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FireFlyz | 17
Suhanya Parthasarathy &
Ranjeev Hari: Co-founders of
ScienceSync
Science
ultimately aims to improve the
lives of others through its advancement.
So when the wife and husband team Suh-
anya and Rajeev realised that the frontiers
of scientific advancement are continually
being hampered by cumbersome lab
equipment procurement processes, they
sought to solve it by linking scientists and
product vendors to each other through
ScienceSync, a platformwhere scientists
can identify and order complex laboratory
products with the click of a mouse.
Suhanya is a pharmacologist by trade
and has been in the research field for six
years, while her husband, Ranjeev, is cur-
rently doing his PhD in Bioinformatics.
They have been passionately traversing
the entrepreneurial world and were
invited to the MSC Malaysia Global
Linkages programme, which included
a thorough and practical programme
covering business development and
networking to prepare them for the
Silicon Valley immersion trip.
STARTUP
Winning Edge: Ways of Silicon Valley
Fireflyz speaks to entrepreneurs fromtwo startups about their experience as
participants of theMSCMalaysiaGlobal Linkages programme, an effort byMalaysia’s
MultimediaDevelopment Corporation (MDeC) to link local startups to the SiliconValley
ecosystem.
Said Suhanya: “The experience was
incredible; being a new startup, one
thing you really need is that push to be
able to go out and bravely stand there
believing in your idea and business. This
programme did that for us; we had our
challenges, but we were inspired to meet,
speak and explore and to make the efforts
for in a foreign land.”
Suhanya admits that, at times, they
feel drained fromworking, but the amaz-
ing chemistry and teamwork helps them
to remember to relax with their favourite
hobbies. They both love travelling, meet-
ing new people and experiencing new
cultures, something which they expe-
rienced in San Francisco. She suggests
Yosemite and the Golden Gate Bridge for
sightseeing.
“San Francisco has everything; great
people beautiful places and awesome
culture, it’s a must-go place.”
She further adds about the startup
scene in Silicon Valley: “The system
in Valley is just startling ... it’s like an
academy for startups.”
To all you aspiring entrepreneurs,
Suhanya has some advice: “Follow your
heart, follow your dreams, attend events
and meet people, we have an amazing
support system here such as MDeC who
offer outreach and linkages programs
– participate and make good use of it.
Success follows those who are hungry
enough to chase it.”
Benson Chang: Founder and CEO
of TABLEAPP
Chang
studied IT in Taiwan but turned to
sales when he kickstarted “TABLEAPP,”
reservation platform in the world.”
He found a friend and mentor in
OpenTable’s CEOMatt Roberts, whom he
has learnt plenty from. Chang has learnt,
too, that the Valley culture is one that is
very hungry for success. “People work
around the clock; there will always be
someone working every hour of the day.
Never give up. Every single ‘No’ brings
you closer to a ‘Yes’.”
On San Francisco, he finds it a beauti-
ful city with lots of places to see and
fabulous food outlets to dine, with his
favourite being ClamChowder. He shares
that startups, Malaysian or otherwise,
should look towards other startups and
learn from them, in terms of their suc-
cesses and their failures. Where they’ve
failed, others can improve on.
an app providing free online restaurant
reservations service for diners and guest
management solutions for restaurants.
Inspired by his parents as his family
is deeply rooted in the F&B business
in Penang, he realised that they were
losing potential customers due to the
lack of manpower to answer phone calls
during peak hours. He combined his IT
background and experience in F&B to
create an application that helps connect
customers to their favourite restaurants.
Together with other promising
startups, he was selected for the MSC
Malaysia Global Linkages programme.
He said: “The San Francisco trip was
amazing. It was the perfect platform to
meet Silicon Valley tech companies such
OpenTable, the first online restaurant
A beaming Benson
at the Googleplex
Ranjeev and Suhanya sharing a light
moment at Yosemite National Park