Danny Yeung

Prenetics did $700M+ in COVID testing revenue in 3 years

At the peak of COVID, Danny Yeung's Prenetics ran 40,000 lab PCR tests a day and booked more than $700M in revenue over three years, listing on the NASDAQ in 2022. Within 18 months of its billion-dollar valuation, the market cap had fallen to roughly $50M as testing demand disappeared.

“At one point, we were doing 40,000 PCR tests a day. Right, we totaled at $28 million. This is laboratory PCR tests. Those 3 years, we did $700 million plus revenue in 3 years' time. We listed on the NASDAQ in 2022. We're a household name.”

Make the celebrity a co-founder, but build a brand that outlives them

When David Beckham, who had turned down supplement deals for 30 years, was weighing a partnership, Danny Yeung pitched him as a co-founder rather than a paid ambassador. In the same breath he insisted the brand had to stand on its own and not become another celebrity brand.

“And I told David from day one, hey, David, I know, you know, for the last 30 years there's been so many people wanting to do this category and you rejected. And I told David something that was surprising to him. I was like, David, if we do this together, you know, I don't want you just as ambassador. I want you as a co-founder. But this brand has to live beyond you. I don't want this to be another celebrity brand.”

Steal thisOffer the famous partner real co-founder equity and accountability, then design the product and brand so they still work if the celebrity steps away.

Replace a $250–$300/month pill stack with one $90 sachet

IM8's Daily Ultimate Essentials packs 90 ingredients that replace 16 separate supplements into one powder sachet mixed with water. Danny Yeung positions it against the $250–$300 a month that buying those supplements separately would cost, and sells it for $90 a month.

“And because normally you would have to take the equivalent of 16 different supplements, that will easily cost you $250 to $300 on a monthly basis. Yeah. And for us, we're selling at $90 a monthly basis, this combination, which also tastes great and you can carry around with you everywhere.”

Steal thisBundle a messy multi-product routine into one SKU and anchor its price against what the separate pieces would cost.

IM8 hit a $200M run rate in 18 months; AG1 took 10 years to reach $100M

Danny Yeung says IM8, the supplement drink he co-founded with David Beckham, reached a $100M annual revenue run rate 11 months after launching in December 2024 and $200M at 18 months. He contrasts that with AG1, which took about 10 years to hit $100M, and calls IM8 the fastest-growing supplement brand on record.

“We hit $100 million annual revenue run rate at 11 months. In this category-wise, I mean, GrooveDigital in 22 months, right? And they were acquired for $1.2 billion after 3 years. AG1 took them 10 years to hit $100 million. We hit $200 million run rate in 18 months.”

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka's team cold-emailed IM8 to partner

Danny Yeung's best proof the product works: in spring 2025, Aryna Sabalenka's team cold-emailed him after she had used IM8 for three months on her nutrition coach's advice. Her team tracks her recovery several times a day, and she had not gotten sick while traveling. Every ambassador IM8 signed after that came to them inbound.

“I got an email from Aryna Sabalenka's team. Right. Cold email into me, right? They're like, hey, you know, Aryna's been on your product for about 3 months now via a recommendation from her nutrition coach. When you're the world number 1 tennis player, every single thing they're measuring your recovery, how you're feeling 3 to 4 times on a daily basis. And they don't need the bullshit, right?”

Ad buying is a commodity now; the creative does the targeting

Danny Yeung argues that Meta's algorithm has made media buying a commodity, so targeting skill no longer differentiates. What matters is producing strong creatives with enough diversity across customer personas. IM8 runs 2,000–3,000 ads at any time and tests 500–800 creators a week.

“And you have, and right now the reality is even with ad buying, I mean, you know, ad buying is like a commodity right now. Yeah. Before a few years ago, you have to be really, really good at ad buying, but now Meta does all of that for you already, right? You don't need to do the targeting. You don't need to do all this stuff, right? All you need to really figure out is how do you get really good creatives? and really good creative diversity on the different personas because now you need the creative to do the targeting.”

Steal thisShift budget from media-buying expertise to creative volume: build distinct ads for each customer persona and let the platform find the audience.

IM8 doubled ad spend to $33M a quarter and its CAC still fell

IM8 roughly doubled quarterly marketing spend from about $17M in Q1 to $33M in Q2, yet its customer acquisition cost dropped from $305 to $301, against an average order value of about $230. Danny Yeung says CAC usually rises when spend doubles, and credits the creative engine and brand strength, including more than 200 offline events.

“Q1 our CAC was 305, right? Our average order value is about $230, right? So, and we doubled our marketing spend in Q2, right? We doubled it from about 17 to 33 million dollars in a quarter, right? Our CAC. actually went down by $4. All right. From $305 to $301. Because you would imagine if you're doubling spend, your CAC is always going to go up.”

Hung up on by the marketing director, he cold-called the boss and won 30 restaurants

Launching group-buying site uBuyiBuy in Hong Kong, Danny Yeung was cursed out and hung up on by a restaurant group's marketing director, so he cold-called the owner, Sandeep. Sandeep doubted the model but signed all 30 of his restaurants because Danny had refused to give up. That one deal filled a month of daily deals and became the reference that won other groups.

“Danny, hey, Danny, I don't think your business is gonna work in Hong Kong because why would I give 50% off to customers and I only get 25% of the check? All right. Right. But you know what? Because, you know, you called me after my director of marketing hung up on you and we're still here, I'm gonna work with you and give you all of my 30 restaurants and sign you up. And he did that because he knew, you know, I didn't give up.”

Steal thisWhen a gatekeeper rejects you, go one level up and lead with the persistence; then use the first big logo to sign the rest of the market.

Same work for 50 chairs or 3,000, so he cold-called Vegas and landed a $4M MGM deal

While running a restaurant, Danny Yeung began sourcing furniture from China for a designer friend's small hotels. He realized an order of 50 chairs takes the same work as one for 2,000–3,000, so he went looking for whoever was building thousands of rooms. That led him to Las Vegas, where cold calls eventually produced a $4M contract with MGM.

“after a few of the hotels, I figured out, you know, It's the same process if I make 50 chairs or 50 tables as if I make 2,000 to 3,000 chairs, right? So I was like, who is making 2,000 hotel rooms right now? And at the time was like Vegas, right? Then I started cold calling the Vegas hotels and eventually I cold called MGM and she gave me a meeting. And then I went into the meeting and, you know, one year later I got a, you know, $4 million contract with MGM.”

Steal thisIf your effort is the same regardless of order size, find the customer placing the largest orders and go straight to them.

Turned away by Hong Kong's government, he sold $100 at-home PCR tests vs. $400

In April 2020, Hong Kong's chief executive turned down Danny Yeung's offer to use Prenetics' lab for COVID testing. With hospitals charging $300–$400 for a test that cost a fraction of that, Prenetics launched an at-home PCR kit at $100 in about two weeks. Three months later the government asked it to test 300,000 restaurant workers in three weeks.

“And then I knew the cost of a COVID test is a fraction of that, right? And they were making so much money. And at the time, you don't want to go to a hospital to do a COVID test because it means that you may get infected too, right? I was like, you know what, we'll just create our own at-home PCR tests. And then so we launched that within about a little bit more than 2 weeks. And every day we're just trying to help out the community. We're selling it for $100 US. when everyone was selling it for $400.”

He cut 2,000 staff the moment COVID ended; Cue and Lucira overbuilt and went bankrupt

Once it was clear COVID testing was over, Danny Yeung quickly laid off about 2,000 Prenetics employees. Peers like Cue Health, once a $3B company with $1B in US revenue, and Lucira overbuilt with their own factories and bets on at-home testing, and both went bankrupt within about 18 months.

“it was right when we knew COVID was over, I let go of 2,000 people very, very fast. And that turned out to be a really good decision. Because again, during that time-wise, you had Q Health, you had Lucera, and these were at the time, they were listed companies. At one point, Q Health was $3 billion market cap. They had $1 billion in revenue in the US, right? Lucera, they had another, like, I think they were $2 billion market cap. Yeah. They went bankrupt, you know, 18 months after COVID because they overbuilt.”

Steal thisWhen a demand spike ends, cut to the new reality immediately instead of carrying the boom-era cost base.

Ask ChatGPT or Claude whether your product beats the competition

To check whether a product really is the best on the market, Danny Yeung tells people to ask ChatGPT or Claude to compare it with rivals such as AG1. Shaan runs the test live, ChatGPT picks IM8 over AG1, and Danny jokes he'll cut the clip into an ad.

“Yeah, but you have to be realistic, right? It's like a big difference. I mean, I tell people, how do you know this? I was like, don't trust me. Just put it into Claude, put it in ChatGPT. What's better, IM8 or, you know, AG1, Doron Krugens, right? Let's see what it says on the similar product. Right?”

Steal thisAsk two LLMs to compare your product head-to-head with your top competitors; fix what they flag, and turn a favorable verdict into ad creative.