Founding BD

What a week looks like

Before the formalities — this is a recent, real week at Kong. Hectic, tiring, fun & rewarding:

• 
  MondayKuala Lumpur

  In the office, doing outreach — lining up the meetings that fill the rest of the week.
• 
  TuesdayLangkawi

  Fly down to Langkawi. Meeting operators along the beach, on their schedule.
• 
  WednesdayMangroves

  Kayaking the Langkawi mangroves with a tour operator. The coffee chat after runs way too long — you both lose track of time.
• 
  ThursdayLangkawi → KL

  Paragliding around Langkawi with another operator. Fly back to KL by evening.
• 
  FridayKuala Lumpur

  Meeting our ATV operator, Nabil — out on the trails, seeing how Kong fits into a real operation.

Every week is different. Every week is one you look forward to.

About Kong

We're on a mission to give every tour operator, no matter where they are, the tools to grow their business and live the life they want.

For too long, operators in the developing world have been turned away by the technology companies that were supposed to help them:

Simply because they didn't make enough money for those companies. But this is exactly where travel matters most. Ask any operator here why they joined the industry and you'll hear: "To provide for my family." "To give my kids a better life." For these regions, travel isn't just a business — it's a lifeline.

Today we're building Kong: enterprise-level technology for every operator, everywhere. And we want more people to do more cool sh*t — dune buggies, white-water rafting, keris fire-smithing, firefly tours, 2-metre waves. Our platform makes sure these operators get discovered and booked, while saving them hundreds of hours of admin so they can get back to what they love.

The role

We're looking for our Founding BD — the first hire at Kong, and the person who'll build the operator acquisition engine from the ground up.

This isn't a typical sales role. Operators in Malaysia don't take Zoom demos — they take meetings in person, on their schedule, over teh tarik. You'll book the meeting, show up, and walk them through Kong over their counter.

What you'll do

• Sign 8–12 operators a month in year one. A strong month is 15+.
• Spend most of your week in operator offices, not in ours.
• Become the voice of operators — understand their businesses, their challenges, their dreams.
• Build partnerships with tourism boards, industry associations, and anyone who can put us in front of operators faster.
• Create the playbook for consultative, relationship-first selling in Southeast Asia — the pitches, the objections, the patterns — so the next BD doesn't start from scratch.
• Own the early wins that prove the model. Every operator you bring on validates that emerging-market operators deserve the same tools as anyone else.

Your patch is KL and the operators within day-trip distance — enough to keep you fully booked all year.

Where this goes

Year one, you're focused on signing operators. You run the playbook, figure out what's actually repeatable about how we sell, and what's not. You're paid well to do the thing you love.

Year two, if year one goes well, you start building the team. You hire under you, turn the playbook into a training program, and earn override on what your team activates. The function is yours to grow — with a clear path to Head of Sales as Kong scales.

This isn't a guarantee — it's a path. If signing operators is what you love and you'd rather keep doing that forever, we'll find the right shape for that too.

Who you are

• You want to see your impact. You work for a paycheck — but you also feel real satisfaction knowing you've made a difference to an operator's business.
• You take ownership. You take pride in your work and you're not waiting to be told what to do next.
• You work independently. Give you the big picture and the goal, and you'll figure out how to get there.
• You don't like routine. A different state one week, a different country the next — that variety energises you.
• You love people's stories. Operators have them — why they started, what they nearly lost, who they're building a better life for. You want to hear all of it.
• You think long-term. You see the operator you sign today as the start of a relationship that compounds over years.

What you bring

• 1–2+ years in sales, partnerships, or customer-facing work — ideally tourism, hospitality, or SaaS.
• A track record of relationship-based selling — you build trust, not pipelines.
• Fluent in English and Bahasa Malaysia (additional SEA languages a plus).
• You know a warm WhatsApp intro is worth 100 cold emails.
• Comfortable with early-stage ambiguity and building as you go.

Bonus points

• You've worked inside Malaysia's tourism industry — a tour company, DMC, guide collective, hotel concierge desk, anywhere you've talked to operators on their terms.
• Existing relationships with tour operators, tourism boards, or industry stakeholders.
• You've seen a sales function grow from zero to meaningful scale.

What we're paying

Competitive base plus uncapped commission on every operator you bring onto Kong, meaningful equity, and travel covered. The full structure is shared during our first conversation.

The impact

You're not selling software — you're giving operators access to the digital economy. There are thousands of operators across Asia running incredible businesses who deserve the tools to grow. They work through holidays and smile through exhaustion to give their guests the best experience possible. Just as they're dedicated to their guests, Kong is dedicated to them — and you'll see your impact directly.

How to apply