Category: Normality

We have normality. I repeat, we have normality. Anything you still can’t cope with is therefore your own problem.
– Trillian (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)

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Dissolution

After almost 4 months, we are finally getting to the end of dissolving Rokenten Supply. The process was not difficult once I figured out the right question to ask and the right person to ask the question. Still the experience was not at all a pleasant one.

In a partnership relationship. One must voice and address the concerns clearly and persist on a resolution. Everyone is looking for for their own interest.

The most critical first step in a successful startup is finding the right partner/co-founder. If anything feels off, don’t do it.

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AI/Robots

Two interesting AI/Robotic books, I, Robot by Isaac Asimov and The Fourth Age by Byron Reese. Los of parallels between the two books. Robots with artificial intelligent are replacing human workers, in a good way. Take the Robot Jobs Test to determine whether a robot will take your job.

One thing to clarify, the movie, I, Robot, was inspired by the book, but hardly based on the book. Besides a few characters with the same names, the stories are entirely different. Still, my favorite line from the movie “my response is limited, you must ask the right question” is even more relevant to the AI application today.

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Tasks and Tools

Tasks and tools for starting a new project:

  • Name / domain name
  • Project Management – Trello, Asana, Jira, Basecamp, Monday
  • Messaging – Slack
  • Sketching – Miro, Lucidchart
  • Google Workspace – gmail, drive, chat, meet
  • Legal entity – Legalzoom
  • Banking – Chase, BMO
  • Book keeping – Quickbooks, Xero
  • Repo – Github, Bitbucket
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Idea Bank

Keep a notebook of startup ideas. Any ideas, big or small, jot them down as they come to mind. Overtime, there will be a lot of random ideas. Review them occasionally to generate new ideas, or combine some into a different idea.

一個創業人，要有細膩的觀察力，豐富的想像力，還要很有創意。隨時帶一個創業主意記事本。不管什麼樣的主意，無論大小，不管好壞。把所有的創業主意記下來。有時候回顧一下，把原有的主意補充、修改，或者合併幾個成為新主意。

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Morning Coffee

Spend the 20-30 minutes, while having the morning coffee, reading and learning something new, everyday. Focus one few topics and deep dive into a couple of articles. My current interests are in Distributed Work, Web3 and Blockchain. Plus the always present Software Engineering.

每天早上利用喝咖啡，或茶，的二、三十分鐘，學一點新東西。快速的看過幾個網站，專注幾個主題，選一兩篇再深入閱讀。我目前專注的主題是Distributed Work, Web3 and Blockchain，當然還有持續不停更新的軟體工程。

Pages I scan with my morning coffee:

Tip: use Tab Session Manager to create a morning coffee set and a work set to keep track of all the pages I need to start my day.

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Serendipity and luck

Elizabeth Yin in one of the most loved VC in the startup world. She is the founder of Hustle Fund based in SF. Her tweets are filled with down to earth, practical advice for entrepreneurs new and old. Her blog is worth reading by everyone on the startup path. I agree with Elizabeth’s sentiments on “Serendipity and luck trump everything.” My own career is marked with many chance encounters, even now. The biggest trick is to recognize them when they are in front of us.

Some reflections on turning 40

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Startup Risks

The bigger risks that startups have are whether they can:

  • find a big problem that is real & serious
  • get paid to solve it in a repeatable way
  • maintain strong unit economics
  • eventually find customer acquisition channels that have “market pull”

These risks exist all the time.

Twitter – Elizabeth Yin

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Value Stream

The Phoenix Project – what is the value stream of IT processes?

How to make value visible?

  • development
  • operation
  • infrastructure
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Calendar

Even play a video game where the ceiling is steadily dropping lower and you have to clear out the bricks to clear the way before the ceiling crushed you? I felt like my calendar is just like that game. With 10+ meetings a day it is a nonstop battle to clear the path before getting crushed.

Over the last year, the all remote working mode had created more “check in” meetings. Even when I put 5-minute gap between meetings, they got taken up by meetings anyway. My days are typically sitting in the booth dialing into one meeting after another. Sometimes I even need to excuse myself for bio break or walk to get water while on the call. This is out of control.