In Conversation with Darius Cheung, CEO of TenCube @ Nokia Developer Summit 2009

It has been three years since TenCube won the Start-Up@Singapore business plan competition. Over the past three years, TenCube has launched their product WaveSecure and won accolades including their recent award in the “Emerging Stage Category” for Mobile Monday Peer Awards. While Darius Cheung (CEO of TenCube) has been contributing to SGE as a writer, we have not been able to get him down for an interview. Since Darius and I met in the Nokia Developer Summit 2009, we decided to sit down for an interview and talked about the recent developments of >TenCube and its product, WaveSecure and how TenCube is navigating through the financial crisis and also some thoughts on their engagement with a major corporation like Nokia.

BL: It has been two years since we interviewed TenCube. Congratulations on your recent award for Mobile Monday Singapore. So, over the past two years, what has happened to TenCube and any interesting stories to tell?
Darius: Thanks Bernard. Plenty have happened over last 2 years, obviously, that’s probably one of the key attraction of a startup life – it’s immensely entertaining. Interesting stories have ranged from the really horrifying incidents of customer not paying up and not making payroll, to key projects delayed due to a key teammate contracting Hand-Foot-Mouth (haha, ya i know *scratch head*), to really good days where you hear the ‘Wows’ from customers and users, to the serendipity of accidental successes.

One of the most interesting thing to me is how fast things can change and how important a deep believe in what you are doing is. We’ve pretty much been doing the same thing from the day we started, and for a long time we have hit stonewalls and were rejected by many who have turned around to be our champions today. And it all happened very quickly, and without us doing much to change anything really – it’s just time has proven us right. We are very lucky to have a team who stuck through it all despite the many times when circumstances or authority have assaulted our belief and brought us on our knees in our moments of doubt.

Photo: TenCube WaveSecure Product – Tracking the Location on a User’s device

BL: Let’s come to users, how have the users responded to the WaveSecure product?
Darius: Haha, for a fair answer on that, you will have to ask our users.

Photo: TenCube WaveSecure Product – Tracking the SIM on a User’s device

All in all reception has been good, our user base has tripled in the last quarter. Admittedly WaveSecure is a very individualistic product – there is no built in viral mechnism/network effect etc that the web2.0 world loves. (ya.. we are rather old school) But we are glad that we have came to a point where our users are actively recommending it to their friends and family, driving a large volume of direct signups and queries. That’s probably the most satisfying part of all.

The biggest complain/challenge we face still remains largely the same – most people still are not familiar with how to download/install an mobile app. We are working quite aggressively to solve that problem, both technically simplifying the process, or just simply work with manufacturers directly to integrate the product as part of the phone so users don’t have to go through the trouble.

Photo: TenCube WaveSecure Product – Screenshot of User’s data backup.

BL: How’s the market out there for TenCube?
Darius: Market has been excellent, the age of mobile app has finally came, we believe. Thanks in part to the iPhone, there’s a lot of buzz around mobile apps nowadays, we are quite excited about times ahead. No one has heard of a mobile app back in the days we started developing on the Nokia 6600. We think our early entrance and substantial technology lead will pay off in the next 2-3 years in a major way.

BL: How are you handling the challenges in the current difficult financial climate?
Darius: We are fortuntately quite recession proof at this point right now, some pockets of the mobile and wireless sector is lucky to have a growth curve that counters the recession. Fund raising has been the only area that has a slight impact where we have faced a few delays, but we are all set now and all in all we haven’t been much affected. If anything, we have benefited greatly from being able to tap on a far wider talent pool now.

Photo: TenCube WaveSecure Product – Locking a User’s device

BL: You are here at the Nokia Developer Summit 2009. So what are you up to here in Monte Carlo, Monaco for the event?
Darius: Oh plenty. We attend almost every major mobile event – from 3GSM Barcelona in March to CMMA here in SG next month. But Nokia Dev Summit will probably be the most important event for us throughout the whole year. We have several collaboration points with Nokia, from partner engagements with operators to getting our act together for the upcoming Ovi store. Dev Summit is the single event that brings together all of these discussions and how those can move forward.

(ok ok fine, i’ll admit it… sun, sea and casinos, what else would i be up to in Monte Carlo)

Photo: (From Left) Darius and BL in Monte Carlo, Monaco for the Nokia Developer Summit 2009

BL: As a start-up, how do you engage in partnership/collaboration with Nokia? Any interesting tips for other start-ups companies to know and look out for?
Darius: Top priority is fit into their strategy and ride the wave.

Here’s 3 areas developers should pay attention to:

1. Anything that goes on Ovi Store – make a best selling app, pretty simple, eh?
2. Social location – Tero’s keynote put it quite plainly; also refer to Michael Halbherr’s keynote on maps on the funky stuff that is happening (and the very obvious things you should avoid, the world doesnt need another geo-tagging photo sharing app or location based friendfinder)
3. QT/WRT – tech platform wise – next big thing coming up on Nokia’s roadmap. It’s incredibly easy for new developers too, excellent choice for startups, check out what other developers have built in 48 hours.

Don’t forget that Nokia still ships 100M phones a quarter (coincidentally – that’s more than the shipment of all PCs combined).

BL: Is TenCube developing any new products for the market?
Darius: Of course, that’s as much as i can tell you though. I’ll keep you posted when i can give you a sneak peek! =)

BL: We will look forward to hear about your new products. Good luck in your ventures ahead.

Related posts:

1. In Conversation with Dannie Francis, CEO of CellCity @ Nokia Developer Summit 2009
2. A Roundup for TenCube in 2009 – WaveSecure & Android for Life
3. India’s Leading Telecom App Services Provider One97 Makes Strategic Investment In tenCube
4. Nokia Developer Summit 2009, Monte Carlo Day 1
5. tenCube To Talk About Their Android Developer Challenge Wins