It does not matter how slow you go so long as you do not stop. – Confucius

11 interns. 13 books. 18 speakers. 8 weeks in San Francisco. One priceless summer.

This summer has been the best summer ever. Why? I’ve learned and experienced so many things I never thought I’d try. Here’s a short and sweet list:

The Things I’ve experienced:

• tried out tons of new stuff: Plancast, Turntable.fm, Spotify, Soundtracking, SaveUp, Fitbit, RescueTime, hashtagging (don’t hate the noob), Foursquare
• ate tons of great food from filet mignon to fresh sushi to watermelon/mint/feta appetizers
• met tons of amazing people like the Sparked guys (Ben, Boris, Jacob, Joseph), the Kiip guys (Courtney, Amadeus, Brian), Dave Rosenberg, Danny Shader, Shervin Pishevar, Jeremy LaTrasse, Steve Blank, Alex Osterwalder, Jeff Cavalier….and many more that I didn’t list!
• made an epic video about TEC, available to view here: http://vimeo.com/27365611

• Go paintballing
• Bike 16 miles from San Francisco to Tiburon. Sixteen miles!
• Visit a former high-security prison
• Go to a baseball game. Go Giants!
• Decide to do a Computer Science minor
• Attend the TechCrunch/August Capital annual summer outing
• Have a bonfire on the beach

The Things I’ve learned:

• More HTML
• Improved communication skills
• A spoonful of Ruby
• How to be lucky via Vishal
• ABC: Always Be Closing via Nolan
• Virality for Zombies via Lionel
• The steps to becoming an entrepreneur, in 8 short weeks

But most importantly, I have learned more about myself.

I have decision ADD. That means that it’s almost impossible for me to figure out exactly what I want in life and much flailing ensues.

Pokemon references make everyone happy.

In the past two years, my major in college has undergone more changes than the number of an average start-up’s fashionable pivots. My major has gone from pre-med to business and chemistry to business and classical civilizations to business and pre-med to its final destination of business and computer science. Whew. Clearly, I was all over the place and nowhere at the same time.  I wanted everything, and the lack of focus was not only confusing, but held me back from pursuing what I really wanted in life.

In this path of self-discovery, I learned a couple of things about myself–data makes me happy, I’m always up to try something new, and I have an intense desire to become better at everything. But more importantly, I’ve learned how to channel my ambitions and dreams. I wrote earlier about entrepreneurship/business as the most effective method for change, but it took me five weeks to really know it. Even more so it’s taken me years, but now I understand what I want to do, and I feel it in my bones to realize that being an entrepeneur is it.

I have figured out the big WHY in my life and because of that, everything has started to come together and fall into place.

Doing start-ups is a hard life. 99% of startups fail hard. But this is my calling, and figuring that out has made all the difference.

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost

Introduction

Rapleaf was started around five years ago, in November 2005 with the two co-founders Manish Shah and Auren Hoffman. The founding team initially noticied that people were starting to do more personal transactions over the net, and that the internet had become less static and more experience-based. While commerce sites such as eBay and Amazon had reputation systems, Rapleaf aimed to have a reputation system that went beyond those to help businesses get information on its over five biolion consumers buying their stuff.

Rapleaf is still focused on getting consumers the best experience possible on the internet. An important piece of information to glean from this: although not a single one of Rapleaf’s starting team had previously worked a data company, they still became a successful data start-up. Which brings me to the next topic…

Have a vision for your start-up

Despite not having worked in a data company, Rapleaf still found success because they had a specific vision of what the world should have been like. Because of their frustration, they were able to deliver on their vision.

Again, this extremely relevant graphic.

Having a burning desire to change the status quo not only validates your start-up, but can also be an integral factor to team-building and cult-creation.

The Team, the Team, the Team

Manish, who wants to create the best team in the world, is an expert on team-building. In fact, each of Rapleaf’s employees are CEO of something, to increase ownership. Even more than that, communicating the large-scale vision of the start-up helps the team step away from the daily grind and realize this: your start-up is changing the world.

An excellent resource on cult-creation written by Powerset co-founder Steve Newcomb: http://blognewcomb.squarespace.com/essays/2010/10/14/cult-creation.html

Rejection

Persistence. Is there another way to get what you want? Don’t focus on the rejection but think–is there something that they’d say yes to? More persistence.

Manish told me this story: as an undergrad at Berkeley, he pitched an idea to Peter Thiel, who told him it sucked. But it’s important to realize that rejection is not personal, and to be persistent. Years later, he pitched Rapleaf to Thiel, who this time loved his pitch. Thiel ended up leading the seed round funding for Rapleaf.

It’s not you; it’s the idea. Or it is you and it’s not the idea. Or whatever. But the point is to keep trying. Keep rethinking the situation, be persistent, have a vision, and build your team.

On Tuesday, July 12, I attended StartupRoots and met Manish Shah from Rapleaf (next blog post–stay tuned!), who referred me to Steve Newcomb’s essay on team building, which led me to googling “cult creation,” which led me to a blog entry by Jason Shen, who turned out to be a San Francisco start-up guy, whose blog inspired me so much that I emailed him, from which he was nice enough to answer some questions, which are below.

If you got through that long story and run-on sentence, here’s what he had to say about start-ups, life, and #winning. Thanks again Jason!

1. Can you tell us your abridged life story? What led you to Stanford, nonprofits, and start-ups?

Oh man – how much editing to do? I was born in China, moved to a suburb of Boston at age 3 with my mom to join my father, who was getting a doctorate degree in education at Boston University.

Mom was a gymnast in China and I ended up in the sport at age 6. Loved gymnastics – great outlet as I was a highly excitable kid. Didn’t really start to excel until around age 10. Started competing in nation-wide competitions at age 11 – think I placed 70 something out of 90 competitors at my first Jr Nationals. In sophomore year of high school, I changed gyms and started training with a hard core Armenian coach – made the Jr National team that first year.

I always liked school – especially reading. My parents had high expectations for my grades but I rarely got straight As – usually had some B+’s due to sloppy work. Read 7 Habits of Highly Effective people when I was 13, which sparked a life long obsession with personal development and making myself a better human being. Went to a big, well run public school and took a number of honors and AP classes. Found that I had a knack for standardized testing and did really well in the SATs and various SAT IIs.

Got recruited by a number of schools my senior year, but there was only one school that had a good athletic and academic program: Stanford. I applied through a special earlier-than-early application and after getting accepted in October plus a partial scholarship, my college decision was settled.

2. You maintain a pretty kickass blog—can you tell us how it got started and what it’s like keeping up an awesome blog despite your busy schedule? What advice do you have for writing a successful blog?

I’ve tried to keep a various versions of a blog since 2006 but the current version of the site began when I was working at isocket in summer of 2010. My coworker Ryan Hupfer convinced me to write – his experiences writing a blog with his girlfriend-turned-wife showed him that even if only a few people read your blog, the people you would touch and get in contact with would make it worth it.

I started to write about what I was learning at my startup. My big break was writing “How to Land a Killer Job at a Tech Startup” with my friend Derek. The post landed on Hacker News and sent ~3k unique visitors to my site in one day. I think at the time my traffic was around 5-10 uniques a day.

Like a drug dealer I was hooked.

My blog has turned into an incredibly valuable asset for me – as a channel for distributing ideas, a way to “build my personal brand”, and as a learning mechanism (writing makes you think + you get to interview smart people).

Writing now is more something I’m compelled to do. It’s the act of creating something – I get uncomfortable if I’m not putting out a post at least once a week. When I was working at isocket, I’d write on the train ride to and from work, or on weekends. If you see the value, you’ll make time.

My biggest piece of advice is to not quit. So many people start blogs with good intentions and can’t stay with it. Start small, don’t quit and you’ll figure everything else out along the way.

3. Most experienced entrepreneurs say that 1) persistence is key, 2) the idea is nothing without execution, and 3) people are the startup’s best assets. Since you have a unique perspective on that since you’re currently in the middle of getting a start-up off the ground, what would you say about that?

These things sound like truisms but make a lot of sense when you think about what starting a startup involves. Pretty much every viable idea has been tried by someone somewhere at some point. A big part of succeeding is figuring out how your version of this idea will work when others have failed (execution). When you start out, it’s just you and whoever else you’re working with, maybe some money, maybe a prototype and some code. But really, having the right people shapes the outcome more than anything else early on is so key (people). And finally, you are unlikely to get everything right the first time around so you have to be willing to run into walls again and again until you get something going (persistence).

4. You’ve written about recovering from setbacks—what other stories can you tell us about the sorts of rejection that new entrepreneurs will face and the best ways to deal with them?

One good story that I think shows the power of persistence is that Pandora went two years without paying people. So many entrepreneurs and employees would have given up right there but somehow as a company they survived and have now IPOed. More here: http://it-jobs.fins.com/Articles/SB129683674636383261/Pandora-Paid-No-Salaries-for-Two-Years-Considered-Gambling-to-Survive

5. You’ve won a NCAA championship in men’s gymnastics, graduated from Stanford University, cofounded a nonprofit, worked in sales & marketing at isocket, are a certified professional in the Art of Kicking Ass, and are now in the midst of a tech start-up. Is there anything you can’t or don’t do, and more importantly, where’s the guide on #winning in life? What’s your version of “7 Habits for Highly Effective People”?

Haha. Thanks for the kind words. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and failed at many things. I keep a failure resume that I should update since I’ve f-ed up many things since last time I edited it. A short list:

- failed to get a girlfriend in high school

- failed to make the jr national team my senior year of high school

- failed an advanced organic chem class at Stanford

- failed to “hit” my routine at Day 2 of NCAA championships in 2008

- failed to get into Harvard Business School’s 2+2 program

- failed to get the Stanford Daily to profitability in my year as COO

In general I perform poorly on things that require super high level of organization / attention to detail, need me to do a lot of math, require a really great deal of patience without short term payoffs. And if I’m really honest, I’d say that I don’t think I’m great at first dates.

I have more to learn before I write any sort of overall life advice book but I’d love to someday in the future. In 2007, at the bequest of my father I wrote something called A Guide to Life for Asian American Teens. I think it’s held up pretty well and isn’t that age or race specific despite the title. You can check it out here: http://www.jasonshen.com/resources/

“The Team, the Team, the Team.” – Bo Schembechler

It’s become apparent with the more books we read and the more people we meet, that the most important asset that a start-up has is the people. I used to always think that the idea was sacred, but the more and more I now realize that my notion of entrepreneurship was much too simple–there are layers and multiple facets. Ideas are nothing without execution, persistence, and the team.

Right now, our team is True Entrepreneur Corps, TEC, and our focus is to learn as much as possible. But if you think learning is limited to entrepreneurship and innovation, guess again:

How to be lucky: These two (linked by Vishal on his blog post here) articles have got me really thinking about the ways I go about my day. I get lost easily so I like routine. I like taking the same bus, and I like eating at the same place for lunch. But now–I try to take the bus at different times of the day, waking up at 6 am just for kicks. I take different routes to try and discover new sights and still find my way to the office. It’s my goal to consciously become lucky–to continuously keep an open mind to find things that those focused on their daily routines may not.

Nurture your fascinations: I tend to get very obsessed very quickly, but also drop those obssesions just as quickly. Past victims have been avocados, Tumblr, photography, and pilates. My new obsession with Fitbit led me to realize that I’m obsessed with collecting data–blog analytics with trying out KISSmetrics, installing tracking information on my Tumblr, keeping tabs on how music artists sell in the charts, apps that measure sleep cycles, etc. Now my endless curiousity can be categorized with tracking data, and satisfied partially with the Fitbit, which makes me very happy with its abilities for tracking food intake, exercise, steps, sleep efficiency, and more.

How to be better: With one hour commutes, grocery shopping, 9-10 hour workdays, and hanging out with True and TEC interns, I’m forced to be more productive and innovative. I’ve started to use the Pomodoro technique (work 25 minutes, break for 5 minutes) à la Ben Rigby, the awesome co-founder who is leading me through adventures at Sparked (which, by the way I don’t see all of you signed up…sign up!). I’m writing a daily log, documenting my wake-up and sleeping times (which Fitbit can now take care of), my to-do lists of the day, and random thoughts. Now, “How would you like to get four years of time back over the course of your life?” (David Allen, master of Getting Things Done). My new short-term goal is to learn how to type faster by using TypingMaster.

How to write better: Ever since reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, I’ve wondered if Mozart really did become a genius by composing and practicing for 10,000 hours+ or was just born that way. One thing for sure though, practice is a huge part of success and nurturing talent. One of my friends, Erik, has planned his 10,000 hours over the next three years to become a better writer, and I’m taking that as inspiration. I’ve been writing so much differently and more than I do normally–blog posts for True, Sparked and personal blogs are much different than writing academic papers, but an incredibly valuable skill that I’m excited to improve on. I also write more than 20 emails a day interacting with Nonprofits, and learning a great deal about customer service and support.

Try new things: New things I’ve tried include biking long-distance (Christiaan), electronic/house music (Vishal), coding (Lionel), using Twitter better (Teddy), Instagram (Vicki), baseball (Richard, Ron), etc. This section should actually be titled “Learning from the rest of the team” because I’ve learned so much just from sitting in the same room as them. If the following quote is true (substitute 11 people), then I am pretty lucky to be with these amazing 11 people. Or, as I like to think–it wasn’t luck, but a ton of preparation and hard work that led to this summer at True.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” – Jim Rohn

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.” – George Bernard Shaw

Sparked’s awesome (sparkly) logo

The (Sparked) Office

Aquarium at Pier 39

Presidio

Alcatraz

AMAZING view of San Francisco from the boat!

Steve Jang from Schematics Labs told us that the largest population that uses yelp and Foodspotting are young Asian women in the United States. I prove that true with the following pictures of my food adventures:

E Tutto Qua

Sushi Bistro

butterfly

Sushirrito

Ahn Sushi

Special creation from the chef using red snapper!

————-

This week has been a whirlwind of nonstop awesomeness of the likes of unicorns, sunshine, and happiness. From terrifically inspirational speakers (Greg Avis and Dave Rosenberg) to Asian fusion at butterfly to the entrepreneurial escape attempts of prisoners at Alcatraz, I’ve passed this week a little more wise, a little more risk-averse, and a lot more tired. Can you believe that half of TEC is already over? I’m in denial–True will have to kick me out of their office to make me leave!

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint Exupéry

I have had many dreams, goals, and wishes growing up.  In elementary school, I wanted to be president. In middle school, I wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, or all of the above. In high school, I wanted to start my own nonprofit.

“There’s only three careers I’ve ever wanted. Ruler of my own planet, Wonder Woman, or a surgeon. I don’t see any invisible planes or extra countries lying around.” – Cristina, Grey’s Anatomy

All of my career aspirations differed very vastly from each other, but the theme they had in common was that I wanted to make change. But over time, I have struggled to figure out what avenue to achieve the most efficient form of change. What is the highest amount of benefit per impact?

This week, in a conversation with one of Sparked’s founders, Jacob Colker, he asked me, “If you could change anything in the world tomorrow, what would it be?”

All the cliché answers ran through my mind–world peace, the end of poverty, equal human rights. I gave some unsatisfactory answer about wanting to start a mentor program in my former high school, but I knew that I had to think more about this question. Yeah, I want “change the world,” as cheesy as it sounds, but I have no clue how to go about doing that. Intuitively, I had considered different options like politics, professional skills, and nonprofits, but to date, I have a goal without a plan–a wish.

So what’s my plan? I still don’t know–but now that I have this in focus, I’ll be working on it. And what I know now that I didn’t before is that instead of struggling to choose among avenues for change, I believe that entrepreneurship is the most effective way for me to make change. Politics–there are too many hoops to jump through and too much time required (look how long it’s taking for equal marriage rights for everyone). Nonprofits–working with them, I know how difficult it is to be sustainable and have enough resources. Social enterprise or business, by any means necessary, I’m convinced of this formula for change.

Delusional? Desire to change the status quo? Audacity? Definitely a check on the first.

(from this excellent presentation Vishal shared)

“The most important thing in life is to stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will.’ Consider nothing impossible, then treat the possibilites as probabilities.” — David Copperfield

My name is Jenny Li, and I’m from Ann Arbor, Michigan. I study business and pre-med at the University of Michigan, and I am working as the Captain of Non-profit Happiness at Sparked this summer. Also, my favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla bean (TEC’s favorite icebreaker).

My Background

Although I was born in Iowa City, Iowa, I grew up in Ann Arbor, a sort of hippie liberal college town that touts diversity. But I didn’t know the true meaning of  diversity until I came to San Francisco, which is truly diverse. It takes getting used to the West Coast mentality, but it’s great, and I love it.

I was introduced to the concept of entrepreneurship in college and immediately fell in love. Entrepreneurship in three words: tenacity, ambition, and guts. The drive to prove yourself and the will to climb to higher heights than everyone else.

Sparked.com

Sparked is the world’s first microvolunteering network. What is microvolunteering? Explained by co-founder Ben Rigby, it is online volunteering that is convenient, bite-sized, crowdsourced, and network-managed. Nonprofits sign up on the website and post “challenges,” which can range from help on website design, copy-editing, fundraising ideas, and more. Microvolunteers are users on the site that click through challenges and post “responses” like suggestions for new slogans, a redesigned logo, social media help, and more. Sparked connects nonprofits that need help from professionals to volunteers that can quickly help them. In the words of volunteer Julienne Mascellino, microvolunteering is “idea-sharing our way to change.” How AWESOME is that? In 5 minutes, you can add tons of value to a non-profit, from the comfort of your home or office.

What role do I play in this pile of awesome-ness? This summer, I am the designated Captain of Nonprofit Happiness. As captain, I try to decipher the ingredients to nonprofit happiness and try to make them the right proportions for optimize happiness for all. Sign up here to begin microvolunteering!

Fun Fact #1

I get lost easily = I will stick to you like a jellyfish if you have a smartphone and can Google map. TECsters know this already.