Meet Cheryl Yeoh, first-time entrepreneur, co-founder of CityPockets and recently named one of 25 women driving NY’s tech scene. Using iDoneThis every day, Cheryl traces the footsteps of her rising startup and already has a couple of major milestones logged into the calendar.
BIO
I co-founded CityPockets, a daily deal digital wallet with a secondary deals marketplace that’s based in NYC. I was born and bred in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and braved the American soil in 2002 on a full scholarship to study engineering at Cornell University. Since then, I’ve educated people about labyrinths, founded a Toastmasters Club at my first job, and worked as a management consultant before ditching Michelin starred restaurants for quinoa and kale to start CityPockets. The journey of my startup has been an incredibly winding road so far, but ultimately rewarding.
Age: 28
Location: New York, NY (Chelsea)
Contact: cherylyeoh.com, @cherylyeoh, LinkedIn
How do you use iDoneThis?
I was initially using iDoneThis to log what I’ve personally accomplished in a day to keep track of my daily productivity. It’s amazing how much more aware I’ve become of how efficiently (or not) I’m working, so I’ve been a huge fan of this product. I’ve been giving a lot of good feedback to the iDoneThis team to create a team productivity tracker so that my team at CityPockets can log what they’ve accomplished at the end of the day so far, and we’d see a dashboard of that during our daily stand up meetings the next day. Hope to see this out soon!
You have pluck and drive in spades. Where does your drive come from?
I’ve always had a lot of drive, even as a little kid because I was encouraged by my parents to challenge the status quo. I always think that everything can be done better, faster, simpler, cheaper or more efficiently. There’s usually a way around something seemingly tough. I also have this habit of wanting to prove people wrong; I’m the kinda gal who’d root for the underdogs. I get frustrated at people who are overly critical or who underestimate others. At the end of the day passion and persistence wins out. Most startups fail not because the product isn’t good enough or the market timing isn’t right, but because they give up too soon. Starting a company is one of the toughest thing to do in the world because you face a lot of harsh rejections, so you need to brush it off and keep going until you “get lucky.” In any case, I trust the journey because I know that everything happens for a good reason. I’ve always learned something from even the worse of situations. And that has made me stronger as a person.
What’s the best daily deal on the internet right now?
I went online to search for daily deals available today but none of them seem as interesting as what I found in the CityPockets marketplace, which is this deal for a Strip and a “Strip”! The original deal from The Thrillist was sold for $50 ($109 value) but is now only going for $40. I see 2 of such vouchers in our marketplace so if you’re looking to have a fun night out in the city, you should jump on it! 😉