3 CEOs, 2 months, 1 company: chaos at live commerce enabler Upmesh

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Hello reader,

It’s only been about nine months since I became managing editor of Tech in Asia Studios, so I’m relatively new to the role – I think I’m doing all right, and I certainly owe a lot so far to great guidance from those above me and great grit and creativity from those under me. Y’all the real MVPs.

I think this is the case for most people, really. No person is an island, and everyone can credit at least a little bit of their success to the people around them.

Having that mindset and humility is key to sustainable growth and success, so reading about the leadership drama at Singapore-based live commerce startup Upmesh had me shaking my damn head.

Read on to see what went down.

Today we look at:

• The game of CEO musical chairs at Upmesh
• The US$10 million series A1 funding round of a spacetech firm
• Other newsy highlights such as Samsung’s VC arm investing in a sleeptech startup and Alibaba’s Zhang stepping down as CEO

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A tale of overreaching and overly large egos

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Have you ever tried to do too much, too soon, and then see it all blow up in your face? It’s definitely happened to me before, which is why I make sure to never stretch myself too thin now. Better to be slow and good rather than rushed and messy.

Upmesh’s troubles appear to have started when it got a bit too ambitious with its expansion plans. Nothing particularly wrong with that, but when things started to fall apart, they really fell apart.

• The first domino: Original CEO Wong Zi Yang left his post in April, months after the company conducted layoffs in December 2022. He admitted that he had prioritized growth over monetization, and took responsibility for the job cuts.
• The second domino: Co-founder Shaun Teow took over, but it didn’t take long before he himself stepped down after staff complained about his behavior. Incidents included calling a meeting to discuss the layoffs “Red wedding,” referring to a notorious episode from the HBO series Game of Thrones; sending messages declaring himself “fucking smart” and “demonstrably, to a scientific level, intelligent;” and allegations of throwing an employee’s laptop against the wall and making crude, vulgar comments during meetings.
• An interim domino: For now, Tan Kim Hock is taking over as Upmesh’s interim CEO. He’s a senior investment associate at Monk’s Hill, which is an investor in the startup.

Read more: 3 CEOs in 2 months: leadership crisis at live commerce enabler Upmesh

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