So I just read “Do Agencies Need to Think Like Software Companies?” and I thought add my perspective as a technologist at a digital agency.

I think the major value that agencies offer brands is the ability to think outside the box and focus on strategy and creative vision to drive their product towards a specific message.  A great example of this is the ‘Old Spice’ campaign that did very well.  Wieden + Kennedy crafted a pinpoint message and delivered it in a very clever way that utilized social media perfectly with digital technology.  Part of the art in delivering that message was the storytelling, wordsmith and crafting that was so apparent in the tv ads, youtube responses, and tweets.

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It’s funny… looking back at all the failures i’ve had in the past three years, it’s definitely come clear to me that the single biggest contributing factor has been a poorly constructed team. This doesn’t mean that any individual on the team was a bad person. It just meant that several things were not in alignment. Continue reading →

I like what Larry Ellison is doing.  I like what Paul Allen is doing.  I think they’re actually looking beyond these lawsuits.  They’re forcing us to look at the software patent system as a whole, by bringing these lawsuits.  They have the money and exposure to really force the issue.

Hopefully all the other billionaires out there will follow suit.  Ideally all of them would sue every business for every patent infringement out there.  Hopefully this will help the industry and congress come to the collective agreement that system is broken and that we finally need to DO something about it, instead of sitting around complaining about it!

So please, please, all the billionaires out there, continue to buy up patents, continue to troll, and continue to prove how silly this system really is.

One thing that my father ingrained in me was that I was always to keep learning.  I probably never took it to heart, because school always bored me and the way the system was setup, never really motivated me to keep learning.  But I see what he’s talking about now that I’ve found something that I truly am passionate about – building an internet startup.
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I never had great grades in school (‘cept maybe math b/c im asian).  I was an average student with average grades, but that never really spoke to what I want to achieve in this world.  I never got A’s and always felt like a failure for it.  I was never able to achieve those grades and eventually gave up trying, because I thought I was a failure.

People see this as a problem with the education system and argue to change the education system to fit this.  I see it as an opportunity that startups can capitalize on.  10% of the world has succeed, yay for them.  They’re most likely not on facebook not on social media.  That’s a pretty small percentage.  There’s 90% of the world WANTING to achieve something.  As entrepreneurs (and as me, a product developer) our primary goal is to give them that sense of achievement.  We need to give them that success.   With the internet and our products, we can make them the most AWESOME people at whatever they want to be awesome at.