Ringo Chan’s early career involved packing phone cases, answering customer calls and storing Ebay stock in his parents’ living room until they had nowhere left to sit. Now, the Ecosa co-founder and CEO has an executive team to delegate to and sleep scientists to consult, although he admits handing over the work takes some self-control. 

“I changed jobs multiple times in my career within the same company,” he told Inside Retail.

Headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, Ecosa has grown from Chan’s first mattress in 2015 into an international sleep solutions company with a presence across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the US and Canada. This month, Ecosa was named the official sleep partner of Australia’s national women’s football team, the Matildas.

Since founding the brand with his brother, Chan has gone from wearing several hats to deciding which projects deserve years of the company’s attention. He’s conscious of micromanaging, enthusiastic about learning from his hires and perfectly candid about his tendency to move straight to the next goal. 

In this interview with Inside Retail, Chan talks about the team he learns from, responsibilities that naturally come with brand growth and learning to give other people room to do their jobs. 

Inside Retail (IR): How did you get your start in business, and what were you hoping to build? 

Ringo Chan (RC): I was selling things on Ebay – mainly phone cases and accessories. Ebay, or any other marketplace, is really about price. It’s very price competitive.

Back then, I was always looking for an opportunity to sell something that we could evolve, like the iPhone, where you have iPhone 3,4,5, 6 – and then just keep building on it, working towards an empire, not just selling garbage.

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