Flash touts tech as key to sustainability

Bangkok Post

21 hours ago

Resilience, technology-driven operations and hands-on leadership will be key to Flash Group ensuring sustainability during its post-unicorn era, according to the group's executives.
The Thai e-commerce logistics service provider also promotes a flat organisational structure and a persistent "never give up" mindset as being among its core values.
Komsan Lee, chief executive of Flash Group, said becoming a unicorn (a startup with a value of more than US$1 billion) does not eliminate challenges, as failures are a constant part of the business journey.
Mr Komsan and Weijie Di, co-founder and chief operations officer of Flash Express, shared their insights regarding business success at Techsauce Global Summit 2025 on Wednesday.
LUCK PLAYS A PART
Flash Group attributes a large part of its growth and achievements to luck, specifically being in the right country, industry, and with the right team.
"Luck plays a significant role in success, particularly being in the right place at the right time, with the right people," said Mr Komsan.
When Mr Komsan was just 29 years old, he reshaped Thailand's startup landscape. Born into a humble family of Chinese descent in the mountainous village of Doi Wawee in Chiang Rai, Mr Komsan journeyed from rural hardship to tech stardom.
While at university, Mr Komsan entered into several business ventures that subsequently flourished over the following years.
In 2018, with a personal investment of 400 million baht, Mr Komsan set up Flash Express, a subsidiary of Flash Group. Three years later, Flash Express became the first Thai unicorn startup after raising US$150 million in Series D+ and E funding.
Flash Group has since expanded across Southeast Asia, cementing its role as a regional logistics leader. Despite facing turbulent times, including a 2.1-billion-baht loss in 2022, Flash rebounded to post 24.7 billion baht in revenue last year and nearly 1 billion baht in profit, marking its most successful year.
Mr Komsan's entrepreneurial journey caught the attention of Thai film studio GDH 559, which produced the series Mad Unicorn, comprising seven episodes. The series streams on Netflix.
He said his spirit of resilience, innovation and ambition proved the most unlikely beginnings can lead to extraordinary success.
Mr Weijie said technology, especially self-developed software and algorithms, is fundamental to managing the workforce of a large operation efficiently and reducing costs.
"We eliminated inefficiency in human resources [HR] prior to digitalisation. This included issues such as overselling or over-recruiting, as well as difficulties in managing employee attendance, overtime claims, and leave requests, leading to substantial cost overruns," he said.
Implementing an electronic HR and organisational agility system helped reduce HR costs by half.
"We embrace tech in every company process," said Mr Weijie.
Flash relies heavily on science and technology, specifically large amounts of self-developed software and algorithms, to manage the group's 54,000 employees. This approach has increased efficiency, particularly in managing remote or new markets, he said.
The company designed in-house software and algorithms based on the Southeast Asian market context, as Chinese software was unsuitable, said Mr Weijie.
Mr Komsan said effective enterprise management hinges on mastering rhythm, ensuring that business development speed, personnel quality, financial resources and capital flow are aligned and keep pace with growth and new ventures.
Moreover, a "never give up" mindset is crucial for overcoming challenges, he said.
"Although the company continues to grow, we maintain a flat organisational structure and require managers to be hands-on to improve efficiency and avoid the bureaucratic pitfalls of large traditional companies," said Mr Komsan.
He said core values such as putting the customer first, teamwork, integrity, and dedication, must remain consistent even as the company scales.
POWER OF AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers a significant opportunity and a priority for most businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises in countries like Thailand, said Mr Komsan, adding the focus should be on how to utilise AI tools to enhance capabilities, rather than solely on creativity.
"AI will amplify the strong and weaken the weak, widening the gap. Therefore, the immediate focus should be on practical applications to boost business capabilities and competitiveness," he said.
Working teams that use AI tools will achieve better results than those that do not, said Mr Komsan. AI democratises entrepreneurship by breaking down knowledge barriers and significantly lowering the cost of realising ideas.
Previously launching initiatives often required extensive development teams and a large company in terms of scale, but AI now means such endeavours are accessible even to small teams with limited resources, he said.
Mr Komsan said the entrepreneurial environment offers significant opportunities for small businesses leveraging AI, making success less dependent on wealth or having a large team.
He said there are significant growth opportunities in terms of consumption for local brands with potential internationally, as well as in deep-tech biomedicine in Southeast Asia, particularly in countries like Thailand, due to strong local markets, service quality and medical excellence.