Malaysia’s GreatAsic Technology, a specialised chip design company focused on delivering high-performance, custom silicon solutions for “tomorrow’s technologies”, has closed a US$6.9 million pre‑Series A round, led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India and joined by Ehsan Kapital and Gobi Partners.

The raise signals a concrete step in the country’s ambition to move beyond semiconductor assembly and testing towards front‑end chip design.

Also Read: Why smart money is choosing semiconductors over Bitcoin: What can be done?

The round will bankroll engineering hires, operational expansion, and accelerated development of GreatAsic’s planned silicon projects targeting data‑centre, automotive, and edge AI markets.

A domestic pivot to design

For decades, Southeast Asia’s semiconductor story has been dominated by manufacturing: wafer fabrication, assembly, test and packaging. Malaysia, in particular, has been a critical node for assembly and testing—the traditional “Made in Malaysia” role within global supply chains.

GreatAsic’s fundraise comes amid the Malaysian government’s National Semiconductor Strategy, which explicitly aims to cultivate design capabilities so local firms can produce not just assembled chips but also chips designed on home soil.

“Malaysia has world‑class engineering talent and a once‑in‑a‑generation opportunity to design, not just build, the chips that power the AI era,” said Ong Chin Hu, GreatAsic’s founder and chief executive. “This funding lets us hire engineers, expand operations and accelerate our planned ASIC projects, and build a Malaysian semiconductor design ecosystem that endures.”

Access to Arm IP

A notable technical milestone for GreatAsic is its access to Arm Holdings’s semiconductor intellectual property. The startup is among the first Malaysian design houses to secure Arm Flexible Access (AFA) and Arm Neoverse Compute Subsystems (CSS) tokens, an important enabler for teams building modern SoCs for cloud and edge compute. The company says the AFA agreement is already formalised with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA).

Also Read: Building the ASEAN AI archipelago: How Southeast Asia can secure its place in the global AI value chain

Arm’s IP ecosystems lower the barrier for fledgling design teams by providing pre‑validated cores and subsystem building blocks, reducing integration time and risk. For a regional startup, such access shortens the path from architecture to tape‑out and production. It increases the odds of competing for Asia‑Pacific customers that need customised silicon for AI inference, low‑latency automotive compute or specialised edge devices.

Founders with pedigree

GreatAsic’s leadership brings decades of silicon credentials. Founder Ong previously held senior roles at Intel, Marvell, and StarFive; co‑founder and CTO Michael Liew Woon Chin has held senior technical positions at Broadcom, Intel, Marvell, and StarFive. The team highlights multiple full‑mask tape‑outs and high‑volume production experience, turning what might otherwise be a speculative startup into a group with a demonstrable delivery track record.

Vertex Ventures’s Chan Yip Pang framed the investment as a bet on both the team and Malaysia’s broader strategic shift. “We have known this team for several years… For decades the country has assembled and tested the world’s semiconductors; designing them is a far harder and more valuable undertaking, and few teams in the region are equipped to take it on,” Chan said.

Ecosystem stacking: parks, funds, and public backing

The pre‑Series A also features Ehsan Kapital, a semiconductor‑focused fund backed by Selangor’s state actors and ecosystem operator SIDEC, which runs the Malaysia Semiconductor IC Design Park. SIDEC’s chief executive, Yong Kai Ping, characterised GreatAsic’s raise as proof that the Park’s blend of infrastructure, EDA (electronic design automation) tools and public‑private support is beginning to yield competitive local design houses.

Also Read: FusionAP’s US$2M raise signals Malaysia’s push up the semiconductor value chain

Public investments in physical infrastructure and training, coupled with venture capital focused on semiconductors, are typical of successful design hubs. South Korea and Taiwan show that deep local talent combined with concentrated industry support can move countries up the value chain.

For Southeast Asia, however, the path is more fragmented: talent pools are dispersed across Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia, while fabs remain largely located elsewhere in Asia. That makes momentum from firms like GreatAsic significant: they not only create jobs but prove the viability of larger local systems—EDA workflows, IP licensing, packaging and test partnerships—needed to scale chip design.

Why this matters for Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia’s AI and cloud markets are growing rapidly, and many enterprises in the region are exploring custom silicon to reduce costs and latency, or to gain control over AI performance. Custom ASICs and AI SoCs can offer energy efficiency and price advantages over off‑the‑shelf accelerators, if a local design house can reach production at scale.

GreatAsic’s focus on data centre, Edge AI, and automotive aligns with regional demand. Automotive electronics are growing in markets such as Thailand and Indonesia; edge AI devices, such as retail cameras, smart factories, and logistics sensors, are spreading across Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam. A localised supply of custom silicon could shorten lead times, reduce integration complexity, and stimulate new product designs tailored to Southeast Asian conditions.

Risks and the long road ahead

Designing chips is capital- and time-intensive. Moving from design to tape‑out to production, and then to customers, involves technical risk, long sales cycles, and partnerships with fabs, foundries, and packaging providers. While GreatAsic has industry‑seasoned founders, the company will still need to demonstrate successful silicon and commercial traction to validate the thesis that Malaysia can sustain multiple design houses competing regionally.

The US$6.9 million raise is meaningful for early engineering growth and initial silicon runs. Still, broader scaling, especially if GreatAsic aims for high‑volume data‑centre chips, will require further capital, foundry access, and ecosystem partners. For now, the funding represents a timely proof point: regional venture capital is willing to back semiconductor design efforts within Southeast Asia, and public‑private initiatives are creating environments conducive to that investment.

Also Read: The quiet layer keeping the chip boom alive

GreatAsic’s raise is not a guarantee of a new regional centre for chip design, but it is an indicator: Southeast Asia’s semiconductor narrative is evolving beyond assembly lines, as capital, talent and policy begin to converge around the higher‑value work of designing silicon.

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SUMMYS, a Kuala Lumpur-based venture builder, has concluded an unusual pitch contest that deliberately combined sustainability, cultural sensitivity, and commercial rigour to channel Southeast Asian startups toward Japan’s most pressing social problems.

The winners — spanning robotics, agritech, medical AI, and circular materials — now have routes into Japan’s heavyweight startup circuit through a partnership with IVS, one of the country’s largest tech conferences.

A low-energy stage, high-stakes outcomes

The ‘Jungle Forge Award — Social Impact Edition’ eschewed the typical conference trappings. Pitches were held outdoors without electricity: no spotlights, projectors, or microphones. The setting was designed both as a statement and an experiment to demonstrate that persuasive entrepreneurship need not rely on high-energy, high-emissions production.

Also Read: From pilot to production: Where robotics actually breaks

That choice resonated with the selection criteria. Judges assessed teams not only on technical feasibility and business models, but on their grasp of Japan-specific social issues and their ability to communicate in ways that resonate with Japanese audiences. In the run-up to the event, SUMMYS CEO Mariel Asami Fukase even led a Japanese-language lesson for participants; several founders used Japanese phrases in their pitches.

“It’s about respect as much as relevance,” said one judge. “If you want to operate in Japan, you must understand the problem and speak to the people who live it.”

Robotics takes the grand prize: tackling a regional labour crisis

Robopreneur, a Malaysian robotics firm, took the Grand Prize. The company offers service robots and “Physical AI” solutions for sectors where Japan and much of Asia face chronic labour shortages: hospitals, security, cleaning, and tourism.

Qarbotech won both the Silver Award and the Green Award for an agritech system that boosts yields and farmer incomes without adding to labour burdens. The judges cited on-farm validation and clear economics, making it a promising match for Japan’s shrinking agricultural workforce and its policy focus on food self-sufficiency.

Also Read: Qarbotech named winner of inaugural EQT Impact Challenge

Global Cerah secured the Open Innovation Award for a circular model that converts organic waste into protein and fertiliser. Judges pointed to its scalability and potential to strengthen Japan’s food system resilience, a key policy issue amid climate-driven supply-chain disruptions across the Asia Pacific.

Pixelence, an AI company that improves brain MRI diagnostics without contrast agents, won the AI Award. Japan’s population is among the oldest in the world, and early detection of dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders is a growing clinical and social priority. Judges argued that Pixelence’s technology could reduce costs and clinician workload while improving diagnostic reach.

The Next Generation Award went to Midwest Composites for an inventive approach that upcycles discarded tea leaves into composite materials suitable for automotive, EV and aerospace applications. The contest featured child judges; a nine-year-old’s enthusiastic reaction — “It was so cool that tea leaves that would be thrown away can become a new material” — was a reminder of the storytelling power founders can gain by tying sustainability to everyday products.

Prizes included more than trophies. The top two startups secured exhibition space at IVS, direct access to international investors and corporate partners, and introductions aimed at fundraising and business development in Japan.

SUMMYS framed the physical trophy — a watch — as symbolic: a reminder that building impact takes time, and that the organiser intends to walk the journey with participating startups.

The Japan-Southeast Asia bridge

For Southeast Asian founders, Japan represents both a market and a source of corporate partnerships, manufacturing expertise and patient capital. But entering Japan requires more than a scalable product; it demands cultural fluency, local validation, and integration with incumbent systems. The Jungle Forge Award’s emphasis on communication, including basic Japanese language ability, is a pragmatic nod to those realities.

The event’s livestream and hybrid voting, which included venture capitalists, corporate innovation leaders, child judges, and the public, reflected another lesson: narratives that combine technical rigour with social resonance travel better. Startups that can demonstrate applicability in Japan while highlighting regional scalability stand a stronger chance of turning pilot projects into commercial ties that flow in both directions.

What’s next

SUMMYS has signalled continued work to foster open innovation between Japan and Southeast Asia, positioning the award as part of a longer-term collaboration with IVS and Japanese corporates. If successful, the model could become a regular pipeline for Southeast Asian founders seeking not just funding but operational corridors into one of Asia’s most advanced and socially challenged markets.

Also Read: How Japan can empower a new wave of SEA startup innovation

For investors and corporates watching from both regions, the competition offered a tidy proof point: pragmatic, culturally aware startups from Southeast Asia can present viable, low-carbon solutions to Japan’s demographic and environmental pressures, and, crucially, those solutions may loop back to benefit the region as well.

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Today, Bitcoin trades at US$61,789.80, reflecting a 1.36 per cent decline over the past 24 hours. This drop mirrors a broader 1.17 per cent contraction in the total crypto market capitalisation. Mainstream commentators attribute this movement entirely to a sudden risk reaction.

My independent analysis reveals a more complex convergence of geopolitical shocks and institutional liquidity drains. The immediate catalyst for this sell-off is escalating tensions in the Middle East. President Donald Trump announced a military response after Iran shot down an Apache helicopter. This geopolitical shock instantly triggered a flight from risk assets across global markets.

Bitcoin behaved precisely as a correlated risk asset in this environment, dropping to an intraday low near US$60,892 before buyers stepped in. We see this exact same behaviour in traditional equities. The S&P 500 briefly dipped 2.2 per cent on the news before recovering into the close. Major benchmarks finished mixed, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed only a marginal gain. This tight correlation between cryptocurrency and traditional tech-heavy indices confirms that institutional algorithms currently treat digital assets as an extension of the broader risk complex.

Structural weaknesses in institutional demand continue to suppress price action beyond the geopolitical headline. U.S.-listed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds extended their outflow streak, underscoring a persistent lack of buy-side conviction. Analysts at Wintermute correctly point out that this environment reflects weak institutional inflows rather than outright panic.

This specific dynamic makes establishing a durable bottom incredibly difficult. Concurrently, the market experienced a severe leverage flush. Traders lost over US$112 million in Bitcoin long positions within a single day. This forced liquidation accelerated the downward momentum and punished overextended speculators.

Also Read: From rice fields to hospitals: Winners of SUMMYS’s Social Impact Award aim at Japan’s ageing and labour shortages

I have always viewed highly leveraged crypto trading as a form of gambling with slightly better odds than a casino. The liquidations simply represent the house collecting its due. The removal of this excess leverage clears the order book and sets the stage for potentially less volatile price discovery in the coming sessions. We must also contextualise this crypto sell-off within the broader global macroeconomic environment to fully grasp the implications. Technology stocks face their own headwinds. The 3.6 per cent drop in Apple shares following the final World Wide Developer Conference keynote from CEO Tim Cook highlights these pressures. Shares had already fallen close to two per cent on Monday due to poor market reception of the Siri artificial intelligence update.

The market now turns its attention entirely to the macroeconomic data driving central bank policy. The government will release the May United States Consumer Price Index report on June 10. This print serves as the primary directional catalyst for the near term. Consensus expects headline inflation to rise to 4.2 per cent.

This expectation follows an April inflation reading of 3.8 per cent year-on-year. That April figure marked the highest level since 2023. A massive 17.9 per cent jump in energy costs largely drove that previous spike. If the May data prints cooler than expected, we could see a relief rally pushing Bitcoin toward the US$64,000 resistance level. Conversely, a hot inflation reading will reinforce hawkish monetary policy and likely force a retest of the critical US$60,000 support zone.

From a technical perspective, the current market structure demands careful observation from all active market participants. Bitcoin currently trades below key moving averages and maintains a bearish short-term trend. The Relative Strength Index on the 14-day timeframe sits at 23.89. This deeply oversold condition suggests that a technical bounce remains highly probable. A cooler inflation print could fuel a rally targeting the US$64,000 level, which aligns perfectly with the 78.6 per cent Fibonacci retracement level. If buyers fail to defend the US$60,000 support, the price will likely cascade toward the next major liquidity zone around US$55,000. Traders must watch the US$64,000-US$66,000 supply zone closely. A decisive reclaim of those levels would provide the first technical confirmation of strengthening momentum.

Also Read: How to build an AI-ready workforce: The skills that matter in the age of agents

Global trade and corporate spending metrics provide further context for this market environment. China reported robust May exports, rising 19.4 per cent year on year, and imports jumped 27.4 per cent. This beat expectations and widened the trade surplus to US$103.22 billion. Meanwhile, Bank of America warns clients to take profits because seven of its 10 bear-market signposts have been triggered. They highlight that hyperscaler capital expenditure will soon hit 100 per cent of operating cash flow. This contrasts starkly with the 40 per cent ratio from 2023.

These megacorporations will soon spend every dollar they generate on AI infrastructure. Investor demand in other sectors shows an immense appetite for new tech ventures. SpaceX’s initial public offering demand now reportedly approaches 4 times oversubscribed levels. Commodity markets also reflect this complex web of geopolitical and economic pressures across the globe today. Oil retreated after the US Energy Secretary noted that traffic in the Strait of Hormuz is increasing. This observation eased the supply premium created by tensions with Iran.

The confluence of geopolitical stress and institutional selling has driven Bitcoin lower. A sustained reversal requires either diplomatic de-escalation or a positive macroeconomic surprise from the inflation data. I will continue to monitor these structural shifts independently and look past the mainstream narratives. Identifying the true drivers of value in this evolving financial landscape demands rigorous analysis and a forward-looking perspective. The market is at a critical inflexion point, with macroeconomic data set to dictate the next major price move.

Based on what I see and referencing the historical cycle structures, US$44,XXX represents a high-probability macro floor, but it is the deep end, not the baseline, of the expected bottoming range.

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of e27.

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Singapore-headquartered early-stage venture capital firm and accelerator, Accelerating Asia, has announced the five startups selected for its thirteenth cohort, chosen from a record 724 applications spanning 20 countries, with an acceptance rate of under one per cent, the most competitive in the firm’s history.

All five companies were already generating revenue or active usage at the time of selection, an unusual benchmark for an early-stage intake. The cohort spans consumer-goods distribution, last-mile logistics, customer-success software, e-commerce, and retail loyalty, across markets including Singapore, the UAE, Bangladesh, the United States, and Hong Kong.

Also Read: AI will replace inertia before it replaces people

Despite AI featuring in nearly every application this cycle, Accelerating Asia says the term’s ubiquity worked against candidates who leaned on it as a selling point. “When nearly every founder says they use AI, the phrase stops being a signal,” said Amra Naidoo, General Partner and co-founder. “The question that actually decided this cohort was whether the AI was the product or the leverage.”

The five companies selected are:

Driftly AI (UAE/US)

An AI-powered operating suite for consumer goods distribution, founded by Sheheryar Iqbal, former Head of Supply Chain at Airlift, where he launched over 80 warehouses and worked with 450-plus manufacturers. Embedded with flagship customer Gourmet for more than eight months, the company has doubled its clients’ sales footprint, saved over 20 per cent in margins, and is now on a path to US$1 million in ARR. Its warm enterprise pipeline includes Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestlé.

DIGIBOX (Bangladesh/Singapore)

Bangladesh’s first shared last-mile logistics infrastructure, operating a network of IoT delivery lockers across 55 sites, with close to one million deliveries and 123,000 end users. The company designs and manufactures its own lockers in-house and handles roughly one per cent of all Daraz orders in the country. It cuts delivery costs by up to 40 per cent and failed deliveries by up to 80 per cent. Co-founded by Rezwanul Haque Jami, a two-time founder with prior exits.

Meza AI (US)

Positioning itself as “cursor for customer success”, Meza AI is an AI-native platform helping SaaS companies reduce churn and unlock upsell from existing customers. It has around US$230,000 in ARR, 10 paying customers, and a 100 per cent pilot-to-paid conversion rate, monitoring more than 1,500 accounts. Founded by repeat operators Abhishek and Priya Yadav, who previously scaled a consumer platform to over two million users.

Govaly (Bangladesh/Singapore)

The largest fashion and beauty e-commerce marketplace in Bangladesh, with over 100,000 users, 70,000 orders, and 1,000-plus verified sellers in its first year. GMV has grown 27x in 18 months with zero paid acquisition. The platform operates without a warehouse, shipping directly from verified sellers, and delivers roughly 80 per cent faster than the industry average. Founded by Himel Faraz and Jeion Ahmed, with a 45-person team.

Also Read: The next frontier for tech startups? The US$590B beauty industry

meed (Hong Kong)

A consumer-first retail loyalty platform that works with a single QR scan, natively integrated with Apple and Google Wallet, requiring no app or login. It has attracted more than 700 organic merchant sign-ups from 85 countries with no paid acquisition, zero churn among paying merchants, and an organic LTV-to-CAC ratio of approximately 140-to-1. Founded by Phil Ingram, a 28-year product veteran, with paying traction concentrated in UK salons.

Accelerating Asia co-founder and General Partner Craig Bristol Dixon framed the cohort’s significance for investors: “Five operators already earning, across five markets that most funds never travel to, and we are in early on every one. Early entry in overlooked markets is where the structural advantage lives.”

The five companies will spend the next 100 days in the Accelerating Asia programme, culminating in a Demo Day. Applications for Cohort 14 will open soon. The announcement coincides with the final close of the firm’s second fund.

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In our previous explorations of psychological safety, we’ve seen that psychological safety is the number one predictor of team performance, that it is not about being “nice” but about pairing high standards with high safety to create the Learning Zone. We’ve explored how Edgar Schein’s deep cultural diagnosis and Amy C. Edmondson’s practical interventions work together to build organisations that are both successful and truly human.

This piece addresses something critical: the founder’s own role in creating or destroying psychological safety. Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: you can implement every framework, read every book, and hire every consultant, but if you, the founder, are the problem, none of it will work.

The founder’s paradox

Let’s take a look at you, founder. You are a creature of beautiful contradictions. You possess a vision so clear that it is almost like a mirage, a bias for action so strong that it makes the laws of physics nervous, and standards so high they give astronauts vertigo.

These are your superpowers. They are the very reason your company exists.

And, if you are not careful, they can turn out to be the very things that will poison it from the inside out.

This is the founder’s paradox: the traits that make you exceptional at starting something are often the same traits that make you terrible at leading it. You are the sun that both warms and burns. This intensity gives life, but it can also scorch the delicate ecosystem of psychological safety required for your team to thrive. Before you can fix your team, you must first look in the mirror. Here are a few archetypes of safety-destroying behaviour. See if you can recognise yourself in any of these.

Also Read: AI startups are hiring around answers they haven’t earned yet

The archetypes of accidental tyranny

Every founder is a unique blend of strengths, but these strengths, when overused, manifest as these distinct archetypes.

• The visionary

Your vision is your gift, you see the future with breathtaking clarity.

The problem?

You’re so in love with your vision that you can’t tolerate anything that deviates from it. When a team member raises a concern or a dissenting opinion, you do not hear a valuable stress test, you hear a threat to the dream.

Maybe your internal monologue sounds like this: They just don’t get it. If they saw what I see, they’d agree.

What your team experiences: Your conviction feels like a brick wall. They learn that bringing you anything other than enthusiastic agreement, yes-man style, is a career-limiting move. The echo chamber you often complain about is built by you. Brick by brick, with every dismissed counter-argument.

• The perfectionist

Your standards are legendary. You demand excellence in everything, from the product UI to the font choice. You are fond of making such decisions and sending them in a voice memo. This is why your product is beautiful. It is also why your team is terrified.

Maybe your internal monologue sounds like this: It’s not quite right. We can do better. This small flaw will ruin everything.

What your team experiences: They feel like they are constantly walking on eggshells.

The fear of not meeting your impossibly high standards leads them to hide mistakes, avoid risks, and present only perfectly polished work. The messy, half-formed ideas where true innovation lives? They die in your Slack channel, strangled by the fear of your critique.

• The urgency addict

You move at the speed of light. You are a whirlwind of action, a testament to the power of: done is better than perfect.

You are addicted to the adrenaline of momentum.

Maybe your internal monologue sounds like this: Why is this taking so long? We need to move faster! We’re losing our window!

What your team experiences: Your pace feels like a perpetual fire drill. There is no time for questions, no space for reflection, no room for the “stupid question” that might have saved the project. They learn to just nod and run, even if they are running in the wrong direction. Your need for speed has trampled their need for clarity.

• The solver

You are a brilliant problem-solver. You see a problem and your brain instinctively jumps to a solution. This is how you’ve survived this long. But your compulsion to solve is robbing your team of a chance to learn.

Maybe your internal monologue sounds like this: It’s just faster if I do it myself. I already know the answer.

What your team experiences: They feel disempowered.

Why bother wrestling with a hard problem when they know you’ll just swoop in and fix it? They stop taking ownership. They become executors of your solutions, not owners of their domains. You’ve created a team of brilliant hands, but you’ve stunted the growth of their brains.

The emotional weather you create

Beyond these archetypes, there is a fundamental truth to be told: as a founder, you’re not just a person in the company, you’re the weather. Your mood sets the atmospheric pressure for the entire organisation. Be it a funding call that didn’t go down well or a frustrating bug issue that leads to sleepless nights, you bring that energy into the office, and it becomes everyone’s reality.

The higher you climb in authority, the more amplified your every word and action becomes. A casual, frustrated comment from you (“This dashboard is useless”) can feel like a public condemnation to the person who built it. Your furrowed eyebrows in a meeting can silence an entire room.

Also Read: Why startups need mobile apps to thrive in today’s competitive market

In the high power-distance cultures, especially common in Asia, this effect is magnified tenfold.

Your team is culturally primed to defer to you, to read your signals and to adapt their behaviour to please you. If your emotional state is volatile, they will retreat into the safest possible position: silence.

This is why emotional regulation is not a soft skill for a founder. It is a core competency. You must learn that you are like a thermostat, not a thermometer: you set the temperature, you don’t just reflect it.

The vulnerability mandate: your most powerful tool

So how do you counteract your own safety-destroying strengths? The simple answer: you have to lead with vulnerability.

You must be the first to admit you were wrong.

You must be the first to say, “I don’t know.” You must be the first to thank someone for bringing you bad news.

Vulnerability is not weakness. It’s the ultimate signal of strength. It tells your team that the goal is not to be right; the goal is to get it right. It shows that your ego is secondary to the truth and the success of the collective mission.

Three practical ideas for self-correction

• The “shut up and listen” challenge

For the next week, go into every meeting with the explicit goal of being the last to speak. When you do speak, only ask questions. This simple constraint will force you to listen and create space for others.

Also Read: RIE2030’s hidden flaw: The one capability Singapore’s startups are missing

• The “bad news reward”

The next time someone brings you bad news early, stop what you are doing and publicly thank them. Say the words: “Thank you for bringing this to me. This is exactly what we need to be doing.” You are rewarding the behaviour you want to see. Do this more than three times, and you will be on your way to changing your culture.

• The “I screwed up” ritual

Start your weekly team meeting by sharing one thing you got wrong that week. It can be small. “I was too dismissive of Jessie’s idea in our last meeting, and after thinking about it, I realised she was right.”

By modelling fallibility, you give your team permission to be human.

Remember that the journey to building a psychologically safe organisation is not an external one. It does not begin with surveys, workshops, or off-sites.

It begins with the quiet, difficult and essential work of looking in the mirror and acknowledging that the biggest threat to your company’s culture might be you.

But here’s the good news: this also means that the power to fix it lies in your hands.

And that is the most powerful position a founder can be in.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. You can also share your perspective by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of e27.

Join us on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn to stay connected.

The post The startup founder’s paradox: How your strengths are killing psychological safety appeared first on e27.