I Got a Kindle and I’m Eating My Words. Crap.

(image via Instagram)

Back in 2008 I told myself I wouldn’t invest in an eReader.
Fast forward three years and I am eating my words.

But I can’t help it. The Kindle was a gift.

…ok. Fine. That’s a lie.

I invested in a Nook during the summer and kept mum about my purchase because I have been so vocal about anti-eReaders for so long. But I hadn’t picked up a book in three-four years. My face is always in my iPhone, browsing the Internet, while people in the city would whip out their Kindles or Nooks, even if it was reading one or two pages. I would observe, feel a pang of jealousy and put my face back in my phone.

I tried carrying a book around but it just didn’t work. It wasn’t happening. I knew it was time to give into the eReader world.

So I researched. Read reviews. Compared book catalogs and chose the Nook over the Kindle, for one reason: aesthetics. The book selections between Barnes and Amazon were pretty much the same. The Nook was more elegant – smaller and sleeker – at that time. After only a day of ownership, I was sold. That ugly green-ish tint and all. (There’s a reason it’s that faded spinach green btw. It is really easy on the eyes.) And I must admit, I’ve read more books since August than in the past three years.

I was happy.

Then, the new generation of Kindles came out and the new Kindles looked fantastic. I’ve been pretty much obsessed with owning one since.

This year, Santa came early and someone I adore bought me a Kindle (thank you, btw!) I unwrapped the Kindle and holy smokes, what a difference. The overall quality is just, well, better compared to the Nook. From the look, feel to even the response time, the Kindle blows the Nook out of the water. The standard case with the built in light also trumps any of cases and/or lights available for the Nook.

As for the model, I chose the Touch. Only because color hurts my eyes.
I am in love with the Kindle and for those of you still on the fence: DO IT.
Convert. It will change. your. life.

And if you’ve told people you would never move over to the dark side, don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. Plus, Kindles are small enough no one would notice you’re carrying one ;)

[EDIT]
There are helpful discussions happening on my Facebook here and Google+ here.
If you need reading recommendations, there are heaps of them here and here.

Thanks to all of my friends, acquaintances and even strangers chiming in. I love the Internet!

F’ing Live

If only I were 5″7 instead of 5″4. I wish I were five lbs lighter. I’d rather have straight than wavy hair. If only my eye sight were 20/20. Shoulda gone to Harvard. Or Stanford. Or maybe Yale. Why didn’t I marry the one who got away? He was and still is the perfect man, you idiot. Would life be easier if I weren’t Asian? Do I lose out on opportunities because I’m female??

…we all have them. Secret desires. Insecurities. What ifs. Traits we wish we could change, because we think of the cards dealt to us as flaws, holding us back from being a CEO. Having the perfect man/woman. An A-list actor. That famous singer or even a super model.  We are the hardest judges of ourselves, for not being __________ enough and allow so called shortcomings to hold us back.

Stop.

Seriously.

Knock it off.

It is impossible to be Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Bill Gates, President Obama, Tom Brady or even the colleague, friend or family member we envy. We are all different and that’s what makes life so fucking fantastic.

Do I ever think any of those thoughts up there? Sure I did. But I learned as a child, dwelling on things we cannot change, 99% of the time leads to negativity. I’ve attempted reshuffling the cards that were dealt to me, by trying to be someone I am not. I’ve watched others live as people they thought they wanted to be. In the end, that mentality of our twisted minds leads to endless misery.

Success, only comes with confidence. Confidence is bred through a mindset to know, accept and use our strengths and weaknesses to achieve goals. It’s the only way to live. The only way to succeed.

Why am I bothering to blog about this?

Well the other day, I came across this piece: “Four Ways Women Stunt Their Careers Unintentionally” via HBR. The gist, is how an extensive study via Europe’s Institute of Leadership and Management, found women in the workplace generally have less confidence than men, and how that gap holds women back from achieving our full potentials.

Fair enough.

But this excerpt in particular, resonated:

The study also found that this lack of confidence extends to a more cautious approach to applying for jobs and promotions: 20% of men said they would apply for a role despite only partially meeting its job description, compared to 14% of women.

Lack of confidence, doesn’t apply only to females. It applies to 80% males, too. Sure, with females, we tend to be more timid but if you ask me, the number of people -male and female- going for the ask, is too low.

So if you are one of the 34% of people holding back from reaching your potential: whatever the mental block may be, tell it to fuck off. I say this over and over and will continue saying:

Life is too short.

We are 1 of 7 billion on the planet. We have nothing to lose, but time.

So screw pride.
Forget your ego.
We only have one life. Just fucking LIVE.

The worst that can happen, is a no. Don’t let fear of rejection ever get in the way of living. Who cares what one, two or even ten people think about you.

There are 7 billion people on this planet.

There is only one life. Don’t ever waste it. LIVE.

(ps: thoughtful comments here, too.)

The Power of Vulnerability #thankyouSteveJobs

It’s been several hours since hearing about Steve Jobs passing away. I am still sitting in front of my computer, stunned.

The last time I felt this numb was when my mother left the planet…which probably sounds silly, dramatic and insane, to compare a complete stranger’s death to my own flesh and blood’s.

Judge away.

You see, I was taught to suppress emotions. To be as private as possible, and sure enough, that is the way I have always been…or was. Recently, I started noticing that I may not be the person I was raised to be, for with every instance I do open myself up, I realize I am growing stronger. The more vulnerable I become the stronger I feel, which is something completely new to me. Fast forward a few months of trying this thing called opening up, and I am now a believer in the power of vulnerability.

With vulnerability, I now have the strength to be honest with myself. That honesty, is enabling me to be more in-tune with myself than ever before…and because I know myself, there is nothing — nothing, that scares me. Don’t get me wrong, I have always lived life with almost zero fear, taken risks, never afraid of failure, followed my gut and found ways to just…figure it out — traits that were passed down from my father. Because of that DNA, I have seen things, been places, experienced more lives that even I at times have a hard time believing.

Then, my mother died.

Mean What You Say. Say What You Mean.

Pick one: love or money?

Seems like such a simple question with a no brainer answer. When I asked my Twitter and Facebook friends, I got a bunch of immediate responses. Of course, most said ‘love’.

After purposely waiting for some time, I then asked:

I’ve had someone choose money (well, a lifestlye) over me – and it sucks. I have and always been a person who places more weight on a person’s abilities to be honest to and with themselves. It’s near impossible for humans to always say what they mean or mean what they say. To me, it’s more about having the courage to be honest with yourselves and those you care about. Though lately, I’m starting to wonder if this is too much to ask of others.

But at the end of the day, I’m with Arrington all the way who expressed it best:

Dear self, permanently bookmark this post as a reminder you choose honesty. That you are honest to yourself and those around you. That there are others like you who can be honest to themselves and those they love. And most importantly, do not ever doubt yourself for having standards and expectations.

#selfreflectionsunday

(ps: I know the math up there is wrong — silly little thing called details ;))

Why Inbox 0 is a Determining Success Factor

Recently, I noticed almost every successful manager, C-level exec and CEO I’ve met* had an overlooked common characteristic: clean inboxes. Whether they were high level decision makers in Fortune 50s or start-ups, their emails were always organized. So I started aiming for constant Inbox 0, as I’m one of those crazies who emulates behavioral patterns of people I respect.

Well, whaddya know? I think it worked. I started noticing fundamental thinking patterns changing.
My brain now naturally:

organizes — most email programs have filters, folders, labels and other misc. tools to assist with organization. Since I constantly think of ways to keep my inboxes organized, I trained my brain to framework problems with the end goal in mind. i.e., how do I manage massive email loads (work-flow) for constant and consistent tidy inboxes (end-goal).

prioritizes efficiently — everyone has different prioritization methods when it comes to email. I’ve found that when I do not reply right when I read the mail, the probability of not responding is almost 99.9999999999991%.

So I figured out a system. If the email needs a response, I reply right away. If the email is a task, I label it as a To-Do (with a fire engine red label so the email is right in. my. face.) and keep it in my inbox. All emails I do not respond to, are immediately deleted/archived.

Sounds like a lot of effort, but as soon as this work-flow became routine, I do the above every time new mail comes in while working on other things. If something urgent comes up or I am interrupted, the current task at hand is in my inbox as an incomplete To-Do. Multi-tasking at its finest? Naaaah. It’s simply habit that came to be, as the end goal (tidy inbox) is always in the back of my mind. It also helps my email programs are off the hook: Gmail, Sparrow and the number one email client used the most: iPhone.

Now, my brain automatically prioritizes most efficient ways to achieve goals even outside of email.

and
focuses on what I will do vs. what I won’t do — we all strive to be efficient, responsible, responsive and reliable. My daily goal of inbox zero forces prioritization in order to be efficient, responsible, responsive and reliable. The one thing I found through many many (and I mean A LOT) of mistakes, failures and OOPSIES is: honesty is a must. The countless number of trials and errors of:
- taking on too much
- inability to delegate
- not knowing what I will realistically accomplish and what I can not
have taught me the importance of knowing myself, realistic time/workload management and how to be and stay the best I can always be.

The above may sound a bit hokey, but it just so happens to mirror characteristics HBR and best selling biz management books says are success factors. And look! Those skills also resemble Bill Gates’ fundamental framework - who, you know, is kinda sorta successful.

So unless you’re a journalist or spammer, Inbox 0 is an attainable daily goal.
Try it. I dare you.

Suggested reading: “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” – David Allen (Over drinks, a CEO friend of mine who I respect and adore told me in passing about GTD. I downloaded and read a bit – it’s pretty amazing. Good luck!

NYC the City of Sluts? Oh Please.

The other day, someone pointed me to this craptastic pity party on dating in NYC after they saw this Facebook update. I was actually offended (s)he sent me that link, as the author just went on and on about how she thinks women must behave in order to date a decent guy. How she’s too old fashioned for the men in NY because she doesn’t want to have one night stands. How much dating in this city sucks x972938743.

Seriously. I was cringing reading that piece so guess what. Oh yes I AM blogging about this. Dear Juliet: From one female to another? SHUT YOUR PIE INTERNET-HOLE AND STEP YOUR GAME UP!!

“I am not slutty enough for New York.” – really? REALLY? Have you and your ‘myriad friends’ ever dated outside of NY? I’ve lived in several cities over the past years, and the dating pool is of much higher calibre in NYC than any. other. city.

The men here are intelligent, charming, chivalrous gentleman and I’ve yet to come across socially awkward jerks who try to sleep with me before dessert… which is waaaaaay more than I can say about LA, SF and even Seattle.

The laundry list of complaints you have about game playing? All the overanalyzing? KNOCK IT OFF and Be. Your. Self. Don’t waste your time or his!

Dating is not rocket science! I don’t sleep around, have one night stands nor do I have sex on the first date…yet I have zero dating issues. Conversely, my days are jam packed. NYC is the. best. city to be single.

Your problem is not the men. Simply, you need to learn how to properly play the game. Instead of saying directly: “I don’t have sex on the first date!” – which basically translates to: “This female is gonna end up a nag/annoying/pest” in man language. Try rephrasing in flirty ways – a language men understand. (DUH)

Wake-up.

At the end of the day, females are treated the way they present themselves. It’s the fine line between high maintenance and easy going. Playful and flirty yet not a slut. Intelligent and independent while being feminine. Be irresistible. Fun. Sexy. Make him think about you. Want you. So much so, he courts and keeps courting you.

Dating 101!!

So instead of blaming an entire city for sucking, take a step back and look at yourself. From the way you sound, I am 99.99999% convinced you and your friends will run into the same issues over and over, regardless of geographic location. Then BOOM. You’ll end up even more bitter and cynical than you are now. This is when you will be doomed, as a boo-boo faced vibe is one males AND females pick up – ever heard of ‘misery loves company’? Then when that happens, people (males and females) don’t walk. They RUN.

Your ‘insight’ is a steaming pile of BS. Get over yourself and your issues, then perhaps you will enjoy a healthy dating lifestyle. Just saying.

Though now that I think about it, frustrated females like her and her friends, make females like me a catch. Actually… perhaps I shouldn’t post this… ;)

Everything is simple. Complication is a choice.

“It’s complicated.” is the biggest bullshit excuse. But more so than a load of crap, those three little words are toxic. They have the power to  lead our minds into a rabbit hole of inevitables. Once our brains go down that path, it’s over. We sit, ponder and get stuck in our heads: ”What if  ____” or “Should have ____” and “Could have ____”.

I know. I’ve been there. We all have.

Some of you may still be there but don’t get caught in the downwards spiral. There is always a solution – we just need the courage to face the solution. Sure, it is easier to say: “It’s complicated.” and push our realities away. But take a step back, breathe and think of ways to change whatever is causing your pain.

Am I making this sound too easy? Well, it is. Everything in life is really simple. We are the ones who choose to make things complicated. Things don’t change. People don’t change. The only thing we can change, is ourselves. And by changing ourselves, we become a solution and while we work towards solving the problem, things change. We change. It’s really that simple.

These are lessons I picked up along the way, but a dying parent had the most significant impact. My mother passed away from cancer in 2006. There is no solution to a dying parent – especially when they are diagnosed with a terminal illness. What I did do and still do on a daily is tell myself how grateful I should be that with my mother’s death, she left behind wisdom that takes people a life time to learn: life is too short.

So change yourself. Your situation. Do something. Change something. We only have one life.

Where there is a will, there is always a way. Look at Alan Turing who spent his lifetime to prove all problems can be solved. But even after all of his accomplishments, Turing’s legacy (at least to me) is: given the right approach and with time, there is always an answer.

We are not genius mathematicians like Turing but we are humans just like him. Take the lessens he left behind. Don’t waste precious time. Train the brain to approach things head-on and as soon as you empower yourself with the comfort of knowing that everything will work out and things do get better, you will find the courage to simplify yourself and your life.

Here’s a challenge. The next time you find yourself in your head, try thinking as Bill Gates does:

1. Prioritize
2. Ask smarter questions
3. Make data-driven decisions
4. Divorce your ego
5. Frame the problem
6. Get perspective on the problem
7. Model the problem
8. Think of the system and the ecosystem
9. Think of the problem over time
10. Think strategically

With that, I leave you with words from the great Steve Jobs, who keeps me practicing what I preach:

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked.“

I am human too.

The other day, a friend mentioned in passing how I am very zen-like which made me, well, a little uneasy. Me? The one with no filter? The one who inappropriately curses like a truck driver?? Zen like? ZEN LIKE? Really? REALLY??

After skimming through my Twitter and Facebook, my face flushed. He was right. A lot of my shares lately have been cheesy inspirational crap. An over abundance of Steve Jobs quotes. Tips on minimalistic mindsets. How to find your center, balance, how to hold hands with your worst enemy, etc. etc.

Seriously. I should rename my blog to butterflies-and-rainbow-kumbaya-vomit.

Well. Perhaps it was the rough month of August. Or it could simply be my old age but all the inspirational reading helped a lot. Needed a few reminders about what I knew. Or what I thought I knew as the more I grow-up, the less energy I spend on things that are out of my control. On a superficial level, it’s easy to be and stay composed, as I’ve mastered the art of determining how much time, effort and emotions I want to invest in almost every thing I do in life. That way, if I make a mistake or bad judgment call, I brush it off and happily go on with my day. But on the true, real, where it matters the most level? FAIL.

The one thing that’s helped me, is figuring out long ago: people do not change. Since the only thing I can change is my self, subconsciously, I became well versed in self-control and discipline (or stubbornness) especially when emotions are involved.

But as I become more honest with myself, the more I become in tune with myself. The more I become in tune with myself, the more I see: the majority of my displayed strength is a facade. A defense mechanism, if you will, to never let anyone see my weaknesses. Vulnerabilities. Frailties. Now that I identified, acknowledged and embraced weakness, vulnerability and frailities, the need to work on how to be strong and weak at the same time. To find balance. To remain true to myself, while allowing myself to live. To love…is clear. Crystal frickin’ clear.

So I’m learning. I want to learn. I have to learn, to be the best I can be every second of every day.

So pardon all the cheesy junk that may flow through your streams.
My hope is, if articles that touched or inspired me affects even one person, I will happily take all your smack talking. Because I am still me. The one who has no problems telling people to ‘SHUT YOUR TWITTER/FACEBOOK/INTERNET-HOLES’ ;)

Until then, remember that I am perfectly flawed. A constant work in progress. I am weak and fragile just like any other person.

I am human, too.
(Ok, fine. Sometimes binary. 0101, Mona)

NYC, You Kicked My Ass.

“It’s ONLY 3.5 blocks. Any human with two arms, two legs and a pulse should easily move four – no – three and a half short blocks . If they rely on others, they should just get the F out of NYC.” …was what I repeatedly told people while turning down offers to help me move.

What a gigantic mistake. I was wrong.
Boy, was I wrong.

It started with underestimating the distance. Then, overestimating my superpowers equals formula for Fin disaster. You better believe I paid for it. Big time. What – in theory – was only supposed to be a 3-4 hour move? Ended up taking all. frickin’. day.

After about the fourth-ish leg, I knew that in order for me to keep it together, I needed moral support. Turning to friends via phone calls / texts / Facebook something, anything, to find people I love cheering me on was exactly what I needed. Encouragement helped me push through. And it worked. I did it.

Ok, fine. So it took about a good eight hours. A few ‘I am independent and bad-ass yet still can be a damsel in distress’ acts for kind strangers to help with the super heavy stuff. But still, I hauled most of my crap all by myself. Didn’t call the people who offered to help me move. I didn’t even cab it! And you know what? It feels DAMN good. I don’t remember the last time I felt this empowered (in my personal life).

So New York? You may have kicked my ass through the apartment hunting process but in the end, I OWNED YOUR ASS, BITCH!

It’s true when they say if you make it here, you can make it anywhere. I feel like I can conquer the world.

Next up: world domination.
#bringit

Day by Day.

This month was one of the worst of my life.

Things cannot be better on the work front. My personal life, is a another story.
In case you hadn’t noticed, August was all about:

• my stolen phone and how I hate the East Village
• the apartment hunting pity parties and how I wanted to kill myself ten times over
• cryptic emo FB updates (sorry, this one is too personal to share)

(God, I’m cringing writing this.)

Over the past week several friends went out of their ways to ask if I was ok. They all knew something was wrong, since I consistently keep my composure. Rarely reveal intimate details of my life to the public.

“So unlike you…” they all said, of my semi-public meltdown. And they are right. I have always been private about my personal life but lately, not so much.

When I finally slowed down, I figured out why.

Date an Entrepreneur (Female Version)

Came across this post about dating a female entrepreneur.
Male vs female pontifications bore me (frankly), but boy, am I glad I clicked.
Specifically, this part:

[...]Don’t try to stop her – there’s no point.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Fail her. Because an entrepreneur knows how to create opportunity from failure. Because an entrepreneur understands that nothing truly comes to an end. That you can always create something from nothing. That you can recreate again and again and still be the heroine. That life is meant to have a challenge or two. Besides, it’s a good reminder that she has to focus on being the best she can be – for herself first.

Why be frightened of everything that you lack? Entrepreneurs understand that people, like companies, grow. She will help you realize your potential. She will study you more than anyone. She’ll figure you out. That’s when you’re really in trouble.

Clarity – finally.

I always thought something was wrong with me, as my friends have been giving me crap for as long as I can remember. Apparently I am too understanding. Too patient. I have too much empathy and forget to put myself first. They repeat how I need to be with someone who loves me more than I love them — blah, blah, blah,  you get the picture, right?

But you see, I rarely open my heart. So when I do, I am all in. And with my heart, comes a love that is full of patience, understanding and most importantly forgiveness.

I’m not going to lie.

At times, I wish I were different. Saves heart ache by being stupidly blinded from love. It sucks being such a clear-cut person, for I suscept myself to unnecessarily hurt. But again, when I’m in,  I’m all the way in and it takes a lot for me to give up. I may not be a lot of things, but what I am is fiercely loyal. I fight, until the very end. It takes a lot for me to give up. So when I DO give up, I am able to move forward, never to look back, always, with zero regrets. And I know, from inside out, I possessed the courage, strength, honor and respect to myself and for the other person that I gave it my all.

It’s who I am, personally and professionally.
Which is also why I am an entrepreneur.
My philosophy? Go big or go home.
And even if I have to start from scratch, I always move forward with dignity.

“I never look back darling, it distracts from the now” – Edna, The Incredibles

Fail. Iterate. Rinse. Repeat. #startup

First personal post in a while. Excited to share news. As you may or may not know, I recently joined an early stage start-up as a founding team member. I am in my element. I feel alive. I can’t wait to wake up every morning. This infectious energy of creativity and the will to succeed is one I want to bottle up and sell.

In just a few weeks, we have failed. Continuously. Iterated. Continuously. Over and over, still pushing forward relentlessly, until reaching the right price point. Language. Pitch. Tagline. Every day feels like a month’s worth of work. So many thoughts. The lessons are countless. I can write multiple blog posts about my day. All day. Everyday.

Though the biggest take away thus far, is one I’ve heard my VC, entrepreneur and founder friends repeatedly advise. And now I finally see why.  It all begins with the team. I trust, respect and in awe of my CEO and technical co-founder every. single. day. Our relationship, enables us to  fail. Iterate. Rinse. Repeat, on our way towards world domination.

This is the best career decision I have ever made.
I hope each and every one of you are as happy in your careers as I am.

Constantly Updated Mobile and Mobile Marketing Stats GALORE.

via mobileinc.co.uk

Permanently filed under: BOOKMARK. NOW.

Food for Thought: Taking Social Media to the Next Level.

Recently, I vetted through hundreds of submissions for a ‘Social Media Intern’ role. The resumes all had impressive pedigrees. 98% from Columbia, NYU, even students from BU and neighboring states. They were mostly majors of fancy-buzz word disciplines with almost comedic descriptors. It felt as though I was reading a typical social media expert’s Twitter bio.

The applicants were relentless, following up within a day or two, asking when they could interview. I even had representatives from the respective career development centers contact me and offer recommendations.

Wow. I knew any role in social media was hot, but didn’t realize how hot.

Most of my interviews were 15 minutes max. I’d start with: “So what does your major mean?” or if their major wasn’t media related, “Why are you interested in this role?”

Their well-rehersed answers were synonymous to the typical rhetoric in our industry: “The medium to reach audiences is changing. Companies must utilize new media, such as Facebook and Twitter to join the conversation and create buzz.” – followed by an exhale of relief, relaxing of shoulders and a smile of accomplishment. That proud moment of achievement that they were able to recite the definition without stumbling was endearing. I’ve been there. We all have.

I’d smile an understanding smile. Then prod deeper: “Ok, now explain in plain English, what that really means to you.”

As I listened to hundreds of more carefully crafted, well researched answers, it was unfair to expect compelling thoughts, as we, the professionals in this field, have yet to define what social media really is.

Jeremiah Owyang’s recent piece: ‘How to Interview your Future Employer for the Corporate Social Strategist Position‘ is proof. A social media manager / strategist / [whatever lexicon] is still a role being shaped.

So what is a job in social media? Is it garnering an audience on respective social platforms? Content curation? Measuring growth i.e. results? Is it creating viral campaigns? Outreach? Ability to write headlines with high CTRs? Keeping up with the new hot services? Being deemed an ‘early adopter’? Familiarity of available tools? Does that showcase what social is truly capable of?

Should it be…more?

I’ve defined what social means to me by taking my experience and applying it –which I will soon share.

Have you?
Just something to think about.

I Told You So: Groupon Edition #dailydeals

When I first Tweeted this in January, I received a lot of backlash as Groupon -along with the other daily deal sites- are tech’s darlings. Or shall I say were, as today Groupon announced their IPO filing. When the public read Groupon’s S-1 the Silicon Valley tech crowd seemed the most astonished by -GASP- Groupon actually losing money despite their profits.

At first glance, the YOY numbers are pretty impressive:

• 1Q 2011 Revenue: $644.7 million
• 2010 revenue: $713.4 million
• 2009 revenue: $30.47 million

And I’m not going to pretend a net loss of $146.5M wasn’t a tad surprising. And even more shocking is how Groupon hasn’t turned a net profit in any of its first three years of operations, including a net loss of $389.6 million in 2010.

But still. One doesn’t have to be an economist to see right through their faulty model. If you know how the Internet works, a scientific calculator is far from necessary to know: their customer acquisition budget is sky freakin’ high. How else did Groupon gain so much traction in such a short time? Google fairies?

What’s more baffling, is, even with these near comedic metrics, Groupon is still valuated at an astronomical figure. The founders and investors are walking away super wealthy. And I still stand by what I Tweeted back in January: Groupon’s legacy will be an economic dissertation or a B-school case study.

Though the real winner? Google.
For 1. not spending $6B because Groupon turned down the acquisition offer and 2. all the $ Groupon will continue spending on AdWords.

Either which way, I’m just glad the daily deal craze will finally slow down. I’m so sick of hearing how amazing Groupon et al. are, because frankly? They are not. Daily deals are (were?) a hot trend.  I’m ready for some innovation.  A product with such mind-blowing technology it will stun me stupid.

It’s days like these, I wish I was an engineer.

P.S. If anyone has any inkling on how much Groupon spends a month on Adwords, do share. I tried Googling with no luck. Even Quora didn’t have an answer.

Dear May: please go away. #personal

You know? I used to love May.

May has a significant number of holidays in the Japanese and American cultures. It’s also the time of year when it starts warming up. There are many things I loved about May growing up — especially Mother’s Day. This was the one day, my mother loosened up and let me and my brother completely spoil her. The only day in 365 days where she showed appreciation.

Four years ago, everything changed.

My mom died on May 23rd, 2006 and since then, things have never been the same.  This is the one month I dread and still figuring out how to cope. They say it gets better with time. Well. I’m still waiting. Processing. Wondering, when it actually does. Though this year, is the first year I’ve been able to – or allowing myself to – vocalize my vulnerability. Perhaps it is getting better and I’m just caught in this spin cycle of empty, thus unable to objectively see myself.

Who knows. At least I’m keeping myself busy. Or attempting to.

So I leave you with the same thing I do every year: I am normally an extremely private person, but her story is so amazing, if anyone (aside myself) is inspired, that would be the best ode to her… :)

Enjoy.

Step Aside, Flickr. Instagram is Replacing You.

Poor Flickr.

For years, photographers and amateur photographers had only one hub: Flickr. I also used to be addicted to Flickr and made many great friends on there. It’s a huge bummer they became stagnant and really hard to use. I don’t even remember the last time I logged in…  And I noticed more and more of my friends using Facebook as their main outlet for photographs.

Enter Instagram.

Now I didn’t understand Instagram either, until I actually created an account and started using it. And the more I use it, the more it’s clear, Instagram is the next social platform for photographers. There are already ridiculous amounts of insanely talented photographers on there. I can’t wait to see the community keep growing.

So what makes Instagram so great? Well:

• discoverability with solid filtering. The noise to signal ratio is on. point.  From the popular page to following your immediate friend’s photos, to even seeing activities from your friends (what they liked, what they commented on, etc.) Reminds me of the FriendFeed friend of friend feature, but it’s filtered, so you can choose to look any time you want to and doesn’t clog your feed. (News -> Following)
• community: interaction is pretty much like Flickr, where people can talk to each other without reservations. Plus, you can use handles, which is rare for newer sites these days. Part of the reason so many Asians are on there, to protect their identities.
• shareability is seamless — such a smart implementation, perhaps the best out there.
• MOBILE — it’s in all CAPs because that’s how important mobility will become. I’m excited to see how Instragram will keep iterating its product. And when the Android app comes out? I think the adoption will snowball, trickling down to the mass.

Hopefully, the Instagram team is working on an archiving system with option to store photos at higher resolutions. But I still stand by my statement from a few weeks back: “Finally get Instagram. It’s like Flickr (community and discovery), Myspace-Livejournal (hot girls posting self portraits) but way better.”

If you’d like to connect on Instagram, my user ID is ‘monagram’

Bonus: Check out these two photos from me and Christine. We were at the same place, sitting next to the other, drinking the same thing but the photo, well, take a look.  It was so neat when it popped up in our feeds — we both said WOW at the same time.

Tuesday #nerdmusings

I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by so many brilliant people — even more so now than ever before. New York is in an interesting place, where there are tons of companies building products catering to the critical mass. The intersection of business minded teaming up with the technically savvy are more prevalent here, than in the Silicon Valley, and the problems they are solving aren’t ones created by the SV tech circle.

Which is a problem on its own.

A lot of successful companies solved a problem they created. Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, even Amazon are almost all products and / or services we could’ve lived without, but now inevitables. Frankly, I am torn, as innovation comes from the technically brilliant, offering things we never knew we wanted, needed and now cannot live without, but where is the limit? How do we get over the Silicon Valley myopia?

The other day, I met with a company working on a product that blew me away (I’ll eventually share who and what) and we discussed in depth consumer behaviors, needs and desires. We talked about flash mob buying and agreed how we don’t see them having sustainable business models. I’ve repeated how Groupon, Living Social, et al.’s legacies are going to be economic dissertations or a Wharton case study.

We moved on to the topic of location based services and how we believe if done right -whatever right may be- mass adoption is highly likely.

But the question still remains: is there a way to elegantly introduce the habit of checking in? Or even initiating action via QR codes?

I’m excited to see who will solve that problem and how.
Just some quick thoughts on a rainy April Tuesday afternoon.

Bonus: Morgan Stanley’s Mobile Internet Report (summary) — pretty neat deck.

Farmer Algo

In 2009, I complained. 450ish days later, Google announced a solution. I am totally Internet psychic. Just saying. #backpat

Life Advice from a Slanger

Life is the animated form of reality. It can be anything you see. Feel. Think. Touch. Hear. Taste… and comprehend. Life is whatever you make it. See? It’s an animated form of reality. – “Reeds” the slanger (drug dealer) who walked me home.

Some pretty motivational stuff. We also talked about a lot of other things, but I’ll save that story for another day.