-pride-of-singapore-is-there-an-equivalent-today
Steve jobs uplorried at 56, Sim Wong Hoo at 67. Why do tech moguls die so relatively young?
52 members in his clan, that's one big ass family he's got. With a net worth of $1b in 2021, his wealth divvied up 52 ways means each will get around $19m.
'Grandfather of S'pore tech': Sim Wong Hoo's Creative legacy is showing small country can make world-class products, say tech players
SINGAPORE — Creative Technology's founder Sim Wong Hoo put Singapore on the global map for technology innovations and showed that success was possible despite the country's small size. This was the legacy of the 67-year-old who died on Wednesday (Jan 4), industry players and observers said.
Mr James Chan, 41, founder and chief executive officer of Singapore tech startup Ion Mobility, said: “Its world-record-setting products and business run in its heyday, these remain firmly in tech history annals and continue to inspire future generations of entrepreneurs (within) our shores.”
Sim's achievements made Mr Chan proud that "Singapore could give birth to such an entrepreneur ... and company success story".
Mr Christopher Quek, managing director of tech venture capital firm Trive, said: "(Sim) was a pioneer to the tech startup industry, where a number of successful Singaporeans in the tech industry credit him as an inspiration.”
Entrepreneur Yee Jenn Jong recounted how Sim, who was invited with him to give a talk at a junior college more than 15 years ago, challenged the students to pursue what Sim called “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” or BHAG.
Mr Yee was then chief executive officer of startup AsknLearn, an educational technology firm. He is also a former Non-Constituency Member of Parliament for the Workers’ Party.
“His speech was very motivational and action oriented," Mr Yee wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.
"He challenged the audience to dream big. I recall some students coming forward after his talk and using the mic to share their BHAG. I hope they have succeeded.”
Mr Ku Kay Mok, senior partner of venture capital firm Gobi Partners, believes that besides putting Singapore on the world map, the success of Sim and Creative Technology in the 1990s was one reason why the Singapore Government provided significant financial support to catalyse the development of a vibrant venture capital sector in Singapore.
In 1999, for instance, the Government set up a US$1 billion Technopreneurship Investment Fund to co-invest in startups with venture capitalists.
“This has spawned a generation of Singapore venture capitalists who are now part of the global Midas list as they found success investing in the Chinese tech startup scenes in the 2000s,” Mr Ku said, referring to the yearly ranking by Forbes magazine of the most influential and best-performing venture capital investors.
'GRANDFATHER OF SINGAPORE TECH'
People who have followed the tech scene here closely dubbed Sim as the “grandfather of Singapore tech”, being instrumental in putting the country on the tech innovation map.
Former journalist Oo Gin Lee who covered technology news said: “He’s the one that first put Singapore on the map for high-tech consumer products imagined and built in Singapore.
“Every new player that I have met over the years… they always make a comparison to Mr Sim, whether they like him or don’t like him… the reference is always Creative Technology.”
Mr Oo, who is now the managing director of a tech public relations firm, said that when Creative Technology was at its height in the 2000s, it “set the standard and set a dream that people can follow”.
“It was an example of how Singapore may be a small country, but it could be a global champion in consumer tech even with our small population, and this is something that people will always remember,” he added.
Agreeing, Ms Grace Chng, a former tech news editor at national daily The Straits Times, said that Sim had put Singapore on the map not by luck or happenstance, but with sheer determination.
She added that she had been on multiple overseas trips with him to tech conventions and, from her interactions with him during those trips, she noticed that Sim was constantly thinking about how to take his company and innovations forward.
“He would expound on his ideas and where he wanted (his company to go). He was a man with many, many ideas,” Ms Chng said. She is now the editor-in-chief and strategic adviser for a tech media website.
FROM CHINATOWN TO TAKING ON CUPERTINO'S TECH GIANT
Sim founded Creative Technology with childhood friend Ng Kai Wa in 1981 as a small computer repair shop in Chinatown. Sim had been its chairman and chief executive since then.
The company was known for launching the Sound Blaster sound card in 1989, at that time a breakthrough in audio technology for personal computers.
The firm also launched the Nomad series of portable audio players, which competed directly with Apple’s iPod and Sony’s digital Walkman.
Sim sued Apple founder Steve Jobs for patent infringement in 2006 and won S$100 million in settlement from the American tech giant based in Cupertino, a city in California.
In an interview with business news channel CNBC in April 2020, Sim said: “It was something we had to do because Apple did not just, you know, infringe our patent."
He added: "Actually, Steve came to our booth, saw our products and liked the product. He saw the future of Apple there.”
Creative Technology was also the first Singaporean company to be listed on Nasdaq — America's tech-heavy stock exchange — in 1992.
However, it voluntarily delisted in 2007 and is now trading on the Singapore Exchange, closing at S$1.76 on Thursday, a three-month high.
At its peak in early 2000, the company’s stock traded at about S$64.
More at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/sim-wong-hoo-creative-technology-tribute-singapore-2085621