The Lunch That Ran Four Hours: Creators × Founders in Hong Kong
We booked a private room for noon on Saturday 19 September. The last group left at four.
In between, a small table of Hong Kong founders and content creators worked through several rounds of dim sum and one question that kept coming back: what does someone who has built an audience know that someone who has built a business doesn't — and the other way round?
This was the first Creators × Founders lunch from Founders Roundtable Club.
Who was at the table
We keep our lunches small on purpose. Around this one sat founders scaling real businesses and creators with audiences in the millions, though the line between the two blurred quickly, because many of them are building both at once.
Between them:
Three creators with over a million subscribers, one with more than 7 million
1.2 billion views on a single channel, and one video past 132 million
15 million meals donated to animal shelters through a direct-to-consumer brand
More than 10,000 children taught through hands-on STEAM education
An AI study app used by 500,000 people, built by a medical student
21 million views on one video, from a founder who isn't a full-time creator
A US$4.2m Series A raised in August 2026
300km run in six days
Two books with Penguin
Two Forbes 30 Under 30, three Tatler Gen.T honourees, three Prestige 40 Under 40, and at least three TEDx speakers
What we talked about
Everything said at the table stays there. Every Founders Roundtable Club gathering runs under the Chatham House Rule. But the questions will be familiar to any founder or creator in Hong Kong, and several came from the guests themselves:
Once you've found product-market fit, what's the real bottleneck to scaling: distribution, hiring or operations?
How do you stick with an idea long enough to know whether it has value?
How do you step away from a business when you are the face of it?
How do you balance content for the community you already have against content that reaches new people?
What still only works because you do it yourself, and what would it take to hand it over?
That overlap between scaling a business and scaling an audience was the point of the lunch.
What guests said
Some of what we heard afterwards:
"There is nothing quite like sitting at a table full of high achievers — celebrating our wins, leaning into our shared challenges, and learning from one another."
"A room stacked up with jaw dropping achievements, with human, honest, beautiful conversations."
"One of the highest impact gatherings I've been to in years."
"The calibre of people in that room is genuinely hard to get in one place."
Why we keep it small
Hong Kong has no shortage of founder events. Most are large, and most end with a pocket full of business cards and very few real conversations.
Founders Roundtable Club works differently. Our gatherings are referral-based and small, usually under a dozen people, so everyone at the table gets heard. This lunch had no panels, no pitching and no sponsors, and the bill was split at cost.
The work happens before the day: getting the right mix of people together so the conversation is useful for all of them.
Join a future gathering
We run a handful of lunches a year, alongside CEO breakfasts, roundtable dinners and small-group sessions for next-gen founders in Hong Kong. Most places come through referral, and you can also express interest through the application form on this site. Places are limited, and we match guests by stage so every conversation is worth the time.
FAQ
What is Founders Roundtable Club?
A referral-based community for next-gen founders in Hong Kong, built by founders for founders. We host small, private gatherings focused on honest conversation rather than networking.
Is this a networking event?
Not in the usual sense. Groups are small, there are no panels or pitches, and conversations are off the record. The focus is the conversation itself, not collecting contacts.
How do I join a Founders Roundtable Club event?
Most places come through referral from existing members. You can also express interest through the application form on foundersrtc.com.
