As the first investor and advisor to Kumu, the fastest growing livestream app in South East Asia now backed by over $100 million from General Atlantic, SIG, and Open Space Ventures, we’ve participated in what it takes to build a great company beginning with an idea on the couch, and a loose idea of which direction to go.
Reflecting on the leadership styles of CEO Roland Ros and Co-Founder and President Rexy Dorado, it’s been interesting to note the role of storytelling, humility, and authenticity as ingredients that have led to Kumu’s success over the past four years. They’ve exercised a reserved optimism, a patience, but also a hunger to push the pace. It’s important to hold the steering wheel, but also not to grip too tightly.
It’s easy to look back and think we always had product market fit, but the truth is there were 6-9 months of iterative product where Kumu was a messaging app, and a profile page. It took the humility of listening to an astute and informed intern who saw the desire for real-time video engagement between participants. It took the authenticity and deep love of the Philippines that Roland and Rexy brought to the table that communicated that Kumu was different, and meant to empower.
It took the vision of Tony Wang and his insights about real time engagement taking off across Asia that primed the Kumu team to push the pace and product cadence when we knew the opportunity was ripe. It took the whimsy and design vision, not just data and product, that created Kumu’s little Carlito and a brand that endeared itself to the 12 million plus across the world. It took strategic engagement with investors like Lisa Gokongwei of Summit Media, and Hian Goh from Open Space Ventures to build a suite of advisors around us who could unlock tools like media, out-of-home campaigns, and access to distribution. Lisa knew what it took to build a future media empire, and Hian had helped GoJek scale across South East Asia.
Looking back over the years, leadership has to drive both cadence and openness, both optimism and skepticism. And it’s the hired team that believes the vision that creates the sustainable inputs, the debris thrown into the vortex of product development that begins to pick up pace with creativity and iteration. Four years on and $100 million dollars later it’s easy to pat yourselves on the back, but what’s hard is to look under the hood and ask how and why has this team been so successful. We’re proud of the vision and continued work ethic of Roland, Rexy, and the entire Kumu team.
Congrats on $100 million, and on still only being 1 percent done.