“Leadership is never about you, it’s about them”

From managing people at big organisations to leading people at her own startup. How did Snaphunt founder Tulika Tripathi make the transition?
By: | February 5, 2020

In Part 2 of our exclusive feature on AI-driven recruitment platform Snaphunt, we talk to Founder and CEO Tulika Tripathi about the challenges she faced in building a startup from scratch and the vision she has for the company. 

Read Part 1: Snaphunt aims to be go-to hiring platform in Asia

Coming with 20 years of experience, with the last decade in senior leadership roles, it’s a huge transition to build and lead a team in the start-up world. However, Tulika believes the fundamentals of leading people are the same.

“I really adore leading people more than just managing them. I believe when we talk about leading people it’s about people following you,” she said.

“So the lesson in leading is that it’s never about you, it’s about them. Management is about getting things done efficiently and delivering on objectives. And leadership is about taking them to the next level and people contributing to the success.”

How do you see the gig economy and what’s your outlook for 2020?

With the rise of digitalization and a shrinking talent pool, we are beginning to see more short-term and flexible roles. And Tulika expects the gig economy to grow even more in the coming years.

“We are seeing a growing need for contract workers due to a shortage of talent as well as the fast-paced changes in technology,” she said.

“I believe this need will continue to grow especially in technology and design related areas. We will see less of this in areas like sales where companies will continue to hire their own teams.

“There is also a lot happening in terms of geopolitics and that always has an impact on the recruitment market as uncertainty tends to impact hiring first. This may also continue to fuel the need for short term or contract talent.

“Having said that, at Snaphunt, we also have many clients in the startup space. Asia is a hotbed for startups as we continue to see good investment flowing into the region. So permanent hiring for startups is likely to remain aggressive in 2020.”

Snaphunt is currently in 10 countries across Asia– Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Thailand and  Hong Kong.