Find out what it’s like going into business with your in-law

A young entrepreneur teamed up with his father-in-law to redefine home entertainment needs.

Some people might say going into business with your in-laws is a bad idea. Some experts would describe it as a step into one of the hardest working environments imaginable. In-laws, they say, are meddlesome, divisive, suspicious and interested only in entitlements. The literature also has plenty of stories of successful small businesses ruined by bringing in in-laws. But 30-year old Mervyn Augustine Loh, who came from a family that ran illustrious companies in the local high-fidelity audio and video industry, chose to ignore grounded theories on nuances of going into business with in-laws. Mervyn, together with father-in-law, Daniel Yeo, founded a go-to company for home entertainment needs named TriTone. The startup bills itself as a new professional audio company offering home theatre and music systems.

Mervyn joined his mother’s family business upon leaving the army. While concurrently doing a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing, he climbed to the position of Chief System Designer within 3 years. During his 6 years on the job, he was sent to further his technical knowledge with leading industry experts and thought leaders. He believes that while brands are important in the equation of a system, a well-designed and planned system will provide consistent, superior results, beyond the value of the product cost. He firmly believes that by sharing his passion through his company, TriTone, more consumers will appreciate the art-science of high-fidelity audio and video systems, hence appreciating movies, concerts, and music beyond face value.

Daniel Yeo, 53, spent over 30 years in the financial markets. During those years, he served the richest and most demanding clientele. He believes that although TriTone’s products and expertise are completely different from what he used to do, the level of service, honesty and trust are exactly the same when building a brand.

Mervyn left his job to focus on starting the business, and pitched the idea to Daniel. Combining their experiences, Mervyn and Daniel claim that they found a value proposition neither offered in the industry, nor accessible to the growing market of music enthusiasts in Singapore. “We crunched numbers, considered various possible business models, and once we had chosen what we felt made most sense, fulfilled and created market needs, we started building the business.”

Mervyn left a stable job when his wife was 7 months pregnant with their first child to start up Tritone, as he knew that a new business needed total commitment in order to become successful. He had also just collected the keys to his new home when he decided to start his own company.

“Providing a roof over your family’s head, and ensuring that there’s food on the table - that the baby and wife have everything they need - all while launching a new business, is tough. These things make you focus, you really have to be focused. I knew it was going to be a challenge, and indeed it was – but that’s the point,” he says.

Fine-tuning TriTone

Mervyn explains that TriTone merges three important approaches together - the technical knowledge and know-how, the relationship and service, and some of the best loudspeaker and components available in the industry. Substantively, the three approaches, he says, are used by TriTone to provide the ‘very best experience’ possible.

“The company’s unique bespoke approach redefines how one enjoys movies, concerts, and music in their own home by involving expert consultation through listening sensitivity tests, sophisticated selection of products and holistic consideration of the surround sound experience,” says Mervyn.

According to Mervyn, they ‘meticulously’ calculate and put together each and every home entertainment or audiophile system, tailor-made to suit households or the individual listener perfectly by employing scientific methods such as taking into account the individual’s listening preferences and sensitivities for bass, mid, and high frequencies.

“Our approach allows the performance of our systems to be consistent in a large variety of acoustic settings,’ he notes.

On top of the audio and video system designs, acoustic management and isolation, TriTone also provides customizable control systems that integrate lighting controls, curtain controls, and other “smart home” facilities in a single remote interface that sit on the Wi-Fi network.

Currently, TriTone has $300,000 total funding at hand. The company aims to educate consumers about how to appreciate products fully in this industry, and reach out to the new generation. According to Mervyn, they are also trying to be more active on social media to reach out to more consumers; the world can be made to seem conveniently small with the Internet. He adds that they are also exploring opportunities overseas to expand this business model where there are bigger markets in this niche industry.
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COMPANY PROFILE

Company Name: TriTone
Founders: Mervyn Augustine Loh and Daniel Yeo
Website: https://www.tritoneav.com/
Total funding at hand: SGD300,000
Source of Funding: Internal Funding
Start of Operations: August 2014

For startups wanting to be featured, send your message to Lee Anne Babierra at research@charltonmediamail.com