{"id":26206,"date":"2025-06-25T08:57:22","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T00:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.utm.my\/utmlibrarynews\/?p=26206"},"modified":"2025-06-26T08:54:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T00:54:15","slug":"ceo-talk-madani-series-2025-thriving-in-the-ai-era-what-it-takes-to-lead-build-a-tech-startup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.utm.my\/utmlibrarynews\/2025\/06\/25\/ceo-talk-madani-series-2025-thriving-in-the-ai-era-what-it-takes-to-lead-build-a-tech-startup\/","title":{"rendered":"CEO Talk Madani Series 2025: Thriving In The AI Era: What It Takes To Lead & Build A Tech Startup"},"content":{"rendered":"

KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 \u2013 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Library Kuala Lumpur successfully hosted the inaugural CEO Talk Series 2025 session with the theme \u201cThriving in the AI Era: What It Takes to Lead & Build a Tech Startup\u201d. The event occurred at the Event Space, Level 2, UTM Library Kuala Lumpur, drawing an enthusiastic crowd of students, staff, and alumni. Moderated by Dr. Azizul Azizan, Senior Lecturer from the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence (FAI), UTM, the session featured a highly anticipated talk by Muhammad Arif Tukiman, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-Founder of RunCloud.<\/p>\n

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A proud alumnus of UTM, Arif shared his inspiring journey from campus to global success. His company, RunCloud, currently manages over 220,000 web applications in more than 100 countries. Widely recognized for his entrepreneurial achievements, Arif was listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia (2020) for Enterprise Technology and has received numerous accolades, including the ASEAN Rice Bowl Award, the Malaysia APICTA Award, and the Startup World Cup Regional Winner title.<\/p>\n

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The 90-minute session began with a personal and heartfelt recounting of his early background. Arif, who comes from a humble entrepreneurial family, his father was a cakoi (fried dough) seller, spoke of how his business journey began at UTM through selling custom t-shirts and self-learning graphic design. His interests quickly expanded, leading him to become a part-time trainer and later to venture into game development through tech boot camps.<\/p>\n

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This experience laid the foundation for the establishment of Cool Code Sdn. Bhd. in 2014, a software company focused on educational app and game development. Under his leadership, Cool Code achieved over 3 million downloads, marking a major milestone in Malaysia\u2019s digital creative space. He emphasized the importance of continuous innovation to remain sustainable and competitive in the fast-changing tech industry.<\/p>\n

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Throughout his talk, Arif offered practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. He encouraged participants to start small, even without capital, by applying models such as pre-orders to fund production. He also detailed potential funding pathways, starting with bootstrapping, then exploring government grants like Cradle Fund and Mranti, and finally scaling through venture capital. RunCloud itself secured VC investment from the United States while maintaining its core operations in Malaysia.<\/p>\n

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Responding to a question about co-founders, Arif advised against selecting family or close friends, noting that neutrality and professionalism are key. Instead, he encouraged building relationships through networking, joining communities, and participating in industry events. According to him, the ability to lead and inspire others to believe in your vision is the essence of leadership.<\/p>\n

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) was another key topic of discussion. Arif advised students not to rely on tools like ChatGPT merely to complete assignments, but rather to use AI to acquire new skills, enhance learning, and improve their personal productivity.<\/p>\n

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In concluding his talk, he highlighted three defining traits of a successful tech leader: the willingness to sacrifice, a hunger for continuous learning, and a commitment to health and well-being.<\/p>\n

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The event was live-streamed on Facebook UTM Library Kuala Lumpur, attracting strong engagement online and offline. The first 20 in-person attendees received He & She Coffee vouchers and exclusive UTM Library merchandise. All participants were eligible to earn ACAD and CPD (core) recognition.<\/p>\n

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This session marked the first installment of the CEO Talk Series, an initiative by UTM Library Kuala Lumpur to showcase real-world entrepreneurial journeys. The series will continue with future sessions featuring invited CEOs from diverse industries, aiming to inspire and empower the university community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 \u2013 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Library Kuala Lumpur successfully hosted the inaugural CEO Talk Series 2025 session with the theme \u201cThriving in the AI Era: What It Takes to Lead & Build a Tech Startup\u201d. The event occurred at the Event Space, Level 2, UTM Library Kuala Lumpur, drawing an enthusiastic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,19,224],"tags":[1306],"class_list":["post-26206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-stories","category-library-event","category-utm-kuala-lumpur","tag-ceo-talk-madani-series-2025-thriving-in-the-ai-era-what-it-takes-to-lead-build-a-tech-startup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.utm.my\/utmlibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.utm.my\/utmlibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.utm.my\/utmlibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.utm.my\/utmlibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.utm.my\/utmlibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26206"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/library.utm.my\/utmlibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26248,"href":"https:\/\/library.utm.my\/utmlibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26206\/revisions\/26248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.utm.my\/utmlibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.utm.my\/utmlibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.utm.my\/utmlibrarynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}