Category: Misc. Nerdy Stuff

April 16, 2013

Evernote Accelerator …and this, is how it should be done

I never post about news but I just couldn’t resist.

Evernote teamed up with Honda Silicon Valley Lab and DoCoMo Innovation Ventures and launched a month long dev camp for entrepreneurs.

zero cost to entrepreneurs — they are providing travel, housing and even a stripend
taking zero financial stake — no equity
providing a startup curriculum which includes workshops, mentor sessions and team-building exercises

I mean. This is exactly what an accelerator should be doing. Partnering with companies that have money so there is no cost to aspiring entrepreneurs. Holding a competition to narrow down those who are capable, those who are not. And most importantly, providing global aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to live, work and learn in the Silicon Valley.

What most people outside of the US don’t realize, is it’s expensive to come to the US — even for a few months just to learn. The rents are sky high, it’s a pain to get around the Bay Area and without a proper network and fundamental understanding of the Bay, it can take up to a month just learning how to get around. What may seem like common sense to native Northern Californians, is really not.

The one thing that shocked a lot of out of town visitors I noticed, was how inconvenient transportation is. People also don’t realize that San Francisco and Mt. View (where Google and Facebook HQ are, for example) is about 30 minutes south of San Francisco (with no traffic) and takes about a good 45 minutes or maybe more on Caltrain (the Bay Area’s dumpy train service).

Also, the one month period is perfect for international people, as Visas are such a pain to obtain. Certain countries have automatic three month tourist Visa (like Japan and Switzerland for example) but for other countries? A person has to jump through hoops.

Anyway, just wanted to say kudos to the Evernote team for pulling this together and I really hope it sets the examples for other accelerators to follow suite! Way to bridge the global gap of movers and shakers – what an incredible idea and opportunity.

To learn more about the program, go to Evernote’s site here.

April 15, 2013

Innovation cont…

Following my last post, I can’t help but to laugh at the irony of stumbling on this post from a VC/Entrepreneur blog from Africa. Some excerpts:

“[...]innovation has become quite formulaic with rules as strict as a limerick or sonnet: find a problem, build an app to solve it, develop for smartphone and add social integration.

The tech ecosystem is slowly setting itself up as a playground for mavericks, dropouts and quick-talking 20-somethings just itching to change the world. The current atmosphere suggests fresh possibilities for a continent desperate to prove itself as an innovation and entrepreneurial destination. But is innovating more important than a real, solid business model?”

[...]

Innovation may be the death of us

In Africa there is a lot of pressure to innovate. Many wheeler-dealers, bored of the corporate humdrum, ready to turn an industry on its head, with a basilisk gaze are primed with the perfect quality for entrepreneurship. Good solid businesses become boring, making money is an afterthought and innovation is the watchword. The pressure to innovate is as overwhelming as the burning sun on delicate skin. Investors want you to innovate, mentors advise it and journalists flock to it like moths to a flame. Its appetite is insatiable and most startups are victims of it. Truly, we ought to rename Africa “the place where good companies die of too much innovation”.” — via Entrepreneurs in Africa: forget innovation, focus on profitability

Funny how some African entrepreneurs are a little worn from the term ‘innovation’ as well. Perhaps the tech community as a whole, has diluted the definition of ‘innovation’, creating a cycle of unrealistic expectations from entrepreneurs and investors alike, thus harming the ecosystem more than encouraging it.

Sidenote: I feel as though I copied and pasted a significant chunk of the piece; that is not the case — please read the whole post here, it’s a good read. Hopefully it will not be construed as plagiarizing, as that is not my intention.

April 14, 2013

Innovation

Sometimes, I forget how lucky our generation is to have seen so much innovation, especially in technology. When I go abroad, I realize more so than ever how grateful I should be, to have grown-up in the Silicon Valley watching hardware, software and Internet advancements – literally – disrupt the country, then the world. The tech industry, is such a magical place to be.

This trip, I had many conversations with people from various technological backgrounds and countries of origins. No matter the various experiences we had, the running topic was: “Where do you see the next wave of innovation coming from? The Silicon Valley, NY or another country?”

Coming from the US and especially raised in the Silicon Valley, people seemed to be caught off guard by how I think tech is moving in two different directions. The tech we see coming out of the US and other developed countries are naturally, technology enabling us to make our lives easier — convenience technologies. Like a car service app or shopping app, news, music, fashion and beauty apps. Technology that dents the industry but doesn’t shift the world like products our parents or grandparents for some of you saw. Imagine living in an era when televisions, home phones, cell phones, personal computers and the likes first hit the market. Then came the wave of software and services that changed the way information is exchanged worldwide – Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook and even Twitter.

When you think about it, do you see the holycowisthisreal-type innovation happening in developed countries any time soon? Innovation has plateaued and I see the next wave of innovation happening in under-developed countries. Environments, where there are many problems humanitarian groups have been trying to solve for decades like India, China, Africa and similar nations where there are respective experts, on the ground, researching and developing technologies, products and services that saves lives.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing but utter respect for every entrepreneur taking the chance to build something to leave a mark in history. I just wish words like innovation and disruption were saved for technologies that could potentially solve the world’s clean water problem (probably out of India). Or a piece of hardware that conserves energy (will most likely come from China).

Though if you take a close enough look, you may notice innovation already happening. Starting with “something designed with the poor and for the poor, and with the word ‘diarrhoea’ in it” winning an international design award against Bang & Olufsen, Nike, an ‘innovative’ ketchup bottle designed by MIT… amongst others. And I have a feeling this is only the beginning.

Just something I’ve been thinking about.

November 15, 2012

Oh, Pinterest. What a bummer.

Update: four months later, content marketing is on its way to take off
“As marketers fight to engage with users [and] readers in a noisy, competitive world, marketers have all become publishers,” — Jed Hartman, group publisher of Time Inc. news and business, with oversight for Fortune via “Fortune will sell original editorial content to advertisers for up to $1 million”, AdAge

Day two after reading this and I am still confused. With the brand equity Pinterest has, they certainly could have been more creative at their first attempt to get closer to brands.

Pinterest is a goldmine for brands and advertisers.

80% are women, 50% have kids and likely to live in a Midwestern state (read: Walmart demo = cha-ching)
Pinterest users who shop online follow 9.3 retailers while FB users follow 6.9% retailers and Twitter users follow 8.5%
CTA pin sees an 80% increase in engagement
Referrals spend 70% more money, also spend 10% more

The astounding stats go on and on…but they chose Business Pages and widgets?

I mean. Really?

From a brand perspective, what is the value proposition of having another business page to maintain? Business pages aren’t billboards on the Internet. Internet users expect more and paying Pinterest to add to workflows with sentiment, reputation and click-throughs as the ROI is backwards. And don’t get me started on widgets. What is this, 2001? Moving forward, major brands are becoming publishers, media companies, moving away from traditional ad models.

Pinterest is rich with content. If products like Pulse, the joke of the tech circle Mashable is experimenting and even brands like Coke and Nike can figure out content strategy to drive revenue, I’d assume the very smart people at Pinterest should be able to, too. Oh, well.

What a huge bummer.
(Top image screen shot of AdAge article found here)

June 3, 2012

Product of Our Environments

I cannot stress enough: The Bay Area, is a very special place.

The past week I spent in SF and the Silicon Valley re-connecting with the tech community, reminded me of Paul Graham’s ‘Cities and Ambition‘. He wrote this in 2008 and still rings true.

In NY, we talk about money. How technology is changing the way we monetize. I’ve subconsciously turned into someone who combines tech with money. How can I best package x in order to meet $y?

In SF, the conversations are technology focused. How far we’ve come, where we are going. What’s the next wave of innovation?

As I am sitting on the airplane, I can’t help but to think about the differences between NY and SF, then humbled by this incredible era we are living in. How fortunate we are, to be a part of a community changing the world. Whether I am thinking of monetization strategies in NY and innovation in the Valley.

I’m still high from my week in SF. I want more. My brain won’t shut up and I am looking for someone, anyone, with the Bay Area DNA to talk to about anything and everything. Even a topic silly as socks can turn into an app or service.

Silicon Valley is a very special place.

Some may argue the Bay Area is too techie. People even joke about the over-saturated market and how startups have the same “We’re the ____ of ____.” (i.e. Fashion for Pinterest) elevator pitches.

And I’m not gonna lie, I was one of those people outside of the Valley, rolling my eyes at how everyone is an entrepreneur for the sake of being an entrepreneur. How entrepreneurs are the new struggling actors and Crunchbase is the new IMDB.

Yes, it seems like that on the outside. But if you are immersed in the environment, you just can’t get enough. At least I can’t. Perhaps spending time away, made it easier to appreciate the Silicon Valley ecosystem.

The biggest takeaway from this trip is that saturation is necessary as it drives innovation in the way it can, only in the Valley.

Look at it this way: It’s the reason Mark Zuckerberg was able to take Facebook’s social sharing to the next level (bet you didn’t know the LIKE button was built by the FriendFeed founders, who before FriendFeed, built Gmail and Google Maps respectively). It’s also the reason Steve Jobs redefined branding, user experience and consumer marketing and all the other products that change the way we think and behave.

Silicon Valley is such a special place and I can’t wait to return.

I am just privileged to be a part of it all and if you don’t feel the same, step outside of the Bay Area Bubble to appreciate your environment even more.

February 13, 2012

The Great Technological Divide

The other day I had dinner with an antitrust lawyer and can’t stop thinking about our conversation. The discussions were intense – in a good way. We have opposite backgrounds but similar expertise. He addressed technology representing the law. I have close to zero knowledge of patent or antitrust law but understand technology inside out. We argued about the technological divide between the public, the state and corporations. We agreed on the same conclusion: why aren’t leaders in the respective industries, working closer together to close the gap?

It seems the general public lacks a fundamental understanding of technology (and that is ok) but what can we do to change that? Once I started paying attention, I noticed the conversations are out there.

- MG Siegler talks about misunderstandings from a content stand-point and how journalists/bloggers aren’t doing their jobs to properly inform the public.
- Michael Arrington talks about it from a start-up point’s point of view.
- The VCs and Angels are ranting about it from an economic stand-point. (the ongoing tech bubble 2.0 debate; most recent piece by a VC.)
- And the general public turn to their trusted networks for questions i.e. “You work with computers, what is this fuss about Facebook privacy I read on The Wall Street Journal?” or “Why does your face show up on top when I Google something?”

All of these problems have the same baseline issue: lack of education.

So what do we do?

Well I think it’s up to companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple to get together to figure out how to fix this. Yes they may be competitors but they have the brainpower, resources, network and reach to take the first step towards improved public education. Just like how we are informed about drugs (D.A.R.E.), disease (World AIDS Day, breast cancer awareness campaigns, etc.) and homosexuality.

After all regardless of profession, everyone is first and foremost a human. And with education, comes greater understanding…at least in my ideal world. ;)

December 22, 2011

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!

October 28, 2011

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 % 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.)

July 29, 2011

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.

July 4, 2011

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.

June 2, 2011

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.

April 11, 2011

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.

April 5, 2011

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.

February 24, 2011

Farmer Algo

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

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