Deep Dive with Hive — Peter Kuo from Botrista
1. Short Introduction of yourself and your startup：
Ans: I am the Chief Technology Officer (CTO)at Botrista Technology. When we first started the company, my main role was in product management. This includes developing hardware products and supply chains and managing production operations. But as our business grew, we realized that we need to continue advancing our core technologies to meet new customer needs and that sums up my current role as CTO, I like to think of Botrista as a robot company. We leverage robotics to make craft beverages more accessible for foodservice operators. Our turnkey program for example, uses easy-to-use robotic equipment and high-quality, bag-in-box ingredients to deliver, fresh craft beverages to our customers.
2. What inspired you to develop your idea into a startup?
Ans: We started with fake door testing and invited our friends to test our products. When we received positive responses after our little experiment, we decided it was time to turn our idea into a business. I believe that startup is the fastest way to build innovation and I want to devote myself to it.
3. What’s the biggest challenge you faced when starting a company and how did you overcome it?
Ans: I think finding the balance between product and customer is the biggest challenge. There is no point developing new, better products if they don’t fit our customers. Our products must also focus on customer experience and benefits. This is an ongoing challenge for us but building the right team is key.
4. What is your dream and aspirations for the company going forward?
Ans: We want to expand the use of robotics in the F&B industry including building a Michelin star robot restaurant and automating home kitchen with robotic equipment.
5. Who is your role model, or Which public personalities have you been inspired by in your startup journey?
Ans: My role model is Elon Musk. I admire his powerful way of thinking and doing business, including his “First principles” method and his ‘anti-advertising’ approach to marketing.
6. What keeps you awake at night?
Ans:I believe in a good night’s rest, so I tend to sleep peacefully at night. I’ve trained myself to build a strong mentality and deal with all kinds of situations calmly.
7. What is your motivation that keeps you going every day?
Ans: Seeing customers truly benefitting from our products and helping them scale their business I want to build a business that helps other businesses.
8. What is your strategy when things don’t turn out the way you expect?
Ans: Find out how big the damage is and always be prepared for the worst. I believe that every problem is an opportunity for growth. To solve any problem, we need to find out exactly what the cause is and how to fix it. Once the problem is resolved, we can reassess our strategy and prevent it from happening again. Or any other problems in that case.
9. What is the biggest difference you see from the start of your journey to where you are today?
Ans: Working at Botrista has transformed me from an independent contributor to a leader that can lead multiple teams and align goals across teams and departments.
