Stream of Ry

6 months in Loudcloud Inc. and here’s what I’ve learned so far:

1. Starting up with available cash or access to cheap capital is always a good idea
2. Co-location beats virtual, hands-down
3. 2 Part timers < 1 Full time
4. In terms of effort, 100k project < 2 * 50k projects
5. Register with BIR within 30 days of incorporation
6. Register with SSS/Philhealth within 30 days of hiring/regularization
7. Get an accountant (that’s why you need #1)
8. Get a lawyer (also why you need #1)
9. Profitability vs Growth, depending on business model
10. Faster growth, less culture
11. Underpromise, Overdeliver, Always
12. Meetings are timesinks
13. Lots of business cards for those that does client meetings (in our case, Gerry and I)
14. Focus on your core competency. Just because you can go into a line of business, doesn’t mean you should.
15. Decide with the minimum number of people you need to make a decision
16. Do as much as you can if worth your time, else delegate
17. Communicate, communicate, communicate
18. A company can have dreams, and that’s what the people are staying for
19. If product-based, build consumer lust. If service-based, build partner lust. [1]
20. CEOs job is to bring in business that is in-line with the goals to take care of the people, but mostly take care of the people

[1] Partner-lust: You make them want to work with you.

Today, a great man died. I never really agreed with the very closed ecosystem he created but I admire him. His commencement address at Stanford is what essentially drove me to drop out and set out to do what I love and to have big dreams again. I wanted to take to heart what could be the biggest takeaway from his address:

[..] almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

[...]

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Yesterday was his last day, and living his life as if it were his last, once and for all, he was certainly right.

Rest in peace, Steve Jobs

A conversation in AnyBeat that I wanted to save for keepsakes. AnyBeat is a new-old kind of social network that goes back to the roots of the Internet. The community is based around discussions and people are actually encouraged to establish a persona, which may or may not be identifiable to you as an individual. People can enjoy pseudonymity which is having influence/reputation without having to reveal your real life identity.

What do you think?

Read the rest of this entry »

I was reading through Mark Suster’s Both Sides of the Table (just subscribed by e-mail yesterday!) and stumbled upon his article My life as a CEO (and VC): Chief Psychologist and as listed by Fred Wilson, Matt Blumberg and Howard Lindzon (all in Mark’s post) a CEO does the following:

• Sets the overall vision and strategy of the company and communicates it to all stakeholders
• Recruits, hires, and retains the very best talent for the company.
• Makes sure there is always enough cash in the bank.
• Don’t be a bottleneck (make sure you aren’t holding up people’s work)
• Run great meetings (don’t be a productivity drain on the company)
• Stay fresh (be mentally and physically fit & attuned to what is going on in the world)

“As a CEO of a venture backed business myself and founder of many others, I would add one thing…Thick Skin.

If you fail, you need to start all over. As you start to succeed, you will hear from people like me…’armchair quarterbacks’ . If you really succeed, everyone wants you to fail eventually so you need even thicker skin.”

I liked Mark’s condensing it to just Chief Psychologist. I’m printing out his article (digitally, onto my Dropbox) for safekeeping.

To everyone that greeted me (in no particular order) high school batchmates, high school classmates, grade school classmates, DCS friends, EEE friends, UnPLUG/Dilnet friends, UP classmates and professors, AS3 campmates, Inoventlings, POSNet people (who started a thread in the mailing list just for the greeting!), Ma’m Deng and Meric of 8layers, Uskraelinger venner fra Norge, AFS venner, Loudcloud core, and finally the conspiracy of my lovely girlfriend, Angel, with Porkchops (Ernesto, Rexell, Jeffrey, Allan, Thet, Karl) and my crazy not-so-little bro. Foiled by our b*tches Zarra (2yrs old, same “birthday” as me!) and Sophie (approx 3mos old, we got her 2 weeks ago).

To everyone that greeted through whatever means (FB, SMS, IM, Telephatic / Emphatic, the Force, etc):
Maraming salamat sa pagbati, tusen takk for hilser, thank you very much for the greeting.

That last one deserved a special mention because unbeknown to me, my girlfriend and Porkchops were sneaking around the house to surprise me by 12 midnight with a set of birthday cupcakes (which says HBD RYS), pizza and Mirasol’s bihon. Fortunately, our doggie was inside the house to stop their sneaking about by her growling and barking. I was really tense when I heard her bark. That bark that says “Intruder alert!” so imagine my confusion (and perhaps state of shock) when I saw my girlfriend there holding cupcakes (who by the way is terrified of our dog) followed by a “supplies!” by the Porkchops. First thought that crossed my mind was “Shit, we’ve got no food.” Thanks, and you definitely made my day (and so early to boot). Pics plz.

On another note, we finally got our Mayor’s Permit for Loudcloud Inc. Too bad we don’t have the plate.

The past year has been a very long one. Exactly 365.25 days. I’ve put in a hell a lot of work through code and will most likely continue to do so in the coming years. We’re still continuing in our advocating for both use and contribution to Free and Open Source Software, and would like to double my efforts in doing so. I’ve also recently started taking better care of our dogs and really understanding how I can raise them better (trust me, I feel like a dad already). Also, that perpetual promise to workout more.

For everyone that supported me (fans? LOL), thank you very much. For my co-advocates, persistence!

I’m looking forward to yet another fruitful year.

Read the rest of this entry »