He was a student volunteer in the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition’s inaugural edition in 2002, then a judge, and now a potential AI partner. SMU alumnus David Isaac Mathews (BBM 2004) reflects on the growth of the competition and his lifelong affiliation with SMU.
Not many people know that the Lee Kuan Yew Business Plan Competition (LKYGBPC) was an event that was far ahead of its time – the inaugural edition of what was one of the world’s first startup challenges for young founders was held in 2002.
But David Isaac Mathews (BBM 2004) does. The management consultant - who has founded an AI company called AIPath that simulates customer interactions with products - was a student volunteer then.
“As part of the pioneer batch of students in the Singapore Management University (SMU), we were doing as many things as we could. I was hungry to learn all that I could about business. The competition was a valuable opportunity to do so, and when Mahesh Primalani (BBM 2004), student body president, said there was a vacancy open, I went for it” said David, who was part of SMU’s very first batch of business management graduates.
A Groundbreaking 1st Edition
On the 2002 experience, he recalled, “Helping to organise the inaugural edition of the competition was fast and furious! It was a guerilla experience, with no SOPs. We were just getting everything together and operating like a startup.
“As I was taking care of the judges, I remember even having to pick up the head judge from the airport, picking them up from the airport in my own car due to the rush. I also moderated the “hot house sessions” which were like panel discussions but very interactive with the audience,” said David, who was happy to manage this, leveraging his national-level debating experience in his time at St Andrew’s Junior College.
The finals of the LKYGBPC inaugural edition was held on Saturday, 15 June 2002 at the Shangri-La Hotel. It was won by an American startup firm specialising in providing three-dimensional atomic-scale imaging and analysis to nanotechnology industries.
David reflects on how groundbreaking the event was both in Singapore and globally, and how early it was for a global startup event.
For one, the dotcom bubble had just burst in 2000. He said, “The concept of startups was not as exciting at the time and the idea of a global business plan competition with such a grand prize and international scope was unique. We were totally ahead of the curve.”
For another, the competition was organised by a two-year-old university, without a huge network or alumni to support the event.
It took courage for SMU to create something with such lasting power and continually relevant, and that has continued to grow. In this case, I think luck and vision both came together, with such wholehearted support from the university leadership to stay the course and maintain deep commitment for long enough to create such an international brand around the competition.
Lifelong Affinity with SMU
The LKYGBPC experience is just one of many precious memories he has of being part of SMU’s pioneer batch – one where the spirit of adventure and laying the university’s foundation drove him and his friends to try everything with a huge grin. Founded in 2000, SMU celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025.
*David when he graduated from SMU in 2004
“The DNA of the pioneer batch was such that we were keen to take on anything that came our way. Everyone was so broadly capable and willing to roll up their sleeves. It was a very sporting cohort,” said David, who proudly shares that the SMU groundbreaking event on 29 July 1999 took place on his birthday.
That pioneering experience has been so instrumental, David has continued to stay close to SMU, LKYGBPC, and the SMU Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) which organises the competition and champions startups.
*One of the first SMU IIE events David was involved in back in 2015 – a New Business Building Workshop
He sat as an advisor to the Lien Center for Social Innovation in its early years and is a donor to SMU’s Alumni Infinity Fund – which provides bursaries to needy SMU students.
With regard to LKYGBPC, following his volunteer experience, he returned with the expertise to serve as a judge in several editions of the competition.
What he brought to the table was experience as a product management and innovation lead, as Chief Growth Officer at a public-listed company, and ASEAN Innovation lead at EY Parthenon with a track record of building successful ventures and leading transformative projects with MNCs, startups and for projects with governments.
Evolution of the Competition
As someone who was first a volunteer and then a judge, he has seen the competition grow over the years.
The quality of entrants has grown significantly. It is also amazing how awareness of the competition in many great global universities has grown by leaps and bounds. It is a really significant achievement for the competition to be on the global radar.
Just in the last eight years, participation from overseas universities in the competition surged from 310 in 2017 to 1,100 in 2023.
He also relished mentoring several batches of startups participating in SMU’s startup accelerator, the Business Innovations Generator, Lean Launchpad, Summer Entrepreneur Internship (SEI) and Summer Venture Awards (SVA), programmes managed by IIE.
Looking ahead, he is preparing to dive even deeper into giving back in the 2025 edition of the competition.
His startup AIPath, showcasing at the SMU Patrons Day 2025, is growing 500 percent month-on-month with over half of its clients from startup mecca Palo Alto, California. It utilises advanced AI for giving super powers to product and GTM teams with product strategy, customer journey mapping, and A/B testing to validate product-market fit options and drive growth.
This AI tool could potentially be used to sharpen the evaluation process for startups applying for the competition. He may also return as a mentor.
David said, “My startup is all about helping teams run the world class strategy process I ran for global MNC’s while lowering the cost of world call product research. At the end of the day, just as SMU was a startup, I have come full circle to teaching, giving back, and helping startups to connect to the innovation and entrepreneurship tribe.”
