Minds

CEO & Founder

Mindvalley

Certified Life Coach

Leathwaite: Executive Search

Asia Strategy & Transformation Practice

True Search

Partner, Greater China Country Lead

H.I. Executive Consulting (HIEC)

Partner, APAC Professional Services Practice

VCube International

Founder and Partner

Alcoa

Director of Strategy and Analysis, Asia-Pacific

Roland Berger

Deputy Project Manager/Senior Consultant, Consumer & Retail and Technology

A.T. Kearney

Business Analyst, Financial Services

Gavin is a transformtional leader in executive search and personal coaching, renowned for his expertise in elevating senior leadership in high-growth start-ups and scale-ups. Collaborating with private equity, venture capital funds, and founders across Asia, Gavin delivers strategic talent insights and pioneering thought leadership.

With an illustrious career that includes conducting over 20,000 executive interviews, Gavin’s mastery in talent identification and influence has driven the success of global companies like McKinsey & Company, L Catterton (LVMH), Accenture and Permira.

Gavin’s passion for connecting with people and unveiling their unique stories led him to establish "Empower Through Stories", an initiative that inspires and motivates the next generation of leaders through powerful narratives. 

An alumnus of Stanford and the University of Chicago, Gavin’s global experience spans the US, Italy, Singapore, China, and Thailand. His leadership continues to set benchmarks in excellence, innovation, and influence in the industry.

Email: gavin@mindssearch.com
IG: gavng89

In Asia, “founder” sometimes means “family.”
And that’s where things get complicated.

I recently met with a Thai listed company where the founder’s sister is the COO —
and her best friend is the CFO, who signs off on budgets that no one else has visibility into.

It's trust.
It's kinship. 
It was legacy.
But it was also chaos.

The investors wanted governance.
The founder wanted loyalty.
And both were right.

Because here’s the truth:
In Asia, legacy isn’t just financial — sometimes it’s emotional.

When a founder builds something from nothing, the business often becomes the family’s second heartbeat.
Replacing a family member, even for good reason, feels like betrayal.
It’s not just removing a name from an org chart —
it’s rewriting a company history and a family story.

I’ve seen countless boardrooms where this emotional thread runs deeper than the balance sheet.
Sometimes the CFO isn’t the best fit, but he’s the founder’s brother-in-law.
Sometimes the head of HR isn’t performing, but she’s been “there since day one.”

What happen next?
So decisions slow down.
Accountability blurs.

The best founders I’ve seen handle this differently.
They don’t tear the family out — they reframe the story, proactively yet subtly.
They keep the family spirit, but they install professional systems and hire professional executives from outisde.
They let "love" stay — but let logic lead.

It may sound unbelievable from a western perspective. 
But it's an art. 

Because professionalizing a company in Asia isn’t about hierarchy.
It’s about separating identity from role,
and ensuring loyalty doesn’t come at the cost of merit.

And probably it's the most articulate art of all.

Have you come across similar dynamics in your own organization or portfolio?

- Gavin

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Gavin Ng

Investor | Founder | Executive Search Leader | Coach

Mary Meeker just released one of the most important AI reports of the year.
And her message is clear: the way we build companies is being rewritten.

Here are 8 lessons that matter: 👇

1. Teams will get smaller — and smarter.
Startups like Ramp and Runway are reaching billion-dollar valuations with fewer than 100 people.

Takeaway: Success won’t come from “adding more staff.” It will come from designing lean teams that use AI to do the work of many. Every role carries more weight — contribution-per-head matters more than job title.

2. Output is no longer just about people.
AI is now handling customer service, writing outreach, and cleaning up messy data.

Takeaway: Companies can move faster — but leaders must rethink structures or risk chaos. Execution speed will outpace leadership unless org design evolves.

3. Focus beats “do everything.”
Big platforms like ChatGPT aim to cover everything.
But vertical tools like Tome (presentations) or Glean (search) win by going deep on one job.

Takeaway: The strongest AI products dominate one workflow, not every workflow. Depth insight: The same principle applies to careers — depth and clarity beat breadth and distraction.

4. Speed is the new moat.
Buyers don’t want demos. They want value in under 5 minutes.

Takeaway: If your product doesn’t prove itself instantly, customers will move on. Patience is gone — from products, but also from leadership decisions. Move fast, or lose momentum.

5. The agent era has begun.
Klarna’s AI bot replaced 700 staff.
Over 10,000 doctors now use AI scribes.

Takeaway: AI won’t just help us — it will do whole jobs. Leaders will need to manage AI agents like junior colleagues — setting goals, monitoring, retraining.

6. AI moats are shallow.
Features are cloned fast — open and closed-source breakthroughs lag by months, not years.

Takeaway: You can’t rely on the model as your competitive edge. Defensibility will come from workflow design, proprietary data, and above all — user trust.

7. The trust test is the new Turing test.
GPT-4.5 passed as human 73% of the time.

Takeaway: Scale is possible, but brand trust is fragile. In a world where everything can be generated, authenticity becomes the only real moat.

8. ROI is the last standing objection.
Adoption is skyrocketing, but profits are murky. Even leaders are burning billions.

Takeaway: If you’re building AI, lead with proof of impact. If you’re buying, start small and scale what works. Hype won’t pay the bills — measurable returns will.

- Gavin

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For founders, one of the hardest things about building something from nothing…
is learning when to stop building — and start letting go.

I’ve seen founders reach that point many times.
And I’ve been there myself.

At first, control feels like discipline.
You tell yourself, “I need to be involved in everything.”
You believe that being across every decision keeps the company safe — when, in reality, it keeps it small.

Because somewhere along the way, the thing you built starts outgrowing you.
And instead of scaling the company, you start containing it.

It’s not pride sometiems. It’s fear.
The fear that if you loosen your grip, you’ll lose relevance.
The fear that someone else might run it better.
Or that the story that began with you… might no longer need you.

But real leadership isn’t about being needed.
It’s about designing a system that doesn’t depend on you to function.
It’s about growing something strong enough to survive your absence.

I’ve watched founders handle this two ways.
👉🏻 Some cling tighter — their approval becomes the bottleneck, their instinct becomes resistance.
👉🏻 Others evolve — they learn to trust structure, process, and people.
They stop micromanaging and start mentoring.
They shift from driving the business… to shaping it.

That transition is invisible to most people — but it’s the real (and sometimes painful) mindset shift for a founder - on the path to become a true leader.

If you’re a founder or an investor in a growing company — pause for a moment.

Look closely at what’s driving your decisions today.
Are you still growing the company… or are you protecting your position inside it?

Because there’s a quiet moment in every business where progress turns into preservation —
and that’s when growth starts to die quietly in the background.

The companies that endure are the ones led by people brave enough to evolve…
even when it means letting go of the very thing that made them powerful.

What’s harder for a founder to let go of — control, pride, or identity?

- Gavin

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#FounderEvolution hashtag
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In Asia, "ghost board" is not uncommon. 

Last week I was invited to sit in a board meeting in Bangkok. 
It's eerily harmonious. 

Everyone’s polite.
Everyone’s accomplished.
And yet, nobody’s really saying what needs to be said.

Founders champion.
Investors observe.
Directors nod.

On the surface, it looks like alignment.
In reality, it’s a theatre of governance - with undercurrent.

I’ve been both — the founder on one side, and the investor on the other.
And the truth is: both sides are often scared.

Founders fear losing control of their narrative.
Investors fear being the difficult one who breaks the calm.
So everyone talks around the problem instead of through it.

That’s how promising companies drift —
not because they lacked money or vision,
but because nobody in the room had the courage to speak uncomfortable truth - early enough.

That's exactly when a board can play a critical role. 

The best boards don’t need to dominate — they guide without bias, challenge without hostility, and see patterns the founder can’t.

When a board works, it feels like a thinking partnership.
When it doesn’t, it feels like bureaucracy disguised as advice.

In Asia, this is still evolving.
Too many boards exist to approve, not to advise.
To protect status quo, not sharpen direction.

But the startups that truly scale — the ones that become institutions —
all have one thing in common:
a board that acts like a guiding coach, not a committee.

“What truth are we avoiding right now?” They often ask. 

That’s when the real work begins.
When the masks drop.
When founders have aha moments.
When investors stop posturing.

What’s the one uncomfortable question your board should be asking right now — but isn’t?

- Gavin

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In Asia, I’ve watched great founders turn defensive, even destructive, when investor alignment broke down.

The first argument between founders and investors rarely happens in the boardroom.

It happens in the spreadsheet.
Revenue forecasts. 
Burn rates. 
Valuation and exit pressures.

The founder sees vision.
The investor sees math.
Both are right — and both are looking for a common ground.

Here’s the deeper truth:
Most founder–investor conflicts aren’t just about results.
They’re about rhythm.

The founder is playing the long game — obsessed with legacy, momentum, and the next horizon.
The investor is reporting quarterly — focused on discipline, clarity, and protecting capital.

One’s driven by conviction.
The other by validation.

The best founders learn to measure progress without shrinking their dream.
The best investors I’ve seen translate ambition into accountability — without killing belief.

5 practical moves to achieve this goal:
1. Translate Vision into Metrics
Sit down quarterly. Founder leads the “why.” Both define the “how to measure.”
Walk out with one shared story, two columns: vision + KPIs.

2. Build Dual Dashboards
Run two scoreboards side-by-side:
• Growth (users, brand, expansion)
• Governance (burn, margin, cash)
Review both monthly — no decision if one goes dark.

3. Agree on Non-Negotiables
Founders list 3 red lines (e.g. no mission dilution).
Investors list 3 (e.g. no governance blind spots).
Put it in writing — revisit every 6 months.

4. Hold Pulse Checks
15-minute sync mid-quarter.
No slides. One question:
“Are we still aligned on rhythm?”
Prevents big misalignment later.

5. Co-Author the Narrative
After each board, founder writes vision, investor writes evidence.
One internal memo — one message.
Story + numbers = trust.

But rhythm is a choice.
You can always choose to tune before the music stops.

- Gavin

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The Hidden Role of Executive Search in Scale-ups

Executive search in a scale-up isn’t about recruitment.
It’s about risk management.

When a company hits Series B or C, every new leader either protects enterprise value — or destroys it.

I’ve sat on both sides:
The founder wants someone who “gets it.”
The investor wants someone who can run it.
And somewhere between those two worlds is the person who can actually scale it.

In one Series C search, the brief wasn’t “Find me a CEO.”
It was “Find me someone the founder can trust — and the board can believe in.”

Skills were easy to check.
But the real test was chemistry, emotional maturity, and timing.
Because you’re not just hiring for execution —
you’re designing the next phase of governance.

What Smart Founders and Investors Do Differently ⚙️

1️⃣ Define the next chapter, not just the role.
Clarity on where the company is going shapes who you need — not the other way around.

2️⃣ Hire one phase ahead.
The best leaders can handle the next 18 months, not just the current quarter.

3️⃣ Run the founder–fit test early.
Don’t wait for chemistry issues post-hire — build trust during the search.

4️⃣ Split ownership clearly.
Founders lead vision, new hires lead systems — and both report truth to the board.

5️⃣ Onboard with alignment, not paperwork.
Use the first 60 days to sync culture and expectations — not just sign contracts.

The best searches don’t replace founders — they protect what made them and the company successful.
Hire for continuity.

- Gavin

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Do you ever feel “technical fatigue” as an HR leader?

Last week I met a HR friend in Singapore  who put it perfectly.
She told me: “Every CV now I see is stacked with AI skills. But I still don’t know who these people really are.”

That’s the fatigue.
Not a shortage of skills.
A long list of technical AI jargons.

Because in 2025, technical skills are multiplying faster than we can count.
Everyone knows the tools. 
True - they are important. 
So everyone can drop the right acronyms.

But here’s the truth:
AI can already write the code.
It can crunch the data.
It can even design the workflow.

What it can’t do is to be "human".
It can’t rebuild trust when culture cracks.
It can’t hold a team together when two smart people clash.
It can’t make a hard decision when the spreadsheet doesn’t give the answer.

That’s why the AI leaders are expected to not only deliver results but also lead... humanly.

The more powerful our technology becomes, the more valuable our humanity gets.
Make sure to showcase that in your CV, profile or bio.

👉 If technical fatigue is real… what human strength will you double down on to stay irreplaceable?

- Gavin

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The Fragile Middle (0→1 vs. 1→10 vs. 10→100)

Most startups don’t die at zero.
They die in the middle.

At 0→1, everyone’s a builder.
Speed matters more than structure.
You hire missionaries, not mercenaries.
Every win feels like a miracle.

At 1→10, momentum arrives.
You start hiring specialists, building functions, tightening focus.
Meetings appear. Processes emerge.
Chaos slowly gets organized.

At 10→100, the business demands systems.
Governance, predictability, structure — everything investors love.
But that’s when something else breaks.

I’ve helped companies move from startup to scale-up, then to growth, and eventually pre-IPO.

And the most fragile stage isn’t the start —
it’s that messy, awkward scale-up → pre-IPO transition (10→100).

Because that’s when:

The company outgrows its early heroes but hasn’t yet attracted institutional leaders.
Every process feels half-built.
Everyone’s learning on the job — under investor pressure.

It’s long, scrappy, and brutally exposed.
Because for the first time, you’re building the plane while flying toward the runway.

That’s why this stage kills momentum more often than the early chaos.
The skill set that got you here — creativity, speed, hustle — now needs to evolve into discipline, clarity, and governance.
And most teams underestimate that evolution.

Here are 5 ways to navigate the messy middle 🚀
🔥 1. Build your bridge team.
Hire a few people who’ve scaled before — they’ll turn chaos into order without killing speed.

🧭 2. Write things down early.
Don’t wait to “get organized later.”
Document what works now so new hires don’t start from zero.

⚙️ 3. Balance growth and control.
Keep chasing growth, but make sure someone’s watching burn, cash, and compliance.

🧩 4. Make board talks useful.
Stop reciting updates — talk about what’s changing, what’s breaking, and what help you need.

💬 5. Communicate more than feels necessary.
The moment you think “everyone knows,” they don’t.
Keep repeating direction until it sticks.

What stage are you really leading right now: 0→1, 1→10, or 10→100? What's that one small win you can get this month. Small wins compound faster than perfect plans. 

- Gavin

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