The role of leadership is crucial in shaping the future of the technology sector, where innovation drives progress and new ventures constantly emerge. This industry thrives on the ability to integrate innovative solutions with entrepreneurial vision, pushing boundaries to create impactful advancements. Technological evolution increases the demand for leaders who can sail across complex challenges and fosters growth, ensuring that organizations remain competitive and responsive to market shifts.
Amy Jiang, Vice President of Velvix, is a leading figure in this field known for her exceptional leadership and forward-thinking approach. She is committed to empowering teams and guiding them through periods of change and growth. Her focus on inclusivity and mentorship highlights her dedication to creating environments where individuals can thrive and contribute meaningfully. She has influenced the technology sector by blending her global experience with a strategic mindset, driving transformative initiatives that align with both industry trends and organizational goals. She is guided by her Christian faith, which deeply shapes her approach to work, relationships, and life. Amy’s values influence her commitment to excellence, her respect for others and her positive attitude in every situation.
Velvix is a prominent player in the technology sector. The company’s focus on innovation and expansion under her guidance underscores its role in advancing technological solutions and scaling its impact globally. Her leadership continues to propel Velvix towards new opportunities, solidifying its position as a key contributor to the industry’s evolution.
Let’s see how this trailblazer is revolutionizing technology and driving innovation with unmatched vision!
Journey Through Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Amy was personally interested in the technology-related industry as she was always curious to face and embrace changes and self-challenges. She completed her high school studies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and then pursued a graduation degree in Australia.
She started her first entrepreneurship during university studies, establishing three stores selling kids clothes across the Newcastle region. Amy moved to Sydney for her first job in Aristocrat, and then, partially because of work, she traveled to 26 countries before the age of 30. After leaving Sydney, Amy established a start-up mobile app company in Hong Kong at the age of 30. In 2019, Amy joined XSGroup as Vice President and established Velvix in 2020.
Amy shares, “The technology industry has been perceived as dominated by men, and this has inspired me to challenge that women can excel in this industry and bring more of my multi-national personal experience to pursue higher achievement.”
Strategizing Growth and Scaling Markets
As Vice President at Velvix, Amy is responsible for setting up a corporation strategy based on market expansion scalability and internal resource allocation, potentially looking out for partnering or synergy-enhanced M&A opportunities. Besides managing daily operations, her key role is to escort Velvix towards a long-term perspective. Recently, Velvix has funded a cornerstone investment into a listed company to open up potential markets in Europe.
Amy coordinates resources according to the advantages of the global talent pool, ensuring that Velvix collaborates across regions to achieve the most cost-effective and corresponding human resource allocation.
For market development, Amy evaluates markets from the perspectives of scalability, potential growth, branding, etc. Velvix has Tier-I markets like the US, with high barriers of entry but high return; Tier-II markets such as Europe, Australia, the Philippines, etc.; some of them are easy to deal with. Amy is also attentive to the trends and rise of emerging markets like South Korea and Thailand and is ready to adjust and optimize the resources invested at any time.
Empowering Global Teams
Describing her leadership style, Amy shares, “I am a person who believes in empowerment.” “No one is perfect, but teamwork, cooperation, and experience can lead to more output and personal growth opportunities,” she added. Amy makes efforts to understand the working culture and communication methods of international teams as much as possible and give them enough space to try and grow. She introduced processes as well as performance appraisals, ensuring there is enough measurement and monitoring facilitation when the team is growing larger. Amy shares, “I would like to be a friend and coach of my team.”
In addition, Amy shares, “If I already know what to do next, I will prefer to spend time and lead the conversation in order for my subordinate to come up with the idea, so that he or she can have more ownership and sense of achievement.” “If my subordinate makes a mistake, I will allow 20% fault tolerance because it will become a precious experience for them,” she added. When it comes to critical and quick decisions to make, Amy uses veto power if direction is going completely wrong so the team could not waste the company’s resources trying and erroring.
Leading Start-ups Through Growth and Sustainability
“Finding the right core team, growing with them, and making sure sharing the same vision is key to start-up business,” Amy stated. Start-up businesses experience more unexpected challenges compared with mature organizations. Amy believes, “Being part of the team is crucial while facing a tremendous amount of pressure, because the team needs to know that their leader is with them and will face all the difficulties together.” “I am there to help, not to judge,” she added.
When start-ups are transforming into mature businesses, demand for human resources becomes incrementally crucial, both in quantity and quality. Amy believes, “The key to maintaining a ‘talent pool’ is setting up operational standard of process (SOP) and measurable standards.” It includes coding infrastructure, SOP development, QA test cases, quarterly KPIs, etc. When overall employment headcount increases, management needs to keep monitoring and optimizing the above SOP and standards and deploy similar conduct across multiple regions and businesses and adjust accordingly to suit each sector.
Strategy for Efficient Resource Allocation and Growth
Amy drives efficiency and growth within Velvix by maximizing the advantages of multinational teams in terms of cost and region-specific experience or scalability potential. Velvix has a core R&D team in Sydney to focus on mathematics, game design, platform, and frontend infrastructure; hardware development based in Taiwan since it is closer to a manufacturer supplier in order to test QA and manage fitting adjustments; an art center in China for cost and quality efficiency; and a sales and technician team in Los Angeles to reach out to its customers and receive first-hand feedback.
Turning Regional Differences into Corporate Strength
Velvix has offices in the US, Australia, Taiwan, and China. Amy shares, “My personal experience has taught me that utilizing talents from globally can bring regional benefits as well as flexibility to the corporate.” The challenge is beyond managing larger teams but how to create synergies from each output division.
Amy recognized that regional differences cannot be ignored. Her global experience has helped her know that this difference may become a potential risk, increasing communication costs, but once processes are developed and SOPs are operated mature enough, it can be very beneficial to the company, such as employment stability and clear division of responsibility.
Balancing a High-Powered Career and Personal Well-Being
Amy shares, “My understanding of work-life balance does not refer to a balance, but in simple terms, it means facing every task in life, big or small, with all our heart and soul.” “Do not overestimate or over expect, nor slight or ignorant. I highly appreciate and value the rewards from work as well as life has given me,” she added.
The pressure is tremendous while managing multinational businesses. Amy always ensures that she has enough energy and health to optimize her daily performance. Even during her business trips, sometimes with heavy jet- lag, Amy makes sure that she hits the gym before the beginning of the day or even just some work out in the hotel room. Amy strictly avoids drinking coffee as she feels that her body has already gotten used to staying energetic without caffeine. She likes to listen to rock music, play drums, and draw paintings, which gives her heart flow to get ready for more challenges ahead.
Staying Ahead of the Curve
Amy shares, “To stay informed about the latest trends and developments in the industry, I read news, blogs, trade shows, panels, and talk to people—whether they are from different industries, C-suite executives, board of directors, or practical roles like field technicians or distributors.” “Listen more and talk from a fair exchange point; everyone can inspire us,” she added.
Amy believes, “Creating exposure for Velvix is important to build awareness of branding and get people to know the company.” When Velvix was established, its team made efforts for sponsoring events and advertising in industry publications. Subsequently, many companies, partners, and media are now actively reaching out to Velvix, creating a platform to stay tuned. Amy highlighted, “I will be very delighted when the readers of ‘Women Times Magazine’ can recognize Velvix through this article.”
Aspiring Leaders in the Technology and Gaming Industries
Amy advises aspiring leaders to absorb as much as they can through all circumstances and opportunities given. She used to work in large corporations such as Aristocrat (ASX: ALL), where she learned about corporate structure, industry knowledge, cross-departmental processes, and responsibility division. When Amy started her start-up company, she learned about setting up new businesses, sourcing core talents, fund raising, financial forecasts and projections, etc.
Amy remarks, “Technology and gaming sectors are not that unique, so for anyone who would like to excel in the sectors, make sure you have yourself prepared.” “Of course, there is some uniqueness, making sure we keep ourselves ahead of changes and be respectful toward regulations and compliance,” she added.
Amy asserted that the technology and gaming industry is a male-dominated industry, and she believes her effort will inspire more women leaders to excel in this industry.
Driving global expansion and diversifying product offerings
From the beginning of receiving funding, Velvix took only three years to build an R&D team, receiving regulatory licenses all the way to selling and installing products in the US, which was the biggest obstacle for market entry. Velvix has also been nominated as “Product of the Year” at the Global Gaming Awards for three consecutive years in a row.
Amy shares, “My future career goal is to bring Velvix to the next level—from the US to Europe and Asia—in perspective of market penetration and broaden Velvix’s product spectrum, from offline to online.” For that, Amy is actively sourcing global talents, ensuring Velvix’s internal process maintains its high level of efficiency. “I am open to merger and acquisition potentials as well as partnering opportunities,” she quoted.
