There are lots of cool startups listed on our startup directory. In support of the startup community and all of its brilliant and industrious founders – we wanted to give them an editorial shout out.
In the first of a series of “3 Founders to Watch” posts, we’re introducing three Hong Kong entrepreneurs that are doing cool things in the hardware, mobile/logistics and platform space.
Having worked in the design industry for many years as a designer and account director for various agencies, Florence launched the first design publication for Asia when she first moved to Hong Kong in 2009. Through this, she was able to develop an eye for spotting emerging talents. After interviewing local designers, she went on to curate several design events such as designr-rdv at DETOUR Hong Kong.
Realizing she had a passion for spotting, sharing and supporting designers from around the world, BuyMeDesign was born as a combination of a blog, community and e-commerce site. In their launch, BuyMeDesign’s first featured product was the Pop Phone by Native Union – which has gone on to achieve legendary and iconic status.
What is your startup?
Buymedesign is the Asian online curator for designers and shops. We are not doing flash sales, we sell at premium to retailers and consumers. At our core is the ability of our design curators and spot contributors to scout the world and reveal undiscovered gems of design.
Ambi Climate and StartWareHK co-founder Julian Lee [far right] provides this guest post that leads to next week’s very first start-up hardware meet-up in Hong Kong.
To get more inspiration for the upcoming first Startware event on 5th March, I have been looking at our neighbour to the North, Shenzhen. The manufacturing mecca for hardware startups, Shenzhen plays host to numerous US based Kickstarter projects, and is also home to the leading hardware incubator, HAXLR8R. With numerous global technology companies doing R&D here, Shenzhen also boasts a large pool of engineers and technicians.
Last weekend, I travelled to Shenzhen to attend the Hack42 hackathon organised by SZDIY. A group of hardware enthusiasts, SZDIY’s members are highly skilled engineers, including staff from HAXLR8R, Nvidia, SUSE, and so on. Although billed as an event for hobbyists, SZDIY’s founders see a clear path towards entrepreneurship.
