{"id":25006,"date":"2021-11-01T09:00:33","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T01:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carsome.my\/news\/?p=25006"},"modified":"2021-11-02T08:31:11","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T00:31:11","slug":"carsome-cofounder-jiun-ee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carsome.my\/news\/item\/carsome-cofounder-jiun-ee","title":{"rendered":"From Idea to Academy: Carsome Co-founder & Carsome Academy Director Teoh Jiun Ee\u2019s Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carsome Co-founder and Carsome Academy Director Teoh Jiun Ee is a busy man. From handling the day-to-day affairs of the company to executing corporate strategy, Jiun Ee was focused on cash flow and profitability alongside co-founder and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Eric Cheng.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Teoh Jiun Ee, Carsome Co-founder and Director of Carsome Academy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These days, Jiun Ee, or JT as he\u2019s better known within the industry, is also spending his time as Carsome Academy Director. Carsome Academy is a human capital development center and technical institute, where graduates can attain accredited technical certifications that are recognized both internally and externally from Carsome.<\/p>\n

From Carsome\u2019s early days to becoming Malaysia\u2019s first unicorn, let\u2019s explore Jiun Ee\u2019s journey from taking a seed of an idea to establishing Carsome and its Academy.<\/p>\n

The Beginning of a Great Idea<\/b><\/h2>\n

Prior to starting Carsome, Jiun Ee worked in media and advertising. In fact, that was where he got to know Eric. From there, the ambitious duo started to talk about business ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cEric is five years older than me, but at the time he was way more successful. I was driving a Myvi, while he was already driving a Mercedes. I wanted to be like him. So that\u2019s where our partnership started.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince we were in advertising, we were engaged with many different industries. Back then, we thought about everything from tourism to technology,\u201d said Jiun Ee.<\/p>\n

The seed of the idea that would become Carsome was planted when Jiun Ee\u2019s sister faced problems buying a new car.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to go to multiple dealerships, talk to different people and further negotiate with them all to find the best price for a car. That was the biggest pain point for us, and we realized that this was a space that we could start in and disrupt the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think of Eric as one of my mentors as my story with Carsome began with him. The great thing about our partnership is that we have the same vision from the beginning. We obviously have had our highs and lows, but that is what being business partners is all about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Driving Onwards & Upwards into the Used Car Industry\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n

As can be expected from any startup, Carsome\u2019s beginnings were not easy. At first, Carsome attempted to solve the problem of price comparison by becoming a middleman. \u201cWe wanted to help the customer and the salespeople at the same time. Our approach was to not only help customers get the best price, but also to help salespeople drive traffic to their doors,\u201d said Jiun Ee.<\/p>\n

But that plan was scuppered when a major car brand told their dealers not to work with Carsome. \u201cWe were considered a brokerage by the brand, and their internal rules discouraged brokering. That was a big hit for us as most of the traffic coming into our website at the time were for that brand\u2019s sports utility vehicle (SUV). We had to rethink our whole business model,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Eric and Jiun Ee soon learned that they could pivot easily to the used car market. \u201cOne of our observations was that people trading in a used car for a new car also faced the same issues \u2013 which was how to get the best price for the used car. And this market had even less rules than the new car market. One inspector might rank a car as Grade A, while another could rank the exact same car as Grade B. Essentially, there are no rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also surprised me that inspections took only 30 minutes. We could earn more in this half hour compared to the months of waiting lists for new cars. So we decided to move our resources to the \u2018sell\u2019 part.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we expanded to Indonesia and Thailand, we took one and a half years to study the market. We also noticed that the \u2018selling\u2019 side is as critical in these markets. With a few tweaks, we duplicated the model regionally and that\u2019s where we are now. Using that idea, we built a full-fledged ecosystem for the used car market,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

From there, Carsome expanded by opening more inspection centers, hiring more inspectors and standardizing their inspection report.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also found that as the team grew, we needed to open up more positions, like supervisors and operation specialists. That\u2019s how we started to learn that we needed to hire the right people to do the right jobs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The People Factor: Carsome Academy\u2019s Inception<\/b><\/h2>\n

Though its business is primarily online, Carsome was not spared from the lockdown. Jiun Ee explained, \u201cWe wanted to scale but we could not move because of the lockdown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hence, Eric and Jiun Ee reviewed the business and found that there was still a gap in terms of people. \u201cWe were always concentrating on scaling the business, and we forgot about our basics, which is people,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we saw the business, we realized that we needed to train our people, especially the inspectors. Because when you look at it, there\u2019s actually no accreditation for motor vehicle inspectors. There\u2019s no certified program in the market for this as well. Seeing how important the inspectors are for our business, that\u2019s where the idea of Carsome Academy came about.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo other institution or company has this kind of SKM-level program. So we took this opportunity to build Carsome Academy \u2013 the course structure, the accreditation, even the center in Kelana Jaya from scratch. It was a challenge setting it up in the middle of a pandemic but we came through.<\/p>\n

\u201c2020 has been a blessing in disguise for us as we could take our time to set up the Academy properly. Although it has been a slow process at times, we are the first and so far the only company to offer such a program,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

More than Just an Academy<\/b><\/h2>\n

Carsome Academy is more than just a stepping stone to becoming a skilled technician. It also has a social impact element as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung Malaysians with only a PT3 qualification can join us for one year of training. The first three months are classroom theory, and the next nine months will be on-the-job training. They will be sent to our retail centers to learn with their mentors. After that year, they can earn an SKM Level 3 certification in motor vehicle inspection.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Carsome Academy students undergoing training<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s special is that we can place graduates immediately in Carsome, and they can draw a respectable salary. What\u2019s more, if they work with us for two years, once the third year starts we will reimburse the tuition fees back to them. In effect, it is like a free education, where all you need is commitment,\u201d said Jiun Ee.<\/p>\n

Jiun Ee also explains that the Academy also helps the Carsome brand indirectly. \u201cWith Carsome Academy, we can build the gold standard in automotive practice. We are able to shout it out loud to the Southeast Asian market that our standard is the exact standard of service you get. By being the first mover in this field, it actually benefits the Carsome brand immensely,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

But more than anything, Carsome Academy has been Jiun Ee\u2019s passion project. \u201cMy dream is actually to open a football academy, because I\u2019m crazy about football,\u201d laughed Jiun Ee. \u201cCarsome Academy is the next best thing. Right now, we probably can have 100 students per year. I\u2019m not satisfied with that. I want to do more \u2013 at least 500 students. Human development is the way forward, and I\u2019m proud to be championing that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carsome co-founder Teoh Jiun Ee\u2019s journey combines grit, ingenuity and a passion for learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":25007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nTeoh Jiun Ee: Carsome Co-founder & Carsome Academy Director<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Carsome co-founder Teoh Jiun Ee\u2019s journey combines grit, ingenuity and a passion for learning. Carsome co-founder Teoh Jiun Ee\u2019s journey combines grit, ingenuity and a passion for learning, culminating in Carsome Academy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.carsome.my\/news\/item\/carsome-cofounder-jiun-ee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Carsome Co-founder & Carsome Academy Director Teoh Jiun Ee\u2019s Journey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alongside grit and ingenuity, Carsome's Teoh Jiun Ee has translated a passion for learning into Carsome Academy. 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