My cofounder and I were rivals at hackathons. At 21, I've put college on hold to build a startup with him.

Raymond Loong Ng put his college plans on hold to build a startup in San Francisco.

Provided by Raymond Loong Ng.

At 21, Raymond Loong Ng put college on hold after his startup raised $250,000 from VC firm Afore Capital.

He and his cofounder spent two months in a program in San Francisco, working on their startup.

A subsequent investment brought their total funding to $1 million, and they're now back in Singapore awaiting O-1 visas.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Raymond Loong Ng, 21, the cofounder of Makeable, a San Francisco-based startup.

It's been edited for length and clarity.

I was born in Vietnam and moved to Singapore when I was 9.

As a kid, I always had some kind of side hustle .

In school, I sold toys, snacks, in-game currency, and sneakers to my classmates — anything that might earn me a little extra pocket money.

When I was 16, I did an internship at an auditing firm, where I had the chance to speak with a lot of business owners.

I began to see technology as a tool that could help me advance in the business world.

I ended up getting a diploma in applied AI and analytics at a polytechnic after finishing secondary school.

I was never the best at math or coding, but it offered me a way to turn my ideas into actual projects.