Verizon Small Business Empowerment Series featuring David Chang of Momofuku

Verizon held their Small Business Empowerment Series with special guest, David Chang of popular NYC restaurant Momofuku, at the Laguardia East Sheraton Hotel in Flushing yesterday. The night began with a networking session where participants signed up to win devices from LG and Samsung. We also got to see Verizon’s VGo telepresence robot in action. The chest-high roving device has a display and camera built-in and allows users to interact via a remote operator.

David Chang spoke about his non-traditional way of starting his restaurant, with an unusual menu and an exotic name. He jumped into the business head first and broke a few rules along the way. He carved a niche for himself by taking what others consider “trash” (intestines, feet, offal, etc.) and making it delicious. Chang had several close calls and at one point was down to his last $30,000. However, his refusal to give up and to become “just another statistic”and his tenacity reaped him great success and he recently opened his first restaurant in Australia. His advice to the audience? Work hard. Hire a good team. Do not to listen to advice.

Afterwards, a panel of 3 prominent Asian American business owners, Julie Huang, founder of PR firm, Kaimen Company, John-Paul Lee, founder of Tavalon Tea, and Sandra Lee, CEO of Lee Insurance, talked about their business experiences with moderator Jeff Yang of the Wall Street Journal.