(a) simple solution
(b) to overlooked problems
(c) that actually need to be solved, and
(d) deliver them as informally as possible,
(e) starting with a very crude version 1, then
(f) iterating rapidly.
==================================
"The world is not a traffic light. you can't change it by staring at it."
- me
==================================
It has to be as simple as possible.
The more you think about it, it gets simpler. and simpler, and simpler.
the more you organize it, simpler it gets.
sometimes, it requries layers of abstractions.
sometimes, it requries changeing the folder model, to tag model.
============================
to win big in startup, you have find a way to work 500x more efficiently.
in an existing market, it is more difficult, since your competition is not stupid.
they are working as hard as possible.
even if you are working 3x as hard, they have 10x, 100x more resources.
one way to win, is to compete in a new market.
and, if lucky, you will find the flaw in the existing market, and exploit that, to grow quick.
once you succeed, others will catch on, and that edge will be gone.
then, you will push for more complex method.
but, if it is too complex, the market would not take it in. it has to be simple enough.
once blocked by market adjustment blockage, you should push for "good"
becasue, the ultimate goal, or the ultimate market slogan, is that we are doing a good thing.
It would be best to be true. if not, i think many companies are faking it as well. but, it is still better to fake it, than not donig it at all.
===========================
* Thoughts about doing Startup Culture
Try new things. Draw at least 300 pictures. endless pursuit.
Startup Lifecycle. how to deal with investors.
what is the true meaning of doing startup.
=======================
I dont believe in shortcuts in life. (I tried it many times, and technicl debt backfired on me.)
I am a big believer of trying everything once.
even those task you are going to delegate. try it at least once.
you do not know until you try it.
and, if you dont like it, then delegate it.
if there is a short cut exist, then I will expoit the shit out of it. w/o shame. (I've learned this from Kaggling)
but, I am not saying exploit people.
I am saying, exploit the system, if it is flawed.
dont try to save it for later. once others exploit that hole, the whole system shifts into the new type, that any layered plan does not work anymore.
you just take it, then be ready to adapt to the next one.
unfair advantage? that is what I exactly want.
if it can be automated, (or delegated to machines), then so be it.
=========================
the default choice is all that makes the difference.
since you have spent last 5 years on it, you know every options.
but, the new users, they are busy grasping it, so they go with the default option. and if that solves their problem, 90% go not try to learn more.
they were not here to learn something new. they were here to use it, and paid for that service.
==========================
*The grand theme: Technology is spilling over to other industries. When making prototype, keep it simple. these are non-techy users.
3 prime verticals for the next few years:
1) Social Science: understanding human via data. not just ad-targeting and brainwashing. Culture shaping. personalized education. predicting election. on top of facebook and linkedin, but apply to HR. sentiment analysis. NLP. something more like psychology. reputation management. co-founder picking using brigg meyer. psych eval. google analytics for everything. education market goes in here as well. Education
2) Financial: financial system almost collapsed, meaning we need a better system. better fraud detection. new type of insurance product(per mileage insurance. accelerometer-based insurance). wholistic finance. p2p lending. reputation as financial vehicle. better price prediction. real estate price prediction. car insurance asking for your driving habit. social credit. bitcoin/alternative currency. in-game currency spilling over to real currency. Foreind exchange using BitCoin. Payday loan. short-term loan. Real Estate
3) Health + BioInformatics: Applying more techy science to healthcare. finance planning using life expectancy using genetic data. cheaper and more accurate diagnosis. optimal drug based on genetic info. doctors are too damn expensive. and diagnostics could be simple, and more accurate. population around the world is getting older.
======================================
Innovate!
what does it really mean by that??
so, the simplest of all idea and ideals i can think about.
idea is about changes.
ideals is about stability.
innovate means that you should try your ideas, before trying to make it into ideals.
it is about changing the world to be better.
it is something noble.
but, the words about "chaging the world" "make the world better"
has been devalued. it has became all the marketing talk.
talk is cheap.
So, I want to talk about something more real.
===================================
many people think startup is about innovation. and disruption. and to dream. to care about others.
These words do describe the mentality, but it is not practical enough for me.
how to win a sport game is to score more, and how to make money in the stock market is to buy low, sell high. Saying these things are easy, but it is the result of the things you do, not the method of how you do.
these are the surface data. dependent variables. it is how you control the independent (feature set) variables.
================================
5 basic questions.
1. Name/Icon/Flag - easy to remember. easy to pivot. (think of super mario)
2. Product - What is the thing you want to make. Simple Product. But, impactful product. Brand New Technology/no real competitors. Product that is fundable.
3. Team - Who is in the team. when things are changing fast, sometimes initial product becomes outdated before launch. the real value of the company is in the team. Who are your allies?
4. Philosophy/Mission/Vision/Theme - this adds depth. on the surface, it is all about making money. but what is the ultimate goal? "add to human knowledge", "Change education system". I am also ambivalent on this, since there are so many bullshitter out there. or their thought might have been injected by the culture, without a strong foundation.
5. TimeLine - 1 day. 5 days. 14 days. 45 days. 5 month. 10 yr. Sustainable Growth + Exit Plan. if it is easy to make, even if you make a head start, the edge will get flattened in 6 months.
==============================================
Structure of Business.
1. Product Design: Make an artful product. Something that is different in nature, from the competitions. Product + Technology + Demand: Useful + Simple + FulFills the needs. cutting-edge technology. Gold-Plate it? or Distributed? ... or hybrid? habit forming. easy to use.
2. Branding: Make it famous. Reputation + Amplify Market Demand. Convince. Surprise. create a buzz. be in a magazine. make a magazine. make it popular enough to have a fan base. Impact. Emotional. Color. Eco-Friendly. Packaging. Advertisement. to lie delicately. fun. sexy. get it known. product name is important. PR. hold a party. hold an event. sponsor an event. make a song. make a movie. create a culture.
3. Resource Management: Make a good company. What is the culture within the company? what is the acceptable sense of humor? Co-Founders + Investors: Hiring + Firing. What is Money? What is business? making something that a client is willing to pay for. . Company Building. Project Mgmt. Project Scheduling. Do what you know the best. How to set the price. by competition. the final goal is monopoly, or market leader. Finance. Economy. Legal. Tax. Company structure design. business model design. The difficulty of management is that you should treat everyone differently. but you should also treat all them fairly.
========================
company forming(self sustaining system).
=========================
in startup,
the highs are very high.
the lows are very low.
=========================
If you want to go fast, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.
-African Proverb
=======================
In order to move fast, you need to reduce the number of people, as much as possible.
but, to few people make the ship unstable. (like the number of 'o's in this sentence...)
So, bring in the right number of people.
you gotta find a balance in speed and stability.
==============================
it is not because startups are cool.
it is because you dont need that many people to make a well-crafted product. There are so many APIs. so many DLLs.
This statement should make big company scared shitless. and they will try to shift the market into marketing oriented market. where branding matters.
where performance means less. and pretty face means more. where something you can buy easily, means more.
===========================
why startup?
because it is so cheap to make a decent product.
one-man show can do it.
a weekend project can do it.
you are not selling to the customer 1 to 1.
you are putting you app, which is just reconfiguring some frame works, buying some artworks. running them on aws, that auto-scales, and do other stuff.
along the line, i thought, i need to grow in the number of users. to be popular. thus, get the wheel rolling.
this is imporatant.
but, what is more important than getting big, is the getting right people in.
there are few accidental billionaire.
but, that is super rare.
the most of the startup, is not dependent on lucks.
there are too many players, that the field is already on a smooth curve.
all the area has been grid searched.
so, in order to succeed, a best method is to get qualified people in. once that is done, the rest is easy.
but, to get qualified people in, you need qualified team, or a good product.
this is catch 22. and entrepreneru has to dial this up slowly.
==============================
achieving monopoly is the ultimate goal of a business model.
=================================
How to find what to make:
work on something, that you know you can do better than anyone else you know.
Work on something that you dont know anyone else working on.
it is so peculiar that no one is working on it, but you think it will be huge later on.
if you cant find these, then maybe, it does not exist.
in that case, make a product, that has positive money flow. then grow the users.
======================
the expected outcome of startup is around $60k. in US.
so, on average you might be losing more by doing statup.
then, why do startup?
it is becasue of something you believe in.
it is because not doing that, will keep you awake at night.
it is becasue it is better than playing with your kids.
other reasons are, going to big company, is suffocating, and making you dumb.
intelligence will permeate, that if you are in a company with dumb people, you will become dumb.
not everyone at the company is at the same phase of life.
some might enjoy the slow pace and stability of a big company.
some might still want to do more. but, if you are the only one who is face paced, others will drag you down.
in startups, the same things can happen as well.
but, in startup, it is easier to break that ship, or cut people off.
=============================
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."
- Albert Einstein
==========================
some of the sutff are made possible by careful engineering.
but, a big chunk of advancement is made by accident. Of course, you need a keen eye to catch it, to take advantage of the situation.
=====================
accidental discovery.
there are so many things that are discovered accidentaly.
America was discovered by miscalculation. they were going to cross atlantic ocean and pacific ocean to get to india. and, didnt know america land mass was there.
teabag were actually silk bag, as a package, that people mistakenly used as teabag. well, it works.
dont plan it as you would be planning fireworks. it is fancy, but it only lasts 10 mins. you should plan as if you are making a colony. self-sustaining.
I like to compare lots of startup strategy with starcraft.
but one thing it is not, is a short-game rush.
dont plan to finish it in 1 year, and sell it off. it doesnt work like that.
the problem always gets bigger.
and, it does not get solved by itself.
======================
compared to academia/research, startups is more about dealing with a wide variety of problems.
==================
so, you want to be rich?
if you are not currently rich, there is one way to become rich. To earn more money.
if you are not trying to steal money from others, or beg for money, there are 2 ways. 1) to provide a product 2) to provide a service.
========================
if you never try, you never know. you never fail. but, you never win big, either.
it is all about trying different stuffs.
ask any entrepreneurs. they have extremely high tolerance for trying new methods.
ask any non-entrepreneur. they will always have 5 different rational reason for it to not work. and, most importantly, it will be always something in betweem, it has not been done, or it has too many competitions.
==============================
Product design: compact, consumer, easy
business model - fremium, subsscription, value proposition(cheaper than the market leader), luxury model (niche expensive),
Marketing plan - niche to big. viral hip marketing, network effect marketing. Start with one true sentence
Company Structure - free. everyone should operate at VP level of capability, or like partners in a law firm. no one is dumb. thus, everyone is near equal.
===================
watching infomercial might be the best way to learn about marketing.
====================
is the purpose worth pursuing?
how are you thinking about advancing the civilization?
========================
why SV culture should spread to the other places..
In SV, the kind of you-must-be-crazy innovation is allowed. There are many innovation that is so outlandishly different from the existing model, that most people do not believe it will work. not because, it is technically impossible. but it is unimaginable from the normal daily life.
would you believe you can make a light bulb that turns on and off 1 millino times a second?
most people would dismiss this as "unuseful invention". I would not need that in my every day life.
in case if you are wondering what i am talking about, i am talking about transistors. comptuers. it is basically some tiny tiny light blub flickering at million times a sec.
how about radio wave frequency?
it is like tuning guitar. but at a super high frequency. and detecting at super minute detail.
Silicon Valley is more about, "for the time i have known you, you seem like pretty smart and relatively rational and sensible person. if there are some crazy shit that you want to build, I will pay for your food and shelter. you pay with your youth. if we make big, we will do a fair split." at this point of time, it is not usually a fair split. but, it s fair enough, becasue if the founder jumps, the ship crumbles.
it is not an extortion, but it is not a charity case, either.
===================
How to make money.
-build a product with lots of money exchange, or lots of traffic.
-if the traffic is large enough, take a slice of it. this method is being used universally. from microsoft windows, to credit card payment, to google adwords, to govt taxing.
=======================
How much do you make if you join a company before a huge pop. but you did not contribute to it. meaning, how much would you make if you get lucky. the ceiling is about a price of a decent house. you make enough to be happy, but not enough to squander around. i think this is somewhat fair.
=======================
If there is way to minimize the risk, do everything you can to minimize. get more people involved. created a mesh integrated into the society.
Take as much risk as you can, so there is no zombieing.
============================
Startup's job is not about making things pixel perfect.
it is getting something out there.
======================
if you want to swim, you cannot be fearing the water.
if you want to do startup, you cannot be fearing the failures.
we grow up in an environment, where a single failure would be stimatized. in fact, if media wants it, it will spin.
but, if we dont fear. if we simply do not care about them, then you can manuver more correctly.
===========================
optimism and pessimism.
if there is something blocking the project,
pessimism: this project is unsolvable. and no one can do this. or it is too difficult, so not worth pursuing.
optimism: assuming i can solve this in 3 weeks to think about it, what are the other things i should be working on, now?
some people will carry the project forward, no matter what.
some people will find any excuse to slack off, no matter what.
========================
1. make. you learn by doing it. it's like swimming, or travelling. what other people's teaching can deliver is limited.
2. there is no rule. at first, this is relieving to be free. and scary since there is no safety line. Forget the written rules, and focus of the common sense. this is how capitalism works. this is also about the simplicity. it could be anything. after all, startup always have a little bit of rebellion in them. beliving they can do better than what is currently out there. (but, i am also looking into the optimal amount of "noise"/"difference" for an fast converge.)
3. in order to support employees, your company need to get money, one way or the other. you could fundraise(sell the company) or sell the product. the money does not magically appear. money is just stored unit of energy.
4. if you start to listen to others, especially those who have not done the startup themselves, you ends up listening to things that do not really matter. it seems like they matter. it is a rational assuption. but it is not tested solution, and those who says, say it with, take it or leave it. it is a good measure not to listen to others.
their advice could be good or could be bad. but, what comes out from a experienced entreprenur, it comes from the experience. what is a real problem, and what is fake problem. jersey shore is a fake problem. it could be a real problem to some people, but most people think it is a fake problem.
5. it is a hard work. it requires intelligence, but not all the time. it is more about broad knowledge/ability, with a deep philosophical root.
6. Do unto others as you would want them to do to you. this is a building of a culture. within the company, as well as your company philosophy. like redditt.
========================
for example, 3) Management + Cash Flow
Prepare for the worst,
Hope for the best.
If there is way to minimize the risk, do everything you can to minimize. get more people involved. created a mesh integrated into the society.
Take as much risk as you can, so there is no zombieing.
New metric
- number of users.
- number of pageviews.
- total word count on feedbacks (positive or negative).
- Funding amount.
- total market cap.
========================
how to increase your value.
dont spend time on what someone else can do.
do only things that only you can do.
====================
my philosophy changed little bit after the startups.
what i mean by philosophy, is how i approach the life in generally.
before, i like to plan for everything. gold-plate it. work on few things. the essense of life is in the "process". the joy of the learning. trying new things. adventure.
now, i am more like, fuck that. even though i made the bulletproof plan, somehow things always go unplanned. now, it is more about strategy. we just pick a core strategy rock solid. and, for everything else, we will wing it, along the way. we just need to get talented people, who knows things inside out, so that they can wing it. if possible, always seeking for the economy of scale. that is how we can compete with small resource. look for it, before building it. standing on the shoulders of giants. build it only when it is absolutely necessary. spend more time searching for it, than solve it yourself. dont accept other's solution blindly, so that check other's work for its validity.
but what you are trying to maximize is not your own wealth, but trying to do the most impact to the world. this might sound like bs, but at the end, this is the goal.
=========================
Making startup is about making a startup company, that makes a new kinds of product.
This part will focus on making "a company"
=====================
Why do startup?
to move faster than the big company.
Prepare it well, but dont wait too long that it sizzles out. embark as soon as the ship is ready.
but, dont embark, when the storm is coming.
====================================
When I first did a startup, I didnt know where to start, or what to focus.
I thought I knew enough about product, since we all are exposed to the product/service they make.
But, it does deeper than that.
Startups are about 3 main parts.
1: Product: Without product, it is all bullshit.
2: People: People are the most important part of the company. it is the where the most of "wealth" comes from. not from revenue.
3: once these are done, marketing to get it known.
the newb entrepreneur spend most of the time on the product.
the veteran entrepreneur dont put much effort in the product. they already know what to make. they already know how to market. it is rather easy. and it is also rather cheap trick. there are many copycatting. instead of making a new market, they will just try to be the best in the market.
so, they spend much more time, in the people building. they know the product. they have set up the channel. they have set up the funding stream. all they need to do, is to pick talents, and to get the product out in the planned cycle. as long as there isnt a big mistake, it is more like cruise ship sailing, rather than maiden voyage.
We are going to speak about people first, since it is the most foreign to those who haven't done it.
then, we talk about product/design.
======================
a difference in view:
this is a risk. vs. this is an oppotunuty that others would think it is a bad choice, but this has a hidden value.
convincing is not really about education. but it is more about argueing for the risk/value model.
----------------------------
These are the things I learned from doing Startup.
a guide to where there are so much noise in them.
Things to watch out while doing startup.
useful resources.
------------------------------
Before going any further, we need to make one thing clear.
are you trying to make a great thing? or trying to make a great company/money?
A successful startup needs both.
But, there will come a time, when you need to priortize one over the other.
==========================
rejections. you will get countless rejection. you dont keep track of it.
in the beginning, basically, you are nothing.
if you get lots of rejection, instead of trying the same stuff over and over,
you should try a different angle.
try different market for the product.
try different investor group.
try different revenue strategy, one time to repeated, to fee, to commision, to profit sharing, to gamification to insurance...
try to get different people into the company. like getting college kids, or getting experience salesperson, or getting some investor's kids...
try to move to a different country.
try different ideas...
==========================
there are different kinds of cool.
there are geek cool and jock cool.
what it cool, is making something unique. it could be stupid. as long as, it is not something store bought, it is cool. you made a stupid telephone by soldering chips, that is cool.
what is not cool?
afternoon beer is not cool. once in a while, celebrating is cool. but, some startup, and many networking party, think beer is a cool thing.
startup is a controlled chaos. it is not just chaos. if it is not productive in some way, it is just chaos, which is bad.
=======================
what is all means, is that
are you playing your game?
or
are you playing someone else's game?
the definition of being a sell-out, is that if you are playing someone else's game, you are being sell-out.
if you are playing your own game, then you are playing your own game.
if your game is to maximize the profit, then playing the market is your game.
this is good.
dont play the other people's game.
make others play your game.
and, here is where all the tug of war begins....
===================================
"Money demands that you sell, not your weakness to men's stupidity, but your talent to their reason." - Atlas Shrugged
======================================
Chicken said to a pig, "I will bring eggs, you bring the bacon"
----------------------------------
5 words summary = [Startup. Make. Company. Product. People]
=================================
There are few major take-aways:
1) do whatever you want to.
be professional.
Work on things that no one else can do.
pour out.
be extreme.
Solve a large scale problem with tiny resource.
Be bold. Move the earth. uncapped. untethered.
put real people at the core of everything.
never give up. be honest.
the world has been equiliburimized.
at least, where it is important. so, no pain, no gain.
in most cases, the odds are almost uniform across everything.
Take smart bets.
in your own way, try to make the world better.
2) do not waste your time.
Dont play the sucker's game.
Dont fall for being a chump.
no one teaches you about this. as if they want to eventually want to treat you as a chump.
if you are not working on the most difficult problem that you can handle, then what are you doing?
If you are not careful, if you let them, they will eat your life. capitalism's sideeffect is that this was designed in.
Even the smartest people fall for this scheme.
Remove small return bullshit.
Look around. zoom out. (travel helps)
Know the name of the game.
if not, you might be stuck playing the sideshow.
the stock price is rising due to macro economic force, not becasue that company is doing well.
Everything is a game. - sad but true. the world is driven by rewards + punishment. learn more about economics and philosophy.
we could and have been trained by video game. or we could be living inside the matrix. think about that.
There is no real rules. Those rules are not made for you. but made for them.
Know how to break the rules in proper way.
play your own game.
this is a big problem at today education, where we are injected with knowledge, but does not acquire the ability to think about what to think about.
presumption is the most dangerous.
what is under the layer of abstraction is the most dangerous.
dont try to save the sinking ship. dont try to catch a falling knife.
if you really have to, think really hard about it.
in reality, it is mostly about physics. and you need to prepare to absorb the momentum.
our tendency is to continue doing what we are doing, not realizing the game is rigged.
This is toughest thing to do: finding something bad, then walking away.
the momentum is great. and it takes efforts to adapt to new environment.
if it didn't work before, the new plan has to be 3x better than previous plan. and you thought the previous plan was as good as it could ever get...
if you move fast enough, there will be less cling-ons.
3) Have fun.
If you can, Focus on Now. (or use the present valuation formular for future value. the happiness break-even point.)
For everything, do it at least once. you do not know until you try it.
dont talk about how bad android is, until you use it.
Start new everyday. there is no written law that says you have to be predictable and be exactly same as yesterday. if there is such law, then you have been enslaved. exercise your free will, if you can.
if nothing else, as far as your own life is concerned, remember just one thing. - Enjoy everyday.
Today is your best day, because yesterday and tomorrow is not real. Time is a made-up concept.
Have Fun. Don't waste a single day. Time is the most valuable resource.
stop wasting your brain cycle on stupid stuffs.
dont start your day with reading email.
remember that the avg life span is about 80yrs. regret minimization.
Try to be positive. For the things that does not matter, let it slide.
Time will heal everything.. and Time will kill everything...
Connect with people you like. Those tiny interactions are important.
Travel to see the rest of the world.
Read to know the rest of the knowledgespace.