YouSaid · the spoken record

Che Wang

lines on the record: 72
first: 2026-04-16
most recent: 2026-04-16
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Hey, thanks so much for listening to the show this week. And by the way, please make sure to check out my newsletter. You can sign up for it for free at guyroz.com or on substack. And of course, if you are working on a business and you'd like to be on this show, send us a one-minute message that tells us a little bit about your business and the questions or issues that you're currently facing because we would love to try and help you solve them. You can send us a voicemo at hibt at id.wondery.com or call us at 1-800-433-1298. Leave a message there and make sure to tell us how to reach you and we'll put all of this information in the podcast description as well. This episode was produced by Ramell Wood with music composed by Rumtina Ablui. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Robert Rodriguez. Our production staff also includes Casey Herman, Sam Paulson, Alex Chung, Chris Massini, Carrie Thompson.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I remember I was driving home from a meeting in New York, and one of the folks that quit his six figure paying job to join the dream and sit in my garage called and said, dude, I refreshed the page over and over, it's not broken. We got zero orders today. Drop down to zero two days in a row. And he was like, dude, I risk my livelihood to do this. Are you sure this is still going to work?”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And by the way, if you haven't heard Chay's original how I built this episode, you've got to go back and check it out. You can find a link to it in the show notes. And here is one of my favorite moments from that interview.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's problem after problem. If we had another two hours, these folks today could have brought on another 20 challenges that they had this morning. And it gets tough. It gets lonely. It gets stressful. But as I've walked the path for now almost two decades, I enjoy it. I think you're going to find me, hopefully back on the show when I'm 75 with a new company, you know, because I think solving problems and my thing is affecting people in a good way and helping people in a good way as well. So if we took that time machine, I would say, listen, you're going to have ups. You're going to have downs Enjoy the ride because it's going to be worth it. And I genuinely feel that way today.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I would tell myself that It's a life you chose to be an entrepreneur. And the reward is the journey. And I know that sounds a bit cliche. Time and time and again, you know, what we experience today, guy, it's every entrepreneur experiences the same thing.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“If you could take all the things that you've learned now as a super experienced entrepreneur you've been through highs and lows and you scaled a company to unimaginable heights, and you go back to you when you started out in 2013 and say, hey, Chay, here's what you need to know. What would you say?”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Thank you. Chape, before I let you go, I want to ask you a question that I ask all of our guests who come back on the show, which is here.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Of trial things to let people taste, and it's anti inflammatory. Anyway, just some thoughts. It's very cool. I think you have an opportunity to, I mean, you know, to scale this, you got to make it frictionless. If you can figure it out, which I think you could, that could be a game changer.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Give me one of those pouches. And I was like, this is brilliant. It's protein. So it doesn't shock me in a pouch. Yeah. Exact”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The pouches they put peanut butter in a single use pouch where you could bring on a bike ride or a hike. And that is what completely turned that brand around. I'm looking at this product. I'm thinking, well, could you do something in addition to what you're making, the beans, the whole beans, and the grind, like single-serve freeze-dried coffee pack that also has, let's say, 10% of it is the freeze-dried. Herbs and spices in there that is an instant version of this. A single use instant version of this for people to take on the go camping, etc. See if people responded to that. It's just an idea, but I'm just thinking about Justin's nut butter in the pouches.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know what? Just, I just had a thought. We did an episode recently on Justin's Nut Butter, which became a, you know, sold a hormel for almost $300 million. And that was a peanut butter brand. And it wasn't, nothing was happening. It wasn't popping off the shelves. It was another peanut butter brand that people weren't noticing it. What changed, the innovation that really helped that brand blow up was, do you know what I'm talking about?”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, I wonder whether you can try something, and you might be doing it. I don't see it on the package, but literally just say best brewed in a French press. I know most people don't, they probably use drip machines, but while you're trying to formulate something that would, because down the road, Ginger and turmeric that you can then grind to the same size as the coffee that enable the same extraction or whatever it is. But in the meantime, I wonder if you do something like that, best brewed in a French press are pour over.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, if you grind cinnamon sticks to slightly bigger pieces, does it extract the same weight? Do you get the same flavor?”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“If it's a grittier grind, if a less fine grind, it's a drip machine, whatever it might be, or a percolator, can you, I'm assuming that with the other ingredients, right, the turmeric and the cinnamon, the ginger, it's powderized, and so that also helps with the extraction. But is there a way to have tiny grinds, like freeze-dried grinds that are slightly bigger, that still bring out that same extraction of nutrients that you want people to ingest?”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, I have a question for you about that because it sounds like you want to scale up, but part of the challenge is that if people brew it and it just overflows, they're not going to go back to it. So a couple questions. Coffee, you extract the flavor based on part based on the grind, right? If it's super fine, espresso, it's...”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Nice. And I'm looking at your bag. Is it clear? Does it make it clear Right up front, what this is and why this is different”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Love that. And I'd love that you said Ceylon Cinnamon because I know this Saigon cinnamon from Vietnam doesn't have the same anti-inflammatory effects as the Ceylon cinnamon”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Nice. Well, thanks for calling any life. So it's coffee and you mix it with herbs and spices that are anti-inflammatory. So you mentioned cacao. What else do you put in there?”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Alright, we're gonna take a quick break, but we'll be right back with another collar and another round of advice. Stay with us. I'm Guy Ross, and you're listening to the advice line right here on how I built this lab. Welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Ros, and today I'm taking your calls with Che Wang, co-founder of Boxed, and let's bring in our next caller.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Humans I bet even if money were an object guy, if time's got tough in the Raz family, I'm sure you're cutting out your daily coffee run rather than any pet food. So, you know. That's my lived experience as well.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly, exactly. I mean, it's the same for pet owners. Yeah, I mean, when it comes to your pet, like for most of us, it's kind of crazy how money is no object, right? When it comes to our humans and our life, but the pets, it's like, yep, whatever they need.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I just did a quick, quick search. Apparently, the total addressable market for just horse products, right, just gear and apparel is $20 billion.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And it's one of those things that unless you're really into it, you would never go after it in terms of a market. And it might be sneaky big in terms of the ability for them to generate profits because it's such a niche and defensible market.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Take care. Yeah, I mean, horses are, it's like a thing that if you are a horse lover rider, like it's a huge part of your life.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, that's great, great advice. It's a great, great point. And there is a large overlap between horse owning and dog owning. It's kind of, they go hand in hand. And even cats too, because barn cats. Yeah. There's a way to connect them there”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I mean, to answer your question, I agree that Chewy is worth going onto. It can help with awareness, but ultimately you want to change behavior, and that happens at competitions through trainers and at the barn or wherever else that people are around horses. And something you said earlier really struck me, which is there hasn't been a lot of innovation in the things that people buy for their horses. So I would imagine that most horse owners have to buy certain things. Like most dogg owners buy balls, so their dog can play fetch, or they buy water bowls that they can carry with them on hikes. It seems like, based on what you're saying, there's an opportunity to really innovate in these kind of stale. Products that people have been buying for decades that haven't really, no one's really disrupted or changed.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, it's still the tail ties. They definitely do at least 50% of the sales come from the tail ties. People love them. I have a lot of repeat customers that come back and buy them again. They buy them in all the, you know, I have 21 different colors. So I have another style of them. So yeah, those are still the hero.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm looking at your products. I'm thinking, wow, this is now you're talking about a much bigger total addressable market. You're talking about fly protection for ankles and for a horse's face and different kinds of products that aren't just for polo players. And that, to me, is really interesting, is what is the best-selling product that you have right now?”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so it's gone really well, and I've gotten great feedback from my expansion products. And I've sort of adopted this direction of trying to make what's out there better because there's not a lot of innovation in horse products. You know, people sort of remake the same thing over and over again. The brands just like stick to what they know. And there's flaws, clearly, because I've seen customers come to me and ask if I can fix them. The issue is that, you know, with so many products and a limited budget, how do you market each one? Do I pour it all into the hero product and have people coming in for that? Spreading my marketing budget across all the products, that's where the challenge is.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, great, great question for Che because he knows that world very well. Che, I want to bring you in. Any, first of all, before we answer Jessica's questions, any questions that you might have or thoughts?”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so I've seen a lot of traction with paid social and influencer outreach, but both can be expensive and difficult to scale on a limited budget. So I'm wondering, you know, do you think that getting my products on platforms where horse owners are already shopping like chewy or valley vet is a worthy brand awareness play, not just a revenue play, even if the margins are super thin because my product price point isn't that high?”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so I do between 70 to 80,000 a year in revenue, and I've been in business for four years. You know, I pretty much hit that number every year, but I'm not really growing from that. And I think that sort of brings me to my main problem right now.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, so this is really interesting. I have a lot of questions for you, but before we get to Che, tell me a little bit about your business. What are you guys doing in sales right now?”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, I love this because this is super niche. I mean, not to meet it in the best of ways, right? Polo is a game that a tiny fraction of people probably play, but probably a necessary thing for. So just to clarify, horses, tails are tied with electrical tape. Do they put it directly on the tail of the horse? That must be painful to remove it”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Let's bring in our next caller. Welcome to the advice line you are on with Che Wang, founder of Box. Please tell us your name, where you're calling from, and a little bit about your business.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Thank you. Stay with us because after the break, we'll talk to another founder working to take their business to the next level that's after the break. I'm Guy Ros, and you're listening to the advice line right here on how I built this lab. Welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Ros, and my guest today is Che Wang, co founder of Boxed. And Che, you ready for our next call?”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Alec, I'm guessing just given what I've heard, you know, I think you're going to have your own manufactured luck based upon your energy and based upon the fact that you've cooked 200 grand worth of tallow sun products in your own kitchen. I get the feeling you're a hustler out there and you're going to find some luck if you keep up that hard work.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's both. If it's somebody who's, I really want to work with you, that's a great sign, but they may not have the capacity to do it in the way that you need them to do it. I mean, really, you want to visit these places and you want to talk to people. Part of it is instinct, and you will make mistakes, which is why we've had brands on the show that work with the same command from the very, very beginning to this day, and others that changed for a variety of reasons. So you really want to test the waters. You're dating right now. You're not asking anyone to marry you. And I think that's how you have to approach Any relationship you enter into. And the answer will come in the result that you see.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's about a lifestyle. I mean, you know, you're going to need to evolve and grow and build out and create more products That would be my recommendation.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Who knows The core here, the foundation here, isn't the cow part, it's the surfing part that's who you are, that's what this is. It's about...”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Isn't just beef tallow, but it might be, you might decide to have a vegan option with avocado oil or something. You know what I mean?”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I would alter slightly and say if you do raise money, you want to, and I think you're not going to get institutional capital now. You're too small, but you want to get small dollar amounts from people you know. So I wouldn't raise, really, I would not raise more than $50,000 at most. And I would try to do it. With small checks from people that you know, that believe in this, people who might be able to throw in a thousand bucks, I think you want to be really conservative about that because, you know, at the end of the day, in order to really scale, you're going to have to have many, many, many more SKUs, right? Right now you've got just a few, and you're going to want to expand out around this sort of idea. And it may, you know, it may naturally evolve into something that...”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And actually, when you think about the dilution that you'll take from outside capital, you know, if this becomes a billion dollar business, Alec, I think you're not going to find a very sympathetic Che when you say, oh my gosh, but I had to sell 15% of a billion dollar business. I'm like, well, Alec, here's a $100 bill. Dry your eye. Because it's still so big and it'd be so life-changing. But you know what? You don't want to have happen is that it could have been a billion dollar business, but you didn't want to give up 15% of the company. So it's a zero dollar business today. So that's why I always say, don't worry too much about it. Focus on making this a really big business. And all those other concerns are tertiary.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I feel very strongly here, guys. So hopefully it's okay if I jump in so in everyone I've ever talked to at your stage has asked the same question you're asking us and as well as you're asking yourself. I'm only sharing my opinion and for every one of my opinions, you'll probably find a counterpoint. I think it's okay to take outside capital because most businesses, the end result and the quote unquote end result for the founder, most businesses are quite binary. Like meaning that this is going to be really big. Like we're going to see Surfing Cow and Sephora and Whole Foods and everywhere over the next five, 10 years or we're going to see it nowhere”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, that could be upwards of $50 to $80,000 per skew. It's a nine to 12 month process. And that's not that I'm like afraid of doing it, but I guess what I'm saying is I feel like you guys are giving me the maybe validation of like, dude, this thing has legs, go for it, because that's sort of my, I've been taking any money since I've done this. I've tried to just fund it all myself. And I would love to continue to do that. But I guess the question is if it sounds like if I can't continue to just do it myself, it's like, do I just go for it and find manufacturing if that means taking on outside investment? Just so be it.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I just thought it'd be a cool idea when I started. I'm like, you know, I've always had these questions of starting a business and obviously this podcast has been a huge resource. The manufacturing piece, I guess I've been a little apprehensive because. It's like on one side of the coin, I feel like, yeah, I need to really just marry this business. And maybe that does mean taking on outside capital and going to, guy, you had mentioned FDA regulated facilities. Sunscreen is regulated as what they call an OTC drug. So it could be if I don't white label a formula, which I wouldn't, this would be like my own formula.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, Alec, I've literally been in your shoes before. And so I'm getting PTSD because you're at that cusp of like this thing really beginning to kind of be a thing, hearkening back to my box days, we did not scale early enough from that point. And so we were still fulfilling out of my mom's house. And we had to like undrill her garage door. And there were 40 foot trucks coming down, you know, a residential street. So I think, yeah, I mean, getting someone to manufacture this. And the thing is, like every single successful consumer brand that Guy has had on the show. Has been in your stage and has had a co man bet on them. And given this website that I'm looking at and how this radical transparency ethos at you espouse, it doesn't shock me that people are giving it a try. I mean, you even put up your actual fixed.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But I do think you have an opportunity to go and see if you can do collaborations with some other San Diego-based brands like Viori. You know huge brands, been on the show before Reef, see if they might be open. I mean, they're bigger brands, but see if they might be open to doing something with you and then down the road, you want to start to look at Whole Foods, right? Because Whole Foods loves local products. But I wouldn't jump into... Huge orders right away. I would really start with pilot runs working with a coman, but that to me. And I think agreeing with Che here, that's got to be your priority.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Now, in terms of growing the brand in other ways, I think you also have this natural opportunity, surfing cow, you're a surfer. There's a lot of interest and enthusiasm around natural products, especially animal products. You're not going to get vegans using this, of course, but that's a small percentage of the population.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, small changes cost money. And so you want to really have it locked down as close as possible to what it should be. It means you need to be testing, and maybe you've already done some of this, shelf life, consistency. How does it affect heat? If you stick it on a counter and you're in a warm house, does it turn into coconut oil liquefies, right? Yeah. You want to kind of look at all of those things, and then you want to find a small to mid size contract manufacturer. Now, you're very lucky. You are in California. There are probably half a dozen of these places in California and Utah and other states that are FDA registered, that specialize in natural products that have worked with early stage brands. Like yours. And so you really want to start focusing on finding that partner to make your formula to the exact specifications.”
2026-04-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT