The Evolution of a Dream: From Prawn Ramen to Billion-Dollar Tech
There's something oddly comforting about finding yourself in a run-down mall in the heart of Singapore, slurping prawn ramen at Ebi Bar. Despite being surrounded by the glitzy offerings of Orchard Road, this is what I chose for my first meal after the last full week at Network School—a simple meal that represents my oldest entrepreneurial dream.
The 17-Year-Old Dream
When I was 17, my vision of success was crystal clear: open a restaurant. Maybe something exactly like this—a cozy spot serving prawn ramen with beer and alcohol. I trained as a chef, studied culinary management, and believed with absolute certainty that this was my path. Back then, entrepreneurship meant one thing to me: putting your name on a physical space, greeting customers face-to-face, and grinding from 5 AM until midnight to make it work.
This wasn't entirely my dream, though. It was partially inherited from my father—a common story for many Singaporeans my age. Our entrepreneurial visions often extended only as far as the hawker centers and shopping malls we grew up with.
The Reality Check
Years passed, and reality intruded on this simple vision. Singapore's astronomical rental prices became impossible to ignore. The dream evolved: "Perhaps a hawker stall instead? Or maybe a small shop in an abandoned mall where rent is cheaper?"
Even these scaled-down versions seemed financially treacherous. So I pivoted again: "Why not sell food online? E-commerce has no rent!"
This practical consideration led me down an unexpected path. To sell online, I needed a website. To build a website, I needed to code.
And then: "Oh fuck, I love coding! Perhaps even more than cooking!"
The Winding Path
What followed was a decade of pivots, each one taking me further from that bowl of prawn ramen but closer to understanding what entrepreneurship could really mean:
- From applying to coding jobs (and facing rejection)
- To discovering Bitcoin and diving headfirst into crypto
- Making money, losing more, getting scammed
- Back to e-commerce, building and eventually selling a business
- Coding whatever interested me once I had the financial freedom
- Witnessing the AI revolution that suddenly made my coding abilities more powerful
- And finally, arriving at Network School with a completely transformed vision
The Singapore Dream
I often wonder why so many Singaporean teens dream of opening restaurants or shops rather than building the next Facebook or SpaceX. Is it our education system? Our culture? The successful examples most visible to us?
While my 17-year-old self was dreaming about a prawn noodle bar, Mark Zuckerberg was already building Facebook in his Harvard dorm. The scope of our ambitions couldn't have been more different.
Yet there's something beautiful about that original dream too. The tangibility of it. The connection to craft and tradition. The honest work of creating something delicious that brings people together.
Same Grind, Different Dream
What's fascinating is that whether it's running a prawn ramen shop or building a billion-dollar tech company, the core commitment remains the same:
I wanted to grind back then.
I wanted to wake up at 5 AM and work until midnight, just like the chefs and hawkers I admired.
And now? The same intensity drives tech founders. The sleepless nights haven't changed—just the tools and the scale of impact.
Dreams vs. Goals
Looking back at my journey, I've realized that dreams are affected by your surroundings. They evolve with time and experience. Dreams aren't attained; they transform into concrete goals that can be achieved.
The dream of opening a restaurant wasn't entirely mine. It was passed down to me, a common aspiration in Singapore's landscape.
My path took me from:
- Aspiring chef dreaming of a restaurant
- Struggling with Singapore's rental reality
- Selling online to avoid overhead costs
- Learning to code out of necessity
- Falling in love with programming
- Riding the crypto rollercoaster
- Building and selling an e-commerce business
- Embracing AI's transformative potential
- Arriving at Network School with ambitions of building a billion-dollar tech startup
The Bowl That Remains
That bowl of prawn ramen still holds meaning for me. Throughout the months at Network School, surrounded by global tech ambitions and cutting-edge discussions, I still found myself drawn to this simple meal in a quiet corner of a run-down mall.
Perhaps it's a reminder of where I started. Or maybe it's comfort food for the soul—a tangible connection to that 17-year-old with big dreams and limited perspective.
The Ebi Bar dream will likely remain just that—a dream. But the hunger and willingness to grind remain constant, even as the vehicle for that energy has transformed completely.
Today, I'm no longer trying to perfect a bowl of prawn ramen. Instead, I'm working to build something with greater reach and impact. But sometimes, when I need grounding, you'll still find me at places like Ebi Bar, reflecting on how far I've come and how much further I still want to go.
The noodles may be the same, but the dream has evolved beyond recognition.