25 November 2024
Transforming and Creating Value: A Playbook for Business Growth
Participants gained valuable insights on business innovation, team accountability and navigating the software-as-a-service (SaaS) transition from tech CEO Ms Jasmin Young’s (Arts & Social Sciences ’97) talk at the NUS Be A-HEAD event.
In her talk, Ms Young (right) highlighted the importance of learning from failure and embracing new ways of approaching challenges.
For businesses seeking to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market, constant innovation and a willingness to challenge the status quo are key. That was the central message from Ms Jasmin Young, a tech company CEO, who spoke at the NUS Be A-HEAD event on 17 September 2024. Addressing an audience at the JustCo co-working space at Robinson Road, Ms Young outlined strategies for creating value and achieving hypergrowth, offering practical insights drawn from her own experiences in leading business transformation.
“Innovation plays a crucial role in enabling companies to adapt to changing market conditions and customer preferences,” Ms Young said, adding that innovation not only fuels growth but also energises and empowers teams to take control of their roles. By fostering an environment where teams feel invested in the transformation process, businesses can navigate change more effectively, she explained.
Another point emphasised during the session was the need to create an environment where teams feel invested in the transformation process so as to navigate change more effectively.
Ms Young, who led the turnaround of Netreo, a California-based IT management firm, shared her extensive experience in driving value through innovation. At Netreo, a company that monitors over 15 million devices daily, she spearheaded the shift from traditional on-premises solutions to cloud-based services, a move she likened to a contractor renovating a house. “We needed to assess which areas required attention for long-term growth. For us, this meant adding SaaS (software-as-a-service) functionalities as the industry shifts towards cloud services,” she explained.
Beyond her work at Netreo, Ms Young’s career at global consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers involved working with leading tech companies, helping them transition to subscription-based models and transforming customer experiences. Her journey from political science and European studies undergraduate at NUS to business leader is an inspiring story of adaptability and leadership.
I’ve always enjoyed learning over studying, and I immersed myself in the evolving body of knowledge quickly and intentionally to drive results.
Ms Jasmin Young
HOW SHE TRANSFORMED NETREO
During her four-year tenure as CEO, Ms Young grew Netreo’s workforce from 30 to over 100 employees. The company shifted from selling customised solutions to offering scalable, full-stack services, which allowed them to target larger clients. “We reshaped our strategy to focus on operational efficiency, honed in on an ideal customer profile and expanded our offerings to include full-stack solutions,” Ms Young said. This approach — coupled with formalising project scopes and building relationships with industry analysts — elevated Netreo’s market presence.
Event moderator Ms Audrey Tan, Co-founder of PlayMoolah (Arts & Social Sciences ’10), asked how Ms Young led Netreo’s team through such a significant transformation. Ms Young attributed her success to three principles: accountability, accessibility and authenticity. Weekly check-ins replaced annual reviews, providing opportunities to address challenges and support team members. “We allowed people to experiment and develop new features so they could grow, and we reviewed progress weekly to move forward together,” she explained.
Creating a culture where failure is seen as a learning opportunity was also crucial. “Failure can actually help us improve,” Ms Young said, adding that an open-door policy was important to allow ideas to be shared without fear.
(From left): Ms Tan; Ms Young; NUS Chief Alumni Officer Ms Ovidia-Lim Rajaram (Arts & Social Sciences ’89); and Mr David Ding (Engineering ’10), Chairperson of NUS Overseas Colleges Alumni.
LEARNING HOW TO RIDE THE WAVE
When asked during the subsequent Q&A session about how she transitioned from a political science graduate to an IT business leader, Ms Young said that while much of her university learning was memory-based, her career demanded deeper, more practical engagement with knowledge. “I’ve always enjoyed learning over studying, and I immersed myself in the evolving body of knowledge quickly and intentionally to drive results,” she said. Industry mentors, such as Thomas Archer and Romit Dey, also played a pivotal role in guiding her through challenges and shaping her approach to leadership — for example, by pressure-testing her ideas.
The session gave participants an opportunity to tap on Ms Young’s insights and experiences.
Another participant asked about the challenges of managing Netreo’s sales team during its shift to a SaaS model. Ms Young explained that guiding the sales team to sell the right mix of products was a key challenge, especially as the new SaaS product she was developing would not be ready for two years. “The margin on SaaS products is lower than on-premise services because we have to host the services, which means lower sales commissions,” she said. To keep the sales team motivated, she had to think creatively about incentivising them during the transition. “Sometimes, companies even need to double-compensate their on-premise and SaaS teams during the transition,” she added.
In closing, Ms Young stressed that creating value means understanding the fundamental financial aspects of a business. Attendees left the event with their own valuable insights on leading business transformation, managing sales force challenges and adapting to industry shifts such as SaaS and artificial intelligence. Ms Young’s candid sharing of her journey provided practical takeaways, leaving those who attended inspired to tackle their own business challenges with confidence.
Text by Audrina Gan. Photos by Kelvin Chia.