The title of ‘CEO’ automatically conjures up images of a glamorous lifestyle jet setting across the globe at any moment’s notice, fancy dinners with other CEOs, and VIP invites to exclusive events. While some of this may be true, we’re here to give you a true insider’s look of what it’s like to be the head of a rapidly growing startup that’s trying to change the world.
Allow us to introduce Gimmy Chu (often mistaken for that other famous Jimmy Choo), CEO and Co-Founder of Nanoleaf, a tech startup specializing in smart lighting products that also happen to be extremely efficient and good for our planet. Before founding Nanoleaf with his two friends, who he met at his alma mater, on the University of Toronto’s solar car team, he was working as a consultant. He was, in fact, jet setting around the globe to work on different projects. He even flew to Hong Kong for a weekend once to meet up with some friends after a long work week – but that’s a story for another time.
It all started with an idea to change the lighting industry. Today, it’s grown to an international company with presence in over 30 different countries worldwide.
Founded in 2012, Nanoleaf started as a venture between three friends – Chu, Christian Yan and Tom Rodinger – who shared a passion for green technology. It all started with an idea to change the lighting industry. Today, it’s grown to an international company with presence in over 30 different countries worldwide.
It’s the most exciting time of Chu’s life, and he’s invited us into what a day in his life looks like:
7:30AM Wake up and check e-mails in bed
I like to use this time to catch up on anything critical that may have happened overnight in the Nanoleaf Asia office. Having two offices on opposite sides of the world often means waking up to emails that have to be dealt with right away. I’ve had people say it sounds like a stressful way to start the day, but it’s exciting for me to see what happened overnight while I was sleeping!
8:00AM Make an egg & spinach sandwich
Simply put, I can’t start my day without it. That, and a strong cup of coffee.
9:00AM – 10:00AM Scrum Meetings
We have daily stand up meetings in the morning so that everyone stays in sync. Although we’re a small team (about 15 members in our Toronto HQ), a lot of things can happen on any given day. I attend both the Marketing and Dev team meetings to stay involved with everything.
Plus, I’m welcomed by this every morning in our boardroom – can’t complain! This is a recent Aurora display that we put up in our office. It faces the street as well – our office is on one of the busiest streets in Toronto – so we like to think of it as a mini billboard. It’s great because anyone can walk in at any time of the day and ask us about Nanoleaf! People may think of Toronto as tame, but trust me, there are a lot of colorful characters here.
10:00AM – 11:00AM Sustainability Summit at MaRS Discovery District
With Earth Week coming up, there are a lot of different initiatives happening across the city. Today, I’m part of a panel for the Sustainability Summit at the MaRS Discovery District. I was invited to speak, along with other members of the Cleantech community in Toronto. For those not from Toronto, MaRS is our city’s startup innovation hub. We’ve been closely tied with them since we moved back to Toronto two years ago. It’s always great to come back here, it’s kind of like home turf where you always see familiar friendly faces.
11:30 Surprise Interview!
I get a call about an interview opportunity with CBC, Canada’s national news station. The topic is on Canadian entrepreneurs and how Toronto is quickly becoming a startup hub, much like Silicon Valley in California. The interview is scheduled for 3PM later in the day, so I need to quickly prep. Looks like today is one of those ‘suit up’ days!
12:00 Lunch
We try to do team lunches every other week, so today we’re heading to a local Poke place. This Hawaii-Cali trend has been taking over the city lately. It’s an especially healthy lunch for me I must say.
1:00PM Calls with Retailers
I’m back at the office now and have a call scheduled with one of our major retailers.
2:00PM – 4:00 PM Interview
I head over to the CBC office, a convenient 10 min walk from our office. The interview goes well and I tell him about my ‘Day in the Life of’ feature so we pose for a photo op together.
5:00-7:00 Review My Day
This is the time I use to go through my daily tasks and see what I still need to get done. I’m old school so I use a notebook to write everything down. I go through my to do list one by one to make sure everything is accomplished before the day’s over.
7:00PM – 9:00PM
I try to keep this time free so that I can do something unrelated to work and unwind. It’s my attempt of creating a work-life balance!
9:00PM Sync up with China
This is when I catch up with our team in Asia. Our manufacturing is located there and changes in their timelines can affect our North American plans. Even though I’m usually in the Toronto office, I start my day with Asia, so it only seems right to end with them too!
And that’s a wrap, folks! 12 hour days filled with meetings, interviews and some delicious food in between. The CEO life isn’t always as glamorous as it seems, but it will probably come as no surprise that Chu’s thoughts at the end of the day are simply “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”