Adora Cheung
Adora Cheung | |
|---|---|
| Born | South Carolina, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Business leader, investor, software developer |
| Known for | Co-founder and CEO of Homejoy, partner at Y Combinator |
Adora Cheung is an American business leader, investor, and software developer. She co-established the home cleaning platform Homejoy and acted as its CEO. After Homejoy shut down, Cheung joined Y Combinator as a partner, a role she held until February 2021.
Early life and education
Raised in South Carolina, Cheung obtained her undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Clemson University and later earned a master's degree in Economics from the University of Rochester. While enrolled in a PhD program, she decided to leave academia to support a friend's startup, which led her to move to Silicon Valley.
Career
Cheung held the position of group product manager at Slide.com, where she managed projects such as FunWall and SuperPoke! Pets. After departing from Slide, she collaborated with her brother at Y Combinator to develop multiple startup ideas. Their initial venture, Pathjoy, aimed to connect clients with life coaches but pivoted towards home cleaning services after recognizing a market opportunity between costly agencies and unreliable Craigslist listings. This pivot resulted in rebranding Pathjoy as Homejoy.
Homejoy
Drawing inspiration from the sharing economy model, Cheung launched Homejoy alongside her brother in 2012, headquartered in San Francisco, where she took on the CEO role. By 2013, the startup secured $38 million in funding from investors including Google Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, and Max Levchin, expanding its operations to 31 cities.
To gain practical understanding of operational challenges such as scheduling and efficiency, Cheung personally worked as a cleaner during the company's early days. She also implemented a hiring process that required new cleaners to complete a trial cleaning focused on productivity and client interaction. Cheung maintained monthly cleaning duties herself and intended to broaden Homejoy’s offerings to include home repair services like electrical and plumbing work.
In 2015, Homejoy discontinued its services due to difficulties with customer retention, high costs of acquiring users, and legal disputes concerning the classification of workers as independent contractors. After the closure, around 20 former Homejoy employees were hired by Google to assist with its expansion into home service markets.