Arun Kumar (Cyara)
Passion for technology developed at an early stage for Cyara’s director of channels, Arun Kumar, who started his IT career learning ‘agile’ and ‘lean’ development with a IT security-business start-up, but not before holding some serious records (still) in up-sells and pizza slicing at his local Dominio’s outlet during his teenage years.
What was your first job?
My first job was working at Domino’s during high school. At a young age, I was hungry for the freedom and responsibilities of the world of work. While it certainly wasn’t the most glamorous, it provided me with a slice of experience in commercials, dealing with suppliers and managing customer satisfaction.
I still check in with the local store every few years to see if my two records – of up-sells and pizzas slicing – have been broken. I’m yet to be disappointed in those arenas but I still practice my pizza slicing – just in case.
How did you get started in the IT industry and progress to where you are today?
My passion for technology developed early on through a love for gaming and gadgets which continues to this day. While at university I joined a start-up IT security business, as its second employee – and the rest is history. I didn’t realise it at the time but the early leanings I gained in ‘agile’ and ‘lean’ development were the foundations to my career – serving as lessons in the realities of doing business today.
Getting started with real-world business building experience early put me in good stead to fast track my career and work with some of the world’s most respected consulting firms like KPMG and Gartner. Rubbing shoulders with amazing entrepreneurs every day, and building strategies that would turn their software into the next big thing.
My passion for working with emerging Australian technology firms and helping them scale to their true potential has guided my career choices to date. From building an Aussie startup software company with Bryte Systems to now working with Cyara to help turn the firm into Australia’s next big tech success story.
What are some of your plans for the company in the coming months?
My role at Cyara is to rapidly scale and build alliances and partner ecosystems. Over the next few months, I plan to reinforce our channel alliances with leading tech firms and enable new partners to be successful with Cyara’s platform.
The whole of the APAC region is of interest to us, representing a greenfield opportunity for Cyara to penetrate and be successful in new markets. For example, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea are really interesting as they share similar characteristics with markets like Australia and the US where Cyara has been extremely successful.
We’ll be looking to establish a presence in these markets as we believe Cyara has a very strong value proposition and can assist organisations in these countries in providing automated, world-class personalised customer experiences at scale to their customer base.
What has been your biggest business mistake, and the lessons you've learnt from that experience?
For most of my career, I have either worked with start-ups or been involved in creating new business lines for established firms.
My biggest business mistake early on was actually the fear of making mistakes. I started to be more successful when I realised that making mistakes, failing fast, and trying again is what drives great innovation and invention.
I now take a very scientific approach to business. I think about new processes or innovations as a series of experiments. I have a hypothesis, which I then try to prove or disprove via experimentation to see what works. Fail fast, learn fast, iterate, improve and then on to the next one!
What are some of your ambitions -- personally and professionally?
Professionally, I’m extremely passionate about Australian tech start-ups and emerging firms. Based on my experiences, a good number of Australian software companies are unable to turn a vastly superior product into the industry-standard or market leader due to factors such as having limited access to world-class funding, marketing and operational expertise.
Things are starting to change with companies like Atlassian and now Cyara, but I’m determined to be part of this shift. I want to support our entrepreneurs go global.
Personally, I like to keep things simple. Having this mindset allows me to appreciate, enjoy and have fun in what I do. One of my key personal ambitions is to invest some more time exploring this with my ongoing yoga, meditation, and mindfulness practice. Some other personal areas that I’d like to focus on also include more time at the tennis court, the beach, and with my extended family.
What has been the best piece of advice you've ever received?
A quote by Emily Dickinson, shared by one of my mentors: “We never know how high we are, till we are called to rise; And then, if we are true to plan, our stature touches the skies”.
