The Entrepreneurial DNA Behind Prenetics — Dinner with Danny Yeung, CEO of Prenetics

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.

Danny is a serial entrepreneur and investor who started his entrepreneurial career at the age of 25. First franchising Hui Lau Shan into the US, Danny has since founded numerous companies over the years and is known for being a pioneer and spearheading e-Commerce in Hong Kong back in 2010. At that time, Danny had started uBuyiBuy which was acquired by Internet Giant Groupon just after 6 months of operations. He then led Groupon’s East Asia business through 2014.

Currently, he is the C0-Founder and CEO of Prenetics, a Hong Kong-based digital health company which is one of the most well-funded health technology start-ups in the region, having raised over US $50M from the likes of Alibaba, Ping An, 500 Startups, Venturra Capital, Beyond Ventures and more. Prenetics mission is to empower individuals with valuable DNA health information. With a simple saliva sample, individuals can discover how their genes affect their diet, drug response, disease and cancer risk. This information enables people to make health a choice, by living healthier and proactively preventing or delaying the onset of diseases. Prenetics partners with large insurers including Prudential, AIA, HSBC Insurance, Muang Thai Life and have already launched their testing services in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam with many new markets coming in 2018.

Over dinner, Danny let us in on the secrets of what makes or breaks an entrepreneur, the importance of self-learning and some astonishing secrets of his past!

What’s your life philosophy?

Love what you do!

Certainly, this statement has been said many times but it can’t be more true! As an entrepreneur, you really must LOVE what you do and understand why you are doing it. It needs to be about solving a real problem and having a strong value proposition which is better than the competitors. Money in itself should not define you or the reason to be an entrepreneur.

Often times being an entrepreneur can be quite lonely and in reality, it’s not all glitter and lights. Thus, by you truly loving what you do, it helps you get by the daily challenges and the constant up and downs with entrepreneurship. There are many days where your brain doesn’t stop, days where you forget to eat and even days that you don’t sleep due to a product launch or just anxiety. I remember back in 2010 and before our site launched live to the public, I hadn’t slept for 3 days. While it was very tough to get through, the moment the site launched and everything was working, it was just thrilling and all the sacrifices made until that point had all been worth it.

Entrepreneurship is never easy and gets mentally and physically draining. If things aren’t going so well, I can’t just leave or look for a new opportunity. I must persist and there is a lot riding on every venture, much more than just myself. I always owe it to do the best for my team members and in the best interests of the company, regardless of any challenges. This is the path I chose to take because I do love what I do with a strong passion.

What do you think is something that everyone should learn?

If you choose to do something, you owe it to yourself to try your best.

It does not matter what your specialty is, once you’ve decided to do something, give it your all. Anything can be self taught if you are willing to be self taught. Hard work and persistence is important for everything, there are no substitutes for them. Ask yourself what you can sacrifice for your success. There is no shortcut.

What do you think is most important for an entrepreneur?

1) Creativity is very important for an entrepreneur. Think out of the box from a new perspective. There are different things that you have figure out for every specific scenario.

2) Entrepreneurs also have to be super resourceful, you have to try different ways if things don’t work out.

3) Find a team which believes in your mission and values. Without a team, you can’t do anything. Find the best talent that you would want to go to war with. Find people who aren’t just looking for a job but people with passion!

4) Think what you be willing to sacrifice for being an entrepreneur. Give first and rewards will come.

5) Dream and think big! Someone has to do it and it might as well be you.

Thank you Danny for raising 93 volunteer hours to HandsOn Hong Kong, Hong Kong Public Space Initiative, Food Angel and more!!

These awesome photos are brought to you by Harris Cheng from Freehunter — an online marketplace for reaching freelancing talents in Hong Kong!

For more amazing opportunities, visit Time Auction to volunteer and meet inspiring mentors!