Norma Chu was born and raised in Hong Kong and now is founder and CEO of the Hong Kong-based startup DayDayCook.
She grew up in Seattle and graduated from University of Washington. Before going into the startup industry she was the head of equities at HBSC in Hong Kong.
The cooking app, DayDayCook began as a cooking blog and later became a big success with recipes and videos. Now, is focused e-commerce in the food industry, from selling its own sauces to delivering already prepare food.
In your own words what does your startup do?
We are here to spread the love for cooking to the young generation through the creation and distribution of fun video content.
Why did you create your startup?
When I returned to Hong Kong after working a few years after college, I realised a lot of young people in Hong Kong did not see cooking as a part of their quality lifestyle. I wanted to change that view and so I started DayDayCook.
What was your first victory when doing your startup?
There has been many many small victories along the way including winning our first advertising client, getting to our first 100,000 followers on Facebook (now we have close to 600,000 and 3,000,000 social followers in total), having institutional investors’ support, becoming the largest self-published cooking and lifestyle media company in China with over 1.2 billion aggregate views in 18 months time.
What are the pros of doing a startup in Hong Kong?
The start up scene is relatively less competitive because there aren’t a lot of entrepreneur spirit in this city. Once you have figured out a sustainable model, it is relatively easy to stay ahead. The quality of talent is also an attraction, the average execution ability of Hong Kong youngsters continue to surprise me.
What are the cons of doing a startup in Hong Kong?
The lack of startup spirit in the city is a major disadvantage, although we are seeing more and more awareness in this area, there are still a lot that can be done. Because of the lack of an ecosystem, it can be difficult to aspiring founders to get funding, build a team, and launch/scale up a product.
What are some of your daily digital habits?
24/7 on my mobile phone communicating with the team in Hong Kong and Shanghai, checking all social sites and content quality.
Where do you see Hong Kong in 2021?
I see the city will have better established start-ups being widely recognized, not just in Hong Kong, but globally. I also see more start up incubators in the city encouraging more young people to follow their dreams and take more risks.
Rapid-Fire Round:
Mentor:
My super supportive investor group
Website:
www.daydaycook.com
Music:
Big Bang (haha)
Book:
Hard Things About Hard Things
Movie:
Notting Hill & Steve Jobs (2015)
What is one thing that you would like to pass on to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Do you best, forget the rest!
(Portraiture by Ruby Law Photography)
