Rewind to 2013 in Hong Kong, and Steven Lam is staring at a stack of takeaway boxes, sweating bullets because booking a van feels like negotiating with a secret society. “We needed vans to deliver our takeaway boxes to restaurants, and the process was a nightmare,” he recalls, flashing his trademark grin. “We’d call a radio-dispatch centre, get a ridiculously high quote, and have no idea if the driver would even show up. It was inefficient and opaque.” Having heard the same story from others, he realised “everyone had a van-hailing horror story. That’s when the lightbulb went on: if we could fix this for ourselves, we could fix it for the entire city.”

This is the origin of GoGoX – formerly GoGoVan – Asia’s answer to Uber but for delivery, boxes and basically anything that needs to move without the drama. Lam, co-founder and self-proclaimed ‘Cheap Everything Officer’ (CEO), has turned that headache into a logistics powerhouse operating in 370 cities – from China and South Korea to Singapore, Vietnam and India. It was Hong Kong’s first unicorn, born from a 2017 merger with Chinese freight giant 58 Suyun, and now boasts 7 million registered drivers.

But Steven Lam’s story is no overnight success. It’s a tale of grit, gaffes and going all in, told with the kind of humour that makes you laugh while learning.

Kowloon Cram

It starts in Kowloon public housing, a concrete jungle where life was more shared spoon than silver spoon. “Growing up in a public-housing estate teaches you two things very quickly: resourcefulness and the importance of community,” says Lam, chuckling like he’s reminiscing about a quirky family reunion. “You learn that nothing is handed to you, and that if you want something, you have to figure out a way to earn it or build it. Space is limited, resources are shared, and you see firsthand how small efficiencies can make a big difference in people’s daily lives.”

It’s the kind of upbringing that turns kids into mini-entrepreneurs. Lam’s business vibe is frugal, folksy and focused on fixing real messes. “Business wasn’t some abstract concept I learned in a classroom; it was about solving real, practical problems for real people,” he adds. “It taught me to be frugal, to be scrappy, and to never underestimate the power of a simple solution to a common frustration.”

High school didn’t end with confetti for young Steven. After bombing Hong Kong’s public exams, he ditched the script and headed to the US for community college. “My results weren’t what I had hoped for, and for a moment, it felt like the traditional path to success was closed to me,” he admits, with the honesty of someone who’s turned lemons into a logistics empire. “But instead of seeing it as a failure, it became a crucial turning point. It forced me to be honest with myself and realise that there had to be more than one way to build a future.”

American Hustle

Stateside, it was all about reinvention. “Nobody there cared about my past exam scores; all that mattered was the effort I put in each day,” he notes. “It was incredibly humbling and empowering at the same time.” He later funded his degree in business administration at the University of California, Berkeley by flipping second-hand iPhones and bikes – pure hustle. “That experience taught me that your starting point doesn’t define your destination. It taught me resilience and proved that with hard work, you can create your own second chances.”

Enter GoGoVan co-founders Reeve Kwan and Nick Tang, his university ride or dies. “Looking back, the most important thing was that I wasn’t facing these financial pressures alone,” he shares. “The key to overcoming them was the friends who were right there with me.”

Reselling iPhones “was our first real business together, our way of earning our first pot of gold,” he laughs. “That experience taught us so much more than just how to make a profit. It taught us how to hustle, how to solve problems on the fly, and most importantly, how to trust each other completely when the stakes were high.” Three guys in a dorm, haggling over gadgets, forged the trust that built GoGoX.

At Berkeley, Lam soaked up big ideas, but real lessons came from slinging food at a San Francisco Chinese restaurant. “They were two sides of the same coin,” he quips. “UC Berkeley gave me the framework – the theories, the economic principles. It taught me what was possible. The Chinese restaurant, on the other hand, taught me raw, unfiltered business. It was about customer service, inventory management, cash flow and teamwork under pressure, all in real-time.” It’s where the GoGoX seed sprouted – delivering food, spotting gaps.

Thinking Beyond Boxes

Back in Hong Kong, Lam launched BoxAd, selling adverts on takeaway meal boxes. “BoxAd was my real-world MBA,” he says. “It taught me essential lessons about sales, rejection, and the hustle required to get that first ‘yes’.” But the gold was in the grit: dealing with van bookings exposed logistics lunacy. “Every day, I was on the street, not just selling ads but also hiring vans to deliver the boxes. I spent hours talking to drivers, hearing directly about their struggles.”

Thus, with HK$20,000 in savings, GoGoVan was born. “Those conversations and relationships were the true foundation of the company, and I’m still in touch with some of the very first driver-partners,” reveals Lam. “My philosophy is that every step in your journey has a purpose. BoxAd wasn’t a setback; it was the catalyst.”

Scaling was epic. “First, convincing the first 100 drivers … [but] once we had that initial critical mass, the network effect started,” he recounts. Funding, merger, IPO – boom. As Cheap Everything Officer, he balances bargains with brilliance. “The title started as an inside joke [reflecting early penny-pinching]. But ‘cheap’ doesn’t mean low quality. It means being relentlessly efficient.” AI routes keep costs low, and quality high.

GoGo Further

“In the beginning, success was survival. Today, my definition [of the concept] is about impact.” Being named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader last year widened his worldview. “It connects you with leaders. This has influenced my vision for GoGoX to be more than just a logistics company.”

What fuels him? “The world of logistics is still incredibly inefficient. That puzzle continues to fascinate me,” he says. Plus, responsibility to stakeholders. Happiness? “For me, happiness is the feeling you get when you are engaged in solving a meaningful problem with people you trust.”

His plan for GoGoX is to innovate with AI, expand in Southeast Asia, and go green with EVs. “Within the logistics industry, I hope our legacy is that we proved technology could democratise access. In the broader community, I hope my story serves as an example. [Given] the sheer scale of the opportunity [though], we have only scratched the surface.”

And there it loops back: from that van-booking nightmare to reimagining Asia’s moves, Lam turned frustration into fortune, proving that sometimes, the best way to go forward is to fix what’s holding everyone back. In Hong Kong, where deliveries seem endless, he’s the guy who made “go” mean something magical.

Interview, Text & Art Direction: Joseff Musa   Photographer: Jack Law   Videographer: Iris Ventura