Some could say that Ryan Hayward is the archetype of a young entrepreneur. Not too long ago, he left his well-established and successful career to pursue his dream of creating a new form of e-commerce that enables users to be involved in the creative process of their purchases. Oh, did we mention that his career was with Google?
Six years ago, as an undergraduate student working towards a Bachelor of Science in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, Ryan was approached by Google for a job opportunity. At the time Ryan was still considering the option of going to law school, but later chose to move to San Francisco to start his career with the illustrious company. While on the airplane, he met a fellow University of Pennsylvania graduate and future Google employee– Anastasia Leng. Ryan went on to become a Product Marketing Manager, working on Google AdWords and leading the launch of Google Places, and Anastasia soon after moved to London to work in New Business Development and Product Marketing, which made her responsible for the early-stage partnerships for Google Voice, Wallet and Chrome. Years later Ryan moved to Tokyo to take on the role of managing the Asia-Pacific regional marketing for Google+, which distanced the two to opposite ends of the Earth, literally. As fate would have it, though, the two met at a wedding not long after, which would lead to a future business partnership that would soon conceive their brainchild– Hatch.
Having become fascinated by the culture while living in Tokyo, Ryan noticed that Japanese people had a strong focus on quality rather than quantity; as a people, they had a strong appeal to high-end products and service. Whether it be furniture for their home, a present for a birthday or just dinner at a restaurant, they had a taste for exemplary service and premium-quality products. This appealed to Ryan and became an initial “spark” for the idea of Hatch. He wanted the products to not only be of high quality but also for them to represent something meaningful, so he came up with a platform for selling top-notch merchandise that is customizable to the consumer’s liking. With makers in eighteen different countries from across the globe, Hatch presents consumers with an experience that is similar to working with independent artisans without the hassle and guaranteed high quality. You can learn more about Ryan and the dream that he pursued at www.Hatch.co.