[quote style=”boxed”]There are so many ideas. The most important thing is to just get your idea out that and have the market decide it’s value. If it’s good. Go and build it.[/quote]
Erik Posthuma is a managing partner at Antics, a digital creative agency with operations across South East Asia. Antics works with brands to build shareable and remarkable experiences, bringing those brands closer to their consumers via digital tools. Antics works with HSBC, Adidas and BMW, among others. With a background in customer experience strategy, Erik helps brands and consumers interact with each other through static, interactive and human touch points, with a focus on the intersection of online and offline.
Erik Posthuma currently lives in Singapore.
What are you working on right now?
I lead the Singapore office for Antics. I help brands connect with consumers by building a comprehensive digital strategy. In between, the folks at Antics also love to work on internal projects, which is where Be Disloyal came from. Be Disloyal is a program in which you can go to certain cafés to enjoy your favorite coffee, receive the disloyalty card and try out 7 other cafés. Once the card is full, you can go back and claim a free coffee from your starting café.
Besides that, we also work on Stylekandi.com.
Where did the idea for Be Disloyal come from?
I was talking with Luke Norman, who writes the blog cortadito.sg, about the coffee culture in Singapore and how it could use some help growing and becoming mainstream among Singaporeans. We heard about the concept of a disloyalty card, created by Gwylimn Davis in London. We got in touch with him and he was excited to see this happen in Singapore, so we took it as a base for what we’re doing now.
What does your typical day look like?
This is a cliche answer, but I don’t have a typical day. I usually wake up around 7:30 AM and spend 30 minutes on email and going over my schedule for the day. I watch Dutch news while getting ready for work and arrive in the office at around 9:00 AM. After a quick morning meeting with my Singapore and Kuala Lumpur colleagues, the rest of the day is filled with meetings and presentations. I try to make sure that I never eat lunch alone and close the day with a casual stay in touch meeting over a beer.
How do you bring ideas to life?
At my previous job at AQ Services, I was introduced to the Rockefeller Habits by Verne Harnish. It’s all about rhythm, clear goals (rocks) and having information at your fingertips. If you want an idea to happen, it takes consistent chipping away at your goals. It’s that simple.
What’s one trend that really excites you?
Besides LoSoMo (location, social, mobile), one trend that really excites me is the increase in social business, the force of social media permeating into businesses. In the coming decade, we’re going to see companies moving from structure to governance in order to respond to the rapidly changing consumer environment.
What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?
I once worked in a Michelin star restaurant in one of the nicest hotels in Paris. Long hours, poor understanding of the language and a fast-paced, high-action, high stress work environment made it one of my more difficult jobs. With pans flying around a hot kitchen, freezing freezers and incredibly demanding patrons, I learned how to keep my cool under pressure, constant change and ambiguity.
If you were to start again, what would you do differently?
I would pay closer attention to all of my personal and business contacts. In my effort to constantly move forward, I often forgot to build long-term relationships. These days, I try to do things differently.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
Build a routine whenever you can. As an entrepreneur, you are constantly facing change. Having a regular routine gives you the liberty to do even bolder things outside of it.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
There are so many ideas. The most important thing is to just get your idea out there and have the market decide its value. If it’s good, go and build it.
Tell us a secret.
Keep on shipping.
What are your three favorite online tools and what do you love about them?
- I use Google for everything: contacts, mail and calendar. I love that I can synch it with everything.
- 37 Signals, Highrise and Basecamp are amazingly simple and easy to get new colleagues to use.
- Grooveshark is a tool I can not live without.
- Picnik is an amazingly simple photo enhancer/editor my girlfriend introduced me to. Although I don’t use often, it’s great to see how she is able to transform the most mundane pictures.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
I can’t list just one. My top 3 are:
- Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder
- The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steven Gary Blank
- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
What’s on your playlist?
My girlfriend has better taste in music than I do, so I listen to her playlist.
If you weren’t working on Antics, what would you be doing?
I’d be working on another entrepreneurial venture, trying to make life better.
Three people we should follow on Twitter and why?
- @britopian: Michael Brito works at Edelman and is truly a champion of social business.
- @thomascrampton: Also a thought leader on social in Asia.
- @_antics: A small shameless plug won’t hurt, right? It’s great for news about digital media in South East Asia.
When was the last time you laughed out loud? What caused it?
I have an offbeat sense of humor so no answer would make sense. One of the last funny situations was in Berlin when my girlfriend and I randomly met some street performers who took us to the smallest, darkest hole in the wall bar. We ended up having a great evening with contortionists, fire breathers, etc. I’ll let you fill in the gaps.
Who is your hero?
I surround myself with people who I believe are heroes in their own way. Surround yourself with giants I say!
Do you have any pets?
Yes, my girlfriend and I have a cat. His name is San Deska.
Connect:
Antics on Twitter – @_antics
Antics Website –
Erik Posthuma on Twitter: @erikposthuma
Erik Posthuma on LinkedIn:
Blog: www.experienceengineer.com
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.