As in a family, the culture of a startup is created by its leader or leaders. “I’ve noticed that for employees as with kids, they do as I do and not as I say,” says Ziaudeen. “So you may say that your company culture is XYZ, but it’s really going to be what you actually practise as the founder.” 

He cites timeliness as an example. “At Chope, our official working hours are 10am to 7pm. But the truth is, I’m not the most punctual person. And this will cascade down to the rest of the company—and I have to be okay with that.” 

In the context of the family, he says it’s similar to bedtime for his children. “When I tell my kids that it’s bedtime, my five-year-old sometimes tells me, ‘Why don’t you go to bed too?’ And when I say it’s because I’m an adult, she replies, ‘So what? You need to sleep too!’”  

Ultimately, he says, like parents, startup founders are creating versions of themselves at the workplace through the culture they put in place. “They observe how you do things and eventually, practise a version of what they’ve learned from watching you.”

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One of the biggest lessons Ziaudeen says he’s learned from being both a founder and father is understanding and accepting that no one is perfect. “Majority of the problems we’ve faced as a startup can be traced back to people. But because we’re human, we have to learn to accept that mistakes will inevitably be made. It’s more important to know when to let go.” 

Similarly in parenting, Ziaudeen says accepting that his daughters will make mistakes along the way and not always obey the rules that he and his wife have set for them is part of the process. “We have a no-TV rule for our children, but of course we sometimes catch them watching the TV when we come back home from work. Sometimes, I scold them for not listening. But there are also times when I tell myself, it’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with letting them watch some TV this time.”

As with raising children, there's no one method for leading a team. In the workplace, a leader will encounter many different personalities, which means you will need to understand the people you are managing and personalise your approach accordingly, says Ziaudeen.

“My daughters, for example, have different sleeping habits—the older is a late sleeper and late riser, while the younger is the opposite. So my wife and I have developed a different way to bond with them individually."

Similarly, at the Chope office, Ziaudeen says, "Some of our employees are more collaborative and gain confidence from being surrounded by others. And then there are others who are more data-driven and independent workers. So my approach changes depending on who I’m interacting with, and this requires me to know my employees and their individual working styles well.”

Being a startup founder often means that the onus is on you to have a strong grasp of everything that is going on in the workplace. His children see him the same way, says Ziaudeen.

"In both realms, there's an expectation for you to be the ultimate problem-solver," he says. "With my daughters, for instance, if they have a splinter or their toy isn't working, they'll come to me for help or answers. This is similar to when you're in a startup, especially when it's the early days. As the founder, you are expected to know and be able to teach your staff things like calculating the CPF contributions—Singapore's mandatory social security savings scheme—for your employees or structuring a term sheet for an investment round."

Ultimately, the many similarities are because both founders and parents share the same goal. "Your aim is to provide guidance and nurture the strengths of your staff and children, to help them to become good employees and good human beings.”

See more honourees from the Food & Beverage category of the Gen.T List.