Connecting users with specific knowledge and advice from experts, so they arrive at improved decision-making and execution, is the mission of Lynk – a data-driven and knowledge-sharing platform.

“This is about creating impact and creating a legacy,” says Peggy Choi, founder and CEO of Lynk. “I really want to create something that will have that positive impact.”

Established in 2013, the company has since expanded its mission to offices in Singapore and Mumbai with Hong Kong as its headquarters. It mobilises over 35,000 experts across 73 countries.

Raised in Hong Kong and Singapore, Choi studied computer science and fine art at the University of Pennsylvania and finance at Wharton Business School. This exposure to a range of environments left an impression. “I didn’t want to stick to one particular path. I wanted to do all of these things,” she says.

Working with various organisations prior to Lynk allowed her to amass valuable contacts. Still, when Choi’s circle, from her parents to relatives and friends, sought business advice, she was unable to help them. Something was amiss. And the idea of starting her own business kept nagging away.

The catalyst came in 2012 when she refused a job offer. It was something that she simply didn’t want to do.

“I embraced what the ‘inner Peggy’ was telling me: to go ahead with this business,” Choi says.

The very next day, she incorporated the firm. The following week, everything was set up, from the website to the logo. But it took her about 20 hours just to think of a name.

Six months after thinking it through and talking about her idea to everyone she knew, Lynk was born.

According to Choi, the company “encompasses a lot of things that we want to do, giving us the flexibility to develop that idea further down the road.”

But the road ahead was initially a bumpy one. Choi and her college friend Jennifer Li, who helped start the business and is now Lynk’s compliance director, did not take any salary for the first two years.

“We have this belief that we shouldn’t be experimenting on the backs of the investors’ money. We should know where we are heading before we raise funds,” says Choi.

They did that by obtaining some client contracts early on, so they could hire new employees right away.

 Potential employees were given only a vision. “We had to sell the vision,” Choi says. There needed to be a deeper level of understanding as to why someone wanted to work for Lynk. Such conviction is the driving force behind why some of Lynk’s employees have remained with the company from the very start.

“It pretty much mirrors how the business has gone over the years. We give them [employees] an accelerated kind of trajectory,” Choi says.

That’s because working in start-ups is not for everyone. “Running a start-up is like jumping off a cliff and trying to build a plane on the way down,” says Choi, paraphrasing Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn. “That’s the feeling.”

A lot of motivation, both of oneself and the team, was required to get the company up and running. In addition, having juggled these different perspectives, Choi has learned the true meaning of empathy.

“What seems wrong in your view could be the right thing in others. To be effective and constructive, you first have to align perspectives. Then it becomes constructive,” Choi says.

When asked about competitors and copycats with platforms that offer similar services, Choi is unfazed, being of the belief it is all part of the job.

“It means that your space is lucrative enough to have competitors. Otherwise you have to rethink whether or not this is the right space. Having competitors is great; it kind of keeps you on your toes.” 

In April 2017, Lynk became the first company supported by the Cyberport Macro Fund (CMF), part of the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Co. Having concluded the “Series A” funding, Lynk received US$4 million.

Choi says part of the investment will be focused on developing product technology, while the rest will be used for staffing.

Lynk will soon open its latest office in Zhuhai because of the proximity to Hong Kong, and the relative ease of setting up a team there. It also has a strategic value because it is “a Chinese window to the world,” Choi says.

Choi has no particular favourite part of her daily routine. Rather, there are various times – usually after lunch, around 3pm – where she and her team are present and she can feel their energy in the office, and this makes it all worthwhile. “That to me is great,” she says. 

This article appeared in the Classified Post print edition as Vision maker.