Too casual for some, too young for others, the Pandan Social co-founder exited to a global player without diluting his identity

At 29, Daniel Woodroof is not the picture of a conventional chief executive. In meetings, he’s been called too casual, too humorous, too unwilling to cloak himself in the armour of formality. He’s heard it all, and it doesn’t bother him.

“I’ve been told I should be ‘more professional,’ but at least I’m not pretending to be something I’m not,” he says. For him, the refusal to perform professionalism is not immaturity — it is the principle on which he has built a career.

The results are difficult to argue with. Pandan Social, the agency Woodroof co-founded in Kuala Lumpur while still in his early 20s, has grown into a nearly 30-strong team with clients ranging from homegrown brands to multinationals.

Industry recognition has followed, including a win as Digital Agency of the Year. The arc is remarkable: In less than a decade, a young founder who once bristled at the old guard’s standards has found himself rewriting them.

That contradiction defines Woodroof. He may lead with transparency and humour, but behind the relaxed exterior lies a devotion to endurance and consistency that feels almost old-fashioned. He credits racing for that discipline.

Before he built campaigns, he spent his adolescence in motorsport — a world that punished mistakes and rewarded stamina. “Those lessons are not easy to follow, but they’ve carried me through,” he says.

The weight of choice

Pandan Social’s work reflects this balance of ease and relentlessness. Its remit sounds straightforward: take global campaigns designed for Western audiences and make them relevant to Southeast Asia. In reality, it is cultural translation at scale.

“Most global assets that come to us are full of white faces, which have no relevance to Southeast Asia — one of the most diverse regions in the world,” Woodroof explains. His team reworks them into campaigns that resonate locally, often so effectively that they return West as benchmarks.

Yet, his industry is often trivialised. Woodroof bristles at the notion that social media is lightweight work. “In reality, making a TikTok is damn hard. Even I struggle with it,” he says. Every 30-second video demands copywriting, editing, filming, strategy, and influencer coordination.

“People think it’s just jumping on a trend, but it’s hours of planning, shooting, and refining. My team are the unsung heroes.”

Despite his age, or perhaps because of it, he admits to carrying his share of what-ifs. The first is walking away from racing, the arena where he once felt exceptional. “When I pulled the plug, I chose to potentially go to university and eventually take other jobs that led me here. But I always wonder: What if I stuck it out?”

The question feels sharper as motorsport surges in popularity, the global stage always visible in the rearview mirror.

The second decision was selling Pandan Social to Ruder Finn, one of the world’s largest independent PR firms. At 29, to have already exited to a global player is enviable, but speculation remains. “What if I held on longer? What would the company look like now?” he asks. He doesn’t regret the choice — but the wondering never quite disappears.

Play

Pride as proof

Ask him what success looks like, and his answer betrays neither youth nor bravado. It is not valuation or revenue, but culture. “People throw that word around a lot — LinkedIn posts, HBR articles — but it means something when you see it thrive on its own.”

For him, the proof came when Pandan Social won its award, and he and his co-founder, Brandon, his closest friend since age 12, stayed away to let the team own the moment. They wept when the result was announced. “That’s when it hit me — the pride they had in what they built. That’s success.”

The road ahead will demand the same resilience. AI is reshaping marketing, making small teams more efficient but also flooding the world with noise. For Woodroof, the crisis is not technology but attention. “The marketers who win won’t just be faster — they’ll be the ones who make content that actually provides value,” he says.

That means work that teaches, entertains, or earns its place in someone’s feed. “That’s incredibly hard to execute well, but it’s the only way forward.”

Perhaps difficulty has always been his through-line. At 29, Woodroof has already left one career, sold another, and built a reputation on refusing to varnish himself for acceptance. Authenticity, stamina, and conviction — those old virtues, in a young leader — are what carry him into whatever comes next.

For more stories on Strictly Zillennial, visit here.