The Turning Point of Harris Cheng - English Version

Hi Folks,

This post is the English translation of "The Turning Point of Harris Cheng" for my friends who do not understand Chinese and would like to know my update. Sorry this came a bit late, but I do hope you can then know about my big decision and the reasons behind it.

- Harris

In late July, I made a critical decision - to defer my MIT Sloan MBA enrollment for one year.

For me, it was another tough decision to make - in retrospect, in last year of my senior high school, I switched my major to business/social science after I realized that I wanted to do business; right after college, I did not attend the army in order to give birth to Orange House, one of the current market leader in Taiwan's natural cleaners. And now, I know this decision directly leads to another turning point of my life. Interesting, isn't it?

So, what am I going to do for this "extra" year? Simply put, with several partners, I am going to concentrate on our new start-up, Greenvines, a social enterprise which will focus on:

1. innovative healthy/organic agricultural products,
2. consumer goods aimed to improve people's health and environment, and
3. free distribution of some "correct" information about how to make our daily lives better with marginal efforts.

The Start of Greenvines？

During my MBA application, I prepared with my classmate in college, Evelyn Liao. After years working in asset management, she would like to try something more "human" before back to school. I told her to consider part-time for my mother's firm, where she can help bring Orange House to another milestone; after all, 90% of the Taiwan cleaners cannot be sold in Europe or Japan because of toxic ingredients. The more Orange House products sold, the better our environment and people's health could be. She bought in.

After several months, she came to me in another night when I was working on my MBA essays. "Hey, I'm not going to school. Your parents have so many great inventions/knowledge that few people know. To preserve these goodies from disappearing, I want to do start-up"

Though feeling thrilled, I was not that brave; I still worked on my applications and luckily got into MIT Sloan. Meanwhile, I brainstormed with Evelyn about how this entrepreneurial venture can work from time to time.

From dozens of discussion with my parents, we realized that there are simply too many unsolved issues in Taiwan, ranging from food safety to sustainability.

We envisioned a great company with a trustworthy brand that will provide actionable solutions. Leveraging two PhD's knowledge, we sincerely hope to make a difference through business expansion. So, Evelyn started to work hard.

About me? yes, I had been all set for my MBA student life, until this July.

Still, Seriously, Why?

So, what exactly trigged me to make such a decision (a) after having worked so hard for MBA application, (b) after getting admission from my dream school, and (c) when partners think they can run the company even without me?

1 - It's about Dots Connected

In July, I served as a volunteer (which means no compensation or allowance at all..) in Greenvines' office. The longer I worked, the weird I felt - it's like my dots in life gradually connected.

• My family background and my parents' vision
• My college classmates' reunion in another industry that we haven't participated
• The entrepreneurial experience I accumulated in Orange House
• Some perspective, friends gained through MIT's network

I sensed that what Greenvines is going to do is exactly what I have to do, and some of which only I can do.

2 - It's about Passion

In July, working in Greenvines was an unbelievably great experience for me because:

• I could work with several talented, passionate friends about how to challenge consumers' perception as well as existing business models, and how to commercialize innovation.
• I could introduce new and effective online tools to make our work more integrated and effective: Google Apps, Comindwork for project management, Dropbox來做file sharing. It's really a lot of fun to change people's working habits!
• When I proposed to share information on our web platform, all of us supported, even this could not help make us a single dollar
• It's actually to have a lot of mistakes and to solve them each by each.
• I can play NME radio during working hour...

3 - It's about Guts and Shoulder

"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers. - Carl Sagan"

My father told me this is probably what he's been doing his whole life; and I think this is probably what I should head for.

When Greenvines could be a great platform for this, when my classmate is dedicated to materialize some ideals of my parents, when I got some skills/resources/networks that could be helpful, when my past experience made me believe that this company could work, when I was sure that my one-year could create value for this company, and when I knew this could be a beautiful and rewarding year, why I got no guts and shoulder to give me a little time, namely one year?

So, that's why I decided.

Last but Not Least,

We have launched our beta website and Facebook page. If you know some Chinese or plan to learn, you should browse it from time to time.

I know some of you would still have some questions and advice...pls drop me ur mail to hanjui.cheng@gmail.com or harris.cheng@greenvines.com.tw

Best regards,

Harris Cheng