Whether you were in Hong Kong when BootHK first arrived on the scene, or showed up and had over 20 to choose from – you’re still here to witness the rapid growth of our young and promising startup scene.
Which is why we’re celebrating 5 years of trials and tribulations with Hong Kong’s tech movers and shakers, the hottest startups of 2014 and pioneers that have been here from the very beginning. Our ‘Startups of Future Past’ event on Wednesday, November 12th will not only make some of our seasoned entrepreneurs nostalgic and but also treat newcomers to a little Hong Kong startup scene history.
In the morning panel, we’ll be taking a stroll down memory lane with six startup pioneers – so in anticipation of that chat, we asked them: “what was the biggest highlight for you in the past 5 years?”
Jon Buford – Makible
The first meetings of StartupsHK at Habitu as Startup Monday in 2009, opening the doors or BootHK with both financial and physical support from the community and finally closing the first round of funding for Makible after getting the original product featured on Engadget and seeing 40,000 visitors come to the site in a day.
Ben Cheng – Oursky
I would say it was when our subscription product MRR passed the cost of an employee. This is important to us as that meant we learned a bit on how to build a product that people actually use and a small number of them actually love, and the product didn’t have the urgency for funding.
Theodore Ma – CoCoon
When we started Cocoon pitch nights, we were warned that there aren’t going to be enough startups and entrepreneurs who will join every month. I guess after 21 consecutive pitch nights, 88 companies, an audience of 2000 supporters, and members collectively raising HK $18 million of angel funding, I think much has changed for the better.
Michelle Lam – Spoilt
The biggest highlight for me was definitely the acquisition of Red Packet. Red Packet was a former competitor and the deal allowed us to instantly expand our product portfolio, client base and distribution channels.
Cedric Delzenne – Founder Institute HK
I think one of my biggest highlights was when Timeout spotted my fashion e-commerce startup just a few months after launch and featured it in its Best of 2010 special issue, as the future Net-a-Porter for independent designers. It sounded a little overstated at the time, and even more so in retrospect, but that was definitely a high in the emotional rollercoaster that would follow.
