If not for his fraternity brothers, Shawn Tsao would probably be an architect today. Instead, he's a co-founder of a $400 million food delivery company.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weeklyTheir path was anything but straightforward. Caviar nearly never existed at all: The co-founders' first idea was a daily deals app similar to Groupon, but for food. When it fell completely flat, Tsao and his friends thought long and hard about folding up shop and going their separate ways.
Tsao majored in architecture and sustainable design at Berkeley. He aspired to start his own design firm and"become the next Frank Lloyd Wright or Frank Gehry," he says. "It was all the signs of a failing company," Tsao says."We came to the realization that we had $10 in the bank." Tsao's role as"operations lead" primarily involved building partnerships with popular restaurants, he says.