Chieh Huang is the CEO and a Co-founder of Boxed, a warehouse-club delivery service that launched in 2013. Eight years later, the company delivers anywhere in the Continental USA, with revenue now in the hundreds of millions.
Prior to Boxed, Chieh earned his J.D. from Fordham University and his Bachelor of Economics degree from The Johns Hopkins University. After law school, he took a position as a corporate attorney at Proskauer where he quickly discovered that a career in law wasn’t for him. He promptly moved into his friend’s attic and helmed a mobile gaming company called Astro Ape which drew the attention of games giant, Zynga. Prior to its eventual IPO, Zynga acquired Astro Ape in 2011 and installed Chieh as the director of their New York office where he led the fastest and most efficient game team within the company. In 2013, seeing an opportunity in mobile commerce, he started Boxed from his parents’ garage. Since then, the company has raised over $300 million dollars, and invested heavily into its technology. Boxed writes its own software, runs its own state of the art fulfillment centers and builds its own automation robotics in-house.
Chieh is an innovator, a serial entrepreneur, and a philanthropist. He personally pays for the college tuition of his full-time employees’ children, recognizing he wouldn’t be where he is today if not for the education he received. Boxed has also taken a stand against the “pink tax” by refusing to charge extra for products specifically marketed to women.
Huang’s personal honors include being named to Bloomberg Businessweek’s 50 people to watch, and to National Retail Federation’s list of People Shaping Retail’s Future. Huang was also chosen as one of Crain’s “40 Under 40” and for Goldman Sachs’ list of “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs.” Finally, Entrepreneur Magazine included Chieh on their list of “The 50 Most Daring Entrepreneurs.”
Huang holds seats on the boards of both Mclaren Racing and the Museum of Chinese in America.
As his career has continued to evolve, Huang has learned much from navigating new job experiences, and now mentors other entrepreneurs also looking to change their professional path. Sometimes that is directly, other times by inspiring them through his TED talks which now have millions of views.
