Run lola run

Posted: July 30, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Opinions | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment »

Run lola run is a 1998 German Movie dramatically depicting three hypothetical scenarios when a young woman has to literally run from one place to another to save her boyfriend.

I actually never watched this movie, but thought about it after a whole day of running from lands end to presidio.

Why do people run? Clearing head? Attempting to lose fat? Competing?


I started running regularly after college, when suddenly my sprinting talent was discovered. For years after that, I was simply running aimlessly, not particularly happy to run, nor motivated to compete. I ran because I thought I was able to and didn’t have much else to do.

It’s all changed now.

A few weeks ago, I rediscovered the massive presidio and rich history of it. I have definitely fallen in love with the meandering trails, the ever flowing fog, the forts, wildlife. Time simply stops here. From lands end’s sutro height area where sutro bath was the biggest public spa at the time from 1860 onward till its demise in 1966, to lover’s lane where young men and women in the military found each other, this is a place that used to be urban, busy, and happening all the time. Today, it’s all replaced with nature and its sound, as it should always be. But stories are kept. While I was running on Sutro bath’s ruins today, I was thinking to myself: are there anyone alive who actually used this spa back in the days?

And I kept on running, from Land’s end, to China beach, to baker beach, to fort winfield scott, to the main post. I found myself genuinely happy, it never happened before. I was genuinely feeling “busy” and “occupied” with running, not because I didn’t have much to do, but because this IS what I do.

And I ran into Judy, a beautiful volunteer lady at main post’s museum, I could not have guessed that she is 73. She would take me on a virtual tour of the history of presidio and San Francisco bay. Amazingly, she told me she used to take bath at Sutro bath in the 40s when she was just a little girl. She told me there were hot tubs where only old people would go, unlike today.

I could not believe what I heard. I ran 5 miles, randomly took a break at the small museum at main post, out of nowhere comes this lady who was born and raised in San francisco, and went to Sutro. What are the odds? I was just wondering!

When lola determined to run for her boyfriend, story unfolded, life happened.

When I kept on running, eventually I discovered the true beauty of presideo and San Francisco, in turn, it gave me the joy in running that I searched for so long.

It only gets better.

Run, Lola run!

Zuckerberg: “We Don’t Build Services to Make Money”

Posted: July 26, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Founder story, Opinions | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »

It takes someone really special to look beyond money, lots of money to build something lasting. Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is just such a person, but not many people have heard his saying (or writing) in a long letter embedded in Facebook’s filing to go public:

we don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services.

I never really think that way, you know, chicken and egg way when it comes to thinking “build service” and “make money”. But it gets me thinking…

The following is the juicy piece of his letter, it’s rewarding to read.

“I started off by writing the first version of Facebook myself because it was something I wanted to exist. Since then, most of the ideas and code that have gone into Facebook have come from the great people we’ve attracted to our team.
Most great people care primarily about building and being a part of great things, but they also want to make money. Through the process of building a team — and also building a developer community, advertising market and investor base — I’ve developed a deep appreciation for how building a strong company with a strong economic engine and strong growth can be the best way to align many people to solve important problems.

Simply put: we don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services.

And we think this is a good way to build something. These days I think more and more people want to use services from companies that believe in something beyond simply maximizing profits.
By focusing on our mission and building great services, we believe we will create the most value for our shareholders and partners over the long term — and this in turn will enable us to keep attracting the best people and building more great services. We don’t wake up in the morning with the primary goal of making money, but we understand that the best way to achieve our mission is to build a strong and valuable company.

When to separate product and technology for early stage team?

Posted: July 13, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Opinions | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Most bigger technology companies separate product team from development team, even lot of product people transitioned into product role after being developer for a long time.

For an early stage technology project, assigning product ownership to one person whose main focus is product design, makes a difference. Among most of web/mobile startups, technology is common denominator and commodity. What really sets winners apart is the product design with unique value proposition, plus effective go-to-market execution.

A product connecting people physically in real world should not only have standalone product people, also separate guy focusing on go-to-market plan. Airbnb is a perfect example. How they executed their successful go-to-market plan creatively was 2nd to none. It’s obviously the result of having someone think about it all the time.

What are your experiences? I’d love to hear it.

Here is why you should not become a (lame) programmer

Posted: July 6, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Opinions | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

If you are a non programmer, you probably have been drooling over the excellent job opportunities for programmers for a while by now. You probably have heard that you will be tackled by startups if you yell out loud “I know Ruby, Javascript”, “I am an iOS developer” in downtown San Francisco’s and offered six digits job in no time. Not only I heard that many times, I also know many solid programmer friends of mine getting a multiple lucrative job offers within a week after they land in San Francisco.

Yes, the job opportunities are promising.

No I don’t think you should spend time learning how to code, because it will sure turn into waste of time if you see yourself fit the following “bill”.

1. You never liked solving puzzles. You don’t remember (ever once) you attempted on any puzzle problems.
2. You have never been a top student in any fields even when you tried really hard.
3. You attended a programming class in college and never really got interested in it.
4. You want to make better salary by finding a programming job.
5. You don’t like “making” things. You might like to “make things happen”, but never get your hands dirty actually make things.
6. You think “girls who code” is cool and want to be part of “movement”

Nowadays, Technology has made learning so much easier, my favorite sites like codecademy.com, and countless video class sites make it so much easier to learn from anywhere. That creates a false impression that it will take just a few weeks or months for anyone to become a solid programmer.

If above 1 to 6 fits your profile, the likely outcome is you spend a few weeks “coding”, create a few “web pages”, get a few “badges” and feel good about your “coding skill”.

No, that doesn’t make you a programmer, won’t find you a job, u can’t pass tough interview questions a real solid engineers will throw at you.

And if you spend a lot money on those courses, you will likely not see any ROI materialized anytime soon.

If you really think becoming a programmer is the “best career opportunity” , think again. On the contrary, if you are curious, want to exercise your brain a little more and started learning programming and actually enjoying it, can’t wait to get back on it when you are NOT doing it, you have hope.

The basic rule of thumb for a career success has never changed, even when technology created so much hype and false movement. The rule of thumb is always: your success depends on the value you create for the society. There is no shortcut.

Not being good on programming doesn’t mean you won’t succeed in your career attempt. I think the real question to ask ourselves is:

- what do I really enjoy doing?
- what have I done that “wowed” people in the past.

Finding these dots and connecting them are our best answer to become Happy and Successful

Are you focusing on creating unique value?

Posted: July 4, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Opinions | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

“You can be so bad at so many things… and as long as you stay focused on how you’re providing value to your users and customers, and you have something that is unique and valuable… you get through all that stuff.”

- Mark Zuckerberg

I like this quote because the facebook founder laid out clearly what are the most important to entrepreneur and early stage startups: make something unique and valuable, and stay focus on delivering such unique value to our users, nothing else.

“Are you creating a market, or entering one”

- Joel Gascoigne, founder at buffer app

I like the quote because it coincides well with Mark Zuckerberg’s emphasis on “unique value”. I read this quote from Joe’s tweet. My understanding based on my experience is: it’s much more valuable to create a market, than entering an existing one. Apple iphone, ipad create an entire new market demand that we consumer didn’t even know we needed. Apple hence commands large market share over time and incredible margin. We have better odds to create a market if we focus on creating a unique value.