Chowbus' Linxin Wen In the Spotlight | Rally Newsletter

RALLY with Gold House Ventures is excited to spotlight exceptional Asian Pacific founders and investors through a biweekly feed of stories, funding opportunities, portfolio news, career opportunities, and events. If you are an entrepreneur looking to meet with Gold House Ventures or an investor looking to get more involved with Gold House’s Venture Network, please reach out to investments@goldhouse.org. 

Spotlight

In this issue of RALLY with Gold House Ventures, we are thrilled to spotlight Linxin Wen , the CEO and co-founder of Chowbus . Chowbus is an all-in-one, cloud-based POS system designed to help restaurants run operations more efficiently and increase their revenues.  Linxin holds a Master's degree from the Illinois Tech Stuart School of Business and a Bachelor’s degree from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. 

Q. What inspired you to found Chowbus? 

A: From my childhood, I always had two dreams: first, to come to the U.S, and second … to start my own business. Back then, I didn't know too much about what it meant to run a startup. Years later, while my dreams remain the same, I’ve learned it’s all about having excitement for building products that can change peoples’ lives for the better.

Q. Tell us about Chowbus; what makes Chowbus unique? 

A: We are building the most comprehensive ecosystem to power restaurant operations and management, starting with Asian food. There are so many opportunities to leverage modern technology to help restaurants run more efficiently and increase their revenues, and Chowbus is positioned to do just this for hundreds of thousands of Asian restaurants in the U.S. and beyond.

Q: What is your advice for founders at the pre-seed / seed stage? What is something you would have done differently if you could go back in time? 

A: Build something people need and love. Finding product-market fit is THE most important thing. Don’t waste too much time on hiring, attending events, or attracting PR. Just keep talking to customers and iterate fast! 

Q: What do you want to improve on as a founder? What is your advice for others who are facing a similar challenge or situation? 

A: I’ve made two big mistakes as a founder, and learned so much from them: 

1. Trying to do too much. As a startup, focus is very important. If you are doing too many things at the same time, you will likely find yourself and your teams unable to deliver the best product or service to customers. Figure out who your target customers are, deliver the best product specifically for them, and get the basics down to a science before considering pursuing another market opportunity.
2. Hiring too fast. When we raised our Series B in 2020, we hired many people too fast, diluting our existing culture and increasing burn significantly.  No matter how much money you raise, remember to always stay scrappy and grow at a speed you can control. 

Q: What are unique challenges API founders face? What is your advice for other API founders navigating these challenges?

A: I am a Chinese immigrant. I faced language barriers, culture differences,  immigrant visa, etc. Coming to the U.S with no money, no resources and not knowing anyone, I need to build everything from scratch in a scrappy way. However, I firmly believe that we, as immigrants, have unique advantages that are often overlooked. We have the opportunity to absorb cutting-edge ideas and best practices from both our native and adopted countries. More importantly, we can tap into special resources from our homeland. Immigrant founders can achieve remarkable things by staying true to our roots while fully immersing ourselves with the new environments and cultures. I hope to eventually demonstrate this through my own journey.

Q: What’s a fun fact about you other people may not expect? 

A: My wife and I were high school sweethearts back in 2007, and we have been together for 17 years already. This is my go-to “show-off” fact, and I couldn’t be prouder of it. 

Q: Who is your biggest role model? 

A: Steve Jobs. My favorite book remains “Steve Jobs” by Walter Isaacson even after a decade!

Upcoming Gold House Opportunities

Happy Lunar New Year!

We are excited to extend an invitation to join us for our upcoming AAPI Founded Happy Hour in Philadelphia, our inaugural networking mixer uniting AAPI founders, investors, creatives, and community leaders in the City of Brotherly Love... on Leap Day! Tasty bites and drinks will be served.

AAPI Founded Happy Hour in Philadelphia

Hosts: ACE NextGen, Asian American Arts Alliance (A4), Asian Hustle Network, Gold House, Singapore Global Network

Date: Thursday, February 29th

Time: 5-7pm EST 

Location: Center City, Philadelphia

RSVP: Please register here to confirm your spot

There’s One Week Left for Gold Green Grant Applications!

Gold House and Garnier have teamed up on the all-new Gold Green Grant: a bold collaborative effort that seeks to empower Asian Pacific entrepreneurs in their journey towards sustainable business practices. 

Apply by March 1st for a chance to win scholarships totaling $30,000, mentorship, exclusive invites to our Gold Gala and so much more! 

Network Opportunities

March 1st: Trailblazers of E-Commerce Panel: Building Your Digital Empire with a keynote shared by Anjula Acharia and 5 women founders joining as panelists. 

Wins to Celebrate

• February 8 – Fifteen Gold House Futures companies were featured to 6,000 media journalists at the inaugural Lunar New Year Super Bowl Media Day in partnership with the Super Bowl Host Committee, Las Vegas Raiders, and the Asian Community Development Council.  Brands included: Cocofloss Fair & Square FLY BY JING Jaxon Lane munchrooms Popadelics Sea Monsters SOSHE Beauty Omsom The Only Bean The Woobles Yays Snacks Youthforia ZinDrew Chili

• February 9 - hosted an Asian Founders Panel featuring our own Wonny Lee , CEO of ELOREA & Jingwen Daisy Wang , Founder of DAWANG.

• February 21 — Gold House Ventures and Gold House Futures companies Alaskan Salmon Company, Reprise Health, and Lunar were featured at University of Chicago Booth’s MBA Panel on CPG. 

Looking for your next professional move or know someone phenomenal who is?nbsp;

Finch: Engineering Manager

MìLà: Business Operations Manager

Surfboard: Full Stack Software Engineer

Tomocredit: VP Growth Marketing, Summer 2024 Internship 

Vividly: Head Of Engineering

Weee!: Associate Corporate Counsel

What’s Popping?

🎵Music Releases: Don’t forget to check out our official playlist in collaboration with Spotify, Gold Beats, for more of our favorite API artists.

Ideas? Questions?

Let us know in the comments below!