8 years ago, I finished my computer science bachelor in China and start my internship at Kingsoft, which is a large desktop software company in China.
The first 5 years of career
My first job is writing test assist tool for an online game project, using Delphi (Delphi is still popular in that year, and you know what happen next). I choose this job because I like game and computer game is the first thing what lead me to the computer world. But I can’t write game using C or C++, instead I can only write desktop software by Delphi and build website using ASP, so I was assigned to testing team and write some testing software, at least I’m closing to my dream job I think.
But I was wrong, beside building test tool I got a lots of game testing job, that’s not exactly what I want, I want be a programmer, I want build things and really impact people! A few month later, my friend invite me join another eCommerce company and the most important, join as a software engineer, I accept. The new company using .Net build their in-house business management software, and for some reason I can write .Net almost without any pre-learning, Delphi and C# have the same soul, and maybe you know the reason. So, things are going very smoothly, I’m a software engineer and then a senior, then project manager, and then an architect.
Time is flying, 5 years pass, I wrote a lots of codes, but I still didn’t impact any people except me. I was thinking what’s the meaning of my work, is this what I exactly want? The answer is no, something need change.
What I learned
I had made a mistake that almost every newbie would face, I’m choosing what LOOKS LIKE I want to do, I didn’t follow what EXACTLY I want to do. If your don’t know how to do what you want to, just learning and take a try! Don’t give up and choose a “optional” option. Do right thing is very important than do things right, just follow your heart and take a try.
9 months failed startup
So, what is really I want to do and want to be? The answer is simple. I want build something that will interactive directly with people, I want create something interesting that people like talk, use and share. In one word, the things I want work for are some kind of consumer software application that may impact the people’s daily life. After 5 years career, I decide build my own startup. That was 2010.
Our product is a location based mobile application(service) for young woman who like shopping. The idea is simple, you use our product when you are shopping, post what you want buy or bought and where you are, others can see your share if they near you. All information is location based. We thought this should be useful for someone they want know what and where they should take a look when they are shopping.
I got 2 co-founder and 1 part time designer at the beginning. Product is simple but people are hard. The biggest problem occurs inside the team, the team was build without common goal, everyone in the team have different vision regarding the project with their own purpose. The worst problem is, I can’t handle and improve this situation. After some months try, we can’t see the significant customer increase, partner were leaving and the team is over. That’s the worst moment I have never experienced.
What I learned
Build a startup is more complicate than working in a company. You need take care of every important factors beside the technology. Here is some idea I think you need take attention:
1. Build team is the same priority and same important than develop product, especially at the beginning.
2. If product fail but team is still working, you can try another product. If product is living but team is not work correctly, you most likely have already failed.
3. You need a leader in the team no matter how small the team is. Team need keep the same vision and same goal at anytime, and also team should have the ability to make decisions quickly and execution fast.
Now I’ve moved to the state and back to work again. At meantime I start my side project shoplify.us which is an universal wish list tool for easily manage and access your wish list, and I expect add more feature to make it can impact the people’s daily life. I’m looking for new opportunity to build a nice product that people really love, and this time, I’ll deal with the things about team building very seriously.
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