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Join us as we introduce each of the teams participating in our 2024 Summer Launchpad accelerator!
MetroMesh Media addresses the shortage of outdoor advertising space for CPG advertisers by leveraging food delivery networks as a new advertising medium.
Team Members: Winn Hsu (Tandon ‘24), Tom Hsu (Stern ‘23), & Jessica Hsu
Taiwanese siblings Winn, Jess, and Tom Hsu grew up traveling the world with a spirit of entrepreneurship influencing their trips. From young ages, exploring exciting new places instilled the building blocks of creativity within them, encouraging them to approach life boldly and have “no fear” in taking on new adventures, says Jess.
Tom participated in entrepreneurship programs and founded his own startup in Asia and Jess worked in the e-commerce space before the pair teamed up with Winn to launch MetroMesh Media. The startup’s origins date back to the first trip they took together to New York City as children. One image that stuck in their minds for years was that of the taxi top advertising featured on the roofs of yellow cabs.
Years later, upon returning to the city for their studies, they realized the iconic and timeless symbol on top of NYC taxis had received an upgrade. The traditional static signs had shifted to vibrant LED screens.
From there, the trio formulated their idea to convert this innovative transformation to the city’s food delivery space. MetroMesh leverages the gig economy to turn delivery networks into mobile billboards with state-of-the-art digital displays, bringing out of home advertising (OOH) to the street level.
Below, Tom and Jess discuss their entrepreneurship journeys, advice for student founders, and more:
How do you describe MetroMesh to someone new for the first time?
We create advertising food delivery space.
How did you initially find NYU’s entrepreneurial community?
When Winn was working on his master's, we came up with this idea. We felt like it would be pretty interesting if we worked on this together. We joined the Institute for Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship (IIIE@Tandon). After, we learned about the Leslie eLab and joined [the Startup Accelerator Program], too. These are the two main programs that we have been focusing on.
What’s the biggest business challenge your startup has overcome so far?
The biggest challenge is being faithful to what you are working on, especially for us because we're international students. We have visa requirements. It's really hard to balance between wanting to find a corporate job to get a visa sponsorship and putting faith into our startup. And the language barrier is another thing because it takes a lot of courage to work on the street and talk to people, executives, and other managers. It's challenging for everyone who runs a startup, but we have to consider more. The best thing about working as a family is the fact that if one gets motivated or unmotivated, we just share very openly about it. We keep everything fully transparent. I think that helps in terms of overcoming the challenges.
What has been the most rewarding moment of your founder journey so far?
JH: Getting recognition. My background is not in marketing. I'm not super experienced in the professional workplace. Recognition is something that's really rewarding and it really motivates me to keep going. Also, the fact that the investors and mentors see us not just as students. They treat us seriously by giving us criticism/advice. That is something that I appreciate because it shows that they really do respect us and think that we are capable.
TH: The whole process is pretty rewarding. The reason I say that is because the process is not just customer discovery — you have to learn from mentors, coaches, and everyone who might be relevant to the program. There are some good people here in the program. For example, the Leslie eLab introduced us to two investors and one mentor. All of them are great. They don't think we're too young or naive to do this. They're always encouraging, but also have some insightful opinions for us. I think that's a really rewarding moment because in the whole process, no matter if we will be successful or not, you learn a lot of things from that, especially integrity.
What 3 words describe your founder journeys?
Challenging, Inspiring, Introspective
What’s the biggest piece of advice that you’d give to aspiring student founders?
JH: Keep trying, believe in yourself, think it through, and keep trying.
TH: From my perspective, have good co-founders, and people who work with you — not just co-founders, but team members. In the whole journey, nobody can survive on their own. People all have their weaknesses. You have to have people who stand by your side, work-wise and life-wise. VCs value teams, too, and like to see if they are capable, not just you.
What’s been your best experience in New York?
JH: Everyone keeps saying all New Yorkers are cold, but if you're confident and brave enough, everyone's actually very friendly and always trying to help. Honestly, if they can, they will. I think they are not as cold as people say that they are. It's something that I realized in the past few weeks.
TH: The Empire State building is amazing. The reason is not just because the building is phenomenal. It’s amazing that they built it almost a hundred years ago. It leads me to think about how New York's a place where you can be innovative. You can kind of challenge yourself to really do something phenomenal if you want to try and New York is the best stage, the best place for you.
In the spirit of MetroMesh, what is your favorite food to have delivered?
JH: Thai food is the perfect delivery kind of food because with some foods, the steam and the lid make the crispy skin soft and it doesn't taste good anymore. Thai food is perfect because it's already moist and soft.
TH: For me, it's the Five Guys milkshake. The reason I say that is because my girlfriend and I are in a long distance relationship, and the best memory is when she ordered Five Guys for me from Uber Eats.
