DNA celebrates first anniversary with special Disrupt

By Karamjit Singh May 7, 2013

DNA celebrates first anniversary with special Disrupt session; new venue
Are founders the worst enemy of their own startups?

DNA celebrates first anniversary with special Disrupt DIGITAL News Asia (DNA) is one year old. We went live on May 14, 2012 and come May 15, 2013, we are celebrating by organising a special Disrupt session – one that we feel goes to the heart of all successful companies: The capabilities of the founders and, more importantly, their ability to recognise when the growth of the company has outgrown their capabilities to lead it as CEO.

This requires a high degree of self-awareness, a strong dose of humility, and a generous dash of reality.

That’s right – not only do you have to worry about product, people, funding, business model, branding, vision, culture and cash flow, you also have to worry about yourself!

So, how many of our entrepreneurs put the growth of the company ahead of ego, pride and the misplaced belief that only they can grow and take the business to the next level? How do you recognise it when it is you who are unwittingly holding back the potential of your startup?

To help us find the answers, our next Disrupt on May 15 will be about ‘Are you your startup’s worse enemy?’

For panelists, we have Mark Chang, founder of JobStreet.com and still its CEO; Roshan Thiran, founder and CEO of Leaderonomics; and Goh Ai Ching, co-founder and CEO of Piktochart.

And I too will be a panelist, albeit reluctantly, as the DNA team feels that my 13 years of covering the scene, coupled with the past 12 months of being in the trenches myself, will enable me to share some interesting insights.

One interesting thing about the panel composition is that we are all founders and the CEO too! Is this a good thing? Do we even have the credibility to be on the panel? Do attend and challenge us!

Our moderator will be Malek Ali, himself the founder and CEO of the BFM Media group.

We are capping the audience at 200, so please get your seat early with the RSVP. The venue is the Securities Commission Malaysia, Bukit Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, from 5:30pm-7:30pm, May 15. It’s going to be fun!