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Startup Quote

2010-05-16T08:53:00.001-07:00

Check out Startup Quote for some inspirational and helpful quotes on business.

The cost of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig

2010-05-13T03:30:00.000-07:00

It's sad to see pictures of animals soaked with oil from the Deepwater Horizon accident.

As of now, the problem still hasn't been contained yet.

In reality, as much as I hate to say it, humans don't bear the consequences as much as the animals do - they are paying with their lives.

JK Rowling Commencement Speech at Harvard 2008

2010-02-25T17:56:00.000-08:00

Here's the transcript.

Book Review: Founders at Work

2010-02-24T09:29:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what goes on in the minds of entreprenuers when they are just starting out? With this book, you literally go into the trenches with this entreprenuers. Because of the interview style format the book is in, all the raw details are there. It's like sitting with the founder in the same room.

You'll feel the anxiety when they are looking for funding. You'll share their joy on their first IPO. Their enthusiasm literally seeps through the pages.

This book is as close to creating a startup yourself. Seriously. It's that good.

The book focuses mainly on technology related companies though. I like technology related companies.

I hate banks

2010-02-18T20:04:00.000-08:00

The only good service that comes out of banks, frankly, is that they provide a good service at holding your money safely so you don't have to carry thick wads of cash around, or hide it at home.

That's the only good thing about banks.

Today, I checked my bank account and got a nasty surprise. The cheque from Deutsche Bank which I deposited a month ago has finally cashed in. I deposited the European cheque at DBS and they charged me US$10 for the service of cashing an Euro cheque. Deutsche Bank charged me €50 for that same service of cashing in their own cheque.

I can't believe that banks can charge such exorbitant admin fees for a mundane and simple task like cashing a cheque. I've absolutely no doubt the money goes to covering the expenses of running the bank, but I shudder when I think of how much of it goes to the bonuses of executives who run the place.

This, to me, is just a pure mismanagement or the inability to provide value to customers. So why would customers go back for their services. I'm going to try my very best never to hire their services again, never to invest in any of their products.

I've no problems paying a high price but it better be justified and fair. In this case, I think it's retarded to charge such a high amount. If I have to say if in front of the bankers, I'll gladly do so.

Do what you say, say what you think

2010-02-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

Don't be a hypocrite.

Hypocrisy - the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.

The probem of automated calls

2010-02-03T02:56:00.000-08:00

Are you frustrated by automated calls?

Do you know of anyone who's not frustrated by automated calls?

This is a big problem that affects customer satisfaction.

There might be business opportunities in solving in.

Is the iPad going to save the newspaper industry?

2010-02-01T19:07:00.001-08:00

I don't think so.

I don't think the magic of the iPod and iTunes can be passed over the the newspaper industry. Sure the iPod has saved the music industry. Strictly speaking, it's not even the iPod, it's iTunes who saved the music industry. It solved a problem for many people: why buy an album if only one song is good? Where's there's a big enough problem, people will pay to have that problem solved.

With the iTunes, Steve Jobs created a new business model for the music industry. The new business model is, of course, to sell songs individually online.

Things are not so clear with the newspaper industry. There's a problem with shrinking ad revenues. But people can't understand why. They don't know the cause. It's actually competition from the web, and it's killing them.

How does the iPad help the newspaper industry? By helping them sell subscriptions? That's still the old business model. I don't see how selling physical paper subscriptions is very different from selling digital subscriptions. You're not providing an extra value to take on competition.

For the eBook market, however, I can see it succeed. The value proposition is quite different. It solves a problem also. People want to read books but buying too many books takes space. eBook readers can store lots of books and save readers lots of physical space. That translate to it being portable where you can bring it everywhere.

Right now, I just can't see what problem the iPad is trying to solve for the newspaper industry. It's not going to solve their ad revenue problem. I don't think selling subscriptions can earn you as much as selling ads.

After Three Months, Only 35 Subscriptions for Newsday's Web Site

2010-01-27T09:16:00.001-08:00

Story sourced from observer.com: After Three Months, Only 35 Subscriptions for Newsday's Web Site

I found the story on Ycombinator which already has a healthy discussion.

Here's the summary of the story. Newsday, a Long Island daily, paid US$4 million to revamp their website, put up a paywall, had unique visits drop from 2.2 to 1.5 million, and got 35 subscribers in return, all in 3 months.

Falling (ad) revenues and readership is what plague newspapers nowadays. Competition from the Internet is deadly and giving traditional media a run on their money. The recent sale of Businessweek to Bloomberg is just pure irony.

New York Times is thinking of putting their own pay wall in January 2011. It's probably a suicidal move considering the response from Newsday.com.

If you want more lessons from a fallen newspaper, you can check out Lessons from the Rocky Mountain News written by John Temple, the editor at that time. He basically nailed all the points troubling the newspaper industry.

So is there a solution for newspaper industry?

Sure there is. Have a new business model. Understand that subscription model is just one of the many Internet business models.

The content is already there. Readership is falling but is still there. The real challenge is finding a new business model that can make use of the resources (content and readership) to make a monetary return.

The reason why newspapers aren't experimenting with new business models is because there aren't people who are capable of thinking about such things.

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. - Albert Einstein

Get some people who are capable of thinking out of the box — entrepreneurs — and talk to them. People who do startups have business models that are changing all the time because most of them don't work initially.

After that, get someone to implement it. Empower the person, support him and give all the resources required. It's not so much about the concept that will work, everything is about the execution.

That's the solution: change the business model. If you can't think of one, hire someone who can.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein

If a problem can be solved by money, it's not a problem.

2010-01-26T20:57:00.000-08:00

You either have the money to solve it, or not.

It's so easy to start a web company if you know programming

2010-01-22T21:52:00.000-08:00

This is where programmers have it so easy compared to brick and mortar business people. There's just no startup costs other than time. If you have an idea today and know programming, your business can be up in a months time!

The problem is finding a problem to solve, one that people are willing to pay for. You don't have to load your website with tons of features. Just provide one that will give users tremendous value and you're set for stardom. Addition value-enhancing features can come through iteration later on.

Right now, I've two big problems, aka business ideas, that are floating in my mind. I just wish I have 2 extra bodies of myself, or find some way to delegate.

The problem of course must be one that can be solved by the web. A simple example would be that of eBay trying to solve the problems of sellers trying to find buyers and vice versus. Let's say if eBay wasn't around and you know programming, and happen to chance upon this problem, "Boom!", you're set to go. It's basically a one man show trying to get the website up. It's as simple as that if you know programming.

In fact, one of my business ideas address auctioning. It can be done way more efficiently, much more than what eBay is doing right now. I know programming, but I just don't have the time, yet.

Starting a DVD rental shop

2010-01-18T07:53:00.001-08:00

No, that's not me. That's what a friend of mine is interested in doing. Starting a business, a DVD rental shop.

Basically the plan is to offer a particular category of DVDs to the public in a shop with great ambiance.

Here are some of my preliminarily thoughts.

Problem

The problem to be solved here is to provide people with DVDs they can't find. Is it a big problem that people are willing to pay to have it solve? I think more market research is required.

Market

The product offering is unique, but I'm not sure if the market is large enough to generate enough cashflow to pay off the rent. Of course some simple calculations will get to the number of rentals per day required to break even.

Competition

Here's another part that troubles me. Ambiance can be easily copied. The catalog can be easily copied as well by other established rental shops.

The worst form of competition is if the movies and shows will be available online for purchase legally in the future.

Finding investment

Finding investment will be tough since there's nothing to show for right now. Ideas are worthless compared to the execution. Nobody is willing to fund someone without a working model, much less a new entrepreneur without any prior experience.

It's easier to get investment once there's some traction in the business.

Clawbacks

2010-01-11T08:34:00.000-08:00

I've no issue with people earning obscene amount of money -- amount that would label the receiver "greedy" -- but these people have to come with money-back guarantees.

It's good to read that clawbacks are spreading.

Customer service should be flexible

2010-01-09T19:13:00.000-08:00

The goal of customer service is make your customers happy, and make a sale as a result.

Yesterday, I was with a group of friends at the National Museum of Singapore checking out an exhibition. The queue was pretty long and after we managed to buy our tickets, we noticed we were short of one ticket. Since we're just beside the ticket counter, we asked if we can make a snap purchase of a ticket.

"Sorry, you'll have to queue up," I was told.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

My mind almost exploded. It's not that the staff was impolite in anyway. It's just that it's such a simple request which was turned down. I don't even want to ask again seeing how quickly she replied with absolute resolve.

--

This reminded me of a podcast I heard. It's about customer service and a business owner of a pet shop was interviewed. The owner values customer satisfaction and made it known to all his employees.

One day, a customer presented the cashier with a coupon that had expired for a few days. The cashier was adamant of not wanting to redeem the coupon. The customer wasn't too happy.

If the shop is in a competitive environment, you can be sure the customer won't be back at the shop again for future purchases.

Anyway, the cashier was let go.

It might seem like it was nothing major but it really is. The cashier doesn't the goal of the owner, which is to make customers happy.

--

The other customer service story I have is a more positive one.

I was with my mom at the hospital. We were at the information counter. In front of us was an old lady venting her frustration at the service staff. The staff looked apologetic although it was clearly nothing she did that pissed the old lady off.

The service staff smiled all the way even though she was being spoken to at loud voice.

Of course it doesn't matter to the old lady. But for other people, like me, or those who actually value customer service, we appreciate that effort, especially so in the hospital where people are the sick or worried.

--

Let's go back to the ticketing staff and the museum. She would be lucky since the museum doesn't have much competition, or the ticketing company for that matter. Her job is safe.

Want to win the jackpot every month?

2009-12-27T21:00:00.000-08:00

Start a business.

You'll also learn that every loss and failure will get you closer to the grand prize, unlike the real jackpot.

Hacker News

2009-12-22T06:41:00.000-08:00

For those who enjoy intellectual discussions, check out Hacker News.

Human behaviour

2009-12-20T04:24:00.000-08:00

"Show me how people are paid and I will show you how they behave."

I read that from some business book and have found it to be quite applicable to situations in real life. With this, you can almost always predict what people will do.

If I were...

2009-12-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

Very often, I would let slip "If I were ______ (insert name of a successful businessman), I would ____ (insert bold business strategic move)."

Most of the time, the response I get back will be "But you're not him/her."

I think it's good to dream. At least there's a target to reach.

Developing voice recognition

2009-11-25T06:09:00.000-08:00

I believe there's tremendous value in voice recognition. Monetary value.

Imagine if the perfect voice recognition system is built into an operating system. And every keyboard shortcut can be mapped to your voice command. Imagine how much time you will save from having not to move your mouse over menus to find commands.

This will benefit software that have commands so deep in the menus, or too many commands.

Have you taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator before?

2009-11-21T19:19:00.000-08:00

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.

You can take your personality test at http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp.

I remembered the test to be much longer but now it's only 72 questions.

Anyway, here are the results of some (entrepreneurial-types) who took it at Hacker News:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=943722
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=204240

I'm INTJ.

Evading taxes is stupid

2009-11-20T21:19:00.000-08:00

If people were to do things legally, no one can stop them from earning any amount they want.

Evading taxes is stupid and doesn't make long term economic sense.

Start small grow fast

2009-11-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

Every so often, one of my friend will do a business pitch to a group of my colleges. The pitch will involve them to quit their jobs and start a company together with him. It's a very good business pitch but my colleges aren't moved. Most of them are married and they love their monthly salary. It seems that the risk of starting a company is high for them, or is it really?

There's only one flaw in that business pitch - that's persuading them to quit their jobs. That's the significant risk to them.

The solution is actually very simple. Start small, grow fast.

Start small, but don't quit the day job. Test the market, explore the opportunities, measure the potential of going in full time.

By lowering the risk, basically, you can go into all sorts of venture.

Few months ago, I spent US$1000 to test out a business idea. I had projected earnings to be more than that in the future, which is why I went ahead. It was a failure and I put the project on hiatus. However I consider it a very worthwhile investment because it has potential. It also helped me learned a few lessons on competition and about delivering a valuable service to customers.

That's how it is, when you start small, you have less to lose. But if your idea and execution is good, you'll do well in the long run.

Start small, grow fast.

Your Mission Statement is Your Business

2009-11-19T19:13:00.000-08:00

The company mission statement is the company. The company without one has no direction, no goals. If your goal is to make money, guess what, that's the same goal as fruit sellers, teachers, engineers and pretty much everyone else.

Your mission statement will define your company's product.

Having a mission statement is handy. Whenever there's a problem, just ask it from the perspective of the mission statement and the answer will always be clear. I've a website with the mission statement,"Helping people understand what they are buying." It's a product review website. Whenever I'm thinking about adding new features or thinking of expanding, I will always ask if anything I do will help people understand what they are buying. As such, people will remember your company. This is basic branding.

If you have a mission statement, communicate it to your employees. Let them know what the company is about, where it's headed, and where they are headed.

One great example of is Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Their mission statement or "The Credo" is

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission.

We pledge to provide the finest personal service and facilities for our guests who will always enjoy a warm, relaxed, yet refined ambience.

The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.

Every employee is on the same page to serve the hotel guest in whatever ways they can. It even has a policy that permit each employee to spend up to $2000 to make any single guest satisfied. Every employee works towards that singular goal, and it solidifies Ritz-Carlton's brand of service as a result.

Here are some tips on how to create mission statement by Dan Health, co-author of Made to Stick, a really insightful book.

https://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/video/made-to-stick-writing-a-mission-statement-1

You can also check out Jack Welch's Winning, which has a really good chapter of the mission and values a good company should have.

The mission statement is the life and blood of the company. Have a good one. It pays great dividends.

Technology is to save time and money

2009-11-05T02:49:00.000-08:00

Evaluating technology purchases is really simple.

Technology is all about saving time and money. Those are the only two factors to consider.

If you're upgrading, ask if the new technology save you more time and money? If the answer isn't clear, it's no.

You're not buying a game console here. Anyway, a game console won't help your company save time and money.

Saving the planet is about doing something significant

2009-11-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

I think there's a lot of people with misconception about saving the planet. They think that they can do their bit by switching off lights, buying electric cars, traveling less or do whatever it is that people do to reduce their carbon footprint.

Sad to say, most of what is done is insignificant towards reducing global warming. Well, you're just one person, unless you're a person who can influence millions.

What's required is a significant effort and scale. Examples include creating laws to penalize factories that spew toxic gases, giving companies incentives for going green, increasing the efficiency of cars by two times.

The keywords here are significant and scale.

Earning is more important than saving

2009-11-04T21:00:00.001-08:00

I regard earning more as a skill more important than saving money.

Before you can save, you first need the money. You get that money by earning it. Both requires discipline but with earning, you need a more diverse set of skills which includes communication, vision, tenacity, etc.

Everyone can save money if they have money. But not everyone has the ability to earn the amount they wish.

Books are good mentors

2009-11-02T04:29:00.000-08:00

If you own a business and don't read, you're missing out on a lot of useful knowledge. Knowledge that took other great leaders, entrepreneurs years to earn.

With books, all that knowledge is now made readily available for you. Imagine how much time and lifetimes you're saving.

Respect time

2009-10-28T22:49:00.000-07:00

The topic of time came up in a conversation I have with my colleagues.

There's only one thing in the world that irritates me. That's the disrespect for time.

For that reason, I hate people who are not punctual. That to me is rude and just pure disrespect for other people's time. I would rather waste my own time, than to have other people waste my time. If the position is swapped, you would feel the same too.

How many times have you been to a meeting where it's either started late, or ended later?

How many times have you witness someone missing a deadline because of poor management of time?

Everything else gets pushed back as a result.

I believe you can tell the character of a person just by how one uses and treats time.

Respect other people's time and other people will respect you.

Discounts and opportunity costs

2009-10-26T03:50:00.000-07:00

Today, a local petrol station offered discounts on fuel. It caused massive jams at all its stations. Drivers have to deal with long waiting times before they get to their turn.

What is the opportunity cost for these drivers?

So what if you cut cost to $0.00

2009-10-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

Cutting cost to increase profitability is the easy way out.

Profit is revenue less the expenses. As you can see there are two components. The potential of what you can earn depends solely on the revenue.

So what if you can cut cost to $0.00? What happens next?