Amit Majumder is the Head of Southeast Asia and ANZ at Qapita, a startup that helps companies facilitate private market flows and empower employee ownership. 

In 2021, they raised $15M in Series A funding co-led by East Ventures and Vulcan Capital. The company also acquired ESOP Direct last year. 

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👋🏼 How would you explain your job to someone outside tech?

My role is to help the team at Qapita have everything they need to help companies we work with create and roll out employee equity programs that make sense to them and their employees and stay on top of investor reporting and financial reporting obligations.

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🧐 What's something about you or your job that would surprise us?

How broad this seemingly niche space we work in is. 

To be able to run a successful equity program, you need to be aware of and consider tax implications for the company and employees in each country, alternative structures available, regulatory and disclosure requirements, accounting implications, corporate finance strategy, communication style differences across borders, specific trends in each industry. 

Constant learning as each company's plan is unique.

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🏆 What has been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

Other than being featured in BackScoop, relocating to Singapore after spending a decade working in Australia is definitely a major highlight for me. 

I have been enjoying being exposed to the way business is done across Asia—everything from communication to cultural differences in each country we operate. It's been a massive learning curve for me and a fun experience.

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🔍 What's a startup trend or space you're watching this year?‍

I'm always interested in the progress being made in opening up access to financial markets to the general public—especially young adults. I'm keeping an eye on financial education solutions, trading apps for retail investors, and players providing access to alternative investments.

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💼 What advice would you give someone starting out in your industry? 

Don't get into something just because it's trendy and everyone else is doing it. Find out what you genuinely enjoy learning and doing. Talk to as many people as possible, and absorb all information, but don't follow every single piece of advice you receive. 

Everyone will provide suggestions that are based on their own path—yours will be different. Being open-minded and flexible helps—don't dismiss opportunities you uncover that may not seem to fit with your current idea of your ideal career path (e.g. I was studying supply chain and logistics and wanted to ship containers around the world, but ended up spending my whole career so far in financial services).

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🗣 What's one thing you can keep talking about for hours? 

Education on equity compensation—still a lot more needs to be done to help everyone to be able to fully understand and value ESOPs.

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🎥 What's your favorite movie/TV show? 

Movies: Mighty Ducks and Lord of the Rings. TV: Succession that has just wrapped up was great.

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🍨 What's your go-to ice cream flavor?‍

Mandorla Affogato from Cow & The Moon in Sydney—try it whenever you visit.

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FYI. We’ve edited this interview for clarity.