In this episode, we’re at the RISE conference at Asia's World City, Hong Kong. We caught up with a company called Bucket Technologies that aims to help us deal with the issues and costs of handling physical change.
Francis Hwang, Daniel Kam, Mac Ling (left, Bucket Technologies) and Chris Groshong (right, CoinStructive Inc.)
Bucket is a "digital piggy bank platform" which aims to bridge the worlds of coinless cash transactions. Bucket alleviates the stress and significant costs associated with the production, distribution and handling of physical coins.
Their mission is "to accelerate humanity’s transition to a digital economy" as the world first global aggregator of coin currency for consumers and enterprise users.
Our guests for today's show from the Bucket Team include:
Francis Hwang, CEO of Bucket Technologies
Francis has over a decade of experience in creating, launching, and managing successful businesses. Having always gravitated towards enterprises and ideas that question and disrupt the status quo, it was a natural step for Francis to start Bucket Technologies. Coming up with the concept for Bucket over 10 years ago, Francis finally set aside other ventures to focus and commit to his mission of eliminating coins and alleviating the environmental and governmental stresses from the production, distribution, and management of coin currency.
Francis recently moved to Bentonville, Arkansas and when he isn’t working or travelling for Bucket you will find him off-roading with his wife Kristine in the Ozarks.
Daniel Kim, President and COO
Daniel is a successful entrepreneur who has launched and built several businesses in the technology, managed services, manufacturing, and hospitality/F&B industries. He has over 20 years of B2B/B2C sales and marketing experience within various commercial sectors including cloud-commerce, telecommunications, and graphic arts. Daniel regularly speaks and networks with leading companies and organizations on topics such as leadership, innovation, branding, and operations management.
When Daniel is not working he enjoys spending time with his wife and 3 girls, cooking or going after big fish (literally, not metaphorically).
Mac Ling, Managing Director, Asia
Mac has over 15 years of technology and marketing leadership experience in corporations, SMEs, and startups, in both the United States and Asia. His personal mission of leaving this world a better place than he found it made joining the Bucket team an easy fit. His ability to take technical solutions and create simple value propositions for end users has served him well in both B2B and B2C environments and is committed to Bucket’s mission of eliminating coins and alleviating the retailer and consumer stresses from the use and management of physical coin currency.
Mac’s past experience includes leading Boost Mobile’s Digital Media business, heading up marketing and service delivery for i-Admin, Asia’s premier payroll outsourcing provider. Mac received his B.S. in Cognitive Science from UC San Diego, and an M.B.A. from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. He is also a certified Marshall Goldsmith executive coach.
After listening to this episode you will learn:
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The origin story of Bucket and how the founders envisioned the company
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What Bucket is and what problem they solve
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The extraordinary cost associated of dealing with loose change
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How Bucket made a critical partnership deal with a US bank (same one Square uses) to help structure the stable coin and adds liquidity
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The current Point of Sale system have never been upgraded and how they are going to add a bucket button on a POS system
- Why they worry that people will not learn from history and repeat previous mistakes
For show notes and more: LAB Radio