From crises to conquest: How Gushcloud's founders turned their business around
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From crises to conquest: How Gushcloud's founders turned their business effectually
With the US and Red china now firmly in their sights, digital talent agency Gushcloud International'due south co-founders Althea Lim and Vincent Ha talk expansion plans, learning from mistakes and ascension above the challenges of being entrepreneurs.
Gushcloud co-founders Vincent Ha and Althea Lim at their office in One-North. (Photo: Kelvin Chia)
06 November 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 09:46PM)
Gushcloud International has been in the news yet again this year – for all the right reasons. The Singapore-based digital talent agency group, which represents and manages a mix of Asian and Western digital talents and content creators, recently secured US$11 one thousand thousand (South$15 million) in funding to drive its global expansion.
As role of this funding round, Gushcloud International also appointed hip-hop mogul, Russell Simmons, as president of the group. Simmons will exist key to expanding the company's US portfolio of talents and clients.
These announcements were only some of Gushcloud'south biggest since ownership out quondam parent, South korea's Yello Digital Marketing Global (YDMG), to regain control of the company in Nov 2018.
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This is in stark dissimilarity to the flurry of negative media attention that plagued the group dorsum in 2022 and 2015, when the platform went through 2 major crises. The first was via blogger Xia Xue's betrayal questioning the transparency of their business practices, and the 2d, for a negative marketing campaign in partnership with SingTel which flouted advertising regulation.
While many organisations crumble nether the weight of crises, co-founders Althea Lim, Group CEO, 34, and Vincent Ha, Chairman of the Lath, 35, are testament to the dust and resolve needed to keep a business alive in the confront of challenges. The self-professed "individual people" accept for the virtually part stayed under the radar. But behind the scenes, their vision as entrepreneurs and engineers of the digital talent and amusement business has helped them stay the grade and grow Gushcloud to what it is today.
"When we first began, nosotros created an influencer marketing platform considering people so were nevertheless working manually with bloggers," said Ha. "People were still trying to figure out how to get onto social media. We felt this called for a need for a technology platform, and for brands to do it at scale. When we evolved in 2015, 2016, we started to see a new need. Some of these influencers, Instagrammers, YouTubers, reached the stage where they were more famous than many of the local celebrities in many of the markets. We felt that if that trend persisted, it stands to reason that the Internet volition exist the dominant media platform, and these people volition keep getting more and more than famous."
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Fast forward several years, and the little influencer marketing first-up in Singapore which began with five people at present has more than 300 employees in thirteen offices across ten cities. The business is also now made up of v units: The marketing unit; the talent agency unit; the entertainment or make-building unit of measurement; the technology unit that creates new platforms; and the investment unit of measurement.
Every bit the Gushcloud brand and business concern grew, and so did the challenges they faced. "In the early on days we were pretty much fixated on product – we started equally a tech platform," explained Ha. "But pretty soon things came crashing down when our product was overly reliant on one platform. At that point in time that was Facebook."
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"What nosotros realised in the concluding couple of years is that people expected Gushcloud to be at the forefront, which was never known to Vincent and me," said Lim. "When we realised that people were expecting u.s. to set standards [for the online talent direction industry], nosotros had 2 options: One, nosotros say no, we don't desire to prepare standards; other people tin can set the standards instead. Ii, we really step in forepart and figure out how nosotros can build this whole ecosystem together."
The group chose the latter.
"We accept the ability to option the right influencers, digital talent, or content creators to back," said Lim, when asked about maintaining transparency and authenticity in a business filled with suspicion and skepticism. "We always ask ourselves how our corporate values can be perpetuated through the talents we work with, and how do we [as talent managers] encourage them to create more positive content; content that's more educational. That is why as an organisation we represent the content verticals of beauty, wellness and family. That's where the bulk of our talents are because they are more edutainment-based rather than merely pure entertainment."
Why does engineering science play a part in Gushcloud? "Because we desire people to solve problems all the time," said Lim. "A CEO once told me we don't accept enough engineers. Engineering teaches people to solve problems. If you lot don't have the skill of technology, you won't be a skillful entrepreneur because you might only want to solve your own problems. Merely engineers solve other people's bug.
The latest fundraising endeavor is proof that Gushcloud is on the right track in its expansion plans. "It tells us at that place are investors and backers that believe in our vision, and want to back up u.s. in that journey," said Ha.
"Sometimes when you're trying to do something new, you don't know if you're doing the right thing. Having people put significant amounts of money towards that vision, that dream, is in a fashion a validator. These are people who've opened their doors, opened up relationships to actively help us [progress].
"Sometimes when you lot're trying to do something new, yous don't know if you're doing the right thing." – Vincent Ha
"Russell Simmons is immensely helpful for u.s. to understand and work with Hollywood. It's been one of the biggest cardinal growth factors for the states this year," added Ha.
Gushcloud's U.s. and Cathay expansion is expected to bring the best talents from the East and West together. But trade tensions could hateful a rocky road ahead for the group. The leaders seem unfazed by the current political climate.
"While the US and China are facing a lot of policy bug confronting each other, entertainment actually should be the platform to bridge cultures together," said Lim. "We believe more Eastern stars want to be represented in the West, and we also know a lot of talents from the West want to be properly represented in the Eastward. There'due south a huge gap in the market that unfortunately a lot of companies take non been able to serve, considering of cultural and language differences.
"Singapore is very well-positioned to solve this problem. We're very bilingual and a trusted hub," said Lim. "I think it's going to be a difficult journey, but I call back it'southward going to be the start of something that we can practise together. Practise I think nosotros'll be successful? Yes, I practice. Because I meet the huge demand and supply. There'southward and then much more to exercise inside this space."
"While the US and China are facing a lot of policy issues against each other, entertainment really should be the platform to span cultures together." – Althea Lim
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/people/gushcloud-founders-althea-lim-vincent-ha-245726
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