Ex-Google boss reveals reason of moving to a startup

El Ansari takesover as CEO of DropmySite.

Singapore Business Review recently caught up with ex-Google South East Asia Head of Business Development and current Head of EMEA for Dropmysite, Charif El Ansari.

Dropmysite bills itself as Asia's fastest growing startup for attracting 630,000 users within 50 days of launch, faster than Twitter, Pinterest and Fab.com. It backs up the Internet, with a focus on backing up Cloud data, such as websites, emails, chat, social media, and more.

El Ansari will take over the Chief Executive Office role from John Fearon, the founder of Dropmysite.

Fearon will move to assume more responsibilities in his investment holding firm, Gilcrux Holdings.

In 2012, El Ansari left Google for Dropmysite to lead its efforts in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Now with the management shuffle, El Ansari has returned to Singapore to take over the daily duties of Dropmysite.

Here's the full interview with El Ansari:

1. What makes you excited about your new position? What caused you to move from Google to Dropmysite?

It is great to take the helm of a successful startup and then work with the team on moving it to the next level. it is a great challenge to have.

I wanted to work in a smaller company in the internet space, where decisions get made much faster and the whole team is working closely together. By the time I left Google, there was about 30,000 Employees. Dropmysite fit the bill really nicely, plus I believed in the model and the value proposition from early on and was one of the earliest investors.

2. What will you do differently in this position? What changes are you planning for?

Honing our existing products, ensuring ease of integration with partners and launching our Dropmymobile Beta (mobile phone backup app)

3. What three goals are you focused on?

1st, further improve the user experience for our three products (Dromysite, Dropmyemail and the soon to be launched Dropmymobile). 2nd, increase engagement with partners and resellers. 3rd, focus on operational excellence.

4. What are your key business philosophies?

- Focus on the user and the partners
- Have a capable and committed team
- Enjoy what you are doing

5. What previous positions prepared you for this one and how?
Working and living in several countries in Asia definitely helps. Working at Google surely helped, but very importantly, learning the importance of setting audacious goals for whatever you doing was a great lesson I learned at Google. Also Dell's execution - driven culture is something that I will always take with me. Lastly, working in various roles across various geographies made me a well rounded person fit for the current role

6. Anything else youd like to add?
I am glad to be back in Singapore, which is a second home to me, after being away for some time. I am also very glad to see a much healthier startup eco-system than a couple of years ago.