Category: Random Musings

The picture above is an artistic 3D rendering of my proposed office plan. The colours are all fake but the partitioning, windows, doors and furnitures are more or less there. The place is already rented and the renovations are done. The partitions have been installed along with the air-conditioning. Now, I am going through the pain of getting Streamyx set up (it’s been almost a friggin’ month!).

My office is divided into several areas. Counter clockwise from the main door is the lounge, pantry, toilet, meeting room, server/storage room, work area, reception. Although not all the furniture is in yet, some already are – all are being bought from IKEA in stages. The lack of stock on some of my favourite items at the store can be a pain at times.

My most pressing concern at the moment is securing some projects and staff. Hiring is a royal pain as it is extremely difficult to find good people. Since I’m taking the solo-founder route, things are a bit stressful as I have to take care of every little detail. The plus side of it is that, I will know how to do everything later, which is important.

I am also learning some patience. I am constantly surprised by how dumb some people are. However, since I need to get them to help me do stuff, I keep my cool and use every trick up my sleeve to turn them around. I have learned that it is always important to keep asking for something until I get it, and ask nicely.

The work area can already fit in 6 people comfortably. If I need more space, I may need to move some furniture or take out one partition – the yellow one in the image above. If I remove that partition, I can easily fit in up to 10 people in the work + reception area. Then, if I need more space, I can hijack the lounge or meeting areas too. But, if I can get to the point where I have 10 people working for me, I will move to a bigger office.

I pray to be able to have some revenues in Q1 this year. That will be a damn good start to the year. I will worry about profits later.

Got an SMS today, from my bank, notifying me that my first cheque to repay my student-loan has now been cashed. Okay, that lights the fire under my arse. I now have to work real hard to earn the rest of the money very quickly.

As I like to tell people I have hutang keliling pinggang, so to speak. I’m nose high in debt and currently bleeding cash.

Ganbatte!

The common thread, she realized, was that each of those decisions had allowed her to surround herself with really smart people and to do something outside of her comfort zone. The same would be true if she went with Google, she figured. The guys she had met there were the smartest people she had ever interviewed with, and she had a sense that she would learn more from failing with them than by succeeding someplace else.

On May 1, she declined 11 job offers and kept the Google and McKinsey ones alive. Six days later, she verbally accepted Google’s offer, signing with the company on the 12th—12 being her lucky number.

On graduation day, Mayer was surprised to see Page and Brin there to cheer her on. They were wearing shorts and traveling on inline skates. As they were talking with Mayer and her parents, Page suddenly said, “Hey, I think I may have graduated today. I should go and see.” He skated away, returning with the master’s diploma he hadn’t yet bothered to pick up. Mayer’s parents took in the spectacle with a bit of trepidation. They wanted to believe their daughter was making the right decision, but they couldn’t help wondering about the wisdom of her signing with a company that had no revenue, no clear strategy for revenue, and leaders who skated to their graduation.

From the adventures of Marissa.

Another year passes, and I am hopefully – slightly wiser. Anyway, my resolution for 2010 came true – I resolved to quit my job and I did! So, now it is time to make resolutions for the new year and I have just a few.

Ramen Profitability
Ramen profitability – just being profitable enough to survive on instant noodles. It’s just a better way of saying – breaking even. My hope is to generate enough revenues next year, to cover my operational expenses for the year. I am currently talking to several parties on a number of different projects – ranging from SMEs to PLCs.

Assuming that I get a continuous stream of smaller short-term projects from SMEs, I should be on the way to cover my opex. So, this is something that I will work on first. Once that works, I will probably buy some extra equipment and hire some extra help. Then, I will work on getting one of the medium and/or large projects. If I can get them, I will be able to buy instant noodles!

My objective of reaching ramen profitability is to prove my business model and viability. Then, I can focus on growth and expansion. If the model itself isn’t viable, then I cannot possibly scale.

Study Law
Since I generally dislike lawyers, I decided that it was time that I studied law myself. Through my business activities, I find that I am in need of more and more legal advice. So, it made sense for me to be prudent and learn up some law myself. I have no intention of being a lawyer, but I plan to learn it for knowledge so that I can communicate better with my lawyer and advise my clients better.

I have been shopping around for a suitable part-time law course this year and found that, the best option is to take the Bachelors of Jurisprudence from UM. Unfortunately, they are only open for registrations in April. So, I missed the opportunity to sign up this year. Therefore, come April 2011, I will definitely sign up for the course and earn myself another Bachelors degree in law.

While this would not allow me to practise as a lawyer, it would be sufficient for me to understand legalese, at least.

Chartered Engineer
I am an engineer, first and foremost. Therefore, it is only natural for me to qualify myself with a professional qualification, on top of my PhD in Engineering. There are a couple of options for me to do this and after considering them, I decided that I will attempt to qualify as a Chartered Engineer first. The earliest that I can attempt this is towards the second half of 2011.

While having a C.Eng would not necessarily help me to make more money, it is actually another one of my life-goals. If I can check off another life-goal next year, that would be just fine and dandy.

Write a Book
This is actually more a bonus than anything else. I already have quite a lot on my plate next year. However, I am also presently in the process of creating a series of technical courses for the largest technical training company in South East Asia. One reason that I am doing this is to enable me to write a book on this subject.

I have had many people tell me that I write well. So, I thought that I should try my hand at writing a book and since I am technically inclined, I felt that I could try writing a technical book. I plan to use some of the materials from my course inside the book and vice versa. It will be an interesting hobby project.

I will need to find someone to proof read it though.

Even though I do not follow football (neither local nor foreign), reading about our team’s recent victory in the AFF Suzuki Cup, made me teary eyed because it sort of reflected what I felt needed to be done in this country. We need to let the young people in, show their talent and give them room to grow, instead of stifling them. The young are our hope for the future.

While I did not watch the game, our family’s Indonesian maid did. Even she was disgusted at her national team’s performance and was on the phone with her friends back home about it. She complained that they were kicking legs, not kicking the ball.

I think that what our national coach said is right. This is a victory, and we should celebrate it. However, we must also see this as just the first step, in a long journey, to return the pride to your national squad. I have grown sick of hearing the old farts wax lyrical on the good old days of Mokhtar Dahari, Santokh Singh and Soh Chin Aun – where ate EPL teams and Asian giants for lunch.

It is about time that we made a concerted effort, to claw back to our rightful place, as one of the top teams of the region.

PS: I hope that our hockey team would watch and learn.

PPS: With the general elections rumoured to be be around the corner, I hope that our politicians do not exploit the situation and ruin things. But that’s just wishful thinking.