Ep. 10: (Mandarin) Entrepreneur Wei Luo quit coding to build vertically-integrated home renovation business
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Wei Luo quit his software engineering job to become a contractor in 2006. After 14 years, he had a business (based in San Francisco Bay Area) consisting of 50+ employees and multiple business lines, including home renovation, interior design, cabinetry and appliances.

Wei shared with us how he persuaded his parents to pursue a new career with seemingly low barrier to entry, challenges and turning points of his business, a severe problem of labor shortage in the contracting field, a squeeze on margins due to regulatory pressure from sino-US tensions, and more.

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HB Kitchen & Bath: https://www.hbkb.us/ Alice Cabinetry: https://www.alicecabinetry.com/

0:00 Teaser 0:35 Host monologue 2:31 Guest self-intro 4:33 Getting into contracting business after helping handyman roommate with limited English skills 8:34 Making the decision to get a license and "do things the right way" 10:12 Transition from computer engineering to contracting, and convincing parents to make the jump 15:16 Description and evolution of multiple business lines: renovation, design/retail, cabinetry and appliances 22:46 Recap of duration of running the business, team size, number of projects 24:02 Initial friction to earn respect from laborers that dismiss leaders that don't work in the field 27:04 Challenges in recruiting new blood given a plethora of options and aversion to blue collar work 28:47 Suggestion for running home renovation summer camp for teens 32:52 Contracting going O2O 34:30 Growing up as a natural leader among kids and unhappiness with Chinese schools parochially focused on academics 37:01 Business opportunity for better consumer protection, vendor selection and service review in contracting 40:44 Concerns about manufacturing leaving China thanks to anti-dumping regulations