“You don't have to like it; you just have to do it”. This guiding quote from his former CO resonates well with what he does as an entrepreneur.

In this issue, we have the honour of chatting with Felix Lee Zheng De who graduated in 2018 with a Diploma in Engineering with Business. At the age of 25 years, Felix is already a CEO, helming ADPList, the world’s largest mentorship platform.

Felix’s journey began in his graduating year at Singapore Polytechnic (SP), with the establishment of Packdat, a startup which helped travellers plan their itinerary. It was successfully sold to the Indonesian travel firm Passpod.

He moved on and founded ADPList in 2021, which grew into a global town square for expert knowledge, with 20K+ mentors from companies like Netflix, Airbnb, and Google, hosting over 100 million minutes of sessions on topics such as product design, product management, and coding in 140+ countries. Today ADPList has crossed over 100 million minutes of sessions on the platform.

His is a simple three-step process to successfully moving forward: Firstly, identify a problem that you personally want to solve. Secondly, find great people whom you want to work with and can learn from, as they will excite and energize you forward. And the third step is to make a business out of it. This ethos has guided him through various endeavours, including his current role as the Co-founder & CEO of ADPList, leading him to be featured on Forbes 30 under 30 Asia List and Tatler's Generation T Future Leader List in 2023.

Felix shares that he is motivated by a lifelong passion for finding solutions that improve people's lives, a drive that started in his youth. His goal isn’t about wealth or recognition; rather he aims to play a crucial role in transforming how humanity evolves through technology, a purpose that brings him immense satisfaction and keeps him motivated.

But life wasn’t always rosy. Before the success of PackDat, Felix and his team faced many setbacks and failures. What got him through was not just having a good team in entrepreneurship but being really good at what he does and having a never-say-die mindset. He credited this to his father and grandfather and his two-years in the army. Felix shared that National Service in the army, while not physically demanding, was very regimented – “you have to say ‘Yes’ to whatever order is given to you, even though the order might not seem correct.” Felix admitted that he was quite hard-headed, and had his own set of thinking and beliefs. Despite facing isolation and frequent punishments for defying orders, he persisted and continued working on his laptop in camp, keeping a focus on the future. To get through, Felix reminded himself repeatedly that what he was going through was only a temporary phase of his life. On hindsight, he realizes that the challenging army stint played a pivotal role in toughening him and shaping the person he is today.

Here’s a wonderful quote that inspired Felix in his entrepreneurial journey – he shared that it originated from the US Navy SEALs – “You don't have to like it, you just have to do it.” This guiding quote resonates well with Felix, impressing on him the importance of facing challenges head-on, pushing through difficulties, and finding satisfaction and fulfilment in overcoming obstacles. Felix also advised budding entrepreneurs to “focus on things that that you are really passionate about and just be very, very obsessed about it. For example, if you are passionate about engineering, be the best at it…. If you already are very clear that you love this thing and this is something that makes you very excited doing it, then you should invest and commit yourself into it and be obsessed and do it right.”

On how he would sum himself up, Felix responded that he is a forward thinker, but also willing to be the hardest working person in the room. And who is his role model? Currently, there is none – “At this moment, I get inspiration from everyone, so there is no ‘one’.” Felix emphasized the importance of today’s youth having a global mindset, sharing his experiences of gaining enriching perspectives from diverse locations, like Silicon Valley and India. He encouraged students and alumni to have continuous global engagement for personal and professional enrichment. In December 2023, he will be going to Japan for work, together with the Singapore government delegates. Although not officially involved, he just wants to lend a perspective for the new generation of Singaporeans – that there are very talented people in other countries, with more resources than what Singapore has, and that Singapore can be easily replaced. Thus, he hopes that Singaporeans will understand the need for continuous global engagement to stay relevant, create job opportunities, and contribute positively to the community.

In conclusion, Felix shared that in the three years that he was in SP, and particularly in EEE, what impacted him most were the caring and approachable lecturers who not only believed in his potential to make a difference, but also provided a listening ear. He joked that the valuable engineering knowledge acquired was very beneficial in his communication with engineers, as they are mindful of the CEO’s engineering background when sharing technical ideas. Expressing his gratitude, he spontaneously agreed to support his alma mater when asked about giving back to EEE and SP – “Yeah, anytime that I will be able to support.”