Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed

Chieh Huang reflects on the rise and fall of Boxed, a bulk e-commerce startup that went public in 2021 but filed for bankruptcy in 2023 due to macroeconomic pressures, unprofitability, and competition. He emphasizes that the entrepreneurial journey's value lies in the experience itself, not just outcomes, and shares lessons on resilience, decision-making under pressure, and the importance of support systems. Now launching Pelgo, an affordable outplacement service powered by AI to help displaced workers retrain and find jobs, he applies hard-won insights to a new venture addressing workforce disruption.

Huang offers a rare, candid post-mortem of a public startup failure and a forward-looking solution to AI-driven job disruption, blending hard-won operational lessons with macroeconomic insight.

1. 01Entrepreneurship is defined by relentless problem-solving; the journey itself, with its highs and lows, is the real reward.
2. 02Public market pressures, especially for unprofitable e-commerce companies post-COVID, can accelerate downfall even with cash reserves.
3. 03AI-driven job displacement creates a growing need for accessible outplacement services—affordable retraining and job placement for non-executives.