The Power of Scarcity in Entrepreneurship

Scarcity is frustrating. It stops you from executing your dreams, expanding your business, and moving forward. Not having money, people, skills, or access can feel like an endless roadblock.

Mar 16, 2025

👋 Hola! Welcome to Out of Singapore. This is Shan and I am building Xandro Lab, a longevity science brand. In this weekly newsletter, I share my raw, unfiltered experiences of building businesses, navigating challenges, and testing marketing and business strategies.

Back in 2021, I made a life-altering decision: I chose not to return to corporate life and instead pursued entrepreneurship. The idea was to "control my own destiny." Ironically, that destiny has been shaped largely by scarcity—of resources, funding, network, skills, and even knowledge. To top it off, I was building in a new city, a new country, and a new market. Every constraint multiplied.

a cartoon of a dog wearing headphones and holding a red heart

But here’s what I’ve learned: scarcity isn’t just an obstacle—it’s a filter. It forces you to make sharper decisions, cut out waste, and focus only on what truly matters.

The Scarcity Mindset in Entrepreneurship

Scarcity is frustrating. It stops you from executing grand ideas, scaling your business, or hiring the team you wish you had. Not having enough money, people, or access can make growth feel impossible.

This is me, every other day.

“I want to launch a new product, but I don’t have the money and resources.”
“I want to hire top talent, but I can’t afford them.”
“I want high production quality creatives, but I can’t make them.”
“I want to expand into new markets, but I don’t have the network, resources and money.”

Yet, despite limitations, great businesses are built from a place of scarcity. Today, in this blogpost, I’ll share:

When scarcity stalled my projects
Costly mistakes I have avoided
How scarcity forces smarter decision-making
Scarcity builds stronger businesses

Let’s get started.

#1 When Scarcity Stalled My Projects

Some of my most promising projects have been delayed or shut down due to scarcity. Here’s what happened:

🚧 Zaloom – My First Startup

I launched Zaloom, a B2B marketplace for agri-produce sourcing, aiming to connect verified suppliers with global buyers. But I underestimated the dependencies:

Investment: Needed funding but couldn’t secure it.
Industry Connections: Needed key partnerships but lacked them.
Cash Flow: Needed working capital but had no reserves.
Co-founders: Needed strong partners but didn’t find the right fit.

➡ Lesson: Ambition has to align with available resources. Without it, progress turns into a chain of dependencies that are difficult to sustain. Looking back, instead of trying to build a marketplace, I could have started as a trading company and scaled from there.

🚧 Teenage Skincare Brand

We entered the teenage skincare market with high hopes, expecting quick profitability. To lower costs, we planned to:
✔ Run operations from a different country
✔ Target markets outside of Singapore

Then, cash flow problems hit. Suddenly, we were dealing with:

A new operating team (adjusting to the business)
A new market (with a different consumer base)
An uncertain marketing budget (cutting visibility)

➡ Lesson: When scarcity hits, reassess priorities. The right move was to conserve cash, buy time, and focus on core businesses. We dropped the project before it drained resources.

🚧 New Market Expansion for Xandro

For Xandro, I was exploring expansion into Australia, the US, the UK, China, and Hong Kong. The website and products were ready, but I underestimated two major costs:

Demand generation – Acquiring new customers is expensive.
Initial setup costs – Regulatory, logistics, and operational expenses add up fast.

At the same time, I saw how cash-hungry the Singapore market became and knew that premature expansion could collapse the core business.

➡ Lesson: Expansion should only happen when the home market is stable and unit economics work. Scarcity kept me from making a reckless bet.

#2 Mistakes I Avoided Because of Scarcity

Scarcity often gets a bad reputation, but in reality, abundance can be more dangerous. Excess money leads to mindless spending and vanity projects that don’t move the needle.

Here are a few costly mistakes I avoided thanks to scarcity:

🚫 Expensive Agencies

Businesses often assume high-end agencies = guaranteed results. Reality? They overpromise, underdeliver, and drain cash while requiring more handholding than they admit.

💡 Every time I speak to an agency, their rate cards and deliverables shock me. Would you be interested in a deep dive into the agency model & its inefficiencies? Let me know.

🚫 Expensive PR

I’ve seen PR agencies charge huge retainers, but the reality is:
✔ Awards are pay-to-play. If you don’t pay, you don’t get recognized.
✔ PR doesn’t guarantee sales. Media mentions don’t always drive revenue.
✔ Social media dominance > Traditional PR. A well-built online presence is often more valuable.

💡 Instead of PR agencies, I now use CPC-based PR platforms like Linkby that provide performance-driven exposure.

🚫 Expensive Talent

I’ve tried hiring "experienced" and "strong" talent, expecting them to take ownership. The reality?
❌ High cost, low output.
❌ Stuck in their old ways.
❌ Slow execution, little accountability.

💡 Lesson learned: Malleability > Experience. Now, I prioritize adaptable, fast-moving talent over big names.

🚫 Expensive Marketing Channels

TV ads, MRT installations, Singapore Marathon sponsorships—all seemed tempting. But when I saw the actual cost vs. ROI, it was laughable.

💡 What works better? Livestreams, targeted sale ads, and small community events.

There are many more everyday initiatives I had to stop due to scarcity. I have renegotiated contracts, and aligned payment delays due to scarcity. Interestingly we used to pay creators to make videos. When we were hit by financial crunch and stopped offering compensation, creators did not stop making videos.

#3 Scarcity Forces Smarter Decision-Making

Rather than seeing scarcity as a roadblock, I started using it as a decision-making. Every constraint forced me to ask deeper questions:

No cash to pay bills? → Is my pricing strategy wrong? Did I miscalculate margins? Am I tracking cash flow properly? Have all the partners paid on time?
Is this right thing to do? → Am I being impatient? Do I have the right partners and market conditions? If I implement this new project, will it change the business significantly? If I don’t do this, will I continue doing well?
Is this the right approach? → Can I launch on a smaller scale first? Can I test the idea with minimal investment? Is it really urgent? Can this wait?

These questions prevented me from making reckless financial moves and helped me find alternative ways to prove ideas before fully committing.

#4 Upside of Scarcity: Sustainable Business

Scarcity isn’t a handicap—it’s a discipline. Here’s why:

✅ It prevents waste – Forces smart allocation of resources.
✅ It drives creativity – You innovate when you can’t just throw money at problems.
✅ It builds resilience – Scarcity toughens businesses to survive downturns.

Would I love unlimited funding? Of course. But looking back, scarcity wasn’t my enemy—it was my greatest teacher. It refined my strategies, strengthened my decision-making, and helped me build with intention.

Final Thoughts: Embracing Scarcity Instead of Fearing It

Scarcity isn’t a reason to quit—it’s a reason to think smarter.

Use it as:
✔ A filter to cut waste
✔ A guide to validate ideas
✔ A forcing function to drive sustainable growth

Out of Singapore, into the world—one learning at a time.

🔹 Enjoyed this? Hit reply & share your thoughts. Don’t forget to like 😉
🔹 Should I do a deep dive on agencies & PR? Let me know!

You must have noticed that I am trying a new style. I have tried to make the language sharper and easy to understand for wider population using ChatGPT. I have avoided ChatGPT till now to prevent dilution of my personal style. However, I realised that my writing style was tad difficult for someone new to understand and get used to it. Let me know your thoughts on this new style.

Is it clearer?
Is it personal enough?
Is it fast to read?
Does it deliver value?

Kim Soo-Hyun Scandal

There is something massive happening in Korea. This guy allegedly dated an underage girl who recently committed suicide (please pardon me for such simplistic take - this blogpost is not in journalistic or entertainment domain). You can read more details on Korea Times. Right now the famous actor is held accountable in public by media and people. Instead of courts, the evidences are being shared online for a public judgement. Quite cruel, but courts can be quite helpless as well, especially when a famous and rich person is involved.

I am a K-Drama junkie and the two best dramas I have seen has Kim Soo-hyun as the lead. Both of these are not conventional romance - in one case there is cheating involved and in another case, huh - complicated bcos the girl is 39 and from upper class while the guy has no parents and is 30 (I believe).