Founded in June 2014, Talenox offers three core software products that help employers store employee data in a secure online database, pay their employees and keep track of leave respectively. The business also works with partners, such as OCBC Bank, to help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) digitalise their payroll operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview, co-founders \u201cJolly Good CEO\u201d Gordon Ng and CTO Edwin Feng share how they built Talenox, which currently has over 5,000 active companies on its platform across Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Gordon and Edwin also know a thing or two about recruiting and retaining a team of talents, which they discuss with passion during the interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read Also: <\/em><\/strong>5 Questions With Hakeem\u2026 CEO and Co-Founder of ServiceBack.com, A Cashback Platform For Home And Renovation Services In Singapore<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Gordon\u2019s entrepreneurship journey started from his national service days, and has run the gamut from selling Japan-imported action figures to dabbling in e-commerce and web development, and operating an education centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The education centre business was successful and Gordon sold it a few years after graduating from university. He then accepted an offer to help out a friend\u2019s cousin at payroll service provider Virtual HR. (Virtual HR has since been acquired by multinational professional services firm TMF Group.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gordon was with Virtual HR for about two years in total, working on HR outsourcing and the development of a human capital management system. Despite the industry being \u201cboring\u201d, he found it an interesting one in that the HR technology in \u201cthis part of the world is very backward\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The HR management software Gordon used at work was extremely difficult to use, where certain features called for coding experience. Users needed to undergo at least three months of training just to get the hang of the software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t have any technical or payroll background, I think you\u2019ll just get lost,\u201d Gordon shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Businesses in other parts of the world, such as the United States, were using much more advanced HR platforms. But here in Southeast Asia, there didn\u2019t seem to be a similar cloud-based, self-serve platform that could serve the needs of SMEs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gordon\u2019s time at Virtual HR was punctuated by a stint as the CEO and co-founder of an edutech startup. Though things at the startup \u201cdidn\u2019t end well\u201d, the experience was a blessing in disguise: Gordon was introduced to Edwin by a friend who commended Edwin\u2019s technical expertise and business sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Edwin didn\u2019t start out wanting to be an entrepreneur. Rather, he was driven by the belief that he could build something better. And like Gordon, Edwin \u201ctried many things\u201d, including an unsuccessful pitch to ComfortDelGro to develop an Uber-like app when the iPhone was first launched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He eventually ended up working for a startup in the United States. While he was there, he caught up with Gordon, who had left Virtual HR following a major operation. Gordon had spent a month recuperating and was now itching to find something to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Edwin learnt what Gordon had been up to, he had a brainwave. He thought: \u201cHey, actually I know someone that needs a HR solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And since [Gordon\u2019s] worked on it before, then why not let\u2019s try exploring [this opportunity]?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With their first customer already in the bag, the duo set out to develop the Talenox platform. \u201cWe built for them many things. We were too ambitious at that time,\u201d admitted Edwin, who was the sole engineer in the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From providing a wide range of products, including a scheduler and a time tracker, Gordon and Edwin eventually pared down their platform\u2019s products to just its current three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The co-founders also decided to focus on serving SMEs, which generally have fewer customisation needs than multinational companies. And since\u2014according to Gordon\u2014SME owners \u201cdon\u2019t know what they don\u2019t know\u201d, the co-founders wanted their HR management software to be simple to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was the main challenge that they faced in the beginning\u2014not so much familiarising themselves with HR regulations, because Gordon had prior experience in the field. The co-founders spent much time exploring how they could reduce the user flow to just three or four steps while still covering the majority of HR compliance scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I decided to test how well Gordon and Edwin had fared in this aspect for myself. After the interview, I signed up for a free Talenox account and set up a new organisation called \u201cThe Office\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From there, I added an employee named \u201cJim Halpert\u201d to my organisation\u2019s employee database and tried to run payroll for him on the basis that he is a Singaporean Chinese born on 1 October 1978 who earns $4,000 a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I found the user experience smooth and simple to follow despite my limited payroll background. It took just a few clicks to generate payroll for Jim with the CPF, Skills Development Levy and self-help group contributions correctly calculated. I could then export files for uploading to the bank and CPF Board portals and paying \u201cJim\u201d his salary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Co-founder and managing editor of DollarsAndSense, Timothy Ho, concurs on the ease of use of the Talenox platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe started using the paid version [of Talenox] in November 2022,\u201d he shares. \u201cSo far, it\u2019s been good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s been a lot easier to issue payslips and remember stuff like employees\u2019 birthdays. [Using Talenox] is also definitely more efficient compared to using a manual tool like Excel to calculate payroll.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read Also: <\/em><\/strong>4 Things That Small Business Owners In Singapore Should Know Before Paying Salaries<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The co-founders\u2019 decision to niche down their offerings has paid off. To gain a foothold in the HR payroll software market, competitors have built numerous features\u2014whether these features can comprehensively meet user needs is another thing\u2014and also tried to start price wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Talenox\u2019s laser-like focus on providing just payroll and leave management features, and partnering with organisations to serve growing SMEs, has allowed it to localise its platform for various countries quicker, and thrive while some competitors flounder and eventually exit the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is also a humanistic aspect to the co-founders\u2019 mission that\u2019s captured by Talenox\u2019s motto: \u201cAn HR experience designed for people, not personnel\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSometimes, HR people treat \u2018HR\u2019 as just \u2018human resource\u2019. But [your team members] are not just a resource,\u201d says Gordon emphatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey are human capital, the talents that are important to you. The people who make up the whole team to help you grow the company. So we want to remove that connotation of just treating your team as a resource.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n True to their beliefs, the co-founders prefer to call their 20+ staff their \u201ctalents\u201d or \u201cteammates\u201d instead of \u201cemployees\u201d. Their pride in their team is also clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor the both of us, [one of our proudest achievements] is the team, not the [revenue] numbers,\u201d Edwin enthuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey all bring different perspectives and responsibilities and maturity […] like I don\u2019t see them [in person], yet they can get work done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With Talenox being a remote-first company, Edwin laughs as he shares how he hasn\u2019t seen some of his engineers face-to-face in years\u2014especially during the COVID-19 pandemic\u2014despite them also being based in Singapore. Nevertheless, the co-founders take care to look after their team\u2019s welfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, they made the decision not to offer 24\/7 customer support. This is partly due to the limited help they can provide after banks close for the day, and also because such a support model isn\u2019t sustainable for the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Talenox also organises annual overseas team retreats. Last year\u2019s was in Bali and \u201ceveryone really enjoyed it\u201d, Edwin shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Serial Entrepreneur<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Builder<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Developing A Painless Payroll Experience<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Cultivating A People-First Approach To Business<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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