TAP-Seattle is proud to host our Entrepreneur Talk!
Come learn from our panel of Leaders in Seattle and network with other professionals from around the area. Taiwanese-Americans Serena Wu, Chun-Kai Wang, Dexter Lai, and Korean-American Arry Yu will form our speaker panel. This is your chance to meet some of the most ambitous entrepreur and learn to deal with the challnges and how to achieve success of starting your own business. There will be Q and A session and networking at the end so you can engage in inpirational converation from industry pioneers.
General: $10
Buy your ticket here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=C4LG5UNVQBSXW
Students: FREE (current student ID will be check at the door)
Location: Bellevue City Hall Council Chamber
Agenda:
6:30PM-7:00PM – Networking
7:00PM-8:00PM – Panel Discussion
8:00PM-8:30PM – Q & A
Speaker 1: Serena Wu (Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Kitchenbowl)
Speaker 2: Chun-Kai Wang (Co-Founder and CEO of Kooapps)
Speaker 3: Dexter Lai (Current: President of Vita Pacific Group) (Former: Founder and CEO of Able Computer System)
Speaker 4: Arry Yu (Founder and CEO of GiftStarter.com)
**About Serena Wu and Kitchenbowl**
Serena is Co-Founder and CCO of Kitchenbowl, a Seattle-based consumer-mobile startup. She leads the creative direction and user experience of Kitchenbowl’s mobile, TV, and web properties.
Kitchenbowl (“Houzz for Cooking”) is a community for people to share and discover recipes and also track their cooking journey. Kitchenbowl’s mission is to make home-cooking attainable for everyone, and to help people form lasting, healthy habits. Apple featured Kitchenbowl as a “Best New App” for the iPhone (2014) and Apple TV (2015), and Mattermark listed the company as one of the “23 Fastest Growing Startups at SXSW Interactive 2016.” In total, Kitchenbowl has raised $1.3 million from food veterans like Bill Moore (the former Allrecipes CEO), Scott Svenson (the former president of Starbucks Europe), and other notable investors.
Prior to Kitchenbowl, Serena led design at various startups where she worked on apps like Word Seek and Cures (both featured by Apple); and Camp Bears, the first real-time multiplayer virtual world on the iPad. In 2008, Serena co-founded the viral humor blog, My Mom is a Fob, which Perigee Books published in print form in 2011. Serena holds a B.A. in Architecture from UC Berkeley.
**About Chun-Kai Wang and Kooapps**
Chun-Kai Wang got his Bachelors and Masters from Stanford University. After graduating, Chun-Kai spent a couple of years at Microsoft before leaving that to start Kooapps. Chun-Kai is also a lecturer at the University of Washington.
Kooapps is a mobile gaming company with millions of downloads. Founded in 2008, Kooapps has released more than 30 games with several top selling titles. Kooapps motto is: we are here to do the best work of our lives and make games that we want to show our friends.
**About Dexter Lai**
Dexter has been an entrepreneur and business owner for his entire career. Currently, he is the principal and serves as the designated broker of real estate firms Vista Pacific Group and DCL Management. His involvement includes syndicating investment of commercial properties, asset management, brokerage service of commercial & residential income property leasing & acquisition, property management, and home purchase & sale. He currently manages a real estate portfolio of more than 300,000 square feet totaling over $80MM in asset value including office/industrial/retail /medical properties and residential income properties in Puget Sound area.
Prior to his full time involvement in Vista Pacific Group and DCL Management, Dexter was the CEO & President of Able Computer Systems which he founded in 1994. In less than 10 years, he brought the company from start up to one of the top 100 PC System Builders in USA.
Dexter holds a PhD degree in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. After graduation, he turned down the engineering career offers from automotive and aerospace industry and chose a business career to join Equus Computer System which he helped grow 7 folds in 3 years prior to founding Able Computer System.
Firmly believing in giving back to community, Dexter was also very actively involved in volunteer service among Taiwanese American communities in Greater Seattle. He served as president of Taiwanese Association of Greater Seattle in 2008, president of National Taiwan University Alumni Association NW-USA 2011 & 2012, and Chairman of Taiwanese American Heritage Week committee from 2012 to 2014.
**About Arry Yu and GiftStarter**
After earning a B.A. in Asian studies from Cornell University, Yu worked as a senior manager at Logic 20/20, a Seattle consulting firm which she left to found Emotiv Labs Inc., GiftStarter’s parent company. GiftStarter, helps people pool money to buy big-ticket presents. Group members can log on and contribute until the retail price is reached. Once all the funds have been raised, GiftStarter sends the gift with a personalized “Contributor Card.” Through GiftStarter’s innovative platform of enabling technology, they revolutionized the conventional way of gifting and are building upon the collaborative contribution efforts of friends and family, so that budgets are greater allowing loved ones to receive better gifts!
GiftStarter was named the 7th fastest growing company out of 34 companies in 500 Startups Batch 14, where ‘500 Startups’ is a Silicon Valley venture capital seed fund & startup accelerator founded by former PayPal & Google alumni.
Aside from being a successful entrepreneur, Arry is also passionate in helping young professionals to succeed. She is a member of the Korean American Coalition and Pathwise Leadership Program, and a mentor for the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.
–About TAP-SEA–
TAP enhances the Taiwanese American community by networking individuals interested in career and professional development, while emphasizing the preservation of Taiwanese American identity. TAP provides resources and programs that inspire and empower; develop and support professionals to become community-oriented leaders.
TAP focuses on Leadership, Identity, Networking, and Community (LINC).
TAP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization through its parent organization, Taiwanese American Citizens League (http://tacl.org/).
Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/521275224709254/