Ask a five-year-old about his dream career and the answers tend to be fairly predictable — policeman, fireman, pilot or doctor for example.
Anthony Tan knew he wanted to be a businessman ever since he was a toddler, but his worried parents wondered whether he had any future plans because he didn't start speaking until he was five years old.
"I just got confused because there were so many languages," he says, referring to a typical Malaysian family where one might hear Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay or English all in one conversation.
Unfortunately, he was perceived as "slow", to the consternation of his parents. "My parents thought I was like … not smart. They thought I was mentally disadvantaged," he said.
But once he started to speak, he remembered talking nonstop. "Then they asked me what I wanted to be. I said I wanted to be like my dad, a businessman."
Mr Tan was born into a wealthy family carrying on the legacy of his grandfather, who founded Tan Chong Motor Holdings. Listed on Bursa Malaysia and now run by Anthony's father Tan Heng Chew, it is engaged in automobile sales, assembly and distribution and is the sole local distributor for Nissan.
Young Anthony could have chosen to continue with the family business and relish the well-established reputation of the Tan Chong empire, but his childhood passion remained strong, convincing him to fearlessly set off on his own course.
Now 33, he has achieved success as well as regional fame as the founder and group CEO of GrabTaxi, Southeast Asia's most widely used taxi-hailing mobile application (known as MyTeksi in its birthplace Malaysia and in Indonesia).
Established in 2012, the company has become one of the most successful startups in the region with current operations in six countries and more than 20 cities. GrabTaxi leads its field, having driven off direct rival EasyTaxi as it continues to expand and diversify its services.
GrabTaxi has also managed to stay a few steps ahead of Uber, the US company that originated the taxi-app concept. Uber has struggled to gain a foothold in some markets, where both regulators and taxi operators have taken a dim view of its methods.
TOUGH LOVE
The success of GrabTaxi in just three years might sound effortless, but the journey hasn't been as smooth as it seems.
In a typical Chinese family, the children are expected to take over the family operation. Mr Tan admits that loosening the psychological bonds was difficult, even painful.
"I chose not to work with my grandfather, and potentially that meant that my father could just write me off," he told Asia Focus.
"My dad wasn't happy at all and he made it very clear that I was out. No support. He is very tough love — more tough than love. He was very clear that if you leave, you leave."
Fortunately, his two brothers are still helping out with the family business and he has no tangible obligations such as owing tuition fees to his parents because most of his education was financed by scholarships.
"I wasn't very dependent on my parents, but still the filial obligations are always there," he said. "The feeling that you want to repay, or that they care — it's a very Chinese, Confucian thing."
Over time, Mr Tan has also proved to his family that being smart isn't the only key to success. Hard work and entrepreneurial passion were the main factors that motivated him to graduate from Harvard Business School, and to start GrabTaxi.
His college career began at the University of Chicago, where he took a bachelor's degree in economics focusing on econometrics, philosophy and public policy.
"Now [my parents] always see me as someone who is driven to work hard to show to family that I can get straight As, for instance. It was not because I copy people or am smart, but I just work very hard," he said.
Even his father's tough love, it seems, is now viewed in a positive way by his son. Mr Tan never forgets to say thank you and that he appreciates everything his father has done to ensure happiness for the family.
"He saw his job as the head of the family, and the family means the extended family, so he must make money to help the family whatever it takes," Mr Tan said.
"I learned that from him, the sense of self-sacrifice. Not for yourself — you don't care about yourself. You care about doing something for the family and he has always put the family as the priority.
"Another thing I really appreciate about my father is that I never knew I was wealthy when I was young. He always taught us to be extremely hungry and to do something that is beyond yourself."
Mr Tan feels proud of having no family involvement in the operation of GrabTaxi and that he could become a businessman by his own effort. But carrying a burden of reputation and the success story of the family business in the background sometimes gets in the way of his aspiration to set himself apart.
He sees the family business as both a privilege and disadvantage. It's a privilege because growing up in that environment helped expose him to a larger business community. It has also helped him to understand how to do business and how to manage people with differing cultural values.
However, he also sees a downside. "The bad thing is that I have been living under the shadow of my grandfather's name. It's a bit like Central and the Chirathivat family in Thailand. It's a very big name. When the name is very big, for you as the third generation, the weight of reputation can sometimes be quite a burden.
"You naturally feel like you need to prove yourself outside [the family] because you are someone's grandson, Tan Chong's grandson … never me as Anthony Tan."
HAPPENING IN HARVARD
For the man now known to many people across the region as "Anthony of GrabTaxi", it's fair to say that he is now standing firmly on his own two feet. For his success, Mr Tan gives all the credit to Harvard.
Going to Harvard was the turning point, he said, because it shifted his mindset.
"If I didn't go to Harvard, I think I wouldn't have started Grab," he said. "Because I didn't think of the problems of society. I sort of accepted the problems of society, my problem was just helping the family [business] grow. But now, I feel my goal is not about how big a family grows, but it's about how fast society solves real problems, public transport problems for example."
The fact that he settled on a transport-related business perhaps was not entirely a coincidence. His great-grandfather was a taxi driver and his grandfather started the Japanese automotive industry in Malaysia.
His Harvard friends knew his background, and after one of them visited Malaysia, he complained to Mr Tan about the poor taxi system in his country: "What's wrong with your taxi system? Do something about it."
Mr Tan recalls his reaction at that moment in a light-hearted way. "I didn't think it would be this great, so I was like ... okay fair enough. Here's a fella who's eating my food, staying in my house and then putting all these problems in my head."
However, he took the observation as a meaningful complaint and drew up a business plan to revamp the Malaysian taxi industry. It won second prize in Harvard's Business Plan Contest in 2011. After graduation, Mr Tan came home and briefly joined his family before setting out to put his plan into action. It was not an easy beginning.
"My first beginning was in a drivers' room with no air-con. No internet. I had to use the phone for data. Nobody wanted to work with us," he said.
"We were so poor. We had no money. I didn't take one cent from my father. I used my own money and some that my mother gave me. We borrowed from a bank, on a personal guarantee."
However, he stuck with his idea at the urging of a venture capital subsidiary of Temasek Holdings. His mother also encouraged him to be adventurous in the business world.
"The venture capital firm said 'If you want us to invest, you must go into this full-time, no more part time,' " he explained.
"And my mother, she said, 'For once you're doing something on your own. You don't have to live in the shadow of the family anymore. Try it and do it.' "
ASEAN ONLY
As it celebrates its third birthday this month, GrabTaxi is strengthening its presence in Southeast Asia by expanding into services including GrabCar, GrabVan, and GrabDeliveries. Though the business is maturing in Asean, the CEO says he has never thought of going outside the region.
"Just Southeast Asia is very important to us. We're just really making sure we are number one, and making sure that our customers are happy all the time," he said.
"The [GrabTaxi] system is very Southeast Asian. It solves most of the same problems such as safety issues, drivers who don't want to use the meter, or even drivers rejecting customers. These are very common, similar problems to Southeast Asia."
Creating a better livelihood for taxi drivers is another cornerstone of GrabTaxi because drivers have the opportunity to earn more.
Mr Tan declined to disclose the company's valuation, but said it had raised a lot of money and was one of the most valuable tech companies in Asean.
Besides Temasek, which invested through Vertex Venture Holdings Ltd, GrabTaxi attracted tens of millions of dollars from California-based GGV Capital, which has backed companies such as Alibaba and Flipboard. As well, it received US$250 million last December from Softbank Corp of Japan
Based on the funding it has attracted to date, analysts estimate GrabTaxi to be worth between $750 million and $1.25 billion.
A strong believer in Asean, Mr Tan said the region would continue to draw closer together despite some differences, with all countries agreeing to help each other.
"Regionalism is not about fighting each other, it needs to be about competing for global capital," he said, adding that global capital was now looking at Southeast Asia as a single investment destination, similar to the way investors view China and India.
"Southeast Asia needs to come up with its own champions like Siam Cement in cement, or AirAsia as the low-cost airline for the whole region," said Mr Tan.
"Southeast Asia hasn't come up with an internet champion yet. So we need to make sure that, for Southeast Asia and for the future of all startups, they must think about how to become a Southeast Asian champion. Every industry — whether it's banking, telecoms, hospitals, internet — there will be a regional champion.
"I don't think there is an app that was built by Asean, for Asean people to solve Asean problems. We are for sure the first."
NEXT CHAPTER
During the middle of the interview in his hotel room, there was a knock on the door. His fiancée Chloe Tong showed up wearing a white robe after a swim. "Sorry," she said softly as she headed to the bed and grabbed a laptop with a GrabTaxi sticker.
Marriage is Mr Tan's next goal. The couple got engaged the week before coming to Jakarta for the World Economic Forum East Asia conference, where this interview took place, and their wedding is coming very soon.
"I think he's a very honourable guy. He's extremely value-driven and I think that's probably his biggest strength," said Ms Tong. "I don't think he takes any shortcuts in work. It's not by luck. It's a lot of faith and he works really hard."
Mr Tan's daily routine is simple. He works out at a gym, prays (he is a devout Christian), and works on his e-mail. He says he turns down almost 95% of invitations and most media interviews because his schedule is already quite occupied.
"My life is in a bit of a state of flux, constantly growing. Now the battle is really focusing on how to make sure that customers have only good experiences," he said.
The only way to make time to be with his loved one is to bring her along when he comes to work abroad. Even the day after their wedding, Mr Tan is scheduled to attend a conference in Hong Kong as a keynote speaker.
So that will be the honeymoon? "No," Ms Tong replied with a hopeful smile. "Maybe two years later?"
"Maybe more than that," said the groom-to-be. And they both laughed.