Interview with Ray Koh of PickaPoken – Bringing Poken to Singapore

If you are in the tech space and haven’t yet heard of Poken, you must be living under a rock. The little digital social business card, with its cutesy designs, reminds one of the once famous Tamagotchi, only much more useful, and targeted at business users. While Poken was catching on fast in Europe and Japan, the little device still hasn’t reached Singapore shores en masse yet, till Ray set up PickaPoken to distribute Poken in Singapore. We caught Ray to find out more about the process of bringing Poken to Singapore.

Hi Ray, thanks for being with us today and thanks for bringing Poken to Singapore! First, help explain what Poken is for those who have never heard of it.

Poken is your ’social business card.’ it’s an easy way to share your contact details and online social network profiles with the people you meet in the real world. Just tap two Pokens together – high4! – and you’re connected.

Poken Explained from Poken on Vimeo.

Can you give us a bit of a background of how successful Poken has been and where?

Poken was first launched in Europe and Japan and later in the US. You can find people actively Poken-ing in events in these region.

Can you tell us a bit of your background?

My background is in mobile & internet technology. I joined Bubble Motion in 2003, a leader in providing “Bubble Talk” or VoiceSMS service to mobile network carriers. I was the first member of the Bubble Motion team. I built the first version of the VoiceSMS platform and integrated it into carrier network infrastructure and deployed the product in 8 different countries.

In 2008, me and Sunil Coushik (my partner) started working on various ideas and projects in Bluency. We looked at pokens in July 2009 and we were interested in the API development around pokens. In Nov 2009 we brought Poken into Singapore. We think Poken can change the way people exchange contacts between the online and real world. A great solution for both individuals as well as businesses

(Check out our interview with Ray’s partner, Sunil Coushik of Ogywawa.)

On your company, Bluency’s website, it is written that you “build [your] own products”. Can you help us clarify your relationship and role in bringing Poken to Singapore?

Our plan is to look at interesting products like Poken and find ways to add value to them. We plan to develop interesting applications on top of Poken API.

What got you interested in Poken and why bring it here in the first place?

We have been thinking about contact information exchange problem for a while. Once we saw the Poken technology, we felt that it was very close to what we had in mind. Singapore is the ideal place for such a technology as there are frequent events and almost everyone here is online and has online identities on popular social networks.

Can you share with our readers what steps you took to getting involved in Poken?

Pickapoken worked with the Poken headquarters in Europe. We ran initial device testing and feedback with some end-users. Once we had the Pokens we had to get a regulatory approval for the sale in Singapore. With respect to product distribution, we just got started. We are working on several Poken events in Singapore and the region.

What was the most difficult thing you had to do in order to bring the product into Singapore?

We did not encounter any major obstacle. It is just that projects of this nature, specially the hardware ones take a longer time because of inventory issues and regulatory approvals.

Was funding an issue?

No, we are a well funded business.

Poken comes to Singapore. Image from Pickapoken.

Can you elaborate a bit more on how you are “well funded”? Did the founders self-fund, get investment or using revenue generated from other parts of the business to fund this Poken project?

The company is funded by founders.

Do you think Poken is a fad or something that is here to stay? And why?

There are two aspects to Poken. The first one is the physical device. The second aspect is the backend system plus Poken API. The key to longevity of the Poken systems is to keep innovating with the device design and at the same time the local partners such as Pickapoken offering interesting local solutions. Our solutions team is looking at the API and we will be building apps that we are sure the community will like.

Any expansion plans?

As highlighted above, Pickapoken is in the process of designing software services tied in to the Poken device. In terms of actual Poken device distribution, you will see Pickapoken active at events in the region.

What is the one advice you would give to first-time entrepreneurs?

Execution is everything.

Thanks, Ray! We look forward to the apps your team is building for Poken.

Related posts:

1. Interview with Sunil Coushik, co-founder of Ogywawa