I'm a firm believer in karma. By doing good, good things eventually find you. I don't have an American Express Black Card, but I like to think that I would if I could fill it with karma points.
Chieh Huang
Everyone is now praying at the altar of every last dollar of profits to please shareholders. If you invest in your people and treat them well, it's a different way to increase profits.
Growing up poor taught me a lot. It instilled in me the ethics of hard work.
Life, especially the life of an early-stage entrepreneur, is full of gigantic ups and downs. Make sure you don't let yourself get too high or too low. It's a marathon, and you just have to keep your legs moving at a steady pace.
I think whether it's a good idea or not to take the startup plunge comes down to the responsibilities of the individual. If you have a family to care for or a huge mortgage payment, then quitting your steady day job to launch a startup probably isn't the best decision to make.
There's always a booming market somewhere in tech - you just have to find a good idea for that market.
When it comes to running a business and interacting with people, you need to be very transparent.
Education was the motor that allowed me to make my way up the ladder.
Every person who starts at Boxed does shifts at the fulfillment center. It doesn't matter if you are the general counsel or the COO.
My management style is one of inclusion, meaning we're all one team no matter if you're making an hourly wage at the fulfillment center floor, if you're a C-staffer from a public company.
I start the day just with the family. I don't check emails until my commute, and I make sure my phone isn't close to me until I'm out the door.
Parents will be parents. Even now, my mom asks me sometimes, 'When are you going to go back and get a real job?'
Working at a fulfillment center is definitely not the most glamorous job. I know because, in the early days, that's what I did, day in and day out. I had a tape gun in my hand, and I taped boxes.
The ultimate goal is to be the leader in mobile commerce. I'm not just saying revenues; if you're trying to find a good experience of buying something on your phone, I want you to automatically think, 'Boxed has one of the best, if not the best, experiences of buying something on your mobile device.'
As ubiquitous as the brands of the warehouse clubs are - Costco, BJ's and Sam's - they're not everywhere. If you have less than a million people in your town, or less than 500K, you might never get access to wholesale savings.
It was tough times in Ohio when we lived there. My dad was between unemployed and just selling random knickknacks at a flea market. My mom was a cashier at a Chinese food restaurant. They both had awesome careers back in Taiwan, and they came here for my sister and I.
I'm just a regular dude from New Jersey. If Boxed is successful, and you take 90% of my money away, I'll still be all right.
Most entrepreneurs are very gut driven - they have to be because the odds and data are often stacked against them. If your gut says something is the right thing to do, then do it.
Everyone wants to start a business in their garage - they think it's sexy - but when you actually sit as a 30-year-old in a garage, it's not so sexy.
All these retailers these days are under pressure. Why? It's because... for the last 30 years, value equaled price. But now, value equals price, convenience, and a little bit of brand.
I personally pay, through the majority of my stock and through cash, college tuitions of our full-time employees' kids. Life-changing events are generally covered by Boxed as well.
I stopped taking calls when I'm with my kids. It's either work time or family time.
Email knocks me off my game. It's just for the morning commute and end of the day. Some might think I'm slow to respond, but those who need to reach me know to send me a text during those hours.
The best advice I ever received is that there is a difference between urgency and importance: Urgent tasks seem important, but they're not. Important things need to get done.
Money is there to put food on the table and make sure your family is cared for. Anything beyond that can be argued as extraneous.
You don't have to be a superhero to change the arc of history.
I knew I did not want to be a doctor; my parents kept talking to me about that. I wanted to be an NBA player, but around freshman and sophomore year, I stopped growing, so that was the end of that.
I still remember sitting in my parent's basement playing 'Final Fantasy VII' in middle school. When Sephiroth came down like LeBron James on Aerith with that sword, I couldn't talk for a full 20 minutes.
Automation is great for profits, but it's a real potential trouble area for society.
When I put my mind to something, I get it done.
I grew up loving to go to Price Club, and later Costco, with my parents.
Companies are not lead by a single person; they're lead by a group of individuals collectively making good decisions on behalf of the company.
