He almost gave up his business after suffering the stillbirth of his son
It was a scream he would never forget and hoped never to hear again.
Jeremy Foo, founder of communications bureau Elliot & Co (then called Prospr Communications) had just brought his 36-calendar week pregnant wife Quin Yeo to hospital. She had a stomachache earlier in the day and the pain was not abating. It was Dec 31, 2017, and the couple thought it would exist a straightforward check-up before going for dinner.
Foo went to go a drink for his married woman and equally he returned, her piercing, hopeless cry sent a chill down his spine.
The doc had informed that the baby had no heartbeat. The couple was shocked. There was no indication that anything was wrong. Other than a dull pain, Yeo had not been haemorrhage and could still walk around.
"She was hysterical. Nosotros kept saying, 'bank check again, check over again, mayhap the auto is spoiled'," Foo recounted. In denial, the couple went to another hospital for a 2nd opinion. But the diagnosis remained the same. Reality hit – their child was truly gone. Yeo was induced to deliver their stillborn son Elliot.
What made it doubly hard was the "unknown" written as the crusade on Elliot'due south stillbirth document. Foo shared, "The doctors couldn't observe the cause. It was suspected that he may have died in the womb 2 or three days earlier. And then there was no closure for us. My wife didn't even go to hold the baby equally she was in then much shock. I had to settle the cremation, try to be strong, and go along running the business after that."
Foo had started Prospr in early 2017, equally a consultancy focusing on communications strategies and services, including public relations and digital marketing, for start-ups and small-scale and medium-sized enterprises (SME). After many months of knocking on doors to get concern, the company ended the year with 100 clients and a six-figure acquirement.
The couple had also been trying to start a family unit for six years. It hadn't been like shooting fish in a barrel every bit Yeo had polycystic ovary syndrome. With a baby on the style and the company finally on stable basis, they were looking frontward to ending the year with joyous celebrations. Instead, it was shrouded in grief.
"There was a lot of guilt, because for that one year we ate a lot of instant noodles and junk food to salve coin," Foo said. "We were totally devastated, and I thought of stepping aside from the business organisation. I gave so much for one baby but sacrificed another."
Time may have helped Foo to look and sound more collected 3 years later, every bit he shared his story in an exclusive interview with CNA Luxury. But for ii years after that fateful New Year's Eve, his married woman's cry would constantly reverberate in his listen.
"She cried every day for nearly a month. I tried to be strong, be there for her. So, I didn't get to grieve until three months later on. By then she was much amend, just every time someone said something well-nigh babies, I would break down," he said.
Thankfully, the story has a happier epilogue. Foo and Yeo now have another kid, a good for you 20-calendar month-one-time daughter. The company has amassed over 500 SME and start-upwards clients in its portfolio and has twenty staff in three offices located in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Information technology has achieved more than S$1 meg in revenue this yr.
In 2019, as a tribute to his son, Foo re-named Prospr into Elliot & Co. It was a reminder of his company's initial mission: To exhale life into offset-up stories that may otherwise get unnoticed in a sea of bigger international players with deeper coffers.
"In 2019, I felt we were losing focus and the business organisation was condign more than money-driven. We were growing rapidly, so we were just hiring people to serve. Simply I didn't embed in the team my convictions and what I was really fighting for," said Foo.
"A mentor once told me: Before you lose your profits, you lose your identity first." – Jeremy Foo
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Prior to starting his own company, Foo had worked on a number of multinational and starting time-up accounts at public relations bureau Ruder Finn Asia, including Take hold of, GuocoLand and Braun. Afterward, he took a six-month breather to assist an entrepreneur friend in the Usa. These experiences convinced him that fifty-fifty though start-ups have lower budgets, they deserved a adventure to tell their stories every bit much as the large boys do.
He said, "I want the stories of brands to exist told, especially the smaller ones, a fighting-for-the-underdog kind of feeling. Merely last year, I felt that we had lost that border. We were trying to go for corporate clients, helping a lot of different groups and hiring people who didn't get the heart of what we stood for.
"A mentor once told me: Before you lose your profits, you lot lose your identity start. Some other warned me near the undisciplined desire for more coin. So I made a conscious decision to go back to what I believed in and re-branded the visitor."
Foo wants Elliot to be a one-stop hub for SMEs, offering not merely public relations, marketing and branding solutions, just too fiscal, man resource and legal advice.
He said, "In that location are many HR, bookkeeping companies out there, but to care for starting time-ups the way we care for them is a whole different game. It's a lot more than personal as you lot work directly with the founders, and not a corporate manager."
The squad is as well planning to launch a tech platform side by side year to "further democratise the market". Simply it is not about making his services cheaper to undercut everyone else merely providing solutions at reasonable prices that still yield the desired results, emphasised Foo.
"Nosotros really want to help everybody equally long as they've a story to tell, even if it'south a durian stall. Our clients range from traditional businesses to tuition agencies and fintech start-ups."
Foo feels that his feel of profound loss has helped him to better empathise the pain and challenges founders go through as they grow their businesses.
"When I kickoff started the company, information technology was 'in that location's a market opportunity and I love outset-ups'. After I got through the loss and came out of low, it hit me that what I'm doing is really more than than just a business. It gave me a deeper perspective of what founders become through. Many starting time-ups die without getting their story told, only like my son, and it's painful. But I also tell the founders: Do all you can for your business organisation, just don't sacrifice your family."
"Many first-ups dice without getting their story told, just like my son, and it's painful. Only I also tell the founders: Practise all you lot can for your business, just don't cede your family." – Jeremy Foo
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/people/jeremy-foo-elliot-communications-singapore-246831
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