Primitus is a web application development company.
We strive to delight people with useful products, clean UI & solid user experience.

About Us

Founded in October 2009, Primitus is an angel-backed startup based in Hong Kong. Our goal is to help small businesses succeed by building remarkable Internet products and to create a corporate culture capable of sustaining the business year after year. After learning entrepreneurship and witnessing numerous extraordinary startups in the US, our founder has the aspiration to build a world-class and truly transformational business institution in his home, Hong Kong. This company is the beginning of his long journey.

Methodology

Primitus follows the Customer Development and Lean Startup methodology created by visionary entrepreneurs Steve Blank and Eric Ries. They are disciplined approaches to building companies that really matter. Based on the premise that start-ups tend to fail through lack of customers rather than lack of technology or product features, these methods are systematic ways of identifying who the customer is, what it is they need and whether that need is sufficient to build a business on. As a result, startups can dramatically reduce the risk associated with bringing a new product to market by building the company from the ground up for rapid iteration and learning.

Culture

Our vision is to build Primitus into a long term enduring company. In order to do so, we need to create a great company culture because it can attract exceptional talents who create great products which produce happy customers which produce financial success. Many companies start the opposite way by figuring out a way to make money and then making their people and culture an afterthought. We look to Zappos, Netflix, Google, Salesforce.com, innocent drinks, Ooga Labs, Patagonia, Virgin, Disney, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, Toyota and Pixar as our cultural models. At Primitus, we have mutual respect for one another no matter what titles you have. We enforce a strict no-assholes policy which means "We don't hire assholes here".

Moreover, we strongly believe that a successful company needs to have a corporate mission that is bigger than making a profit, a concept from the Art of War. Primitus has adopted a community involvement program based on the famous 1/1/1 integrated philanthropy model used by Google, PalmOne and Salesforce.com. We will contribute 1% of product, 1% of equity, and 1% of employee hours back to the communities it serves.

The section above is inspired by Ooga Labs and Salesforce.com

Values

As we keep looking towards the future, these core values guide our actions.
  • Satisfy customers with superior quality, value, and service
  • Stress creativity and imagination in everything we do
  • Be a company employees are proud to be part of
  • Honesty & transparency (internally and externally)
  • Embrace and drive change
  • Pursue growth and learning
  • Do more with less
  • Be passionate and determined
  • Be humble
  • Respect our social and physical environment

People

Vincent Chan
Vincent Chan
Co-Founder & President
An ex-banking analyst turned entrepreneur who is hugely influenced by the book "Built to Last". Vincent is the co-founder and president of Primitus. He left his job at Citigroup to pursue success on his own terms. He is passionate about changing the world through great Internet products. His dream is to build Primitus into a lasting company and the first truly global brand in China, one customer at a time. Besides our company blog, he occasionally blog on his own personal site. Vincent graduated from UCLA in 2007 with a degree in Economics.
Victor Lam
Victor Lam
Co-Founder & Head of Engineering
Victor Lam, who is influenced by the book "The Last Lecture", founded Primitus along with Vincent Chan in the spring of 2010. As Head of Engineering, he oversees the development of all software for Primitus. Prior to founding Primitus, Victor developed web application expertise at CUHK as well as at Pxine Workshop, a private consulting company he founded. He is strongly inspired by the founders of Microsoft, Apple and Google. His dream is to build a Google-style company in Greater China. He would like to build a company that is full of creativity and energy at Primitus. Victor has a bachelor's degree in Internet Engineering from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Peter Wong
Peter Wong
Web Developer
Peter Wong is participating in the 1-year internship program. Just like the meaning of the latin word "primitus", this is his first time working as a full-time employee. He is passionate about making life better for others by developing useful applications. In his spare time, he likes to play guitar, write lyrics, and make robots. Peter is studying a bachelor's degree in Computer Science with a minor in Japanese Language at the University of Hong Kong.

Inspiration to Primitus

Primitus follows the path set by the startups below:
37signals, Zendesk, Freshbooks, Sofa, Balsamiq, MailChimp, Wufoo.