When Ryan Black started Buddy Bites no one else was serving this market, in fact, this market did not exist. Buddy Bites is a pet tech startup that delivers nutritious dog food to your door, and for every 2KGs you buy, they donate 1KG to their dog shelter partners. This subscription-based model was created whilst Ryan and his co-founder, Chris, had full-time jobs, and he shares with us how he disrupted the pet food industry and puts doing good as the central mission of his company.
Come join us to learn from Ryan – how did they come up with this concept, what were some of the considerations with starting a new product category in an established industry, and how did he know when they need to take the leap to full-time in his start-up, and how he balances doing good with keeping the lights on. This is going to be a deep dive with an extraordinary entrepreneur where no topic is off limits!
This event is our official launch event in Hong Kong, and we are thrilled to have Launchpad member Claudia Solenthaler as the MC for this event.
To round off the evening, we are introducing a Launchpad signature, the Ask Party!
But what’s an Ask Party you say? It is a unique networking element where we welcome members to network while wearing their ‘ask’, literally on their sleeve, thus inviting insights, advice and maybe even solutions! Through being more vulnerable, stepping out of your comfort zone, and having genuine and real conversations about things you need – making this not just another networking event, but a night where you receive real help from peers, mentors and other entrepreneurs who have walked in your shoes.
Our lovely hosts, Candour, will be providing light bites, and two drinks (wine & non-alco drinks) along with the option to buy more drinks at happy hour prices. After, you can head over to their sister restaurant, Club Rangoon and enjoy dinner for 15% off.
Ryan Black
Co-Founder of Buddy Bites
Ryan moved to Hong Kong 8 years ago from Edinburgh, Scotland, although for the most part, the accent has gone. Working in real estate for the majority of his career, the move into dog nutrition is likely not the most common of career paths, but following a part-time MBA, a fascination with the growth of the ‘DTC’ space eventually culminated in the inception of Buddy Bites.
A self-proclaimed jack of all trades, but more so master of none, Ryan has always had the bug to start his own business. Having launched Buddy Bites alongside co-founder Chris as their first start-up venture when he was 29, they are hugely happy to be 18 months on from launch and now expanding to Singapore, following some early success in the HK market. Whilst this is likely mainly down to luck, Ryan is here to explain why this is all down to him and fortune played absolutely no part whatsoever.
Buddy Bites is a direct-to-consumer, subscription-based dog food startup that has committed to helping feed dog shelters in Asia.
Claudia Solenthaler
Founder of The Modern Pui Yuet
Hong Kong born, Swiss by nationality and having lived in 12 different counties to date, Claudia has worked in hospitality, F&B and lifestyle PR & marketing for most of her career. For many years, she had a calling to help people, even more so after giving birth to her daughter in February 2022. She saw the world in a different light and felt motivated and empowered to start a business that focuses on the mother’s wellbeing, recovery and health postpartum. Embodying the energy of the great grandmother with her traditional recipes, soups, broths and lactation recipes, The Modern Pui Yuet will provide herbs, tonics, wellness care, guides, modern medicinal comfort foods, how-tos and an outstanding directory of postnatal experts & warriors for all mothers in need. The Modern Pui Yuet was created to break boundaries, shake things up and bring women postnatal care in a totally hassle-free, easy-to-follow manner in the comfort of their own homes. Working alongside some of the best practitioners and experts in our Hong Kong community, she has created an in-home, easy-to-follow, DIY postpartum service based on Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine practices. The service will be your online one-stop-shop where you take a simple quiz to determine your needs based on body type and situation, it will then tailor-make a subscription box that will be sent directly to your home with the option of various add-on services such as postnatal physiotherapy, lactation consultants, belly-binders and anything you can imagine to ensure your healing journey is done right!