In Conversation with Aileen Sim, First Meta

Overhyped or not, virtual worlds are growing in numbers, as are their users. Whether it turns out to be a fad or not remains to be seen, but here Gwen speaks to the lady behind First Meta, a startup offering you financial services in virtual worlds. First Meta has been featured on international sites and news like TechCrunch, WIRED, BBC, BusinessWeek, London Times Online etc. Also, it was was one of four Singapore companies to win a Red Herring 100 Asia award this year! Aileen gives us her story.

Gwen: Congratulations on all your recent accolades! First Meta certainly seems to be doing well. So Aileen, how do you feel about your recent media success?
Aileen: Thank you! =) It feels great! I think it is wonderful that First Meta is receiving recognition at the international level. The company has definitely benefited from our recent press coverage.

Gwen: What is First Meta?
Aileen: First Meta provides real financial services provider tailored to virtual economies. The company is the first to provide a full suite of financial products and services, denominated in virtual currencies, to Second Life® and other virtual economies. The company’s first product, the MetaCardTM a Linden Dollar-denominated credit card was launched on 31-July 2007. First Meta Pte. Ltd. was founded in 2007 by Douglas Abrams and Aileen Sim.

Gwen: What were the initial challenges and difficulties that you faced as an entrepreneur? And specifically, as a female entrepreneur?
Aileen: There were several initial challenges and difficulties (though not specific to being female) that we had to overcome. The first was ironing out a lot of the issues that were present in the old business plan where we targeted game-centric virtual worlds like World of Warcraft, which at that time and still is, the largest virtual economy. Those questions were answered when we decided to shift our focus to socio-economic centric virtual worlds such as Second Life.

The next challenge was in finding good people. We needed people who were not only technically strong but entrepreneurial. They had to build a completely new system from scratch, which usually means a high chance of failure, and also risk not getting paid as the company had not yet secured funding at that time. We were very fortunate to have been able to find such people.

On being young and female, it was challenging initially (even before First Meta, during my undergraduate days) to get people to take me seriously. However, that quickly passed when people started to see that I was actually doing something concrete and producing results.

Gwen: Some predict the death of virtual worlds, what are your thoughts on this?
Aileen: I think that virtual worlds are not going away any time soon. Over the last few decades, people’s lives have shifted more and more onto virtual spaces, be it for socializing, business or entertainment. But virtual spaces such as the web, to date have provided primarily a solitary experience in a flat, 2D space. Interactive, immersive, connected, 3D spaces which are the virtual worlds that we know of today is the next logical progression.

There are several trends that indicate that virtual worlds are here to stay.

- Firstly, the increasing focus on entertainment. When the internet and the web first became popular, they were primarily used for work and communication purposes. In recent years, there has been more and more focus on entertainment, with people using the internet for games, music, movies etc, giving rise to sites like KaZaa, YouTube, Joost etc. Virtual worlds with their rich interface provide the potential for more compelling, engaging forms of entertainment.

- Secondly, the rise of social networking. Virtual worlds are the ultimate social networking tools, allowing for rich, interactive and immersive communication and experiences. Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook have grown tremendously popular and I believe that that will spill over into virtual worlds.

Gwen: What kind of development in other virtual worlds would interest you in expanding there?
Aileen: The development of open economies and virtual currencies that are freely tradable into real-world currencies. We believe that these virtual worlds will be more sustainable than traditional virtual worlds with closed economies, as can be seen from the parallel in real-world economies. Also, we’re very interested in expanding into virtual worlds that are targeted at Asian countries, such as China and Japan as we believe that is a lot of growth potential in Asia.

Gwen: Where do you see the financial sector in virtual worlds eventually heading?
Aileen: I think that in the long run, the financial sector in virtual worlds will become full fledged economies just like real world economies. I think of each virtual world as a new and developing country with its own economy, and a population that is already financially savvy. Virtual world economies will grow at a much faster rate than real-world economies and eventually catch up with them.

Aileen Sim and her alter ego, Tyra Fierrens in Second Life

Gwen: How sensitive are you of your presence in male-dominated industries and situations? Do you feel that people (men especially) react differently to you than to other men?
Aileen: I wouldn’t say that I’m very sensitive about being female in male-dominated environments, but I definitely do think that men react differently to women than they would to other men, mostly in a good way though. For example, at networking sessions, men would almost always prefer to talk to women than they would to other men. I think that being female has its advantages. One of the things an entrepreneur has to do is stand out from the crowd. Being one of very few female entrepreneurs has helped in that aspect.

Gwen: Do you consider yourself a feminist?
Aileen: No I don’t consider myself a feminist. I am very happy to let the men carry the grocery bags and pay for meals if they offer. =) Jokes aside, I think in the same way that men shouldn’t be considered superior to women, women also shouldn’t be considered superior to men. Both men and women play different roles in society and in most modern societies, men and women are to a large extent given equal opportunities.

Gwen: What motivates you each morning when you wake up?
Aileen: On the micro level, I would say my biggest motivation is my team and my family. Every person in the team has staked a lot in First Meta. Knowing that these people count on me keeps me going. If First Meta succeeds, I’d be able to provide a good life for my family.

On the macro level, it is the realization that I can really make an impact on the world. It has been a while since Singapore has seen a huge success story. It takes only one company to succeed in a big way to convince everyone else that that big dream is not so impossible. This will in turn spur more people to start up companies, drive innovation and create more jobs. On an even larger scale, I believe that virtual worlds have the potential to further flatten the world and First Meta can play a big role in accelerating that. What we bring about is a mindset change that virtual worlds can be a viable business platform. Having credible financial services is essential for any economy to grow, to create more jobs and opportunities for people around the world.

Gwen: Some last words for all budding entrepreneurs out there?
Aileen: Don’t give up if people tell you if yours is the craziest, stupidest idea ever. That’s what people said to me when I first pitched the idea (some still do!) One big factor that determines the success or failure of the company is how long you can hang in there. If you hang around long enough, good things are bound to happen. For those who are still thinking of starting your own business, stop thinking and start doing. Especially for young entrepreneurs, you’ve got nothing to lose.

Links:

- News Flash: First Meta featured on TechCrunch
- News Flash: 4 Singaporean Companies win Red Herring Asia Awards 2007

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