Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed
with Chieh Huang
Executive Summary
Chieh Huang recounts Boxed’s collapse and a later venture before advising founders of skincare, horse accessories and spiced coffee businesses. They discuss manufacturing, small financing tests, marketplaces, customer context, brewing problems and cash timing. Bankruptcy and AI-job-displacement claims are his historical account and business thesis, not current legal or labor-market findings. Sunscreen, skincare and anti-inflammatory claims are not independently established here.
Key Takeaways
Takeaway 1
Huang recounts what happened to different parts of Boxed and his later work. These are his historical statements, not current ownership verification or a complete bankruptcy analysis. Starting again can be meaningful without proving that every collapse is beneficial or that later success is assured.
Takeaway 2
He acknowledges things he would do differently. The useful point is to identify a specific lesson and apply it to an actual decision, not to treat reflection as proof the next company will avoid risk. Statements about his personal stress or happiness are his own experiences, not health measurements.
Takeaway 3
For the skincare caller, Huang suggests a limited raise tied to the next step. His dollar figure is case-specific, not a universal ceiling or permission to solicit investments casually. Check securities rules, disclosure, investor suitability, dilution and the actual cost of reaching a useful milestone.
Takeaway 4
The manufacturing call compares the founder’s current work with a more professional production route. Hand production is not automatically impossible at every stage; suitable capacity, safety, product classification, quality and economics determine what is needed. Sunscreen and skincare claims need separate current regulatory and scientific support.
Takeaway 5
The horse-accessory caller weighs marketplace reach against margins. Community events and trainers are possible customer routes, not guaranteed conversion channels or substitutes for product-safety testing. Compare demand, rules, permissions, supply and total costs in a limited trial.
Takeaway 6
Raz highlights cash timing as another part of wholesale economics. Large retailers’ payment periods vary and should be read in the actual agreement, alongside returns, deductions and fees. Margin and working capital both matter; one does not universally come before the other.
Takeaway 7
The coffee caller describes a brewing limitation, and the advisers discuss clearer instructions or engineering changes. A defect is not automatically a differentiator or defensible moat. Test safe brewing behavior and suitable instructions, and do not present anti-inflammatory or other health claims as established evidence.
The Conversation Breakdown
Update: Boxed's bankruptcy
Huang walks through the post-episode arc: the pandemic-era comedown, the 2023 bankruptcy filing, selling the software business to BlackRock, and the e-commerce shutdown - later resurrected by others, with no involvement from him. Asked what could have prevented it: 'we probably need 10 hours of tape' - and hindsight is 2020.
Update: Pelgo, the next company
His new company Pelgo (P-E-L-G-O), co-founded with Frank D'Souza (co-founder and former CEO of Cognizant; they met at the World Economic Forum), builds on the thesis that AI-driven displacement is coming and helps people land their next job faster and more cost-effectively. Back in the trenches: 'my stress is up 100%, but my happiness is up 500%.'
Alec: Surfing Cow and the manufacturing wall
Surfing Cow makes simple natural skincare for outdoor people - first product Sun Bomb mineral sun protection, then a moisturizer launched in August. Alec is apprehensive about the manufacturing piece: doing his own formula could run $50-80K per SKU over 9-12 months, and he's aiming at ~$200K in sales this year with part-time help. Chieh: you can't make it yourself long-term - figure out the working capital for professional manufacturing quickly - and if you raise, keep it under $50K in small checks from believers.
Jessica Dubin: Tailsinch and the Chewy question
Tailsinch makes equine products; the hero is a reusable tail tie Jessica designed for polo ponies (she plays polo herself, in Indio across from the festival grounds). Her question: is getting onto Chewy or Valley Vet a worthy brand-awareness play even at thin margins? Chieh: yes for awareness, but lasting behavior change happens at competitions, through trainers and at the barn. Guy's caution: the working-capital component - big retailers expect long payment cycles, so cash leaves long before it returns.
Eli Mash: Macor Coffee and the overflow problem
Macor (m-a-k-o-r) blends 93% organic coffee with cacao, turmeric, Ceylon cinnamon, chaga, cayenne and ginger - everyday anti-inflammatory habits in a cup people won't forget. Eli runs it nights and weekends alongside a software-sales job and three little girls, with a co-manufacturer; ~300 monthly subscribers, tracking $200-300K this year (95% online), expanding from 11 local Minneapolis doors to about 40. The catch: the spice fines slow the brew and can overflow a drip machine past six cups, and overflowing customers never come back. The advice: an investor's question - do you want to be right or do you want to be happy - modify the blend for big brews because offices could be the big distribution point (the anti-inflammatory button next to the regular coffee), treat a proprietary grind as the moat, and label the bag 'best brewed in a French press' while K-cups wait.
Closing: the reward is the journey
Asked what he'd tell his 2013 self: it's a life you chose - the reward is the journey. Every entrepreneur faces problem after problem; today's callers could have brought 20 more challenges from that morning. It gets tough, lonely, stressful - and he expects to be back on the show at 75 with a new company.
Archival clip: zero orders
The episode closes with a moment from the original Boxed episode: an early employee who had quit a six-figure job calls Huang - 'I refreshed the page over and over. It's not broken. We got zero orders today... I risked my livelihood to do this. Are you sure this is still going to work?' Archival, not new content.
Core Frameworks & Ideas
Milestone financing comparison [editorial synthesis]
Estimate the actual resources for the next decision and compare financing routes and obligations with suitable advice.
Channel-and-community trial [editorial synthesis]
Test discovery and repeat purchase through suitable platforms or communities, counting full costs, safety and permissions.
Cash-cycle model [editorial synthesis]
Read actual payment, inventory, return and deduction terms and model their effect together with margin.
Limitation-to-improvement test [editorial synthesis]
Investigate whether a complaint needs a fix, clearer instructions or a narrower use case. A flaw does not become a moat by relabeling it.
Actionable Next Steps
- ✓Compare current production with suitable manufacturing options using safety, quality, capacity and total cost.
- ✓Calculate the actual next milestone’s funding need and get suitable advice before soliciting small investor checks.
- ✓Test one relevant customer channel with permission, a budget and an actual conversion or repeat-use measure.
- ✓Model cash timing from the actual retailer terms alongside margins, inventory and returns.
- ✓Investigate the main product complaint and test a safe fix or supported usage instruction; do not relabel a hazard as a feature.
Notable Quotes
“I would not raise more than $50,000 at most”
“my stress is up 100%, but my happiness is up 500%”
“we probably need 10 hours of tape in order to go through all the things that I feel like I personally could have done better”
“with challenges come sustainable moats”
“you want to change behavior”
“the working capital component of it”
“it's a life you chose to be an entrepreneur and the reward is the journey”
The One Thing to Remember
Choose the next growth step from actual customer evidence, operating capacity, cash and clear decision rights, rather than copying a founder’s historical tactic.