Hey, I’m Ted! 👋
As many of you know, I’ve been running my own robotics company over the past three years. In that short span of time, I grew a team to 45 people, sold to all the national retailers, got featured in WIRED magazine, and even got a CES Innovation Award.
However, like all great stories, this one has come to an end. And now, I’m moving onto a new chapter in life and looking forward to a new challenge.
As I undergo the search for my next leap of faith, I set a goal to write a lot more. I want to write about tech, design, life, and a little bit of everything else. I’ve been lucky enough to experience some crazy life stories over the last few years and hope to share more about what I’ve learned!
And if you know of any awesome people building cool sh**, I’d love to hear more about it!
iamtedko@gmail.com
It’s been a while since my last post, so here’s a short re-introduction about me:
In one sentence, I’d describe myself as:
The most right-brained, left-brained person you’ve ever met.
I love sketching new ideas as much as diving into code terminals. This has developed into an ability that connects a designer’s eye to an engineer’s language and uniquely positioned me to lead multi-disciplinary teams. Through different roles and organizations, I’ve navigated both large and small teams through high-level strategies, while staying grounded and focused on developing key technology, hitting organizational KPIs, and bringing products to global markets.
My mantra is:
Work hard, work smarter, but most importantly be a kind-er person.
Hard work has always been one of my core values, especially coming from an immigrant family. Since I was a kid, my father always said, “work hard; work smart.” But in recent years, I’ve taken after my mother’s advice to “be a kind-er person”. She’s always listening, taking the time and patience to be empathetic with others.
As a kid, I remember seeing her watch Jay Leno on TV and thinking that it was weird for my mom to watch Late Night TV. It was only when I was older I learned that my mom watched Leno to pick up on some American slang and culture to better communicate with her kids. *cue the tears* 😭
In both life and business, I’ve learned that we never know what other people or companies are really going through. Simply taking the time to lend an ear, listen, and be open-minded lets you get closer to how to really bring value and help others.
Best advice I’ve gotten:
Just keep swimming 🐠
Shit happens — in life and in business. Throughout my career, lots of crazy things have happened (let me know if you want to hear some stories!). And when they do, I’ve learned that you’ve got to just keep swimming.
When things come up, we need to give ourselves time to be human — to react, to be emotional, and to process the moment. But it’s also important to balance that with keeping our cool and collecting ourselves to get through them.
I’m unique because:
I’ve had skin in the game — super early on in my career.
You can read all the Medium posts you want — trust me, I’ve read them too — but you’ll never know what it feels like to go all-in on a venture until you’ve done it. For the past three years, I built my own company, conducted business in multiple languages, and managed a network of vendors, agencies, and investors.
What did all of this teach me? That I have a horrible caffeine addiction ☕
But seriously, this experience taught me how to be empathetic towards all levels of a company. It showed me that doing anything well requires you to manage up, down, and across organizations. As I look for a new challenge, I’m also hoping that I can bring value to all sides of a company and be the bridge to build great things.
Believe it or not:
I legitimately thought I could be an NBA point guard, despite being a fat kid.
I remember writing down “NBA player” in every single elementary school career day worksheet. The thing is..my BMI was probably higher than the calorie count of a Big Mac. Reality finally kicked in during team tryouts my freshman year of high school, when I was laying on the court after a few running drills 🤣
But even to this day, I still believe that “sports is the best analogy to life” (Kobe Bryant). Since the day my NBA dreams were crushed, I’ve watched superstars take the game-winning shots but I’ve also learned that they don’t always make the best teammates. I believe that the best teammates are the ones who understand and showcase the talents of each player. They’re able to lead and facilitate the ball so each player can shine.
That’s how I play ball. And that’s how I build product. And plus, there is already one Jeremy Lin.
Fun fact:
I can make balloon animals for your next birthday party.
Since I was a teenager, I loved going to magic shows in Vegas and the Magic Castle. Even though I still can’t tell you which card you picked, I did learn how to make balloon animals 🎈
But if you have a balloon phobia…you might want to check out this article first 😉
What have you been up to lately?
I’d love to connect and hear more about what you’ve been up to! Feel free to reach out:
iamtedko@gmail.com
