Sumit Kumar Gupta: Engaging Users By Bridging Industry Gaps
Sumit Kumar Gupta
Chief Product Officer
A hands-on business cum technology leader with more than two decades of professional experience, umit Kumar Gupta, Chief Product Officer & Head of IGO/IMO(Meta-Launch) with Asva Labs is best known for his keen focus on ground-up product innovation and is also a strategic advisor to multiple consulting firms in areas like sports, blockchain, design thinking as well as innovation across globe.
In an exclusive interview with CEO Insights, Sumit talks about his significant role of leadership casting light on his journey, the company and the challenges.
Take us through your educational and professional background. What inspired you to venture into the product management sector, and what motivates you today?
I am currently working as Chief Product Officer & Head of IGO/IMO (MetaLaunch) with Asva Labs having two decades of industry experience. I am also a Chapter President (Mumbai) for the Government Blockchain Association, New York. Prior to this, I have worked with notable Industry Leaders like TransUnion, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Nomura, Lehman Brothers, and CCIL in various leadership roles.
As far as my education is concerned, I am a commerce graduate from Patna University and did my Post-Graduation from the National Institute of Securities Market (NISM), which is under SEBI. In addition, I did my Post-Graduation Diploma in Innovation and Design Thinking awarded by 'MIT, Tuck and Columbia Business School'. I also did numerous certifications, most notably 'Developing Strengths to Become Extra ordinary' from Harvard Business School, Boston.
Product Management is a fascinating and challenging sector, and what inspired me to be in this sector is the end users. I feel that most of the product companies are building products, not based on what users want, rather on what companies (management) want them to use. There is a clear gap here and we must understand our users beyond what they want in the future. This is where empathy comes into play. Engaging your users is the key to success. We can have the same product from two different companies, but the company with deep empathy logically differentiates from others, prices itself higher, and improves its bottom line. The first example that comes to mind is 'Apple' that says
'Understanding your client is better than feeling sorry for them'.
Define Asva Labs as an organization and its current position in the industry.
Asva Labs is a Metaverse innovation lab that aspires to build an Asvaverse ecosystem to integrate itself into the metaverse economy. The Asvaverse includes Products like MetaLaunch Launchpad and Incubator, Metaverse Marketplace, Asva Games Guild, MetaFi DeFi Vault and a Venture Investment firm known as Asva Ventures.
We are currently the only organization in Block-Chain space providing the entire ecosystem to our community, partners, and investors. We are building more integrated products which let participants access all services from one place.
Could you tell us about the unique services that are provided by Asva Labs that make it stand out from the rest in the market?
Asva Labs is building multiple products simultaneously, which can support gaming and metaverse projects to develop and innovate quicker. We are striving to create an ASVAVERSE which can provide an end-to-end solution for most problems every project/investor might face. We have developed an industry-wide large network of 130+ VC partners, 100+ KOLs/ Influencers, more than 200 micro influencers, 20+ Launchpad partners and 250k+ strong community, which we leverage to help our partner projects in all aspects. We have Accelerator and Incubation program for early startup in crypto space as well.
What is the success mantra that constantly helps you arrive at positive outcomes?
I am a member of the 5 AM Club, and I usually start my day at 5 AM. This sets the tone for the rest of my day and I take this very seriously. I follow a set routine every day, and that helps me focus. I continuously am working on my four interior empires: Mindset, Heartset, Soul set and Health set. This helps me to be grounded and focus on what really matters. Dailypractice includes meditation, Mindfulness, Gratitude, Journalizing, Reading, walking and many. Since I practice this every day, I can say it's transformative. One thing I really understand and true to my life is that 'Success is never owned, it is leased and the rent is due every day'. So by giving your best every day, innovation and transformation become a daily routine, and you will never feel the pressure and improve your mental health.
As the Chief Product Officer, how do you plan to apply your exceptional understanding of this domain to Asva Labs and take it to the next level?
Though the Product Ecosystem principle doesn’t change, the met
Define Asva Labs as an organization and its current position in the industry.
Asva Labs is a Metaverse innovation lab that aspires to build an Asvaverse ecosystem to integrate itself into the metaverse economy. The Asvaverse includes Products like MetaLaunch Launchpad and Incubator, Metaverse Marketplace, Asva Games Guild, MetaFi DeFi Vault and a Venture Investment firm known as Asva Ventures.
We are currently the only organization in Block-Chain space providing the entire ecosystem to our community, partners, and investors. We are building more integrated products which let participants access all services from one place.
When you start to develop your powers of empathy and imagination, the whole world opens up to you
Could you tell us about the unique services that are provided by Asva Labs that make it stand out from the rest in the market?
Asva Labs is building multiple products simultaneously, which can support gaming and metaverse projects to develop and innovate quicker. We are striving to create an ASVAVERSE which can provide an end-to-end solution for most problems every project/investor might face. We have developed an industry-wide large network of 130+ VC partners, 100+ KOLs/ Influencers, more than 200 micro influencers, 20+ Launchpad partners and 250k+ strong community, which we leverage to help our partner projects in all aspects. We have Accelerator and Incubation program for early startup in crypto space as well.
What is the success mantra that constantly helps you arrive at positive outcomes?
I am a member of the 5 AM Club, and I usually start my day at 5 AM. This sets the tone for the rest of my day and I take this very seriously. I follow a set routine every day, and that helps me focus. I continuously am working on my four interior empires: Mindset, Heartset, Soul set and Health set. This helps me to be grounded and focus on what really matters. Dailypractice includes meditation, Mindfulness, Gratitude, Journalizing, Reading, walking and many. Since I practice this every day, I can say it's transformative. One thing I really understand and true to my life is that 'Success is never owned, it is leased and the rent is due every day'. So by giving your best every day, innovation and transformation become a daily routine, and you will never feel the pressure and improve your mental health.
As the Chief Product Officer, how do you plan to apply your exceptional understanding of this domain to Asva Labs and take it to the next level?
Though the Product Ecosystem principle doesn’t change, the met
hod indeed is. At Asva, we are a block chain-based innovative product company for the metaverse and gaming sectors and strive to enable the ecosystem for the large masses. If you look at the current industry scenario, people are copy pasting the product and launching it as a solution.
But the most important part they are missing is the differentiation that can enable the ecosystem on a large scale. Everyone is running towards getting a share of this booming industry. We at Asva Labs have our own research wing, which continuously studies the market, talking to the community/partners/investors and innovating the product incrementally or radically with their engagement and acceptance. That helps us connect to the people for which we build the products and enable the ecosystem at large. We create new niches and encourage open market innovation by constantly doing that.
Based on your professional experience, what advice would you give to the upcoming leaders in the same industry?
When this question is asked, I get multiple ideas, but a few of them that I practice regularly are:
Employee Management: Amplify the smarts and capabilities of the people working withyou and become a 'Multiplier'.
Culture of Innovation:Don’t kill any idea as soon as it is told; hold on to your own perception, nurture it, and pass it through a well-structured innovation framework. Creativity and Innovation shall be a daily practice and not only a meeting agenda.
Empathy:Understand your customer more than they understand themselves. Care for them and involve them at various intervals during the product management process.
Become an Ambidextrous Organization:Get today’s work done efficiently and simultaneously anticipate tomorrow’s inefficiency and prepare for the same.
Manage the present- your core business. Abandon the past-ideas, practices, and attitudes that could inhibit innovation and march into the future. Instead, convert breakthrough ideas into new products and businesses
Sumit Kumar Gupta, Chief Product Officer & Head of Operations IMO/IGO- (MetaLaunch), Asva Labs
•Hobbies:Cricket, Reading and Long Drives
•Favourite Cuisine:Mexican & Italian
•Favourite Book:5 AM Club by Robin
Sharma, Start with Why by Simon Sinek
•Favourite Travel Destination: Boston, Massachusetts – Learning Paradise
Awards & Recognitions:
Indian Achievers Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement by Indian Achievers Forum Recognition by Government Blockchain Association(GBA), New York, for appointing Sumit Kumar Gupta as Chapter President
But the most important part they are missing is the differentiation that can enable the ecosystem on a large scale. Everyone is running towards getting a share of this booming industry. We at Asva Labs have our own research wing, which continuously studies the market, talking to the community/partners/investors and innovating the product incrementally or radically with their engagement and acceptance. That helps us connect to the people for which we build the products and enable the ecosystem at large. We create new niches and encourage open market innovation by constantly doing that.
Based on your professional experience, what advice would you give to the upcoming leaders in the same industry?
When this question is asked, I get multiple ideas, but a few of them that I practice regularly are:
Employee Management: Amplify the smarts and capabilities of the people working withyou and become a 'Multiplier'.
Culture of Innovation:Don’t kill any idea as soon as it is told; hold on to your own perception, nurture it, and pass it through a well-structured innovation framework. Creativity and Innovation shall be a daily practice and not only a meeting agenda.
Empathy:Understand your customer more than they understand themselves. Care for them and involve them at various intervals during the product management process.
Become an Ambidextrous Organization:Get today’s work done efficiently and simultaneously anticipate tomorrow’s inefficiency and prepare for the same.
Manage the present- your core business. Abandon the past-ideas, practices, and attitudes that could inhibit innovation and march into the future. Instead, convert breakthrough ideas into new products and businesses
Sumit Kumar Gupta, Chief Product Officer & Head of Operations IMO/IGO- (MetaLaunch), Asva Labs
•Hobbies:Cricket, Reading and Long Drives
•Favourite Cuisine:Mexican & Italian
•Favourite Book:5 AM Club by Robin
Sharma, Start with Why by Simon Sinek
•Favourite Travel Destination: Boston, Massachusetts – Learning Paradise
Awards & Recognitions:
Indian Achievers Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement by Indian Achievers Forum Recognition by Government Blockchain Association(GBA), New York, for appointing Sumit Kumar Gupta as Chapter President