For our third series of how do cofounders meet, after getting some feedbacks from the community, we are going to probe deeper into the issue at hand by asking more questions. This time round, we are featuring 2359 Media founded by Zhou Wenhan and Wong Hongting.

How did you and your cofounder Hong Ting meet?

Wenhan: We first met at NOC SV 2007-2008. At that time we were working in different companies but had the chance to work together for a NOC academic module called New Venture Creation. After we returned, we brainstormed a few ideas and finally took the plunge to start 2359 Media to monetize SG Malls.

Where did the idea come from?

Wenhan: We had a few ideas from our brainstorm sessions but the impetus to really start 2359 Media was when SG Malls had widespread adoption after its launch and we decided to try to make a business out of it. The first idea was to create a mobile advertising network around mobile apps in the Asia Pacific Region. The idea for MobDis later came from finding a scalable product that we could make. We had a few consulting gigs and we tried to extract the common features of these gigs and build a product where we could allow more clients to get on the mobile platform by reducing the skill and cost required to build a mobile site or app.

Why did you decided to take the plunge together?

Wenhan: Hong Ting and I worked well together and it was a matter of timing and mutual agreement that we want to take advantage of the mobile wave and build a company.

Was 2359 founded by you and Wenhan from the start?

Hongting: Yup. We came up with the name, concept and full business plan for the company in a Seminar Room in SoC in 2009.

What contributed to the continued partnership between you and your cofounder?

Hongting: As previously mentioned we worked on multiple projects in school together, and enjoyed the fact that we were both “disagree and commit” type individuals, i.e. we would disagree every step of the way during brainstorming and discussions, but once we decided on what we wanted to do, we always go in full force in support of each other to maximize our potential to succeed. Add to the fact that we’re both mission/task driven, any issues (if at all) were quickly resolved for the benefit of the continued success of the company.

Did anyone feel like quitting at any one point of time?

Hongting: Along the way while founding the company, we had, on multiple occasions, tried to bring on a third co-founder, but were unsuccessful in finding someone as dedicated to the vision that we had in mind (and had the same mindset/willingness to give up high paying job offers). Between Wenhan and myself though, we set strict short term goals to hit (if not we would close the company), which forced both of us to stay committed to a common cause for the period of that goal. Fortunately, the ability to work well together to hit these goals have made the thoughts of uncertainty/quitting go away soon after starting.

Anything else that you want our readers to know about?

Interesting trivia for you, Wenhan and I share the same birthday. Different years but the date is the same on 15th October. Would love to figure out how common is it to have co-founders with the same birthday.

About 2359 Media:

2359 Media was founded in Singapore in 2009 to provide quality mobility solutions for brands and innovative businesses. Their clients include major brands such as SingTel, MediaCorp, CapitaLand, AsiaMalls, ESPN, HTC and Energizer. 2359 Media received a series A funding of SGD800,000 by Singtel Innov8 last January to accelerate development work on MobDis, a publishing platform that makes creating mobile ads easier.