Taking Social Risks

What would you say is the biggest risk you took in building your company?

Great question. So, this is a really hot topic that I talk about when I— you're trying to make a transition into being an entrepreneur. People always think being an entrepreneur is really risky. And I don't, I actually disagree, I actually think it's a different type of risk. So, people think starting a Boba shop out of nowhere is risky, or people think starting Amazon for Jeff Bezos out of nowhere is risky.

But if you read those stories, and it's a Malcolm Gladwell kind of thought, if you know Malcolm Gladwell. The best risk takers are actually not risk-takers at all, they’re entrepreneurs who are originals, they take very calculated risks. To me, starting a Boba shop was very calculated. It was intuitive to me, it was like, if there was an artisan Boba shop, does that match like the artisan coffee shop? To me, no different.

But, the type of risks that I do think that entrepreneurs do take on, that people don't gauge, and think about, is social risk. And I think that's really the risk that I am very comfortable with.

What do you mean by that? What is social risk?

It's like leaving the crowd, it's about—like, I have an MBA from a pretty good school, and I was on the fast track in brand management, and I did pretty well. But the problem is that, everybody who saw me do Boba Guys was like, “Well, why would you do all that training to run a Boba shop?” And including my parents, as I said, my mom thought I was crazy.

So, I think for the first two, three years, when Boba guys was just one or two stores, and I was looking really tired, it showed on my face. I think people question my sanity in a way, because they were like, you know…

What is he doing? Is he crazy?

Yeah, I mean, people literally…Somebody said to my wife, he was like, “Andrew looks like he's killing himself,” like he… And I couldn't explain it, it was something I had to do.