Risk as a Daily Caffeine — Dinner with Henek Lo, CEO and Co-founder of Hypeasia.co

1c4EE2bs52Fjklc hlfKKdg scaled
Dinner with Henek raised 53 volunteer hours!!

Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their life and career.

When we talk about startups, we usually talk about the glam of the hustle and the dream of building the next unicorn. But a topic people tend to avoid when talking about startups? Risk.

Just ask Henek Lo who runs Hypeasia.co, a venture builder that helps startups expand in Asia. Despite being only less than a year old, the company has already helped the likes of Carousell, Snapask and Homage pair up with mega VCs such as Sequoia and Rakuten Ventures.

“I love CEOs who generally admit they’ve made mistakes.”

Over dinner with him, we got to talk all things gut and energy.

Who is Henek Lo?

Henek started off in consulting at Bear Stearns, JP Morgan and Macquarie. In 2012, he became the first person to represent Airbnb in Asia (after 18 rounds of interviews). Going from its Head of Sales to General Manager for Greater China, he helped the company through its hyper-growth stage.

By 2015, Henek had lead Greater China till 2016 just after Airbnb had raised series E from Asian investors. If that wasn’t enough, Henek brought WeWork to the APAC region, where he launched 5 locations in Australia, Hong Kong, and South Korea for the premium co-working space provider.

With a strong background of expanding operations and finding investments in Asia, he decided to start HYPE — where he utilises his market expertise and networks to help businesses in a region brimming with opportunity.

1FtVObPP36N8qrgwu1 4uA scaled
12A626JZsHjHZ8oMHv1o9mA scaled
Henek came with great energy and shared his great sense of humour.

A man of organization, timing and goals

When we asked Henek about his daily routine, he emphasized how important his schedule was.

“I live by my calendar. If it’s not on my calendar, it didn’t happen. I have a 1.5 year old daughter, so I try to get home.”

Every morning, he talks to his associate — coming up with 3 things that he wants to crush that day. He times ALL of his meetings. And every night, he plans for the next day.

“I generally get up at 06:00, but after 21:30 when my daughter goes to sleep, I’m usually working from 22:00 to 02:00.”

Henek generally gets about 4 hours of sleep every day and catches up on his z’s while flying around the world. Talk about a busy day!

1uLa KOIMtZjuo LIjtfbrw scaled
1zfoby0BPAztXzgU8mS0BZw scaled
182knbrUtSbJYrDntGxeevg scaled

Embrace the venture

His experience, coupled with his newborn daughter taught him a great lesson about luck and opportunity: Taking risk is a luxury.

“I really do mean it. If there’s that opportunity, you are in the right place to take it and you feel like that’s the right thing to do, I think you discover so much more about yourself. “

He recalled his feelings during his taxi ride to the airport when he was making his way to the Airbnb office for the first time.

I felt really lucky that I’m doing something completely different… I went with my gut and I took the risk.”

Now, he loves what he does. So much so that his team is constantly surprised that he’s bursting with energy even in the early hours of the workday — earning him the question “Just how many coffees did you have?” frequently from his colleagues.

Loving your work can really change how you view your day to day routine. Because we are lucky enough to be where we are today, we owe it to ourselves to take some risk and take the first step towards something new. You never know if it’s something you’ll end up loving.

17qAVe oS8bqRyNtaAhVVhA scaled

Always moving forward!

The meeting wasn’t just about values. Henek also talked a lot about the importance of being observant and looking at what’s happening.

When asked about a superpower he would like to have, his answer was: Time Travel. While some may go back to their past to rewrite parts of their history, he was fixated on having foresight into the future.

“We all talk about trends — AI, data, deep learning and quantum computing, etc. I just wanna fast forward and see what wins.”

1W65r4F 3b8vg0Tt9 esuxw scaled

Thank you so much to Henek for raising 53 volunteer hours and all the volunteers who dedicated their hours for the greater good! We would also like to thank photographer Steve Hung from Kachick and our venue sponsor WeWork Wanchai!

To see our upcoming experiences, head over to the Time Auction website!

This article originally appeared on our blog on Medium: https://timeauction.medium.com/risk-as-a-daily-caffeine-dinner-with-henek-lo-ceo-and-co-founder-of-hypeasia-co-eb981a5a2a43

Updated on 8 April, 2021
Share on

Volunteer Your Skills for Worthy Causes

Ever thought you could volunteer with your skills?

Discover volunteer projects where you can use your skills to support causes – all while building your resume, gaining references and making a difference!
Discover Projects
【2024義工活動】點樣加入義工行列?5大義工服務種類推介
你對「做義工」嘅認識有幾多?好多人都未必熟悉除咗賣旗籌款同探訪老人院之外,仲有咩其他類型嘅義工服務。究竟坊間有邊啲做義工嘅途徑,可以搵到適合自己嘅義工機會呢? 其實香港大大小小嘅慈善團體或非牟利機構  (NGO) 都會招募義工,而非牟利機構嘅義工服務範疇亦非常多元化,包括技能義工 (Skilled-volunteers),善用義工嘅個人技能同專長服務社會。你可以根據唔同嘅服務種類,或者按自己嘅喜好、關心嘅社會議題選擇義工機會。以下係5種常見嘅義工服務範疇同機構簡介畀你參考: 目錄 (一):動物福利 (二):長者服務 (三):青年發展 (四):環境保護 (五):社區服務 技能義工配對平台推介 常見嘅義工服務範疇(一):動物福利 如果你係狗奴、貓奴,或者鍾意動物,不妨考慮做動物義工!除咗有機會親身接觸毛孩之外,仲可以利用自己嘅一技之長,支援NGO嘅日常運作。雖然根據政府公佈的數據,動物棄養嘅數量有持續下降趨勢,但因近年的移民潮影響,保護動物慈善協會表示棄養寵物個案兩年升近三倍。因此,很多關注動物福利的團體都十分需要義工加入服務行列。 義工服務性質:清潔籠舍、照顧動物、活動推廣等 香港動物基金 Hong Kong Paws Foundation 香港動物基金係一間完全依靠慈善捐款同義工支持嘅動物福祉組織,希望拯救被虐待、遺棄同走失嘅動物。 香港愛護動物協會 SPCA (HK) 香港愛護動物協會係本港首間兼顧動物福利各方面嘅慈善團體,提倡善待動物,同時打擊同防止虐待動物。 Bring Me Home (Suppaw) Bring Me Home (Suppaw) 係一個寵物社交網站,亦係香港首個無償動物領養平台。 嘉道理農場暨植物園 Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden 嘉道理農場暨植物園為需要支持的農民提供農業援助,幫助他們過上獨立嘅生活; 並為公眾提供休閒同教育體驗。  Team for Animals in Lantau South (TAILS) 南大嶼山動物保護隊為有需要的貓狗提供救援、醫療、絕育、養育、庇護、寄養同領養服務,包括那些 流浪、被遺棄、受傷、虐待同忽視既貓狗,大力提倡動物福利,相信教育可以創造有利於香港動物嘅變革。 立即發掘更多! 常見嘅義工服務範疇(二):長者服務 隨著香港長者人口上升,越來越多關注老人家嘅機構都招募緊義工,希望為老友記送上更多關懷。 義工服務性質:家居維修、網頁設計、文字翻譯等 […]
Being a Good Listener in a Noisy World — Dinner with Jasper Tsang, Former President of the Legislative Council
Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their life and career, where we get a glimpse into their mentality behind their ventures. Former President of the Legislative Council Jasper Tsang has been deemed Hong […]
More than Meets the Eye — Lunch with Paul Choi, Executive Director, Human Capital Management, Goldman Sachs
Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their life and career, where we get a glimpse into their mentality behind their ventures. Paul joined Goldman Sachs as an associate in Investment Banking in 2000, […]
Lunch with David, Co-founder of Divide
David is the Co-founder of Divide, a productivity app that was acquired by Google for US$120 million in 2014. “Leaders have to lead by example. Good leaders will naturally rise in the organisation by gaining the respect and trust of their peers.” said David when we picked his brain on leadership. And on failure? “You’ve […]
The Way He Leads PwC Malaysia — Dinner with Sridharan Nair, Managing Partner of PwC Malaysia
Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their lives and career. “Be nice and be kind to other people.” In a world you can be anything, be kind. At Time Auction Kuala Lumpur, we […]
Giving with a Strategy — Dinner with Jean Sung, Head of The Philanthropy Centre, Asia at J.P. Morgan Private Bank
Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their life and career. Even the smallest of actions can make a world of a difference. Whether you consider yourself a friend, a local community member or […]
On the Journey to Transform the 150-year-old Hotel Brand— Meet with Sally Osborne, Director of Innovation & Kaleidoscope Lab, Peninsula Hotels
Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their lives and career. In this digital era, innovation is key to success in nearly all industries. At Time Auction Hong Kong, we’re honored to host our […]
Top