EPTCorporate Business Series: Part 1 - Page 2
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mijellin
China740 Posts
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On September 22 2012 00:06 nath wrote: i feel like i have such a different perspective of the startup world, since i entered it at a very young age from the developer->CTO->CIO side and not as an older businessman. what role exactly do you play at your startup(s)? I dont see what it would be other than maybe Strategy/CSO? or VP of Business Development? when i read your articles, i feel like i see a different world than you do. this one had a lot of basic general info on the mindset you need to have to be rich, though. from my experience being part of 4 startups at the same time, which you claim to do, is counter-productive, horribly inefficient, and damn near impossible to actually commit to. unless they are all very well funded and you dont have to work as hard to out-execute. i've mostly bootstrapped so i always try to focus really hard on one thing, and outexecute my enemy even if he has 50m in VC funding and i have $0 (true story btw, and we ended up with not only a better product, but positioned ourselves to take the market in a superior manner  )Its definitely a very very different perspective from coming in as a product/development side and an executive side. Of course being part of 4 start-ups on the execution side would be impossible, but my role varies considerably as well as where each of the start-ups are at. One of them I am the CEO of, but it is fully staffed, funded etc, going into its 3rd year, another one I'm just on as a general adviser, and the other two I handle their business agreements and negotiations on a political or strategic level. The level of commitment there is one week travel a month. But it comes with the role that I play in that I'm providing the knowhow on the business process side rather than actually creating any new products. So again, I wouldn't really classify what I do as 'start-up's', but rather new companies. This particular series though will be focused on the corporate executive path, which I'm far more experienced in, as my professional background is that of a business negotiator and management consultant. But this particular article was about the general mindset of business, if you're going to play at a certain level, but as I also mention, 'nerds rule the world, finally' as well. ^^ But good on you for your own projects, unfortunately, bootstrapping has never been an option for me because I cannot code or develop my own product, I need to hire people or get turnkey solutions and then just concentrate on out competing the market on a strategic marketing level. Until recently this has been a very limiting condition for most of my businesses that I work with. I reckon this is why most senior executives fail at start-ups because we are unable to keep costs low on the development side and we lack innovation simply because we cannot get value from our own labour contribution on the product side, that being said, we play to our strengths and one of them is the ability to not have to be bootstrapped when we begin- but that cash burns through extremely quickly as it's always a 'spend down' rather than something to help extend the development process (i.e. you have the development team and the money gives you extra time to develop rather than you use the buy to buy a development team and you don't get any extra value, input=output). | ||
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JollYRoGeR
Sweden342 Posts
On September 21 2012 10:28 MightyAtom wrote: for sure ^^ although my travel schedule is so erratic, I hope we can organize another TL meet up in Seoul and I can or attend, or what would be cool if I attended a meet up in Sweden keke! For sure! I'm in Sweden a lot. Lot's of Dreamhacks and stuff aswell, I attended to the WCS Europe finals and was amazed at the production quality and the crowd. They also had a bar-area that I enjoyed. Good stuff! | ||
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Niten
United States598 Posts
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mordek
United States12704 Posts
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sam!zdat
United States5559 Posts
On September 20 2012 01:35 MightyAtom wrote: This book, 'How to Get Rich' by Felix Dennis (400M-900M net worth- he doesn't exactly know) Oh my god... What qualifies as rich for you? | ||
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Kalingingsong
Canada633 Posts
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Dracolich70
Denmark3820 Posts
Always go by your gut feeling/intuition, and you will never do wrong(even if you fail in achieving what you planned). And never be driven by greed, whether it being money or some other force, as there is a chance you will lose yourself in the process, and no one is greedy by nature - at least that is what I tell myself, and furthermore makes you take - perhaps - unnecessary risks. But whom am I to give you advice? I am merely an observer of life standing on the sideline, while it happens. Good luck, and thanks. | ||
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See.Blue
United States2673 Posts
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targ
Malaysia445 Posts
One thing I find weird is that you always stress that your Korean is not very good, but that never seemed to hinder you when you were working in Korea. Can you tell me how you sorta worked around it? | ||
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On September 27 2012 01:46 sam!zdat wrote: Oh my god... What qualifies as rich for you? it has changed a lot over the years, but for me, its about 200M USD in cash. The reason why its 200M is not because I'm thinking in terms of buying houses or cars, but in terms of what businesses can you buy or take over or start. So you figure that even if you have a great business now, later own, things change with the market and with 200M, you pretty much could buy your way in to most growing industries if you wanted to. But if you're thinking in terms of just spending on consumer goods, I think 30k USD a month is more than enough to be satisfied as 'materialistically rich' in terms of what surrounds you. But its a key difference between most people who look to get cash as a means to buy/consume products and business people who look to use the money to invest in things that make them more money. | ||
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On September 27 2012 07:20 Kalingingsong wrote: when is part 2 coming? I can't wait any longer lol. Sorry! I'm just traveling and still trying to close a major deal right now, so it's not likely to come out for another 2-3 weeks! But I have the topic already sorted, just got to write it out and get 2 hours free to do so. ^^ | ||
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On September 29 2012 17:00 targ wrote: Your blogs are always damn good. Pity I came in after you deleted the earlier ones, but I can still tell that they were good from the comments. One thing I find weird is that you always stress that your Korean is not very good, but that never seemed to hinder you when you were working in Korea. Can you tell me how you sorta worked around it? I cheated, I have a very good family background, so that precedes me most of the time in formal business circles. Thing is, just cause you can speak Korean or are native Korean, doesn't still qualify you to know high level business culture or protocol, so that is something which you gain either through family exposure or being in a good company. So, even a mid-level consultant probably knows more about business culture protocol than a CEO of a small company of 15-20 people. But not having good Korean was very limiting in that my role was always specialized for business negotiations or strategy and basic things like doing audits or interviews with general staff wasn't something I could (or be asked to do). That being said, I can communicate at a high business level, simply because in Korea, when you get to that level, most of the CEOs are US educated or extremely educated, so the business minds are the same. Also, I would have staff that did do translation work etc. I think things have changed nowadays where the need for experienced international business people is less and less because there are so many Korean's from great backgrounds who have been educated abroad etc. But I think for business, more than most other fields, its all about this line of 'results'- meaning that if you need to explain in more than 2 sentences how to make something work in business, you're fucked anyway, and it's pretty clear if you're on the right track. But things like legal documentation, those things would be reviewed by lawyers, translations double/tripled checked as there can't be any ambiguity there. A field like domestic marketing promotions in Korea, I probably am the opposite of qualified. ^^ | ||
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On September 29 2012 06:39 See.Blue wrote: Haha, I'll stay in research thank you very much ^^ | ||
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sam!zdat
United States5559 Posts
On October 01 2012 14:42 MightyAtom wrote:But its a key difference between most people who look to get cash as a means to buy/consume products and business people who look to use the money to invest in things that make them more money. Hmm Can you offer any insight into the psychology of the latter? | ||
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vpatrickd
Indonesia279 Posts
Great post! A really good read. I read Felix Dennis' book and finished it about 4 months ago.. I'm in my early 20s, and this book has really inspired me to start my own business and jump in the race of getting rich. But after reading your post I'm now having doubts, because I never start my own business, nor have I any experience in being a company exec or a manager.. The only work experience I have is as an entry level consultant, and even that was part-time. As someone who's experienced, can you give me some advices as to how do you overcome that fear of starting.. fear of failure, fear of losing a lot of money? Looking forward to your next post | ||
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NervO
Netherlands511 Posts
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jacosajh
2919 Posts
I'm on a similar path, and have the same issues/concerns. I couldn't really tell definitively from your OP or following posts, so let me ask you: What was the number one thing that made you want to be rid of the corporate world? Was it the prospect of taking a prospect from the ground-up (i.e. self-achievement)? Was it because you were afraid that the top of the corporate ladder wasn't that stable? Were you just tired of all the bs that goes long with it? | ||
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c0ldfusion
United States8293 Posts
On October 02 2012 00:41 sam!zdat wrote: Hmm Can you offer any insight into the psychology of the latter? Here you go: ![[image loading]](http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20111010.gif) | ||
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MightyAtom
Korea (South)1897 Posts
On October 02 2012 00:41 sam!zdat wrote: Hmm Can you offer any insight into the psychology of the latter? Sorry Guys, I'm still in the middle of closing things out, the majority of the population hasn't been educated or exposed to money, other than it's primary usage of buying things as a consumer. Think about it for a second, the main reason why you earn money is to spend it on some consumer good or for perhaps your living expenses or tuition. So unless you have some unique understanding of what money is, like if you are a natural born entrepreneur (I'm not), you're always thinking of money in terms of it's ability to buy something. This is normal because the majority of people usually are always a bit short on the money side, there are always desirable things that people want to buy that are a bit out of their reach and it is the market that does that- meaning if you want to buy a watch, -there is the function of the watch to just tell time accurately or there is the watch that is fashionable or the watch that is a status symbol or the watch that is a collectors item. Each one with a different social function and costs, but they all tell time equally well. On the flip side, there are those who (i) have money, or (ii) those who understand that money is simply a byproduct of businesses or investments that generate money. For those who have enough money, buying materialistic things isn't the only thing on the shopping list, rather buying stocks or understanding how their money can make more interest or how to protect their money from taxation, becomes a much larger concern. When you have 50,000,000 in the bank, even at 5% interest that generates 2.5M a year! And while that is an extremely simple example (and if you live off that interest you'll get taxed for it - depending on what country you live in), it's not in your best interest to ever spend that 50m, unless it is spending it to make more money. For those who do a lot of business and do various investments, money is the score board of making successful businesses. While the name of the game is making more money, and it is hard to get away from a very simplistic view of it, let me put into a chess analogy. Lets say you have an empty chess board that is not just 1v1, but a free for all verses 10 other players, but everyone starts off with no chess pieces. But the more cash you have, the more pieces you can buy and it is up to you to choose what kinds of pieces you want, such as pawns or rooks or even queens. That being said, you still need skill to play the game as not everyone can buy all queens and also move the pieces around, but at a high level of business, it is like that when you're looking at either developing your business, managing a number of businesses, or doing investment and picking and choosing companies to invest in that will minimize your risk and maximize your reward potential. Now as a management guy, and not a financial investment guy, I don't think about hostile takeovers/leverage buy-outs or what is going on with my stock portfolio, but I do look at how much staff I can bring in, at what level, to compete in some markets where my company can operate in. So at the end of the day, I'm both a consumer and capitalist in that, I make money and spend it on things of necessity and such, but that is just the salary I make, otherwise, there is the money that the company has, and I choose to budget it where I can, but if the company does well, I have to also think about where can I invest the excess funds- simply because - even if you have cash, it needs time to have an effect, whether it is money from interest or money that eventually comes out from starting a new company. | ||
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