A consummate entrepreneur, Sim Wong Hoo never U-turned from Creative

I WAS in school when I first encountered the Sound Blaster. I didn’t know what a sound card was at the time, but my friends who were savvier about computers seemed to think they were getting a good deal at the roadshow that had come to school.

The demonstrations with the computer chess pieces that could speak in audible human voices were literally game-changing. All I’d heard from my computer until then were monotones crudely strung together to imitate real-world sounds, as if aural impressionism were a thing.

It’s hard to explain to younger colleagues today how revolutionary and ubiquitous the Sound Blaster was in its heyday; how inspiring it was that a Singaporean named Sim Wong Hoo was behind it; and how impressive it was that Sim’s company, Creative Technology , became the first Nasdaq-listed Singapore company.