My name is Andrew Yuan, and my New York story started in the fall of 2017. I moved to New York fresh out of college to finish my master's program at NYU. Like everyone else, I hired a broker to help me find an apartment. I love talking to people, so I am curious about how agents make money. The agent told me they make money by closing a deal. They would earn a commission from buying/selling/renting apartments. I love the idea; it excites me because I am looking for ways to make money.
My parents are very strict about teaching me the value of money. My dad is majoring in physics and engineering, and my mom is a CPA, so you can imagine how good they are with numbers. They would give me money to cover the tuition, rent, and essential costs of living like meals, so I have to figure out how to make money for leisure activities such as going out to have dinner with friends, taking my girlfriend, now my wife, on dates, traveling, and more.
I know myself as a doer, so I decided to become a real estate agent.
I googled the NY state real estate license, signed up for the online course, finished the 75-hour class, took the school exam, failed, had another shot, and went back to study for another month; I passed.
Then, I signed up for the state exam. I failed the exam three times in a row. Eventually, my girlfriend and I decided to spend the entire Christmas break helping me study for this. I did not have any expectations when I walked into the test room for the fourth time. I did not know if I would pass it or not after I returned home, so I decided to sign up for the 5th time.
The real estate terms are complex for me. English is my 2nd language. After the 4th try, I went to e-access, the state website, to check my score daily as usual. I still remember the joy I tasted after I saw "pass" in my account. That was the happiest day of my life at that time. I was confident that I would be able to make some real money from closing deals.
I believed in myself that I could pass it, so I did not give up after failing the exam each time. I knew that if I studied hard, I could pass it. The license was the only thing between me and the money. Later, I found out the exam had a version in Chinese, but I am glad I took it in English. It made me more professional in doing business with native English-speaking agents.
I joined the firm, where the same agent helped me find my apartment. It is a brokerage full of Chinese agents, our target clients are Chinese. My split is 50/50. I learned how they run the firm and also closed several deals within the first six months. I made about $50K.
The firm does not have a marketing budget and no office support, etc. So I felt splitting 50/50 with the company was unfair.
In addition, I developed clients from my network. Then I did the math. If I did the same number of deals every year, I would double the commission by having the same workload. Why don't I open my firm to keep 100% of the commission then?
I Googled how to open a brokerage in NYC and found the bottleneck is that I need the broker license to open my firm. Then I identified the guy, Max, the only broker in the firm; that firm's license is under his name.
I invited him for coffee/lunch/dinner to pitch him the idea of leaving the firm and opening a new brokerage with me. I told him what other big brokerages doing, how they run the business, what is the split with the agent etc.
He is very smart. We instantly clicked, but he does not know how to open an LLC, payroll, hire, marketing, etc. I had no ideas either, but I told him I could learn. I promised him I would take care of everything if he made the jump. He agreed, and we shook hands.
I Googled how to open a real estate brokerage, asking friends for referrals to meet with CPAs and hang out with brokers working at big firms. Lawyer friends reminded me to execute the operating agreements. They told me this is the most important document about partnership.
I hired a lawyer to draft it and executed it with Max. In the end, we brought in another person; he was the most sociable person we knew back then. The deal was that we each held 40%, and the third guy held 20%. The brokerage name is Highkey LLC.
I wanted the firm to be the opposite of LOWKEY, so I named it Highkey
In May 2019, I graduated from NYU.T. I returned to China post-graduation to spend the summer with my family. After landing, I stayed in a hotel in Shanghai and rested from the jetlag. After a shower, I noticed there was a lump, ping-pong ball size, on the right side of my neck. I told my parents immediately, they looked very nervous. We visited ENT doctors in my hometown, Zhangjiagang, and in Nanjing. They performed the neck ultrasound , CT scan, and Biopsy; I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer. I had trouble falling asleep for the next couple of days. I started researching and reading about cancer nonstop. I was so scared of death. I thought I was going to die.
I immediately returned to New York and visited the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Surgery was performed the day before July 4th. That was the darkest period in my life
I lay on the bed, and my brain was heavy and empty. I had no idea what was next in my life. I can not move my head, must take pain medications, and the scar on my neck looks very scary. The good part was my girlfriend; my parents were with me all day long so I did not feel lonely.
One month after I was discharged from the hospital, my wife booked us dinner in an omakase restaurant called Shuko to celebrate. The sushi chef who stood in front of us overheard our conversation about my real estate brokerage business. He asked me where I recommend opening a restaurant.I gave him my number. Surprisingly, He immediately reached out that night to ask my help finding him a restaurant space.
He asked me where he should open a restaurant. My gut feeling is that this guy is ready to open his own place. I gave him my number and said he could follow up after dinner. The same night, he immediately reached out to ask for my help finding him a restaurant space.
I agreed to help him despite the fact that I knew nothing about restaurant leasing, and I was transparent with him about it but I can learn if he was not in a rush.
Maybe my transparency made him trust me. He insisted on having me represent him in this deal.
Figuring out how to find a restaurant space and negotiate the lease made my mind busy and shifted my focus away from the physical pain. I find a purpose again.
I bought books, watched YouTube, and cold-called brokers to learn how to negotiate the restaurant lease. I also decided to learn how to open and run a restaurant by doing the same process.
I would learn something new and then share it with the chef. I hope I can help him avoid costly mistakes. Sharing is so much fun.
For two months, we met frequently to tour restaurant spaces. Finally, we found a turn-key space at 53rd and 9th Ave., where the previous restaurant had closed one week ago. We toured it. He liked the space and wanted to sign it.
During the meeting to review the LOI, he invited me to run the business with him. It did not take me too long to say yes because I became a little bit superstitious; everything happens for a reason, especially since I just had cancer.
We already paid $12K rent back in December. Then I paid the rent for May and June, but I know I can not continue to pay the total rent. I maintained a good relationship with the building during the renovation period. I asked him if anyone else in the building was paying.
He told me no one was paying. This piece of information is very important. I called the landlord immediately and told him I would pay 50% of 12K, which is 6K, or leave the space. He agreed, and we agreed we would meet again after we re-open.
In Sep, We finally opened outdoor dining. I reached out to the landlord to resume the discussion of restructuring the lease because I want to amend the lease in order not to pay the missing rent in the future. I knew I was still liable for the missing rent.
After rounds of negotiation, the landlord agreed to let me apply 12K from the deposit to cover the missing rent. For the next two years, there would be 3k monthly rent for year one and 4k monthly for year two, but in exchange, I would personally guarantee for the next two years.
I thought I had a good deal at that moment. Looking back today, the best decision was just shutting down the business, exiting that lease, and doing something else instead.
I learned that running a business needs luck. Cutting losses would be the best decision.
What else do I learn from this? The school has trouble onboarding international students; lots of international students decided to defer enrollment due to COVID-19, and few students applied for an MBA because most classes would be on zoom, etc. I think it is the perfect opportunity for me to apply for the MBA because of the less competition. In addition, it is on my to-do list anyway, so I decided to apply.
I learned a piece of valuable information from the email.
Most international students decided to defer or withdraw their enrollment due to COVID-19.
I realized it was the perfect opportunity to apply for the MBA program. I have interesting stories to sellso I decided to apply.
During the process of preparing the application package, I did not reach out to any alumni to share my essays for feedback. This is a costly mistake. After I turned in the application, I waited for two months. Bad news arrived one day, I got rejected.
The story did not end here; I regretted I did not do enough. The good news was CBS is the only M7 business school that offers a January entry program. I decided to apply again. This time, I will do whatever it takes to get accepted.
I reached out to people in my network and cold-messaged CBS alumni on LinkedIn. One person was very helpful. His name is Sida. He was studying at CBS. We played basketball a couple of times together. He told me he visited the admission office and had a one-on-one conversation with an admission officer.
It was impossible to meet people in person during COVID-19, so I decided to email everyone who works in the admission office. Morgan, Sida also talked to her; Morgan replied and shared her personal cell. The call was planned for 30 mins but We ended up talking for an hour.
During the call, I kept sharing my stories. I treated it as an interview. I understood how valuable the opportunity is. 90 minutes later, she told me you are very inspiring. My gut feeling was that I had a good chance of getting accepted.
I received the interview email the following day. I aced the interview with an Argentine alumni; my stories really resonated with him.
Unsurprisingly, this time, the offer arrived. I was so grateful about people  who helped me during the whole process.
I wrote down three goals before the school year started.
Goal No.1
Learning as much as I can from the real estate program.
Goal No. 2
Building as many meaningful relationships as I can.
Goal No.3
Promoting my Omakase restaurant, Ikebana Zen with people.
IKEBANA ZEN closed again in Dec 2020 due to the Delta COVID variant and reopened in March 2021. I organized an opening event and invited friends from my cluster to celebrate the re-opening.
I actively participated in seven clubs by applying as the AVP to organize social events for the members. In Year 2, I continued to serve as VP for all seven clubs.
The following list is the clubs and positions in which I participated.
Real Estate Association: VP of Events
Family Business Club: VP of Membership
Hospitality and Travel Association: VP of Trek
Gourmet Club: VP of Events
FinTech&Blockchain: VP of Events
Greater China Society: VP of Community
Japanese Business Club: VP of Events
Challenges I faced running IKEBANA ZEN
The restaurant closed and re-opened three times due to different COVID-19 variants.
1st Manager suddenly resigned from the job due to a family emergency.
Chef partner stopped showing up to work, stole money from work, verb abused employees.
Stuff got injured during the shift.
A customer fell at the store ramp late at night on a heavy rainy day.
The newly finished outdoor dining shed received a letter from DOT requiring us to take it down due to 9th Ave road construction.
And more
The Solution
I solved all the problems, bought out the chef partner, hired a chef consultant, hired a new manager, hired a new crew, worked every position in my restaurant, went to a conference, met a speaker who knew Andrew Rigie, the founder of Hospitality Alliance, saved my outdoor shed.
In the beginning, I would have panic and anxiety all the time from running a restaurant. After getting through so many emergency situations, I developed a framework to solve problems.
Calm down-identify the real problem - find who not how to solve the problem.
The story of Knock Knock: My second restaurant, a specialty coffee shop in the morning and a modern dim sum restaurant in the evening. Knock Knock inspired by finger taping gesture. If you are interested in learning more, read this article.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/the-origin-of-finger-tapping-694328
Summer 2021: My wife's friend connected us with her bartender friend. We hung out a couple of times, and I liked his personality. We got along well. Later, he told me he wanted to open a bar in Long Island City, Queens, also known as LIC.
He shared the business plan with me. I liked it, and I also like the LIC market because LIC has delivered most residential units to the NYC market in the last ten years. The majority of the people who live in LIC are Asian, and LIC lacks good food and beverage options.
We decided to partner to open the speakeasy. He and his investors would contribute 70% of the money, and I would contribute 30%. My responsibility is to find the bar space, finish the build-out, and obtain the licenses and permits.
I made a mistake by signing the lease under my name. After we signed the lease, this guy told me he did not have any money because his group ( he and his friends) had spent all the money on another project and claimed they got scammed.
I was shocked and extremely angry. Then he lied to me again, saying they were waiting to get their money back. I was very naïve that I trusted him again so I decided to wait. He started ghosting me soon after. I did not have a backup plan, but I knew I must move on from him.
I did not know how to run a bar, but I knew how to run a restaurant. I had an idea to pair the dim sum with cocktails. It is like tapas, small bites. Also, there was no dim sum in LIC.
I remember having a great time at Hakkassan in the past, so there is a real-world successful example. I did not have enough time to continue the due diligence, in-depth market research, and seek feedback from other LIC small business owners, so I went with my gut feeling.
I got stuck in the mentality that I believed I could do it. Nothing is impossible. Overconfidence would make me pay for what is happening next.
I made one more costly mistake. I hired an architect friend fresh out of college. I got nine months of free rent for renovation; four months have passed, so I wanted to save money from other categories.
This is a very dangerous mindset. It often leads to a series of bad decisions. At first, he suggested we do a simple drawing, file for permits to start the construction and update the drawing along the way.
I trusted his judgment and went for the idea. He told me he did not have the architectural license yet, so we needed to ask another architectural firm to stamp his drawing. Guess what? It costs more money. I received more surprising news: building a restaurant also requires mechanical, electrical, and plumbing drawings, also known as MEP drawings.
He did not know how to draw either. I had to spend additional money on the MEP plan. The worst part was that the GC was also not good. Three months have passed again. I got so frustrated. Finally, I decided to fire the architect and the GC and find a solution.
I contacted the architect firm directly to make sure they would file the right drawing to the DOB. At the same time, my manager introduced his Polish GC friend to me. He did the renovation for IKEBANA ZEN. My overall experience with him is reliable and transparent, so I gave him the job.
We worked together to figure out the MEP plan for the following month. We did hand drawings for Plumbing, HVAC duct, hood, fire system, etc. Then, I would send emails to the Architect's office, attach the drawings' pictures to request they update the drawings for us. It takes countless rounds back and forth to get everything right. I worked under extreme stress for the month, did not sleep well, and lost about 10 pounds of weight.
A few months later, I wanted to replace the host stand in the front of the shop with a bar. I think it is good to build a drink bar at the front of the restaurant to attract customers.
I did market research about what kind of drink products would sell during the day. I picked coffee. Why? coffee is the most popular drink, and it is addictive.
However, changing the layout and adding a new design would increase the build-out cost and delay the opening date.
I decided to go for it and take more risk but I have no idea how to make coffee drinks.
What do I do? I googled the barista school. There is only one Specialty coffee association, aka SCA-certified training lab, in the northeast, the Coffee Project Academy in LIC.
It is very close to my restaurant. I first signed up for the latte art class for my wife and me. We took it and met one of the founders, Kaleena. We enjoyed the class, and she encouraged us to take the intermediate barista training class, which is a three-full-day program with an exam at the end.
After three days of lectures and high-intensity training, we learned how to run a cafe program. We passed the exam. The exam is making four drinks, two expresso drinks, and two milk-based drinks within 8 minutes, plus cleaning the machine and station.
At the end of the last day, Kaleena and I started chatting. She mentioned they had recently collaborated with another restaurant to help launch its coffee program. Bingo, my head started spinning. I immediately told her I was planning a restaurant called Knock Knock in LIC.
I shared the meaning of Knock Knock, inspired by the Cantonese finger-taping gesture. Coincidentally, Kaleena and Sum, the co-founders, are Malaysian Chinese; their partners originally immigrated to Malaysia from the Cantonese region of China.
The Knock Knock story resonated with them. It made them feel homesick.
Kaleena helped me book another session with Sum, her partner. We returned home and decided to make a PowerPoint presentation for them to explain the food and drink concept of Knock Knock.
During the second meeting, I shared the restaurant's vision and business plan via PPT.
They told us this was the first time people took them so seriously, and they appreciated our well-prepared PPT.
They decided to collaborate with us and help us launch the coffee program.
Knock Knock Café opened in 2022; we waited six more months for Con Edison to turn on the gas. The developer filed the gas plan without including the meter for the commercial unit. This mistake cost us a lot of money. As a long-time Hospitality Alliance member, I continued to stay in touch with Andrew Rigie. I reached out to him, asking for help. He connected me with his friend at Con Edison, who helped us save time in scheduling gas inspections. Knock Knock restaurant finally opened in April 2023. The business did not perform close to my revenue projection. Sadly, Knock Knock closed on Jan 2024.
How did I find my current partners?
As I mentioned a couple of times, I do not want to run out of plans, so I always look for the next thing for myself.
Knock Knock's soft opening did not run well, so I had doubts about the business.
I have a habit of reading Bloomberg and WSJ every morning. I noticed multiple articles discussing private credit and the CRE wall of maturity. I realized it could be a life-time opportunity.
I have been doing coffee chats regularly with people for a while, so I became even more actively asking CBS real estate people for a coffee chat.
My friend Kira connected me with Alex. She said Alex was so helpful during their coffee chat.
After Kira connected us via email, I sent this to Alex.
Hi Alex,
Thanks, Kira for the introduction. I moved you to bcc now. Nice to e-meet you, Alex. I am currently running a modern dim sum restaurant, Knock Knock, in LIC.
I have always been passionate about real estate development and investing. Would you be available for a quick phone call this week?
I am looking forward to hearing from you!
Andrew Yuan
We scheduled the coffee chat for the following week. When we met, Alex was so curious about my life, my restaurant, my CBS time, etc.We asked each other questions back and forth.
In the end, he had to go, but he insisted we meet again the following morning at my restaurant so he could introduce his twin brother to me.He and Benjamin showed up at my restaurant at 9 am. I told Benjamin everything I shared with Alex, and he followed up with more good questions.
In the end, we had mutual respect for each other. We concluded we needed to stay in touch frequently and build a meaningful relationship because we are young, ambitious, and entrepreneurial.
Alex offered to teach me how to underwrite multifamily deals and share step-by-step instructions on how they close equity deals.
Starting the following week, we did a one-hour session every week about multifamily 101. At the same time, I was running a weekly networking event in my restaurant to promote the business and build relationships with people. I invited them to my networking events; they came two times out of six. In the 7th week, we did a real estate panel discussing today's real estate market, challenges, and opportunities. I posted on my LinkedIn and sent out invites to my friends. The turnout was great; over 30 people showed up.
Alex also shared with me that he has been working on a new project for a while: direct hotel lending. His mentor connected him with his son, a Managing director who focused on hospitality finance at a large US bank. My head started spinning, and I wanted to help. I asked Alex how I could help; he told me that they will raise capital from LPs after they officially launch. As a solo entrepreneur, I understand how challenging it is to start a new business so I decided to help them by introducing people in my network. Soon after, I decided to do even more by going to conferences, panels, mixers, happy hours, posting content on my social media, etc.
After I closed the Knock Knock, Alex and I continued to meet frequently. He would update me about the hospitality credit project, and I would go out to meet people and connect them with Alex. Finally, the business launched on May 6th. We are closing our 1st deal. I signed up for everything I could find on the internet related to Private credit, private debt, family office, CRE, etc. I will be always ready to shoot my shot at any situation. I want to end with my favorite quote from Ray Dalio's book Principles: "Build meaningful relationships." I love building long-term, meaningful relationships with people!
Right now, I am working on become an Independent placement agent.