2324T1 Tokyo/Participant Information/Felice Png
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About Me
Name: Felice Png Song Ting
SMU Email: felice.png.2020@scis.smu.edu.sg
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicepng/
Academic Year: Year 3 (AY 2022/23)
Degree: BSc Computer Science (Cybersecurity), 2nd Major in Digital Business
Why TSM in Tokyo?
What motivates you to join TSM?
Since young, I have been intrigued with the world of entrepreneurship — building a startup from the ground up, managing its day-to-day operations and innovating new and disruptive products. Through my recent internship experiences at larger tech companies and smaller startups, I have gained a greater appreciation for technopreneurship and business innovation in general. As a current SWE intern at Apple, I often witness the strong emphasis on product innovation and collaboration with team members from around the world, including Japan. These experiences have further fuelled my interest in technopreneurship in an international environment, and inspired me to consider concrete plans to start my own business in the future.
I am particularly drawn to the growing startup ecosystem in Japan, which is renowned for its culture of innovation and cutting-edge technology. With huge support for emerging startups through the establishment of new facilities, as well as its aim to become the most startup-friendly city in the world, I believe that entrepreneurs have much to gain and learn from Japan's startup environment. Personally, I hope to learn more about the successes and challenges faced by companies in Japan, as well as how they leverage their technical expertise to build innovative solutions and solve challenging issues.
As I continue exploring my interest in entrepreneurship, I realise that growing a successful startup requires more than simply an innovative idea, but also a comprehensive understanding of the startup ecosystem, industry trends and a detailed business plan. Hence, I am keen to join TSM to deepen my knowledge of the startup lifecycle and acquire essential skills needed to succeed as an entrepreneur. Additionally, I am excited about the opportunity to interact with like-minded individuals who are passionate about this field as well. I believe that this course will expose me to diverse perspectives and enable me to gain valuable insights from the experiences of others, which will be instrumental in my own entrepreneurial journey in the future.
Where would you like to visit?
I am interested in exploring the innovative and exciting startup scenes in Japan and USA, specifically in the gaming, virtual reality and Web3 industries! For Japan in particular, I would like to visit the Google for Startups campus in Tokyo, as well as companies like LINE, Thirdverse and SushiSwap to gain first-hand insights into their operations and culture. Through these visits, I also hope to better understand the challenges faced by these startups in their competitive markets, learn from successful entrepreneurs and network within the entrepreneurial community.
Starting a Business
What types of business interest you?
I am interested in businesses that offer unique solutions to problems via software-as-a-service (SaaS) products, especially in the areas of artificial intelligence and Web3. With recent advancements in AI and natural language processing, I believe that there are various untapped opportunities for startups to innovate in this space. For example, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are becoming increasingly prevalent in customer service and information retrieval, and there are likely many other use cases for AI in SaaS products that have yet to be fully explored. I believe that businesses which can make use of new technology to create new markets or disrupt existing ones are the ones that are most likely to succeed.
What plans do you have in starting a business?
Through project-based courses in SMU such as CS206 (Software Product Management) and IS211 (Interaction Design and Prototyping), I have experienced working on the end-to-end lifecycle for various products, from design ideation to developing and pitching the solution to others. I am keen to leverage my past experiences and skills to start a SaaS business with like-minded peers in the near future, relating to reforming routine activities using artificial intelligence. Although I do not have a concrete business idea yet, I hope to gain more insights through this course to develop my ideas further and am excited about the prospect of bringing this vision to life.
Past Experiences
Internships:
- Apple - Software Engineer Intern, Feb 2023 - Present
- GovTech Singapore - Software Engineer Intern, Dec 2022 - Feb 2023
- ByteDance - Software Engineer Intern, May - Oct 2022
- KatoKato (Startup) - Software Engineer Intern, Dec 2021 - Jan 2022
- AfterClass (Startup) - Frontend Engineer, Feb - Jul 2021
Extracurricular Activities:
- SMU Google Developer Student Club - Core Team, 2021 - 2022
- SMU Business Intelligence and Analytics - Talent and Growth Director (2021 - 2022), Data Associate (2020 - 2021)
- SMU Computing & Information Systems Society (Ellipsis) - Marketing Executive, 2020 - 2021
- Lee Kong Chian Scholars' Programme Camp 2021 - Organising Committee
- Project Grasya IV (Overseas Community Service Project) - Teaching and Creatives Team
- SMU Whitehacks 2021 - Organising Committee
Awards & Hackathons:
- SMU Lee Kong Chian Scholars' Programme, 2020 - 2024
- Dean's List, AY 2021/22
- Credit Suisse SMU-X Outstanding Project Award, 2021
- NUS LifeHack Hackathon 2021 - 1st out of 130 teams
- GovTech CodeFiesta Hackathon 2021 - 2nd out of 129 teams
Teaching Experience:
- Teaching Assistant for Data Structures and Algorithms (CS201), AY 2022/23 Term 1
- Teaching Assistant for Data Management (IS112), AY 2021/22 Term 2
- Teaching Assistant for Statistical Thinking for Data Science (CS105), AY 2021/22 Term 2
- Teaching Assistant for Programming Fundamentals I (CS101), AY 2021/22 Term 1
