A Never-ending Dream

17 Lessons I've Learned Working at a Growing Startup

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 01:00:00 +0000

After going through some dark times two years ago, what follows is a long road of redemption as it will take me years to pay off the debt from my angel investors. It would have been much easier to just move on and give up my dream, but I was looking for opportunities that would help me grow and make my future startup successful.

The Day My Dream Died (for Now)

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 01:00:00 +0000

When you found yourself reading The Struggle multiple times a week and thought it was resonating, you knew something was wrong.

Startup Mistakes I Made in the First 2 Years

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 01:00:00 +0000

It has been quite a journey since I wrote my last blog post here. In the past two years, I’ve started a company, met a great co-founder, built a talented team, and launched our first product, which was mentioned on TechCrunch twice.

Why did so many successful entrepreneurs and startups come out of PayPal? Answered by Insiders

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:00:00 +0000

Why did so many successful entrepreneurs and startups come out of PayPal? I long have been fascinated by the extraordinary achievement from the ex-Paypal team and wonder about the reasons behind their success. In the past, mass media tried to answer this question several times but still couldn’t give us a clear answer.

What's the Secret Success of Groupon?

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:00:00 +0000

If you have never heard of Groupon recently, you probably are not working in the tech industry because it is all over the blogosphere. After all, growing from zero to US$1.35 billion valuation in 18 months is pretty AMAZING.

Is Your Product Attention Deficit?

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 01:00:00 +0000

Recently Josh Kopelman, the founder of Half.com and Managing Director of First Round Capital, argued that simply building a product that people want is not enough to guarantee success. He believes that reaching your targeted customers is the REAL challenge in this information overload era. At his first company, Infonautics, his team failed to get any meaningful traction for a fine product after marketing it for 4 years. No matter what marketing channels they used (e.g. online advertising, direct mail, print advertising, email advertising…etc), people just didn’t want to listen to their sales pitch.

Startup to IPO: Why Few Companies Make the Leap and What We Can Learn from Them (Part 4: Differentiation & Marketing)

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:00:00 +0000

At a time that many people building safe businesses and not enough startups trying to change the world, are we, as entrepreneurs, still supposed to dream big? Should we build a company that will go public someday? Or should an exciting startup define success on a $170 million exits?

Orchestrating the Obvious: Scaling your Business via Metaphors

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:00:00 +0000

“The Mind Reader“, Steve McCallion from Ziba Design, recently wrote a series of great posts about Consumer Experience on Fast Company Magazine.

Startup to IPO: Why Few Companies Make the Leap and What We Can Learn from Them (Part 3: Growth)

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 01:00:00 +0000

Today’s business environment is extremely competitive, especially on the web. Simply building a good product, a strong brand or great distribution won’t guarantee your company success. You also have to do some or all of these things better than your competitors.

Startup to IPO: Why Few Companies Make the Leap and What We Can Learn from Them (Part 2: Obstacles)

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:00:00 +0000

This is the second installment of the “Startup to IPO” series. Last time we talked about how Vistaprint, Rackspace, OpenTable and Salesforce.com have distinguished themselves as a very special and elite breed of institutions. Now we will look at the obstacles these companies have faced and how they overcame each of them.