How following my heart opened up a world of possibilities

In 2012, after graduating with a Master’s degree in International Business Development in Paris, I jumped on a plane bound for Singapore. I would love to say the reasons were to chase my career dreams in the Tech industry...

...but the reality was I was making a life-changing move for someone I had met whilst on a university exchange abroad (it’s a happy ending – we are now married with a young daughter). It was exhilarating and exciting, stepping off the plane I had no idea what I was destined to do there, but I knew two things:

• The energy and bustle of Singapore as the “hub” of Asia Pacific was infectious
• I loved and thrived off the thrill of sales and business development (still do!)

As I started to meet people, my growing local network led me to Kiosked, an Adtech company based in Finland that was looking to grow their Asia Pacific presence. That was when I was first exposed to the power of technology and its scalability, and things shifted for me. The concept of approaching digital media prospects, partnering to push the solution live on their websites, then generate advertising revenue together was such a perfect win-win business model for both parties, I was hooked. In the months that followed, Kiosked grew at an incredible rate with live publishers in 12 markets across the Asia Pacific region. 

Tailor-making solutions for a variety of customers   

I was brought up in a small village on the outskirts of Paris where my first part-time job after school was selling t-shirts in retail. Fast forward a few years, I had found my career path in international tech business development in Asia Pacific. That path definitely had its challenges and learnings along the way.

Selling tech solutions in Asia was a whole new adventure. Product and industry lingo training aside, the market is incredibly relationship-based when it comes to business, and given the diversity of the region, it’s not a “one size fits all” approach.

Learning the ways of the locals

I had to learn that the way you approach a prospect in Hong Kong or Singapore is very different from the way you approach one in Thailand, Indonesia or Malaysia. The region is so diverse, full of different cultures, languages, history and business codes.

It took a lot of time to understand the nuances between markets, pick up small phrases from the different languages and embrace the local cultures in order to improve my understanding of my prospects and clients, and thus build stronger relationships of trust.

Proving the value of Proof

Heading the launch of Proof Analytics in Asia Pacific is a different, yet exciting challenge for me, since it's the first SaaS solution of its kind on the market. It’s a new industry outside of AdTech, so it’s pushing me outside of my comfort zone.

As the famous quote goes, “Outside of your comfort zone is where the magic happens”. Today, we are surrounded by the buzzwords of AI, Automation, Big Data Analytics, Machine Learning, etc. The way business and companies are approaching the world of intelligence and insights is in constant flux. It is extremely inspiring and motivating to be part of this new world, to be able to work with such clever teams, and to know that we will be disrupting an industry and helping companies change the way they approach decision making.

Click here for more details on Proof Analytics.