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Chen Kunjing talks about his initial experiences and challenges of trying to set up a business, which was then followed by eventual success with his software, The Super Table.

Kunji Chen, founder of The Super Table
"I am Chen, founder of The Super Table. I tried twice to start a business, but failed due to issues with IT contracts. In the past, I used to research software production related to mobile internet. So after the failures, I decided to go back to something related to software production. Finally, I turned to management software. I haven’t left since.

The Super Table is a software. For example, traditional enterprises would like to put together a table of tasks or aims, and then share it with everyone. The team leader would pick fifty items and send them along to the boss. After everyone contributes to the table it will get emailed back to the team leader. This is not very effective because it can take over two weeks. But The Super Table shares one chain with the entire team, instead of the traditional mode of data traffic. It can help the table get completed quicker. And finally, you can share the link with your boss with one click of the mouse. This can raise the efficiency of data flow.

I've been involved with SAAS (Software at a Service) since 2008. SAAS represents any software that can be considered a service.

I was very poor when I started a business the second time. I borrowed 10,000 yuan from my brother. That is the last time I borrowed money from someone. After I paid my credit card bills and the employees' wages, I only had 1,000 Yuan left. It had to last me until the next month. But what do you do if you don't have enough for the next month? I was in Shanghai, and it was my toughest phase. I had to budget my life strictly. Even paying 10 yuan a day for food was a scary prospect. I always ate something cheap, like noodles. I also rented the cheapest apartment. It was a 6 square metre space. I lived in Shanghai like that for nearly 8 months.

Thanks to my experience with technology, I can start any project as soon as I want. I can write the programs and plan the marketing strategies using a professional point of view. I do it by myself first. Then I invite the experts in technology, marketing, operations, as well as administration. This is a sort of technological startup business.

We have implemented the principle of minimalism. That meas we finish production using simple methods. We always follow that principle. So minimalism told us that addition is easier than subtraction. It is a simple fact. You need to satisfy the needs of your customers. The volume of information flow to operate the function would slow down the overall speed of the software. Since we produce everything for a cloud system, the more functions, the slower the speed. So we use the principle of minimalism. The strategy helps us produce something with the least possible system load.