Four New Year’s Resolutions from an International Tech Startup

1. Learn the ins and outs of Slack.

First of all, no, I am not getting paid to write this. That being said, Slack is one of the best things to happen to me in my time working for startups. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Slack is the newest craze in messaging tools for businesses. It has helped our team be more productive, and also cut down on the number of internal emails sent out, tenfold. We really don’t use email as a team anymore! But Slack is so much more than just messaging. You can organize conversations, store passwords, send eachother GIFS and…well…that is the point of this post I guess. I dont know the ins and outs of Slack. I know enough to be really happy with the service, however at the same time I know there is a lot that I dont know how to do. So my #1 new years resolution for my team in 2016 is to learn all of the tricks that Slack has to offer, and use them!

2. Use our app daily

In my opinion, if you’re working on an app, you need to be the champion of the product, the biggest fan, and most avid user. It is really easy to get caught up in developing, marketing, and searching for the next round of funding...and even though all of those things are important for the company…I believe the best way to find inspiration for future iterations of the app is to use it daily. Understand how you use it, why you want to use it, and what you feel is missing. This new year, I am making a plan to use Tings everyday, and to also cut back on the amount that I use other social networks. I want to do this so I can get a true understanding of how using Tings makes me feel. My hypothesis is that as I use other social networks less and Tings more, I will feel less social anxiety and feel more empowered. But that is another Medium article for another time…

3. Stay connected to the team

Tings has a team of 6 people, located in both the United States and China, which can make communication complex. One thing that I believe all startups need to work on is a sense of teamwork and constant communication. It is super easy for startup team members to have “tunnel vision” while working on their individual contributions, and it can be a huge detriment. So, in 2016, I pledge to regularly check in with each other on what we are doing, because it is so important to get everyone on the same page working together. The down side of trying to stay connected is that the distance of 6,692 miles can make these check ins more time consuming and frustrating. However, I believe in making the most out of all situations and I think that this distance can be positive. Because, for example, I know that in order to get approval for my idea(s) it may take a few days, as well as a few more to solidify action items. Because of this, I have to plan ahead and know that it will take more time than normal to execute something. While a lot of startups believe that it is “the fast fish that catches the slow fish”, I tend to believe that “a slow fish with a plan can catch the fastest fish.” Which leads me to my final resolution for 2016.

4. See ideas through to the end

Startup life is incredibly hectic and fast paced. My biggest pet peeve in regards to this is how quickly an idea can be abandoned or forgotten. In 2016, I want this team to be committed to seeing ideas through to the end. I think that the downfall of a lot of startups is spreading work too thin and trying to accomplish everything at once. Taking your time to critically work through a big idea simply does not happen in a startup as often as it does in other business environments. Understanding afterwards how or if that idea was successful will help guide direction in the future and keep the team on the right track. You could say I have abandonment issues, and in 2016 I want to work for our team to abandon ideas less and less.

Tings — Dare to Voice

Tings is an anonymous social networking app centered around our most human form of expression — Voice. “Dare to Voice” is Tings’ motto; encouraging users to anonymously share content that may not be better expressed in other forms, with regard to emotion and personality.

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