2021T2 VirtualTSM/Participant Information/John Teo Tjia Ern
Contents
About John Teo
SMU email: john.teo.2018@sis.smu.edu.sg
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-teo-079214193/
Academic Year: 3
Degree: Information Systems
Major: Software Development
Why Virtual TSM?
- What motivates you to join TSM?
To be able to experience a different culture through educational and cultural exchange, it will allow me to gain a greater insight of the destination country and the technological landscape of the country. I always love to be on the lookout for new and fresh opportunities to develop myself and learn more about the industry standards and knowledge. Leaving the familiar behind and plunging into the unknown brings me to a part of the world where books and school assignments are unable to express it more fervently than being able to view it with my own eyes.
To be able to be part of the TSM family is an amazing opportunity to meet like-minded people who are equally as driven and passionate to capture value for businesses by leveraging on the technological assets and bring innovation to the next level!
- Where would you like to visit virtually? (Asia)
China (Shenzhen) : One of the most promising cities in China, widely regarded as China's Silicon Valley. It is home to the technology conglomerate, Tencent as well as ZTE and Huawei. To be able to visit Shenzhen will definitely be an eye-opener and learn how is the technological landscape of Shenzhen shaped so successfully.
Starting a Business?
- What types of business interest you?
Ecommerce, Digital banking and payment platforms
It is amazing how much E-Commerce and digital banking has grown over the years with its business model disrupting the entire technology industry. E-Commerce giants from C2C like E-bay to B2C like Amazon and Alibaba striving to extend their reach and capture an ever-larger percentage of consumer mind share and wallet have changed the playing field drastically, capitalising on AI, speech recognition and blockchain to bring commerce to a new level.
E-commerce: 1. With the intervention of AI, it brings hyper personalisation to each consumer, tailoring product recommendation and increasing search relevance. Along improving CRM with 24/7 personalised chat bots and dynamic pricing model to stay relevant in this competitive technological landscape. It is wonderful to see these technologies working hand-in-hand to accelerate this multi-billion dollar industry
Digital Banking and payment Platforms: 2.
Experience in managing business operations and strategy (e.g. what is the GTM, financial modelling, management of online platforms, etc)
I am confident that my modules in SMU, compounded with the breadth of internship experience that I had, have significantly improved my abilities to get a grasp on 2. However, 1 is still something I am actively hoping to achieve, while balancing considerations such as sustainability and market longevity.
But an idea that I am keen to experiment on in the future is to build up my own animated franchise. I love great stories and characters and I am a big fan of animation/cartoon brands that have mass appeal - like Pokemon, the world's most highly valued media franchise brand! In terms of character designs or personalities - the sky's the limit. But I am hoping to create characters that are cute and relatable with distinct and interesting personalities. Due to YouTube's strong network effects, I could possibly leverage it as a free-to-start platform to publish video stories or episodes of these characters. But as long as consumers build-up affinity with the brand, I can work towards developing it into a franchise. Via a licensing model, I can work with retailers (product collaborations with brands in apparel, consumables, hardlines, etc) and even live entertainment venues like shopping malls, museums and theme parks to breathe more life into the franchise and earn from royalty revenues. I strongly believe that "content is king" and I think the number 1 priority is to create an engaging world that features the lovable characters to build-up a fanbase and affinity for these characters. Aside from Pokemon as a success story, other modern brands that have developed into successful franchises like such are We Bare Bears, the Sanrio Characters, Tamagotchi, Kakao Friends and Line Friends.
Experiences
Internships/Work Experience
- Amazon Web Services — Partner Development Intern
- UOB-SMU Asian Enterprise Institute — Student Consultant
- NBCUniversal — Licensing & Brand Management Intern
- Maybank Singapore — Managed Investments Intern
- Teaching Assistant for OPIM101 Decision Analytics
School Involvement
- SMU Freshmen Buddy Program 2020
- SMU Rotaract Club — Organising Committee, Project Bloom (Beneficiary: Down Syndrome Association)
- The Mentoring Circle — Mentee & Organising Committee for Odyssey 2019
- EYE Investment — Events' Subcommittee
What keeps me ticking?
Professionally (Why I work hard): I aspire to be passionate about my work, grow & learn new things/skills everyday, deliver real impact to my stakeholders, build up a happy & collaborative work culture and become a qualified mentor to inspire budding young juniors just like how my seniors have inspired me.
Personally (What I work hard for): Quality time with loved ones, travel, food and Nintendo Switch games!
