Marcus Lim had a high paying job in consulting. But, he just kept spending his spare time tinkering on startup ideas. After a few months, he sold his car, moved back in with his parents, and started Oneflare, a marketplace for local services in Australia. What motivated him to take the risk? The realization that if the company fails, he can always apply to McDonald’s.

“It’s like survival of the fittest. You just need to figure out how to do it. It’s either you fail or you succeed. There’s no middle path.” We talked about scrappy approaches he did to acquire customers, including making flyers that look like parking tickets!

After Oneflare got acquired, he co-founded a payment company in Indonesia, but the company did not see the light of day. From success and failure, he has always stayed humble. Today, he is the CEO and Co-Founder of Zipmex, a leading crypto exchange in Southeast Asia that is operating across Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia. 

Marcus strives to have an impact on people’s lives in every company he builds. “That’s the one purpose for me when doing business.” His principle is to cut out the noises and focus on what you’re trying to build. For first time entrepreneurs, his advice is, “You really need to know what you don’t know. You need to know your strengths and weaknesses very quickly, and when something is not going well. You need to know when to ask for help. Perspective from smart people is really important.”