Meet the Boba Guys and Watch Them Start a Business

The Boba Guys will be joining us from San Francisco twice a week to report on their efforts to build a business from the ground up. Make friends and follow along.

When we were first approached by GOOD Magazine to chronicle our start-up experience, we were flabbergasted. After all, we make boba milk tea, also known as tapioca pearls or spheres of gooey goodness. We understand that boba milk tea is not for everyone, but we relished the idea that we—two guys obsessed with boba—can share our passion with the world.? ?

We both come from typical business backgrounds and feel that startups, particularly those founded on pure passion, needed a different voice. As intimidating as it is to document every folly and silly encounter, we felt that the GOOD community could glean some insight from our experience … or at least have a good laugh at our expense.? ?

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of running a food startup, we want our readers to get to know us. Our backgrounds are very different, so we hope to tackle topics from multiple perspectives. The only things we have in common are a love of design, good business, and tasty boba.?

?Bin Chen, Boba Guy #1 ??\n

Hello. I'm the right-brained side of Boba Guys. I work as an art director by day, and apply those same skills to Boba Guys by night. I also run a blog, You Might Find Yourself. I'll be covering the design side of things, from the brand identity and aesthetics, to the product packaging and our tone of voice in the market.? ?

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Andrew Chau, Boba Guy #2

??I guess this makes me Short Round to Bin’s Indy. As the data junkie, I serve as the finance and operations guy— whatever that really means in a startup. I am marketer-turned-general manager, so most of my ideas are structured and fit within fancy frameworks and Excel models. My perspective will also draw upon my (mis)adventures in business school, where I hope to apply (and debunk) formal theory and best practices. My personal mission is to bring world peace through boba milk tea. You cannot drink boba and be mad at the same time—try it!

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Now that you know where we are coming from, you can challenge us more effectively. We will read every comment and e-mail, so please send us your cat photos and grandma vlogging stories. We'll also comment on serious topics too, like raising startup capital and social impact investing. We love seeing “boba” and “IRR” in the same sentence.? ?

?One more thing: we promise to keep the boba double entendres to a minimum.?