Tangent incubates unconventional young entrepreneurs in Singapore.
Tangent is for young entrepreneurs who want to go off the conventional path to build something on their own terms.
What you want to build could be a business, a not-for-profit, a social enterprise, or something else — as long as it’s your version of something that makes you a good living.
You might already know exactly what you want to build. Or you might just know you want to build something.
Either way, we want to hear from you.
Tangent is a 24-month incubator …
You’ll get up to $200,000 over two years to develop an idea and bring it to market. The incubator begins with a 4-week programme where you get to know us and we get to know you.
These first four weeks are for trying things out. You’ll get a $1000 stipend plus access to AI tools and human guides. Work on your idea if you already have a clear idea of what you want to build. If not, use these four weeks to figure out what idea you want to work on. There are no mandatory courses, no required assignments. Cohorts will run throughout the year. At the end of four weeks, show us what you did and, if you want to, pitch to continue into the full 24-month programme.
The rest of this page tells you everything you need to know to apply.
For those who feel stifled by convention.
If you keep coming back to an idea you haven't had time to properly try — or you know you want to build something, you just haven't landed on what yet — you know the feeling. Most programmes want a polished pitch. They're for people who already look like conventional founders.
What if you have the drive but not yet the direction? Or the direction but not yet the confidence? Or the idea but no space to test it?
Tangent might be for you.
Unconventional entrepreneurs.
We use “unconventional” a lot; it doesn't mean we're looking for people with bad grades.
The right person for Tangent might have excellent grades, average grades, or no grades. Convention uses grades and academics as a filter; Tangent doesn’t.
Tangent uses a simpler filter: Do you want to build something, on your own terms, that could eventually pay for itself and make you a good living?
We think of entrepreneurship very broadly. For us, entrepreneurship means creating something that generates its own value, however you choose to define value. It can be a business, a not-for-profit, a social enterprise, a product, a service, a practice in any field. If you're trying to build something real that can eventually sustain you, that's entrepreneurship. We’re open to entrepreneurship in any sector and any format.
Unconventional means standard metrics aren’t the full story.
The first four weeks.
Pick something you want to build — or use the four weeks to figure out what that is. Work on it. Show what you did at the end.
No curriculum. No assignments. No one telling you your idea isn't viable. You define the work. You do it.
What you get:
$1,000 stipend for the four weeks
Access to AI tools and support in using them wisely
Human guides, available when you want them — we’ll be there to help you decide what to do, not tell you what to do
Control over how you spend your time
At the end of four weeks, show us what you did. If you want to, you can pitch to continue the 24-month incubator. But your commitment to us ends at the end of the four weeks. No strings attached and no obligation to continue. If something comes of it, great. If not, you spent four weeks working seriously on something you cared about. We can’t see the downside.
We’ll run 4-week programme cohorts a few times each year. Join us during your school holidays, after ORD, whenever you have a month free. If you want to join with friends, groups can apply together.
We figure this out together.
Tangent is privately funded so we don’t report to a government ministry and aren’t bound by strict KPIs. There’s no committee running Tangent with a pre-defined idea of what “success” looks like.
We’re trying to find out what happens when unconventional people get a real chance to go off the conventional path, so we can admit to not having all the answers yet. We have a feeling for who we're looking for and what we want to give them. We don't know what will come of it. The programme will keep learning and changing as it goes.
If you join an early cohort, you'll help shape what Tangent becomes — this is a feature, not a bug.
To try Tangent ...
Just write us a short email and tell us what you want to work on. Or tell us that you want to build something and you're still working out what. Either is a fine place to start.
For now, there’s no formal application form. No expected word count, no polish needed. Just send us a quick, short email.
Age range: 18–21 for women and men without NS obligations; 18–22 for men with NS obligations.
Know someone who should be in Tangent?
You probably know someone who is capable and motivated in unconventional ways. They think sideways. They have an idea they can’t stop talking about. They’re quietly building something without anyone asking them to.
We want to meet them.
Send us a note. Tell us who they are, what they care about, why you thought of them, and how we can reach them. The more you can tell us, the better.
Want to help out?
We’d love for you to be a Tangent guide. All we ask for is a two-hour commitment to being present in the programme space during each 4-week cohort, available if participants want to talk to you.
There is no formal agenda, and no assigned advisees. You show up; they approach you if they want to. That's all we ask, but we hope you’ll want to do more.
Email us if you’re interested so we can find out more about you and get you set up.