So, I started a thing. Then another thing.
The story of my first startup, Shopmatey, the lessons learned, and how it led to what I'm building now with Omni.
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#Startups
6 articles filed under this tag.
I kept applying to accelerators until I asked a better question
I used to treat accelerator applications as an obvious habit for an ambitious builder. An interview with Antler Singapore in 2025 forced me to ask a different question: was I building the kind of company that actually needed venture capital?
Why I stopped building Shopmatey as a separate product
Letting go of an early brand is hard when you have spent years building it. On April 2, 2025, I announced that Shopmatey was joining Omni. Here is why absorbing what worked into a new product was better than keeping two alive.
Why I had multiple companies for products I eventually combined
Founders often incorporate multiple corporate entities for pragmatic, unglamorous reasons like banking access, fintech tools, and cloud credits. Here is why I had separate entities before consolidating them.
What I actually got from the AWS Build Accelerator
I applied to an accelerator expecting the exciting part to be getting accepted. What actually helped was having ten structured weeks where learning cloud infrastructure was the job instead of something I postponed.
I trademarked Shopmatey. The process was less mysterious than I expected.
Three days after launching on Product Hunt, I filed a trademark with IPOS. Nine months later, the certificate arrived. Here is what the process looked like, and why owning a trademark is completely different from building a brand.