The other side of the table
- Juliet joined the male-dominated hedge fund and investment industry immediately after graduating in 2011. Her desire to understand the nuances of running a business, and to connect with real entrepreneurs led to her move to venture capital, and eventually, 500-backed used car company Carsome.
- “I felt like, if I have never run a business before, who am I to judge whether a company is running well or not? Who am I, as an investor, to make investment decisions and give really critical advice on a board level to entrepreneurs?”
- Juliet became Carsome’s CFO in 2019. “[At that time], the company was selling 3,000 cars a month. In 2022, we sold more than 150,000 cars, achieving a revenue of US$1.5 billion (RM7.1 billion), further extending our market leadership in the region. This year, we’re aiming to surpass that and it has been quite the journey.”
- While she thought were ambitious visions for Carsome, the company has grown way beyond her aspirations. She has since learnt that visions need to constantly evolve and she is always looking ahead, chasing the next goal.
- “When I first started, I wanted to grow the business to be operationally rigorous, with a 5% margin profit. Today, we are in five countries, operationally profitable and making close to a 10% margin with a 4,000-strong tea,” she shares.
- How does she feel about her journey thus far? “It’s very stressful. It never stops being stressful. But it’s [like building a] muscle, you build and get better at it, and you get stronger, both from an intellectual aspect as well as emotional aspect, as a person. More importantly, it’s been a really exciting journey.”
- Read the full interview on The Edge Malaysia.
