Social Impact Tech: Hoyin Cheung of Remo On How Their Technology Will Make An Important Positive Impact
An Interview With Jilea Hemmings
I’ll give you an example of how our technology changes the world. We once hosted a crypto currency virtual event that was attended by people from all over the world. In one scenario, there was a presentation where the speakers agreed on all topics pertaining to crypto currency. However, when it came to politics, the speakers were on completely different sides. Our technology enables users to “meet in the middle” or essentially form common bonds through engagement and interactions. This bonding allows for people from different backgrounds with different ideals to find common ground or form meaningful connections through interactive means like virtual events.
In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ho Yin Cheung of Remo.
Ho Yin is a serial entrepreneur, product manager, digital marketer with an 8-figure Amazon business, a mobile agency, and also a $1M ARR B2B SaaS company. His core passions lie in helping businesses to grow in a scalable way with software tools his team develops. Ho Yin has over 7+ years of experience building remote teams, and has worked with Fortune 100 companies like Nike, Best Buy, TJ Maxx, SunGard, Cardinal Health, and Kaiser Permanente.
With experience in scaling 3 high growth companies from zero to multi-million dollars in revenue, Ho Yin loves building businesses and processes for scale. He has developed an expertise in creating and developing a B2B sales team, product management, and growth marketing (PPC, SEO, content marketing, funnel optimization).
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?
My childhood was split between Asia and America. The contrast between spending most of my childhood in Asia and my adolescence in a small town in central Illinois gave me a unique perspective on how people interact within communities but also across cultures, borders and time. Even as a child, I was determined to make an impact and reading Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus’ books planted more seeds around how small human interactions (e.g. microfinance) can to make a profound impact.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Undoubtedly, the pandemic is the most interesting thing to occur since the start of my career. It created a hunger for virtual experiences that went beyond faces on a screen to capture the magic of “IRL” interaction. . But it also led me to realize that the “startup rules” many startups follow do not apply to all companies, and certainly don’t apply during a pandemic. Seemingly overnight, demand for virtual event platforms like ours skyrocketed 1300% to the point where we no longer needed to fundraise. Luck, timing and preparation are three aspects of the pandemic that I’ll never forget and becoming in-demand overnight is something I’ll never get over.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I’d love to share a story with you about George Huang who is now the head of our rather large Remo community. When I first met with George, he was just a colleague that was interested in the platform and wanted to learn more about Remo. Over time, George became committed to the mission of humanizing online events and was so determined to make this work that he started working for free. I learned a lot from George, who now leads our community today. He’s a very determined leader that was with me throughout the growing pains, the ups and downs and the fact that he believed in the mission and was willing to work for free mirrors many of the most famous examples of how unexpected people can help make an impact on my own journey and on society.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
One of my favorite quotes is “Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal” — but I believe in applying this approach for good. I’m a firm believer in taking something and making it your own. If you look at the history of art for example, all great artists leaned on former artists for inspiration and this could be seen in their work. My work around humanizing online interactions itself is an extension/modification of the work of others. Making something work for you doesn’t necessarily mean re-inventing the wheel but instead taking something that exists in the universe and making it your own/making it work for you.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
The three traits most instrumental to my success are grit (a.k.a. hustle mentality), determination and self-awareness to learn. For grit/hustle, entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart — I’ve had six previous ventures. Three were successful and three would be considered failures. I’ve realized that constant failures will inevitably lead to success if you have the grit to continue hustling.
Determination comes from within but is also about being determined to find the right people to work with who are also determined. Growing a company, its impact, and yourself as a leader can’t be done alone. The people I work with are determined to move the needle, they’re determined to make change and they are determined to continue the mission of creating a social impact.
It takes a certain amount of self-awareness to understand what you’re good at and where you struggle. It’s best to focus your attention on efforts on where you can excel. As an example, despite me being Chinese, I’ve been repeatedly scolded because my “English is too good.” I was often treated like a foreigner in my own country because of the way I was taught and spoke and it took a level of self-awareness to understand what was happening and how to break through in a new market.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the tech tools that you are helping to create that can make a positive social impact on our society. To begin, what problems are you aiming to solve?
One of, if not the most significant issues that we’re aiming to solve is climate change. By actively hosting virtual events, we’re intentionally lowering our carbon footprint, saving on food wastage and ultimately lowering our impact on the environment.
Another large problem we’re trying to solve is “how can we build authentic connections online.” Social media is the primary tool used in this area but it is also used in very manipulative ways for engagement and interactions. With our platform, we’re about building authentic relationships and capturing the energy of real-life socializing that social media often diminishes.
How do you think your technology can address this?
Humans should not have to bend to technology but instead, technology should bend to us. With mini video conversations as an example, authentic connections are being built from these meaningful conversations on the platform. Our technology allows anyone to form a meaningful connection in minutes — it doesn’t even have to be an entire event. When you’re at a networking event in person, connections happen serendipitously and outside of the confines of an agenda. We’ve found a way to simulate those sparks virtually.
Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?
I was losing a lot of valuable colleagues because as I was running distributed teams working remotely around the world, I was seeing a lack of human connection. I came to realize that the backbone of any distributed team are the relationships that are created. Realizing how there was a lack of human connection on my distributed team is where the passion originated for our platform.
How do you think this might change the world?
I’ll give you an example of how our technology changes the world. We once hosted a crypto currency virtual event that was attended by people from all over the world. In one scenario, there was a presentation where the speakers agreed on all topics pertaining to crypto currency. However, when it came to politics, the speakers were on completely different sides. Our technology enables users to “meet in the middle” or essentially form common bonds through engagement and interactions. This bonding allows for people from different backgrounds with different ideals to find common ground or form meaningful connections through interactive means like virtual events.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
As we’ve seen through other areas of technology, there is also an ability to over-use specific platforms or social media platforms. Instagram is the one example that comes to mind. A lot of people are addicted to social media platforms like Instagram and there can be a tendency to overuse the channel and spend all day on the platform. Like everything else in this universe, everything must be done in moderation, including our platform. Socializing in real life is still innately valuable, so thinking holistically about where interaction happens is crucial.
Here is the main question for our discussion. Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Three things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”? (Please share a story or an example, for each.)
The three essentials needed to create technology that make a positive impact are the mission, ability to attract people that align with the mission and common values.
- Having a good mission is an absolute must and a good mission is always broad yet compelling. There are times when it’s easy to get hung up on solutions but it’s always best to focus on the larger picture which is tied to the mission. As an example, when I started Remo, we were focused on virtual offices and building authentic connections through the workplace. It wasn’t until the demand rose during the pandemic that I realized virtual events actually achieve a deeper human connection than a virtual workspace.
- Another essential is finding the right people that align with this mission. I like to get to know people and understand their mentality and mindset. In working with the right people, you’ll be able to achieve this mission. Revisiting George Huang, our community leader — he believed in the mission at a very early stage before it was profitable. His passion in the mission has allowed us to work together closely with common goals.
- Values are another integral part of building technology that could make a positive social impact. Common values will go a long way when it comes to successfully creating technology and values will be tied to making a social impact filled with purposefulness and passion.
If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?
I’d tell them that money only gets you so far. While it’s always good to put yourself in a good financial position, money shouldn’t be the be all or end all. When making a positive impact, it should come from within. You should fulfil your internal passions and desires to want to make a difference, money isn’t everything and you have a unique opportunity now more than ever to make a positive social or environmental impact, go for it!!
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Elon Musk — His ability to push limits, work at a breathtaking pace and create new technological components that always has people interested is the reason I’d love to meet him. I’d love to know more about what he’s thinking when it comes to just about anything.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Feel free to check out my LinkedIn page or check out our blog.
Thank you so much for this. This was very inspirational, and we wish you only continued success!
Social Impact Tech: Hoyin Cheung of Remo On How Their Technology Will Make An Important Positive… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.