He grew up as the youngest of three sons in one of Malaysia's wealthiest families. His father, Tan Heng Chew, is the president of Tan Chong Motor, a multinational automobile distributor founded by Tan's grandfather in the 1950s, that's publicly listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.
They went on to draft up a business plan, which was submitted into a startup contest at the university. They won first runner up and took home a $25,000 prize, which was used as seed money for what would become Grab.It was very intense... I was probably doing 15, 18, sometimes 20 hours a day, and it was a Monday to Sunday thing.Growing up working in the family business, Tan was expected to return from his studies and go back to working for the company.
The original office was in a small room in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — a part of the world notorious for having hot and humid weather year-round. The office lacked ventilation, air conditioning and even WiFi. "We had to tether from our mobile phones," said Tan. "In Manila, I remember going to meet taxi fleets, because they always change shifts at about four in the morning... and then time with them cheap beer, understand their pains, their problems, why they need more income," said Tan.