MORNING Farewell Note

As is customary these days, I thought I’ll update the LinkedIn ether.

After 3 amazing years, I will be stepping aside from my day-to-day role at MORNING . It has been a difficult decision to make, especially when I love the brand, the product and the company’s vision. I will continue to be part of the MORNING family in my capacity as an investor, a customer and a fan. I will continue to wear the t-shirt and badge(s).

Thank you Leon Foo for inviting me on this crazy adventure so many moons ago. I had always admired your vision, tenacity and entrepreneurship from afar as a friend for over a decade, and when the opportunity came to join your team at MORNING, it was a daydream come true. I know how hard you fight each day to keep the vision alive. Keep fighting the fight.

In the past 36 months, we have grown from being a Singapore-based startup to one that has customers in close to 50 countries, with operations in UK, Europe and Australia. We’re on-track to grow revenue 5x, added more award-winning and class-leading products to our portfolio, opened a branded retail store and brought our machines into thousands of hotel rooms, restaurants and retail stores worldwide. We are making mornings better for hundreds of thousands of people in their homes and offices. I’m so proud to have been part of this journey. If we stay the course, MORNING will continue to break frontiers as we relentlessly pursue our vision to democratise specialty coffee and drinks. And we hustled. Hard.

I had the opportunity to start our UK business from 0; from door-to-door salesperson, delivery guy, to panel speaker about design-centred businesses. Today, MORNING can be found at Selfridges, in many esteemed UK specialty coffee shops, Amazon Prime (of course), luxury hotels, high-end restaurants and even when you shop for a luxury Hublot watch in London. I’ve also grown and worked with a super-lean sales team that just keeps outperforming itself, growing and serving an international client network. And these will only continue to flourish beyond my time. It has been my privilege.

Thank you to my team mates, past and present, at MORNING. Thank you Teng Wen Wee for your wisdom; Bo Yen Chiou , for the ups and downs we’ve shared; Anthony Woolcock , a mate before, a mate always. People are the superpower in any startup. You all gave me reason to keep going after the caffeine wore off.

Thank you to all the partners I’ve worked with, without whom my team and I would not have accomplished what we have. Thank you to every customer that gave me purpose each time I served a coffee (caffeinated and de-caffeinated). And thank you to Coffee, for introducing me to a world of passionate individuals, artisans, visionaries, loads of merch, and a whole bunch of crazy cool. Contrary to what I previously thought, Coffee is propelled not by caffeine but by that relentless drive for perfection. It has been a privilege and a helluva fun.

There’s so much I have to unpack from my MORNING adventure, which I will. But for now, I’ve to put that rucksack aside, pack a new one, and head into my next adventure. This time, in a world that’s ever perilous, ever evolving at the harbinger of an AI/HI paradigm, in a new decade of my life, and as a father of two. I don’t know what it will bring, but evolve I must.

With gratitude, I take my leave. Gamsia.