The Asia Tech Podcast had the pleasure of catching up with Mat Ward, the Founder, and CEO at Workmate. I have now known Mat for almost a decade and first had him on the show back in February 2019. I had him on the show again almost a year ago, literally just before lockdowns due to COVID-19 began in his home city of Singapore and my home city of Bangkok. That episode was filled with optimism (Mat is an optimistic guy, but a realist as well.) and you could not hear a tinge of doom or worry in either of our voices. Neither one of us could have predicted how difficult 2020 would become. I wanted to catch up with Mat because he has always been a voice of reason in a world filled with unnecessary noise and bluster. After the tumult of 2020, I wanted a real opinion from someone I trusted about the impact of COVID-19 on a well-funded and growing business. Topics we covered in this episode: We jumped right into a discussion on COVID Who benefitted, who did not Workmate grew a lot (doubled!) but not in the verticals that the team initially expected How COVID impacted staff and management from an emotional standpoint Face to face management versus remote work and management How culture gets maintained Managing through his first crisis The impact on funding Rolling out a significant new product Follow Michael Waitze and the Asia Tech Podcast here: Facebook – Michael Waitze Facebook – Asia Tech Podcast LinkedIn – Michael Waitze Twitter – Michael Waitze Asia Tech Podcast is powered by Podcast Network Asia. For more information on the shows and the network, visit Podcast Network Asia at their website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram. DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed by the podcast creators, hosts, and guests do not necessarily reflect the official policy and position of Podcast Network Asia. Any content provided by the people on the podcast are of their own opinion, and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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