Many startup founders find it very difficult to hand over the reins of their company into more seasoned hands, but Singapore-based startup JamiQ has done it not just once, but twice, since it was first founded in 2008. Last week the social media monitoring solutions provider announced the appointment of Arvind Sethumadhavan as chief executive officer, who will be responsible for strategic sales and partnerships globally as well as drive the vision for JamiQ’s social media monitoring offerings.
Prior to joining JamiQ, Sethumadhavan spent 10 years as a partner at Mindshare Asia Pacific and CEO of GroupM Business Science Asia Pacific. He takes over from JamiQ co-founder Benjamin Koe, who will take on a sales and product development role. Koe himself took over the CEO role from fellow co-founder Kelvin Quee in August 2008 when he first joined the fledgling startup.
The JamiQ team has been speaking with Sethumadhavan for over half a year and came to the mutual agreement that he would make the perfect CEO for the growing company based on his background in marketing research and analytics. “Arvind brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the field of marketing and data analysis. He is the perfect leader our company needs to bring it to the next level,” says Koe. “Arvind in a true visionary and the plans we have mapped out for our next-generation solutions will ensure client are able to extract maximum mileage from their marketing strategies, both online and offline.”
Koe says the transition has been natural – he says JamiQ‘s philosophy has always been to “hire smarter and more capable people than yourself”. “Being the founder is a great way to begin, but it takes a lot more expertise and experience to take the company to the next level,” he says.
Understanding The Social Media Scene
Koe says that the market for social media monitoring solutions “has been brilliant” this year, with interest coming in from clients in marketing functions across advertising, digital marketing, public relations and customer service, especially from the consumer electronics, hospitality and the finance industries, as well as the government. Clients are beginning to understand that listening and analyzing what is being said is increasingly important for any brand that cares about the local and regional market, he adds. The interest in social media monitoring has certainly grown since we last spoke to the team.
“We are only beginning to scratch the surface and uncovering the true potential of gathering insights from the social media, however I am very proud about the foundation the team have laid at JamiQ and very excited about the possibilities,” says Sethumadhavan.
“We envision a future where the actionable insights extracted by our solutions will dramatically change the way businesses in Asia make strategic marketing decisions.”
all equity upside. its a good move if he is a fit to a startup environment.
V interesting
Hiring a smarter employee to work for you ( Awesome ! )
Hiring a more passionate leader to lead for you ( Possible ?…… )
interesting development. will keep watch.
“hire smarter and more capable people than yourself”
Very true, but it is not always easy to do so. Beyond the pay issue, many qualified CEOs my not wish to “downsize” to a start up.
any insights into how they managed to woo him? 🙂
maybe they offered him shares in the business, pay wise, I would be surprised if they can match mindshare.
[New Post] JamiQ Gets New CEO; Plans For Future Growth – https://youngupstarts0.wpengine.com/2010/05/19/…
Comments are closed.