The Great Room CEO Jaelle Ang to exit company: Key business lessons from the 'pocket rocket' entrepreneur
Meeting for the first time at The Great Room's Centennial Tower workplace in the Marina Central district, we chatted for a bit and admitted to having stalked each others' Instagram profiles the day before.
'This is going to be a fun one,' I thought to myself, before Ang disappears into the sprawling 36,000 sq ft co-working space for the photo shoot with our team.
Diminutive in stature as she may be, Ang is certainly no featherweight in the corporate arena. In 2019, the business heavyweight was named in Forbes Asia's 25 Power Businesswomen list, amongst a litany of accolades that celebrate her defiance of stereotypes and her success in breaking down barriers in the industry.
And in the years since, she has taken the homegrown brand global with 13 locations across the Asia Pacific in Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Sydney – culminating in a full acquisition by global real estate titan CBRE Group earlier this year. Following the acquisition, Ang has announced that she will exit the company in August.
PREMIUM BEGINNINGS
The Great Room's first location at One George Street in the heart of Singapore's Central Business District was a game-changer. It single-handedly transformed the notion of the co-working space from 'cheap and cheerful', as Ang puts it, to one that quickly became the aspirational blueprint for the modern workplace: flexible, hospitality-inspired, community-focused and beautifully designed to boost productivity and engagement.
Back in 2016, it was a unique proposition that set a new standard in the industry.
The Great Room upped the ante with plush yet functional interiors designed by hospitality experts such as Singapore-based Distillery Studio and Michael Fiebrich Design. The former, for example, was responsible for the interior aesthetic of the One George Street and Centennial Tower locations, and the latter, for the Ngee Ann City workspace.
'I love being the unreasonable rebel that challenged everything,' Ang declared, as we sat down for the interview in a private room offering a gorgeous view of Marina Bay and the waters beyond from the 18th floor of the skyscraper.
'We were the first one who said, 'People actually want it all: A great location, great design, great programming, great coffee',' she recalled. 'I love that people now demand and expect so much more from the workplace. It needs to be a container for culture, for community, for social engagement, for 'casual collisions', for wellness and, most importantly, for learning. It cannot be boring and sterile. No compromise on the furniture. They want different types of spaces that they can meander, pow-wow and contemplate in. This is now the norm for workplaces.'
DESIGN OF A DECADE
Design, said Ang, has always been her 'first and greatest love'. After graduating from the Bartlett School of Architecture at the University College London with a BSc in Architecture, she went on to pair her proclivity for place-making with an MBA from London's Imperial College.
The Great Room, however, isn't her first real estate rodeo. Prior to its founding, the ex-Citibank and Credit Suisse banker skilled in corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions was the Head of Real Estate Development at publicly-listed Country Group Development in Thailand.
In 2009, Ang moved to Bangkok where she ended up spearheading the development of one of the city's largest mixed-use properties – a 5.7 ha, billion-dollar waterfront project along the Chao Phraya River – comprising the Four Seasons Hotel, Four Seasons Residences and Capella Hotel over seven years.
Now The Great Room was also not Ang's first entrepreneurial play. The Raffles Girls' School and Hwa Chong Institution Boarding School alum had started her first business at the age of 21 – an art school for children named Art Bug, which underwent two rounds of successful funding before she exited the business in 2012.
Fast forward a decade, Ang's vision of marrying upscale design with premium hospitality not only transformed Singapore's co-working scene, it attracted the attention of international players like Industrious, which scooped up The Great Room business in 2022, setting the stage for its global expansion beyond Singapore.
Then, global real estate giant CBRE Group came knocking. In January this year, the group completed its acquisition of US-based Industrious, adding to its network of more than 100 flexible workspaces worldwide, in a US$400 million (S$514.6 million) deal that placed the business at a US$800 million valuation.
'I'm a very hard worker; it comes from my competitive swimming back in school. So, I have a lot of endurance,' said Ang, who earned the nickname 'pocket rocket' amongst her peers growing up.
"Small and powerful," she added, likening her personal strengths to that of The Great Room. 'We call ourselves a small giant because we feel like we punch above our weight in terms of how we push boundaries.'
'Better than chilli padi,' I mused, to which she nodded in agreement.
THE ART OF THE EXIT
'We've gone through tumultuous times and quite a tricky journey over the last few years to arrive at this point,' Ang shared. 'It feels like a validation of an entrepreneur's hard work, starting from zero, to get to a point where there's an acknowledgement that you've created something valuable.'
Her decision to exit the business comes six months after the acquisition. 'I wanted to leave when the company is at its peak; when there are no existential problems like a pandemic or debt, when we have strong cash flow and are at a point of positive opportunities like expansion,' she said.
She also believes that different chapters in a company's growth call for different leadership: 'A leader must also have the humility to allow the leadership team to grow and renew.'
On Aug 1, 2025, Ang will be handing over the reins to her successor, co-founder and current chief operating officer Su Anne Mi, who will take the company through its next stage of growth, which includes a ninth Singapore location at Shaw Tower coming onstream in 2026.
GREATEST LESSONS LEARNT
As the credits roll on her role as CEO, Ang reflects on the biggest business and life lessons that she's taken away from her entrepreneurial journey.
'Personal reputation can be your greatest asset or liability,' she offered. 'Trust is important – to be dependable for the tribe; whether it's your immediate leaders or external stakeholders, they need to know that you're going to take care of them, that you're going to hold up your end of the promise.'
The second piece of advice she has for aspiring entrepreneurs? Focus.
'Multitasking is sometimes overrated. Do one thing, but take it seriously. Simplicity is also very underrated. Do one simple thing and do it well, then bet on it – go all in – and be known for it,' she urged.
BUILDING A GREAT TEAM
Next, build a 'talent-dense team'. It begins with hiring the right people, and then providing the right incentives to drive the right behaviour.
'This is the single most important rule in management,' she observed. 'Incentives are very underrated. People talk about mission and objectives, but you really need to link that with both incentive and culture.'
Succeeding as a leader also means understanding 'the edge of one's competence'. 'Know what you're very good at and have confidence in your ability, but also have the humility to acknowledge what you're not good at and then let other people do it,' she advised. 'My greatest superpower is being able to attract people smarter than I am, and then galvanising them into action.'
To this end, The Great Room's hiring protocol centres around recruiting what Ang likes to call "Snake Killers and Learning Animals". "It's a fun metaphor that refers to speed, agility and velocity; people who are very curious, are willing to be pushed out of their comfort zones, and want to learn new things very fast,' she explained.
'I believe that a great team has everything and nothing in common,' she added. 'A leader must provide simplicity and clarity in the mission – a common mission and values – as well as build a culture that is open to accommodate diversity. So, what's different is how to get there and the perspectives and skill sets.'
THE RELUCTANT LEADER
Describing herself as a 'reluctant leader' and 'natural introvert' who could not even give the welcome speech when the first two locations were opened, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that truly tested Ang's mettle in her first CEO role helming The Great Room.
'I started out being very self-conscious and wasn't sure if I had the right competence to lead the team. But the pivotal point came during COVID, which was the most difficult period. The business wasn't doing badly, but there were external stakeholders, and we were dealing with the uncertainty and unpredictability,' she revealed.
Ang made two critical decisions that shifted her internal narrative at the time: The first was to concede to not having all the answers and the second, was deciding that she was, in fact, the best captain to steer the ship through the storm.
'Whatever inadequacy or [skills] gap there might be, instead of resisting and being reluctant, get good. Go figure it out. Because the team and the company is only going to be as good as the CEO,' she said.
Indeed, she got so good that retirement may be imminent following the acquisition. While she's reticent to confirm nor deny the rumours, what's next for Ang and her self-professed Type A personality?
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