“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John C. Maxwell, celebrated American author, professional speaker and business trainer.
Regardless of the industry or the size of the organization, good leadership skills are crucial to business success. In small and medium enterprises, the entrepreneurial and leadership skills of business owners and managers are especially important because their roles are often more hands-on, more visible, and more accessible to their employees than those of their counterparts in larger organizations.
With a belief that technology and hi-tech products can make the world a better place Asokan Ashok is leading the industry by taking Innovation to Ideation to Real World Products. With more than 25 years of experience as his guide and motivation, Ashok is currently the CEO of UnfoldLabs Inc., a company that focuses on creating innovative products and solutions for the technology industry.
Ashok is also on the Board of Advisors of SoftClouds, Enterpret Communications, neXva and Rewind. His passion for emerging technologies and for nurturing the next generation of world-shaping ideas has led him to serve as a member of the Executive Committee of TiE South Coast Chapter.
Prior to the inception of UnfoldLabs, Ashok held a variety of senior technology management positions in renowned companies like Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson and Compaq (HP), as well as several startups. He is a serial entrepreneur and pioneering inventor.
Navigating Ups and Downs to Become an Industry Leader
For Ashok, starting UnfoldLabs was a major challenge from the very start. While he had a great idea and a plan to make it work, he did not have the people to help him realize that vision. His first and most challenging task was to find the right people with the right attitude to form his core team.
Ashok handpicked individuals who shared his mindset of unwavering commitment, a love for technology, passion for innovation and a zeal for injecting fresh ideas into the market through high-quality products.
Hard work and patience define the character of Ashok. He acknowledges that it took him considerable time to build the successful team at UnfoldLabs, but that the positive outcomes that have manifested as a result show that it was a positive and worthwhile process.
Ashok is an innovator, a strategist, and a leading technologist, ever curious about technology and its future. Anything with the potential to advance and benefit society through innovative advancements and unique solutions fascinates him.
He is also skilled strategist and has been instrumental in crafting the most effective campaigns of UnfoldLabs.
An Innovative Firm Leading the Mobile and Cloud-based Technology Sector
Based in San Diego, California, UnfoldLabs is a pioneering strategic products development company that specializes in technologies around mobile, cloud and data platforms. UnfoldLabs has an agile innovations team specializing in mobile, cloud and new product development/ideation, which guides and assists enterprises from the pure ideation stage to complete product development and marketing. This approach has resulted in a high level of success in the US market.
“With disruptive technologies coming out each day, it is imperative that we get ideas out there on time, with the right user experience and innovation in products to capture the imagination of consumers,” says Ashok. The professionals at UnfoldLabs help clients to capture emerging technology trends early so they can leverage them for greater business success.
Some of the next generation mobile products that UnfoldLabs has launched are RedGreen, MobileSwitch, UnfoldPrints, and 2020Wallet, all under the watchful guidance of Ashok.
In less than two years since inception, UnfoldLabs has been recognized with two awards – the Fierce Innovation Awards in Cloud Services for their industry leading product, MobileSwitch – that provides a simple, smart and super-fast way to transfer data between mobile devices, and was a CTIA eTech Awards Finalist for RedGreen – a product that addresses some core issues with Android such as performance, battery, application management and data security.
“Recognized for Innovation by industry leading experts makes me feel awesome, thrilled and excited to create more ground-breaking products,” says Ashok.
Who Inspires this Strategic Leader and What Keeps him Motivated?
Like any successful entrepreneur, Ashok has multiple sources of inspiration and motivation. He says that he really admires Elon Musk for his thought leadership and motivation skills. Ashok also looks up to Steve Jobs for his user experience attitude and willingness to bring innovation into the world by taking the road less traveled.
Remarkable moment from Asokan Ashok’s entrepreneurial life
Ashok says that one of the most remarkable moments in his early life as a technologist was the release of their one-of-a-kind telecom project, a subscriber carrier system. He says, “I was very proud to be part of a team that produced an extremely imaginative and trail-blazing subscriber carrier system.”
Ashok says he gets the same feeling whenever any of his other innovative products receive that level of widespread acclaim.
Advice to Budding Entrepreneurs from the Strategic Innovator
New businesses are springing up all over the world at an unprecedented rate. We see some very creative and innovative products invented by some of the most inventive minds on the planet. These budding entrepreneurs need to bring a new vision into the world and be prepared to nurture their business with innovations at each step. Novelty is the key. A businessman needs to understand that any product is just not for a specific society, city or country. This innovation and business is for the welfare of the world.