Sexy businesses are overrated.

Wenhao has mastered this art and storytelling (I would probably buy anything from him)

I LOVE COLD DMs - This is Wenhao!!

Best salesman you might ever meet, the king of unsexy startups, a brutally honest founder, a person obsessed with business models, the odd founder who keeps posting about corporate gift-giving on LinkedIn; I am sure y’all have a variety of impressions of him.

Smilie is his brain child, a startup that even his own clients sometimes struggle to understand, but basically they automate B2B gift giving. In a nutshell: THEY HELP B2B COMPANIES BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEIR CLIENTS.

Why are corporate gifts given only on CNY? Or Christmas? Instead of relying on arbitrary timings to gift corporate clients, Wen Hao has revolutionized this by automating gift giving on specific milestone moments. Gifts are now given when clients achieve a grand project, achieved a revenue goal, etc. There’s a whole lot more to how they choose the 1. Type of gifts and 2. Timing of the gifts, but basically they are making gift-giving more meaningful for companies.

This is something that I have NEVER thought about. But basically this is how Wen Hao’s mind works. He’ll go about his life and discover something boring but also sucks, and then imagine a better solution for it.

Oh we talked about so much I honestly don’t know what to write: how one of the richest individuals in SG is not the sexy fintechs but plain old Nippon paint. Why? Because of all the colorful HDBs. Good businesses are recurring and the need to repaint every few years keeps the pockets of Nippon Paint full. Just think about the paint to building ratio.

We also talked about how everyone has a lollipop, and to be a good sales person is to be good at grasping what that lollipop is to your listener.

We also talked about how his best investment was paying for a country club membership so that he can sit with the old and rich people of SG, talk to them, and then figure out how they became who they are.

Wen Hao is one talented storyteller that you can’t help but just nod as he explains things.

Thanks for meeting up with me, I had a blast Wen Hao! Super excited for what’s to come for Smilie!

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The COLD DM series is part of my self-growth journey, documenting the chats I have with the wonderful new friends I make here on LinkedIn. 

For more on self-discovery, cold DMs, and new friends, and my shenanigans follow my substack here: https://scallionpancake.substack.com?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web&r=2x5gs4