I can’t believe it is October already! Hope everyone is well.
Things are crazy as usual. We continue to work on a couple of startups we launched last year and some cool new companies. While it is never pleasant when one (or many!) of our startups struggles or doesn’t work out, thankfully we get lucky once in a while.
Our lotsofbuttons.com won Startup Arena in Singapore a few months ago and we continue to expand and look at new opportunities. I could never have imagined that one day we’d be selling $0.25 buttons online from Hong Kong!
We are working on expanding our social enterprise, Bonham Strand, which focuses on creating living wage long term skilled career opportunities for at risk youth with substance abuse challenges (WSJ did a great video on us last December – link here). We’ve just launched a handmade necktie range along with bespoke coats and these really cool urban style baseball jackets (I’ve orders by Columbia and Penn jackets. I’ll have to make a Thacher one next…). We are also quietly planning our entry into the United States soon. We’d love to establish a bunch of Bonham Strand cities in the U.S. to bring back local high end apparel manufacturing as a way to impact the same at-risk community across the country. If anyone out there is interested in this space, please give me a shout.
New deals for 2013 are all about sevice robotics and education. The velocity of change is breathtaking!
Believe it or not, I’m teaching a course called “Reinventing Traditional Businesses Using New Media and the Internet” in the Masters in Multimedia Technology degree program at Hong Kong Poly U. This is my second year now. Sort of weird being on the teaching end but I’m having a great time sharing.
TEDx Hong Kong is back again (I co-curate the event along with TEDx Hong Kong Education). This year the topic is “Can You Relate?” Our MC and one of or speakers is a tech journalist and a good friend who was employee 14 at Apple. He will be sharing about how “Steve Jobs Fired Me 3 Times.” I can’t wait to hear this one. The event is going to be December 13/14. Please give me a shout if you are in Hong Kong and would like to attend!
Jong Lee CdeP 1986