A Q&A with Maersk’s Betty Yan, the First prehype Fellow in Residence
How she leveraged her experience at the prehype Institute of Applied Entrepreneurship to create a new business opportunity.
Earlier this year, we started what has been called a teaching hospital, but for entrepreneurs: the prehype Institute for Applied Entrepreneurship. It’s a way for people inside organizations to foster an idea in an entrepreneurial way outside of their own business with the intention of identifying and validating solutions, and growing them into a new venture or initiative—all guided by passionate and active entrepreneurs.
Today, we’re thrilled to introduce you to prehype’s very first fellow: Betty Liu, who has spent 22 years at Maersk, the largest shipping container company in the world. A veteran of almost every line of business there—from sales to finance to operations—Betty now sits as an Operating Partner at Maersk Growth, a fairly new corporate venture arm with a key focus in leveraging entrepreneurial tactics to support growth and future logistics.
Betty brainstorming with her advisor Dan
Betty came into the program to explore an idea in reverse logistics, attending the fellowship from February 2020 to May 2020. We talked with her (via a socially-distant video chat, of course) about why she decided to work with prehype, her expectations, experience, and results.
This interview was conducted by Philip Petersen (PiP), partner at prehype.
PiP: Before we jump into your experience with the program, let’s go back a few years to get some context as to why and how you came to us. First of all, what has it been like being a part of Maersk for this amount of time? Why have you stayed there, and what keeps it exciting?
BL: Even though it’s been 22 years, I don’t feel as though it’s been that long because I have been moving to different cities around the world, and I've had 15 positions working across the company. Maersk has a management trainee program which creates a pipeline for the future leaders of the company, so that means you’re assigned to different positions to get to know the business really well. I’ve had positions from front line customer service to sales to operations, branch manager, managing the trade—so all different departments.
I decided to make the move in 2017 to Maersk Growth, which focuses on what the future will look like, which is really motivating. We look at new technology currently available in the market, what could be relevant in the future, how that can help us think about running the business in a different way.
PiP: I know one of the projects at Maersk Growth was to build a new business opportunity from scratch. What was it like building something new within Maersk Growth (versus building something inside Maersk)?
BL: In my previous positions at Maersk, a lot of things I was working on were happening in an established environment: you have a system you can rely on, you know the team setup—if there are any issues, you can ask for help. Also, the customer pain points you’re solving for are based on the existing business.
Building a corporate startup in this case, we started with a vision and an idea. We went to understand how customers work and figure out how we could create value. Plus, I had to look at how I was going to get a team together—so there was a constant balance of resources and allocating tasks that put a hold on the progress. Basically, there’s no road! You have to pave the way and find out things yourself, it was a huge learning opportunity. I was able to start from scratch and build a team, and then really go out into the market and validate value propositions with each ecosystem player, and learn if you generated additional value for the company.
PiP: When we met last year, it seemed like you were wondering if there were other ways of doing things within Maersk Growth, and you started looking externally to solve problems. So, what brought you to prehype?
BL: Right. Basically, I wanted to experiment to see if we could try [building a new business opportunity] again in a different way. So I started to do some market research in November of last year, and was looking for the right partner to build things with. I had a few evaluation criteria: I looked at track records, the methodology they use, and the networks they have. Prehype ranked very high for all the criteria that I had, and then I compared it with eight other options, and I concluded that I wanted to try prehype.
PiP: What were your expectations for the prehype program?
BL: I was a bit skeptical, I have to say, because I didn't know where it would lead me. I knew from my experience that building a business opportunity from scratch is extremely difficult—finding the pain point, and finding the solution and finding a product market fit. So I wasn’t only thinking about the expectations of the program, but also my own personal expectations, because you don't know if you’ll be successful or not. At the same time, I was very excited to learn the whole toolbox because I didn’t know where it would lead me.
I remember very clearly the first week I met with the prehype team and talked to someone and they said “Don’t worry - prehype will push you to the next stage.” One thing is getting to know a new program, and another thing is dealing with my own self-doubt. I kept thinking: can I do this?
PiP: That’s a key thing when we meet people who talk about trying something entrepreneurial or building a business opportunity: there's this huge unknown if it'll work out. It's just part of the journey for any entrepreneurial endeavor. As you began the program, what were the differences between the way you worked at Maersk, and the way you worked during the fellowship?
BL: The uncertainty was very mentally challenging. Previously, if things don't work out in the corporate environment, it’s okay. But for this, you're on your own. There were weeks or days that were up and down—it was just like a stock market during COVID-19! Every day there was volatility. But I learned that it's about how you can rebuild yourself after a tough day and say, I know that tomorrow will be better. It was great to have you, Phillip, to always encourage me and say okay, here's this problem, let's look at how to deal with it.
PiP: But you also proved to yourself that you found a way. Yes, it's always nice to have someone help you along, but by far you did the work yourself, I just pointed you in a direction.
BL: Right. It was very helpful to have this program—it gave me a frame, so I had something to follow. I’ve seen many startups that have struggled because they’re not able to move with speed. I wouldn't say I found a shortcut during my fellowship, but I found a lot of effective tools to make decisions and move very fast. If you asked me three months ago, I wouldn't have thought I would come this far.
PiP: How would you explain what the fellowship is to someone else?
BL: If you really want to create a startup and you don't know where to start and you like direction and methodology, you can come here and just learn. There could be things that come up that you didn't expect, but you learn tons of tools and ways of doing things in a startup way, which is especially valuable for someone coming from a corporate background.
In a corporate structure, the customer is already there. The resources are already there. But for a startup, you have to know where to find your resources and how you can create connections with people in a new way, not a corporate way. Also, in corporations, you can demand people to do things for you. But here, you have to ask people for a lot of favors, and look at how you can do them a favor, and try to build up these relationships.
I also think the fellowship is also a very effective way to make sure you're on the right track or on the wrong track—you’ll know it very quickly; the people around you will challenge your thinking. I also went through that period where I found many problems to solve, but how to decide what specific problem to solve was really a big takeaway. For me, the journey is to find what I’m passionate about and what I’m motivated to solve.
I’ll be honest—it was very brutal sometimes! But you just have to think of this as a blank piece of paper where you want to start from scratch, and you don't know where to start, where to draw or even how to draw.
PiP: There were three phases of the program you went through: identifying the problems with reverse logistics, what you thought could solve those problems, and which solutions resonated with customers. What in the three months really stood out to you?
BL: What made me really excited was when I started interviewing people and getting attention from customers who wanted to listen to the solution—it’s like everything clicked right away. If my solution was validated a couple times, I knew I’d found the right problem to solve. Because the work has been done and I’d received direction, I was able to find that pain point, the solution, and the validation. And what gave me a kick right away was when the customer said yes to the solution, and wanted to start the pilot right away.
PiP: I think even you were surprised that at the end of three months, you had a customer who was willing to start a pilot.
BL: Very surprised, yes!
PiP: On that note, what did you think was going to happen after 3 months?
BL: To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect. I sort of thought about it like going to a class: you learn something, you have a book to read to reference in the future, and three months later you try to do it on your own.
PiP: And so what actually happened during the 3 months?
It was very practical! I learned everyday by doing it, by really making things happen. So it’s not just an environment to learn theory, it’s actually practically moving your business opportunity forward the whole time. If you screw up in an email blast, then you really could disappoint a lot of potential customers; it’s real!
PiP: Let’s talk about your actual project. Maybe just start with the space you were intrigued by going in?
BL: Sure. Everybody is familiar with online shipping or e-commerce. In North America, of course, the retailers give a lot of great terms to the consumer that you can get free returns, or sleep on a mattress for a year and then you can return it—things like that. They’re great terms for the consumer, but it creates a lot of headaches for the retailers. So I was looking to answer the question: how can we make the return more efficient for a large piece of furniture?
So my focus was on this “return space” or reverse logistics as it is called in the industry. There are not a lot of startups solving this problem, especially for the furniture return segment. There are solutions, like throwing it away, donating it, selling it to a liquidator, so there are a lot of inefficiencies that exist in the logistics part, and there’s a better way to match the return goods with the future potential consumer.
PiP: So you came up with a solution called “The Return Company”. How do you pitch what the company does?
BL: The Return Company offers an end-to-end reverse logistics solution for a furniture brand. What we do is we pick up the things from the return customer, process it, refurbish it, and repackage to be ready to be sold, and then we resell it in the local market. So we bypass all the complexity of handling returns - and try to find the next local consumer and sell it right away.
PiP: So now after three months, you’re leaving the nest. What’s next?
BL: Well, on May 18, I registered the company! Coincidentally it’s also a good day for a Chinese wedding—the date May 18 means prosperity. Now we’re looking at how I’m going to find a little funding to build something. But I think the most important thing is that I have two pilot customers, and I’m focusing on how I am going to serve them and make them happy—making the paper solution into a reality, to put it another way. And over time, I will be looking at how I can provide the solution in a scalable way that can be used by many customers.
PiP: How has this experience changed you?
BL: I feel much more confident, because if you ask me to build another business opportunity, I know exactly where I’m going to start; I’m going to interview a lot of customers, and the methodology is going to guide me along the way. And then I have a network of people I've been building on, I can reach out to, and I can talk to people who've had a similar experience and learn from them.
PiP: Parting words: how would you advise someone like you who's thinking about exploring an idea like you, but aren’t sure what to do?
BL: I think the first question they need to answer is: are they prepared to do this? They have to be financially, mentally, and physically ready, and also consider whatever the relationship they’re in. So they have to be really ready to take the journey. Don't think this is a sprint, this a marathon; it will take a long time to make things happen, and the experience is more important than achievement.
I’m very grateful that I was able to find a program like this, because in the beginning you need a lot of support. You’ll face a lot of frustrations that people have already experienced before; they've been there, and know how you can get out of it. And also be ready to work seven days a week, 12 hours a day at least! And also expect the unexpected: for instance, the coronavirus.
Like you said, this is the entrepreneur journey. You never know what you’ll experience. Previously you had the cover of a corporate environment—and now you have to take care of yourself. And when you come out of it, you feel stronger.
PiP: Lastly, a basic question: where can people follow you?
BL: Betty@TheReturnCompany.com. Please reach out—especially if you want to be a new customer!
