#014 - Brick-and-mortar stores for crowdfunded projects to help reach consumers, with Damien Ng of Backers, Hong Kong

The Hardware Entrepreneur

My guest is Damien Ng, co-founder of Backers, a chain of stores in Asia that wants to help crowdfunded projects bring closer to the consumer mass market. To my knowledge they’re the first such initiative in the world.

With Backers Damien saw a gap experienced by crowdfunded projects: they take place in the virtual world whereas because most of the time those products are physical, they should actually be experienced physically.

I met Damien in their office in Hong Kong, where I conducted this interview.

Raw transcript is available at: https://www.thehardwareentrepreneur.com

Show highlights can be seen below:

• Identification of the problem…the beginnings of Backers - [2:21]
• Their motivation - [5:08]
• The beginnings: testing - [7:09]
• What major challenges did you have during founding and now? - [9:04]
• How does the funding situation look like in Hong Kong in hardware? - [10:18]
• Tips for running a crowdfunding campaign - [12:10]
• Your biggest strengths? - [13:55]
• His sources of inspiration - [15:17]
• if you could go back to the time when you were in your twenties - what notes would you give yourself?- [16:35]
• Which books had the biggest impact on your entrepreneurial career? - [17:25]
• What routines do you have? - [18:50]
• We interact with different cultures - what cultural aspects were challenging?- [19:39]
• The impact of food on business - [21:21]
• What is the best way to reach you? - [22:12]