Adrian Waters⚡

Turning ideas into ventures. Southeast Asia and beyond.

Kuala Lumpur City, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

About

Turning ideas into ventures. Gave up the boardroom for zebra kimonos and working with entrepreneurs and startups across Southeast Asia. Best decision I ever made. My dry cleaner misses me. Before that I worked on every side of the deal. Billion dollar takeovers, carveouts, restructuring. Ran a bank. Managed hundreds of people in Australia. Big Four M&A. 67 transactions. $15B+ in deal value. 57 countries. A lot of airport lounges. All of it brought me here. Now I build and back startups across Southeast Asia and run WhizzbangIdea, an accelerator that helps corporate professionals start businesses, supports corporate innovation teams, and works with companies on entrepreneurial outplacement. Basically I help people stop talking about starting something and actually do it. Exercise is my medicine. Keeps me performing, manages the stress, builds the resilience. Also means I can eat rice at midnight and not feel bad about it. Training for Pro Hyrox December 2026. Entrepreneurship is the future. The corporates who think like founders outperform the ones who do not. I have seen it on both sides. Builder of businesses. Student of human potential. Occasional troublemaker.

Experience

  • CEO & Co-Founder at whizzbangidea
    Jan 2025 - Present · 1 yr 6 mos

    World's #1 Startup accelerator for professionals⚡

  • Founder and CEO at Rocketfitness
    Jul 2022 - Present · 4 yrs

    Healthy, high performance for entrepreneurs🚀

  • Advisory Board at Equalsten
    Sep 2022 - Present · 3 yrs 10 mos

    9 out of 10 mergers fail. Do you want to be one?

  • Contributing Author at Forbes Business Council
    Feb 2023 - Present · 3 yrs 5 mos

    Business Council Senior Executive, Contributing Author and Industry Advisor

  • Director of Faculty at Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances (IMAA)
    Apr 2005 - Jan 2024 · 18 yrs 10 mos

    Leading Executive M&A Training Workshops Globally. Helping businesses build internal capabilities and capacity in their internal strategy teams.