Yuying Deng is the founder of Esevel, a full-stack IT platform that makes world-class IT accessible to startups and SMEs in Asia-Pacific. Esevel has grown revenue 30x since the beginning of 2021, with investors like Kickstart, Iterative, and more.

👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

We are an IT platform that helps companies with distributed teams manage their people, IT devices and software applications across eight countries in Asia Pacific.

Think of us as an extension of your IT team, especially in places where you don't have an IT person on the ground.

We help you perform necessary functions such as onboarding/offboarding employees, procuring and managing devices, getting repair/helpdesk support and more. Basically, things that are necessary to keep your team productive but are still grunt work that no one in your company wants to do.

Best of all, we do this in a way that is cost-efficient, flexible and provides a great employee experience.

🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

It sounds unsexy, but what we do really well at Esevel is automating and streamlining.

We're transforming IT from a fragmented service offering that's mostly an afterthought into a streamlined SaaS solution that just works, no matter which countries your employees are in.

We're building automated workflows around day-to-day tasks like employee onboarding and offboarding, laptop provisioning, policy creation and more. We also give decisionmakers a bird's eye view of the IT environment.

This leaves IT managers time to focus on value-add tasks like security, actual troubleshooting, etc.

🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

Seeing how Esevel has become integrated into so many of our customers' day-to-day operations in just 11 short months.

We've been very fortunate to have customers who trusted us from the outset and used our solution to solve issues they'd been experiencing with IT procurement, onboarding/boarding, as well as IT management and support.

🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?‍

There are two trends I'm watching closely lately.

One is the increased momentum towards distributed work. Employers recognize (rightly so) that providing work flexibility helps them attract and retain the best talent. So even with the end of COVID in sight, employers are still moving to hire overseas and provide hybrid or remote work options.

The second is the accelerated adoption of SaaS solutions in APAC. There's been a major move away from proprietary software. Companies these days, depending on size, are using between 10 to 500 SaaS apps and need automation to run those apps efficiently.

These trends impact the space we are in.

💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry?

If you're thinking of starting your own business, you're much more likely to be successful if you do it for the right reasons.

There are easier ways to earn good money or be part of the startup ecosystem compared to going through the slog and heartache of being an entrepreneur.

But if you're doing it because you really care about changing your customers' lives, you are much more likely to tough out the inevitable downs, and stick with it for the silver lining that may, just may, come through in the end.

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🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours?

My kids. I have three, aged 3, 5 and 10. They fight a lot — it's like a mini Game of Thrones in my living room in the evenings. But they are also very close. I'm so grateful to have a front-row seat watching them grow up.  

🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show?

King Richard. It's about Richard Williams, the father and coach of Venus and Serena Williams. Lots of correlation between his vision, hustle and dedication that we go through as entrepreneurs.

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?‍

Smoked whisky. My absolute favorite flavor from a gelato lab near my home.