It’s been a rough year for Tech in Asia. Here’s how we’re bouncing back

2018 has been challenging for Tech in Asia. The risk we took didn’t pay off, and it led to a restructuring and layoffs. But as the year comes to an end, I believe that not only did we survive, but we also bounced back stronger.

I’m writing this note to keep our subscribers updated and hopefully encourage fellow entrepreneurs to be honest with yourself, your team, and your shareholders, as well as to take swift and decisive action during times of trouble.

Start of 2018

With our latest round of funding, we kick-started 2018 full of optimism.

In June 2018, we grew our team to 125 (we are at about 80 today) so that we can fuel the many projects we wanted to do. The goal was to find a breakthrough that would bring Tech in Asia to greater heights. You could call it our shot at becoming a unicorn.

But by the end of June, there were signals that things weren’t going our way. We couldn’t meet our minimum projected figures, burn rate was at an all-time high, and our runway was thinning quickly.

To make matters worse, what used to be our “cash cow” didn’t perform as expected.

The company was also having internal conflicts and there was confusion. Directions weren’t clear as the number of projects ballooned. I was failing as a CEO and had to make changes fast before things went out of control.

In July, we made a decisive move to stop funding seven projects and focus our resources on our core products: Media, Jobs, and Studios. In the process, we had to let go of many team members. A small handful didn’t take the decision well and took steps to hurt the company and team.

Self-discovery and recovery

After close to 10 years of running Tech in Asia and going through the school of hard knocks, I thought I’d seen enough. I thought this was going to be just another setback to overcome.

I was so wrong.

The emotions were hard to process and my morale hit rock bottom. The negativity within me triggered some questions:

• Is this the end of Tech in Asia?
• Am I the right person to lead the company?

To get out of this vicious cycle, I started to read articles and watch talks about happiness. I also went out of the office to talk to fellow founders and shared my emotions and the company’s data openly with them.

Bouncing back stronger

Thank you