Overcoming self-doubt: How this startup founder built a $100-million-a-year business in the face of adversity.

Numerous entrepreneurs assert that launching a prosperous startup entails a significant financial and emotional expense.

In June, Jeffrey Tiong, the 40-year-old founder and CEO of intellectual property and research and development startup Patsnap, a Singapore-based unicorn company, announced that it had surpassed an annual recurring revenue of $100 million.

For the past 17 years, Tiong has been working on building Patsnap, which he started straight out of college at age 24.

""For the past 17 years, I have been building my business, which has had its share of dark and low times. While I wouldn't want to go through it again, I am grateful for this experience," he told CNBC Make It."

Tiong said, "What cannot kill you will make you stronger."

Light bulb moment

Kota Kinabalu, a laid-back coastal city in East Malaysia, was where Tiong grew up. As a child from a typical Southeast Asian family, he believed he would pursue a career in medicine, engineering, law, or accounting.

At 18, he relocated to Singapore and enrolled in the National University of Singapore to pursue a degree in bioengineering. While studying, Tiong was offered an opportunity to participate in an international program, which allowed him to study in the U.S. for a year while working full time.

In 2005, Tiong relocated to Philadelphia to pursue a business degree at The Wharton School while simultaneously working at a medical devices startup. At the startup, he was responsible for managing research and development, as well as conducting intellectual property due diligence.

He revealed that he discovered the "secret sauce" of inventors' creations by sifting through free public databases containing old patents.

Tiong, after months of patent research, found the process to be highly time-consuming and "messy," making it more difficult than it needed to be. He wanted a better tool, so he thought, why not try to create it himself?

He decided to investigate the feasibility of a new, user-friendly patent database in one of his business classes. Upon research, he discovered a demand for such a product.

He said, "I was thinking to myself, these patents are so useful. If I learn how to read, decode, extract key information, and make this patent information available to as many people as possible, it will be really useful."

So, he took the idea and ran with it.

Self-doubt as an entrepreneur

In 2007, Tiong returned to Singapore and established Patsnap with the aid of a government grant worth 55,000 Singapore dollars (about $42,000), along with some incubation support from the National University of Singapore.

However, he encountered many challenges when starting the business.

Tiong recounted how he struggled to raise funds, despite being a fresh graduate with no track record, during the 2008 financial crisis. He was introverted and found it challenging to pitch to potential investors.

In 2010, Tiong secured his first $1 million for Patsnap and expanded his team from 15 to approximately 50 individuals. However, due to his lack of experience in hiring and managing a team, Tiong had to let go of two-thirds of the company within six months.

"I lacked knowledge on how to interview and hire the right person, which led to numerous problems and eventually caused the product to fail," he admitted. In just six months, Tiong had spent half of the $500,000 he had raised, and he began to consider shutting down his business.

He admitted to having a lot of self-doubt, saying, "I was thinking: Should I just return the money to our investors and call it a day?" However, he was determined to push through and keep raising funds.

Tiong and his investor spent a month traveling between major cities in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. in an attempt to secure investor support, but were unsuccessful.

"We didn't receive any interest, so I recall, we were in a meeting room and he slammed the table and criticized me, saying: 'You're not fit to be CEO,'" Tiong stated. "That was a significant setback because I highly respected him, and it's true that I lacked conviction and confidence at the time."

"That was a personal low point," said Tiong.

Big lessons learned

Tiong gained more confidence as a business owner after years of facing challenges and developing his own leadership style.

Tiong said that he discovered he wasn't the outgoing "rah rah" type of leader, but he learned that introverts can still lead effectively.

""Because I went through many difficult times and still persevered, I now realize there was great drive within me. My goal was to create something remarkable that would have a lasting impact on the world," he stated."

Over 1,000 people work for Patsnap, a company with investors such as Tencent, Sequoia China, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Some of their clients include Disney, NASA, Tesla, Adobe, and others.

Tiong's greatest aspiration for the company is to simplify innovation for the global population.

By democratizing patent information, we are accelerating the process of making innovation in the world easier and better, he stated.

"If you're an aspiring entrepreneur and strongly believe in something, just give it a try. Go for it because we only live life once."

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