Danny Taing // S2 Ep 158 // Putting Together Bokksu

Welcome back to Season 2, Episode 158 of the Asian Hustle Network Podcast! We are very excited to have Danny Taing on this week's show.

We interview Asian entrepreneurs around the world to amplify their voices and empower Asians to pursue their dreams and goals. We believe that each person has a message and a unique story from their entrepreneurial journey that they can share with all of us. Check us out on Anchor, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Stitcher, and more. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a positive 5-star review. This is our opportunity to amplify Asian voices and share these incredible stories with the world. We release a new episode every Wednesday and Saturday, so stay tuned!

Danny Taing is the Founder & CEO of Bokksu, a New York and Tokyo-based D2C snack subscription and e-grocer that delivers authentic Japanese food and lifestyle products to over 100 countries. Providing Japan’s traditional makers with a platform to share their goods with a global audience, Bokksu is helping to support, preserve, and promote their craft, while making it easier for the rest of the world to discover, buy, and love authentic Japanese goods.

The son of Cambodian-Chinese refugees, Danny was born in NYC and raised in NJ. He received a dual Bachelor's in Psychology and Communication, and a Master’s in Sociology, all from Stanford University. He then worked as a marketing strategist at Google HQ. After that, he relocated to Japan for a position at Rakuten. It was there, during the four years he spent living and working in Tokyo, that he developed his deep love of Japanese food and culture (as well as met his wonderful husband).

Following Rakuten, Taing returned to New York to study Computer Science at Columbia University. Inspired by his passion for Japanese culture, Asian-American representation, and entrepreneurship, Taing founded Bokksu in 2015 with $5,000 of his own savings. Utilizing every skill and contact he had, Taing was able to go from concept to launch in just three months, without an additional penny of outside funding. And he sold through his first run of boxes in less than a week. Today, the company is valued at $100M and employs a staff of 50, 80% of whom are BIPOC, female, and/or LGBTQ+; a metric Taing is particularly proud of.

In his spare time, Danny is an avid rock climber, fierce board game competitor, and anime binge-watcher.

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