NEVER GIVING UP
A TRUE-BLUE ENTREPRENEURIAL RAGS TO RICHES STORY, THE CEO OF SOUTHEAST ASIA’S BIGGEST USED CAR E-COMMERCE PLATFORM, ERIC CHENG, DOESN’T SHY AWAY FROM SHARING HIS ROCKY JOURNEY TO THE TOP.
Eric Cheng, the CEO of Southeast Asia’s biggest used car e-commerce platform doesn’t shy away from sharing his rocky journey to the top
“IN THE JOURNEY BETWEEN REACHING SUCCESS, SLEEPLESS NIGHTS AND FACING NUMEROUS ADVERSITIES, IT IS IMPORTANT TO STAY TRUE TO YOURSELF AND BE PERSISTENT.” Eric Cheng, CARSOME
TTHE MOST UNEXPECTED THING YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT ERIC CHENG IS THAT HE IS A COLLEGE DROPOUT.
The co-founder and group CEO of Carsome, Southeast Asia’s largest integrated car e-commerce platform has had quite a tumultuous journey dabbling in various start-ups. As a serial entrepreneur who eventually found his footing in success, he remains humble and is only too happy in divulging his experiences all in hopes that it might someday also inspire another success story.
“Right after my Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exams in school, I found myself studying accountancy, but in my second year of college I began to have doubts,” reveals Eric.
“I couldn’t see my future as an accountant. That’s when I knew I shouldn’t stick with it any longer and ultimately made the decision to drop out and look for a job.”
With his initial pursuit motivated by the age old quest in making more money, now at 36 years of age, Eric looks back at his rollercoaster career path which led him to discover professional growth.
From joining a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme for ten months, to starting a short-lived household magazine known as Media Focus in 2006, Eric, who is also an avid gamer, turned to the multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft. With its popularity in the e-sports arena and the enticing revenue its players earn, Eric believed it to be a new source in gaining capital to start another venture.
When the game’s founding company Blizzard Entertainment lost a lawsuit, Eric too found himself losing all the money he had earned from the hundreds of hours spent on the game. Forced to pick up the pieces, he had to push through from a dark place and start all over again.
It was in 2008 when Eric decided to rejoin the workforce with a digital media agency called Innity. There, he spent eight years rising the ranks from sales executive to senior account manager, and finally account director.
Equipped with digital skills, it wasn’t long until his entrepreneurial itch revisited him, prompting Eric to start his own advertising network and creative agency which he eventually sold off after nine months.
“The whole entrepreneurial mindset has always been embedded in me and is reflected in my day-to-day approach to life. No matter what, it seems I always circled back towards starting my own venture,” says Eric.
Leveraging on his experiences, together with his thencolleague and now co-founder and Chief Business Development Officer, Teoh Jiun Ee, the pair started Carsome in 2015.
Beginning as a car comparison website, Carsome transformed into an integrated car e-commerce platform specialising in selling and buying used cars within the span of 6 months. “Truthfully, I found the typical process of selling and buying cars a headache. There was, and still exists a lot of distrust and lack of transparency when it comes to dealing cars. The general public is not fond of the traditional process of trading with car dealers,” says Eric. “With Carsome, we use technology to streamline this process and provide transparency to sellers and buyers alike. We want to give the people our trust and the feeling of being in control of the process that’s worry free,” adds Eric. Carsome employs a 360 approach in the entire car-selling and buying process. Through its 24 centres across Malaysia, it provides on-the-spot car inspection and pricing – which you may accept and sell to Carsome directly, or choose to list the car up for online bidding - then eventually ownership transfer and payment. “We aim to help people sell their cars within an hour and to offer the best price possible in the country. Buying a car on our platform is literally just three clicks away and we deliver it to your doorstep,” says Eric. Seeing tremendous growth within its first year, Carsome Singapore was launched in 2016 and the following year saw it expand to Thailand and Indonesia.
“I WANT TO CONTRIBUTE MORE OF MY EXPERIENCE AND SEE MORE MALAYSIAN ENTREPRENEURS PURSUE THEIR DREAMS.”
Fast forward to present times, Eric now leads over 1,000 employees across Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. The company trades 100,000 cars annually, with transactions totalling more than USD700 million. As of April 2021, the company disclosed revenue of over USD204 million in 2019 and is on track to hit USD1 billion in annualised revenue by the second quarter of 2021.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg, Carsome is also weighing going public in the U.S., in a deal that would make it Malaysia’s first unicorn. It is seeking for a valuation of about USD2 billion in listing either in merger or the conventional initial public offering (IPO) by end of the year.
“Yes, we are working very hard towards taking Carsome public. At the moment I’m 100 per cent committed in growing the company as much as possible,” says Eric.
“As there are no official announcements made yet [at time of printing], I can’t reveal any possible investments and details, but what I can say is that the company has always received much interest and support, and for that I am thankful.”
To date, some of Carsome’s known investors include MUFG Innovation Partners, Convergence Ventures, Ondine Capital, Endeavour Catalyst, Gobi Partners, Daiwa Pl Partners, Asia Partners and Burda Principal Investments.
“The investors that have come in thus far saw how fragmented and traditional the used car market in Southeast Asia is. They have realised what we’re doing here is not just tackling a vast market, but believe in our vision in providing a solution to the automotive industry as a whole,” says Eric.
Despite the pandemic, 2021 continues to be a good year for Carsome. Being a technology driven company that is performing similarly well like other e-commerce sites during the pandemic has helped Carsome accelerate its growth like never before. It also received many notable accolades in the first half of the year.
Carsome placed 17th in the Top Growing Company by Nikkei Financial Times Statista High-Growth Companies AsiaPacific 2021 and was the only Malaysian company in the top 50 list. With co-founder Jiun Ee, the co-founders were also bestowed the SME & Entrepreneurs Business Awards’ Technopreneur of the Year and received recognition as Southeast Asia Disruptors in Boom21 by Wild Digital 2021.
“What I’ve learned so far in this pandemic is that there’s always opportunity even through crisis. It’s just how we choose to leverage the situation and see past it,” says Eric.
While his professional life seems to be on a great trajectory, Eric’s personal life has also managed to find success as he reveals his marriage to his girlfriend this year.
“Yes, I got officially married in early 2021. My wife and I managed to get ourselves registered right before the lockdown. It was a simple one without much celebration,” says Eric.
Moving forward, Eric expects to hustle on and continue to reach new milestones, but at the same time shares a personal ambition that’s close to his heart.
“I want to contribute more of my experience and see more Malaysian entrepreneurs pursue their dreams. As an entrepreneur who has been through the ringer, I think our talent definitely have the capabilities to go international,” says Eric.
“In the journey between reaching success, sleepless nights, and facing numerous adversities, it is important to stay true to yourself and be persistent. If you want to start your own business, you need to be very focused in pursuing that dream. It’s all about the mindset towards reaching the ultimate goal.”
“WHAT I’VE LEARNED SO FAR IN THIS PANDEMIC IS THAT THERE’S ALWAYS OPPORTUNITY EVEN THROUGH CRISIS. IT’S JUST HOW WE CHOOSE TO LEVERAGE THE SITUATION AND SEE PAST IT.”