Fave CEO Joel Neoh shares a day in his life

Day in the Life is a series where personalities in the Asian tech community recount what they do on a typical day. Read more from the series here.

I’m Joel Neoh, the founder of Groupon and KFit—now Fave. 

I don’t particularly have a daily routine, so I think this will be more of a week in the life.

Early mornings

I’m usually on flights in the early mornings. So, for example, out of five days this week, I’ll be on flights for four of them.

I usually pick the earliest times because I try to skip the heavy traffic going to and from the airport.

If I’m not flying—or even when I’m flying—I’ll usually prioritize my schedule for the day, as a lot of things tend to come in for me. I make sure to take time to do this so that I’m tackling needle-movers and connecting with critical people.

Late mornings

When I was first starting out, there was this book I read called Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. It basically says to eat the biggest frog first—essentially getting the hardest tasks out of the way so the day progresses easier.

This time is usually for me to eat the frog. I think the hard things for me are handling real issues with customers, merchants, partners, team members, and employees.

So, I usually take anything that’s difficult for me or for the team first in the morning.

Lunchtime

If I’m not based with a team, usually I’ll catch up one-on-one with certain key leaders over lunch. Or, quite frequently, I’ll be powering through meetings. 

Sometimes I won’t be able to clear all the topics in the morning, so I’ll also power through in the office.

Afternoon

Evening

Weekends