Good Lessons from Bill Gross

The followings are some of the good lessons we could learn from Bill Gross:

Read the full article here:

"We like to challenge the status quo, to take on something that other people wouldn't do to solve a big problem."

"if a customer is already being served, but just a little bit less efficiently, that's not as exciting as a customer with a problem that no one is trying to solve."

"It's not a matter of how cheap you can start the company. You also need to have a way to stop other people from doing the same thing once they see that your idea is taking off."

"So I think the biggest lesson we've learned is that you need to find a way to raise enough money and spend it slowly enough that you can stick around until everybody catches on to your idea. The race is not to run out of your money first - it's to be there at the finish line."

Free Lecture Video from UC Berkely

UC Berkely has released some of their lecture videos for FREE on youtube. The most interesting one to me is the Search Engine lecture. Although the video is from 2005, it is still good if you want to understand search engine. I need to find some free time to go through them.

Hope they could put more classes there. Are they available at iTunes store too?

Lessons Learned from Business Simulation Class

Just finished the 4 full-days intensive (8:30AM-9PM) Business Simulation Class. This class is about Retail and Manufacturer relationship and how to do business in a win-win situation. Even though our team didn't win the game. I learned quite a lot from this class.

Lessons learned:
- Our strategy is valid, but the execution could be much better.
- Advertising is important, but we need to really understand the effect and the return.
- Need to spend more time on the financial data by doing a more detail analysis.
- When the company is in crisis, focus on the fundamental.
- Need to prepare better for negotiation. What is your bottom line? Don't just give discount, ask for something!
- Challenge your assumption. If the assumption is wrong, you will make a fatal mistake.

Also got a chance to meet some old friends from the original KxCracker Team. I am glad that they are doing well.

Overall, it was a lot of fun.

Ten Questions with Jeffrey Pfeffer Article

Ten Questions with Jeffrey Pfeffer is a good interview article with lots of good suggestions on how to manage the company better. A good read.

Virtual Barber Shop

Remember to wear your headphone and close your eyes! The sound is unbelievable.

Kwik-E-Mart for Real!

Check out this Real Kwik-E-Mart (Converted from a 7-11)! I want to visit it too. Can't wait for the new Simpson Movie.

Could your iPhone do this??

Managing both Management and Programming Responsibilities

Here is a great article about how to manage both programming and management responsibilities at the same time. I was in this situation not long ago where I have to manage the project, but also needed to work on part of the application because of resource constraint. Focus is really the key! Luckily the resource constraint problem should be solved very soon. For the next two projects coming it seems that I don't need to do any programming myself.

Is he the luckiest guy or what?

Check out this poor soul...haha

Long time no writing

I was too busy lately and I didn't have time to write any new post. Anyway, I am doing fine with the new company. The job is quite challenging dealing with a couple projects and new responsibilities. I am also taking the time to get used to the new working environment. So far so good. The people that I work with are nice and quite smart too.

First day of work in a new company

Today is my first day at the new company. The people are really nice and I sure hope I could deliver and help this company to grow. There are many challenges ahead and I will work hard to overcome them. Good luck to me!

Web App 101 and What is Web 2.0?

If you ever want to build your own Web application and make money out of it, you should read this TechCrunch article first. You need to answer the following three questions:

1. Who is it aimed at?
2. Why will they use it?
3. Will they pay for it?

If you are still wondering what Web 2.0 is? Head over here and see read the very funny presentation called "How to bluff your way in Web 2.0". Download PDF Slides and watch the Video.

More FREE courses from UC Berkery and MIT.

Great news to those who want to learn on their own! UC Berkery releases a set of videos and podcasts for some of their classes. I am particular interested in the Intro to Statistics class. I never thought Statistics is that useful until I started my MBA study. I will probably go through some of those video to refresh my memory in the subject.


On a related note, MIT will offer 1,800 of their courses free online by the end of the year for people to self-study.

Finally! joelyen.com!

After so many years, I finally purchased joelyen.com. I didn't think it is useful until I start writing blog. Right now it is doing a forward to blogspot.com. Hopefully in the future I could have my own blog system installed and host somewhere.

Or I could simply use Google Apps to have my own email address using Gmail. Nice!

Freemium, a web business model

As described in this blog post, there are only a handful of biz models for web apps, and there is one called Freemium.

"Most web apps make money either from advertising, subscriptions, or a mix of both. An app like Blinksale -- an invoice management tool -- is free for a small number of invoices sent monthly, and then charges a fee when you pass some threshold, like the fourth invoice. This is called the "freemium" business model."

Interesting name.

Come and join HKUST MBA Intake 2006 Group!

If you are one of the HKUST MBA Intake 2006 student, come and join us in the new Yahoo! Group that I setup for better communicate between all of us. Please help to spread the word about this group so we could build a better community!

Click to join hkust_mba_intake_2006

For Wii Owners, checkout Mii Plaza and WiiToob

Just stumble upon this Mii Plaza site. You could upload your Mii and your Wii code to meet new friends. Since my friend told me my Mii doesn't look like me enough, I think I will fix mine first before adding it to the site.

On a related note, the same site owner also created wiitoob.com, which is a pretty nice way to watch youtube video on your Wii. I like the AJAX interface.

To wife: Happy Valentine's Day

To wife,

Happy Valentine's Day. We have walked a long way. Thanks for everything.

Guys...Know Your Limits!

True story...

One company annual dinner...

Four drunk guys

One became a statue
One lost his mobile phone in taxi
One lost conscious and took 4 guys to move
One finally slept in the mall (too heavy to move!)
[Update: The last two guys were taken to hospital later, just in case. I am glad that they are OK]

Guys...know your limits!

The 6 Startup Lessons for the Year 2007

Finished reading the blog post called 6 Startup Lessons for the Year 2007. Generally speaking, it is advocating startup to focus on a niche instead of a large audience. It is because a niche usually has less competition and more royal customer.

The six lessons are:

• Divide and Conquer, Differentiate or Die
• Generally Speaking, the Smaller the Niche, the More Loyal the Users Become
• Focus
• No Small Market is Small Enough
• Mind Numbingly Simple
• Bubble Burps (Note: I think it is talking about creating a new market instead of following others)
  

These are not new ideas, but it is good to remind ourselves from time to time.