Following is an Interview between The Business Fame Magazine and Asokan Ashok, who shares his journey and contribution through UnfoldLabs Inc.
Q. Being a successful business leader, what difficulties and challenges do you face? What keeps you motivated?
UnfoldLabs Inc., based in Sunny San Diego, California was formed in 2015 by Entrepreneurial & Innovation leadership experts to bring creative technology solutions to the world. The most challenging task during the initial days was building a cohesive team that can think, create and innovates on technology products. The team is the most important asset to UnfoldLabs today, with which we have delivered a lot of innovative products.
The technology landscape keeps changing and that is what keeps me motivated to be on the cusp of happenings around the industry. The very thought of helping humanity and the ecosystem with technology motivates me to do better every day.
Q. Brief us about the CEO/Founder of the company.
Founded by Asokan Ashok in 2015, with a mindset of innovative & strategic product development in the areas of mobile & cloud technologies, UnfoldLabs today is one of the leading technology companies in America. In 2018, just 3 years since its inception, UnfoldLabs secured 4 awards in ranging from top mobility to the most innovative companies.
Ashok has over 30+ years of International Experience in High Technology sectors, developing Software and Communication Systems. He is a respected Speaker at International Conferences on Technology. He authors Technology and Visionary articles for leading Magazines around the World. He certainly disrupts the usual mindset of the industry as he never resists himself from doing the Unthinkable. This Zeal drives him and the innovative team @UnfoldLabs to come up with technology products & solutions that are useful to the world.
Q. What are the different products and services offered by Company?
We focus on real world/user problems and then create a solution that is technologically advanced and has the best user experience. The team strives for continuous learning that keeps us updated with trends and developing innovative products/ solutions. Each of our products project creative and innovative thinking to give best solutions for mankind.
During the past 4+ years, the team at UnfoldLabs innovated and delivered multiple products including:
- Our Android Speed Booster, RedGreen – has reached over 500K+ downloads and has received many awards for being an innovative product.
- 2020Applock, our android applications locker with amazing features has over 100k+ downloads.
- MyFamily – Our creative digital parenting platform on Android, iOS and Web gave us happy users for making their life easier, better and simpler.
- SecureME – An Android Launcher that helps businesses secure devices in innovative ways, brought us extraordinary feedback from the business community.
- uFallAlert – that helps and protects the elderly & workers from falls.
- unfoldQuotes – Best Android & iOS application with a wide collection/variety of quotes to keep users inspired and motivated.
- DistanceD – An android based Perfect Distance Calculator that helps find users nearby and/or helps people to practice social distancing.
Q. Tell us about the notable milestones in the company’s journey.
We have had a wonderful journey with awesome memories and amazing products. Here are a few that made our company and employees proud.
- One of our products, RedGreen reached 500K+ downloads on Google Play.
- UnfoldLabs was selected as one of the “25 Innovative Companies to Watch” by The Chief Guest.
- Our CEO, Asokan Ashok was recognized as “World’s 10 Most Successful Entrepreneurs Making a Difference 2021” by World’s Leaders.
- Our CEO, Asokan Ashok was listed in “Top 50 Global Thought Leaders on Entrepreneurship” by Thinkers360.
- UnfoldLabs was honored and featured as “The Industry Disruptors Redefining Innovation-2021” by CIOLook, a Global Business Innovation Authority & Platform.
- Asokan Ashok, our CEO was honored as the “Entrepreneur of the Year 2020” in the 17th Annual International Business Awards from Stevie Awards.
- UnfoldLabs was listed as “The Most Admired Companies of the Year 2020” by the Enterprise World Magazine.
- UnfoldLabs was selected as one of the “20+ San Diego Companies to Watch in 2020” by SanDiego Bootcamps.
- Asokan Ashok, CEO of UnfoldLabs was nominated as “The Best Technology Leader 2019” by Top Tech Awards.
Q. What is your opinion regarding the current landscape of the market your company caters to?
The technology industry is one of the major sectors around the world that is growing and is full of opportunities for professional success. Having said that, this industry is also an ever-changing industry.
Working in the tech industry allows us to work with an optimistic workforce filled with passion, motivation, and inspiration. Technology promotes innovation, creativity, and development, encouraging our team to think of new aspects to life and see amazing newer possibilities to make an impact to the world and human beings.
Q. How do you motivate your team to be innovative and productive at work?
“Great Learning Culture Always Builds A Great Company” – UnfoldLabs strongly believes and always resonates with this thought. The path towards continuous learning at UnfoldLabs is the key contributor for our innovation, growth, and success. The management team doesn’t think twice when the employees need to work on a risky solution and innovate. Failures are encouraged and team is educated that every failure is a step towards success. Action on creative ideas is promoted, and an innovative & productive culture is encouraged. As with continuous learning and innovation, team has a lot of discovery sessions with Brown Bag & Learn with Fun sessions.
Employees are our greatest asset. Our employees have the liberty to express their views at any point of time, feel empowered to making decisions and feel a sense of ownership. Projecting how important their contribution in a project and how it makes a difference, impact to the lives of our users makes them feel that they are not doing a 9-5 job. This appreciation and motivation gives them a chance to grow and stay inspired.
Q. How do you maintain a productive work culture at a company while motivating your employees?
Be the change you want to see in this world, is my motto, because what the CEO does and says is more impactful and cascades through the company and beyond. Well beyond in today’s digital era!
Though I might lead and act as a backbone for the company, the team is always at the forefront. All credits go to the team and the people behind the product wins. If there is a loss, I personally own the loss. Our management team is always in touch with our employees to make sure they are comfortable, happy and content with their work and making sure that we have a wonderful workplace.
UnfoldLabs has been built with a culture of openness where in anyone can knock at anybody’s desk, including the management team, to brainstorm and collaborate with. We don’t believe in micromanaging and like to give space, freedom, and empowerment to our team members to innovate and think creatively.
UnfoldLabs is very much inclined to have each employee work on their “learning curve” and continue growing their skill set. Various kinds of training sessions, brown-bags, online cloud learning courses and innovation weeks are conducted regularly for employees. We believe that talent and luck might happen by chance, but learning is a skill that can only be attained with diligence.
Q. What are your future plans for the company? Where do you see the company in the years to come?
My goal has always been to take a more innovative position in the industry with creative products towards humanity with products that provide an unmatched customer experience. We also envision UnfoldLabs striving to enhance the customer journey through our products with enhanced user experience. Our aim is always to contribute towards making the world a better place to live by using technology, driving technology products and solutions to the masses.
We see UnfoldLabs making its deep entry into technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing and Predictive Analytics with a good 360 degree understanding of our products & its users. We strongly believe in diversity – in terms of culture, gender and location – which will help us bring in amazing products. The plan is to have UnfoldLabs grow & glow to be a 200+ employee company in the next 2-3 years. We will also launch more revolutionary solutions that can transform and simplify lives around the world.
Q. What is your advice to budding and aspiring entrepreneurs?
Everyone was once a beginner, and no one succeeds immediately. If you look closely, most overnight successes take a long time. Have a vision, believe in yourself and your team, and don’t be afraid to invest time in your company and people. Set goals, remind them to yourself each day as you wake up and learn from mistakes – this makes sure you are more focused and successful as an emerging entrepreneur.
