Sharmaine Tan

Member story

“Having a panel of amazing people to speak to felt useful for those tough moments of objective thought.”

Sharmaine Tan

Founder · Metacosm

Singapore · Metacosm on Medium ↗ · Jul 2021

Solo FounderPersonal GrowthAccountability

The Work

Tell us about you and what you are working on now?

I'm a solo, first-time Founder bootstrapping a SaaS company.

I love advocating about personal growth and social mobility and want to enable people to do the same. Our limits are truly our mind.

I'm currently working on Metacosm, a way for focused and proactive individuals to measure tiny, nuanced situations and drive their personal growth projects through awareness using AI-facilitated insight. Fostering a deeper level of engagement and productivity with their personal team of mentors, and giving opportunities to share, experience and mobilize each other's latent knowledge in a targeted way.

Before

Where did you go for advice before finding GrowthMentor?

I've always biased towards more structured learning, i.e. online courses, books etc. to get an ontology of what needs to be known, but read blogs, attend workshops, post on slack groups and, simply asking friends, to get a more focused, first-hand sense of what I need to dive deeper into.

The Decision

Why did you signup to GrowthMentor?

As a solo-founder, it is easy to have blind spots and "get lazy". My hack tends to be to take a break and return to it for fresh insight, but that's not usually enough.

Having a panel of amazing people to speak to felt useful for those tough moments of objective thought.

It also keeps me accountable (i.e. shout-out to GrowthMentor's Accountability Program), especially since the easy way out is working for someone else and collecting a pay check.

The more people I speak to, the more focused I get.

Inside the Platform

What do you enjoy most about being a member?

I love how willing and able everyone is, to share and grow together.

What topics have you mostly discussed with mentors?

A real mix as a solo founder. Product and growth, app marketing, finding product-market fit, content, analytics, and the mindset side of doing this on my own. Honestly, talking to more people is what kept me focused.

The Breakthrough

Any mentors stick out in your mind as all-stars?

Two, actually! Farzad Khosravi pulled me out of analysis paralysis and gave me a perspective on my business that I needed. And Dani Hart was wonderful for mindset, she came prepared with curated resources and even a personality test, and gave me the unbiased view I was looking for. Both were stars at toughing out the rough, messy parts of building solo.

The Transformation

How has GrowthMentor helped you?

The team has been very supportive when I've asked (i.e. my alpha test), and have offered to help numerous times (i.e. marketing opportunities, to connect with others).

The webinars are also extremely relevant and timely.

At this stage of trying to reconcile what I would love to focus on in the business, what I do not want at all and what I know to be true. I'm really happy to have reached an inflection point that will help me shape my next steps.

The Verdict

Describe GM in 3 words…

Diverse
inclusive
supportive

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