tomasleexyz

[tomasleexyz]

If there is no problem, there is no solution, and no reason for a company to exist. Nobody will pay you to solve a non-problem.

Vinod Khosla, Venture Capitalist and Billionaire 

[tomasleexyz]

[tomasleexyz]

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.

 Benjamin Franklin

[tomasleexyz]

Don’t manage time. Multiply it.

 Rory Vaden

[tomasleexyz]

Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time.

 Arnold H. Glasow

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Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.

Issac Asimov

[tomasleexyz]

To Startups, Profit Loss is Immoral

Nowadays, most of the START-UP news I read and hear is all likely about their success in obtaining a new round of funding in XYZ amount of dollars, with an objective so-called "SCALING" to expand their infrastructure, hire new talents and so forth, but rarely notice any startup has positive earnings since the very beginning in before their seeding stage. And the worst part is quite many of them not even solving any problem (business, social, political and so on) to improve the quality of living in present or future, but simply a replacement proposal of today's one in market -- nothing's extraordinary and we can't even call them a new 'Model'. Some idea is so poorly crafted, but conversely able to pitch off millions and millions of dollars from Venture Capitals (VC). And I guess I don't need to pull out any example to validate my point here (Wink wink... such as the magical blood examination device). Back in the good old days when I studied business ethics in college, I was being taught that it's evil not to generate profit for your shareholders. Seemingly, what I learned wasn't right at all and doesn't apply to today's business. If my memory served me right, a fascinated number of Fortune 500 were bootstrapped for decades prior to fundraising from bankers, private equity investment or VC (There ain’t formally any VC before the Rockefeller family in 1938), so planning a 'Runway' wasn't even an option back then. Like the Hon Hai Precision, also known as the maker of iPhone - Foxconn Technology Group, Mr. Terry Gou the Founder Chairman started his electrical components manufacturing business under a rented shed next to Tucheng jail in Taiwan by borrowing the first bucket funding of US$7,500 from his own mother. He planned that specific location was because of its convenience to enter in and out of the jail if he failed to pay his debt (Account Payable). The turning point came in 1980 when he traveled to the States with a red-eye flight, stayed at a $10 motel without food (he claimed the physical hunger will keep his mind sharp), and tried to strike the console joystick order from Atari. Of course, we don't need to review furthermore and already knew what happened next to him and his USD $130B+ empire. Also on yesterday, I met with a cellular accessories distributor for my consultation service in eCommerce project and learned a great story how the immigrant owner started his $80M enterprise from $3,500 in 2+ decades ago, without any injection of external funding. It's very awkward and disturbing for me to see startups burning the borrowed money (investment) like a steady stream from VCs to rent flashy office, offer upscale dining venue, pay their staffs in 7 figures and more unreasonable, in regardless of their profitability growth. On the other hand, I can't completely blame this type of misbehaviors are all being responsible by the startups. After all, this startup culture is nurtured and indulged by VCs because of the yearning and desperation of X times of ROI (VCs have all rights to withdraw from this type of irresponsible investment). Furthermore, crooks take advantage of their possession and infuse more bad blood into the capital system causing an irreversible side effect. Last year, many VCs got burned by cases in similar. Henceforth, this year situation gonna be more settled and VCs begin seriously evaluating startups not just from their concept and growth scalability, but from their profit sustainability first. Everything restarts from the fundamental business principle -- A good balance of revenue and profit. Last but not least, to the startups, Social 'HYPE' is not equal to Social Proof. So, don't get overexcited about reaching the first 100K followers in FB, IG, SNAP or Pinterest. And valuation is nothing, but a number. REF: 1. Slidebean: Startup Insights 2. 5 Quirky Facts About The Taiwanese Billionaire Who Built Your iPhone

[tomasleexyz]

Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

Ernest Hemingway

[tomasleexyz]

The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse: Defensiveness, Criticism, Contempt and Stonewalling.

John Gottman, author of the Four Horseman concept

[tomasleexyz]

They created me, but they cannot control me.

Ghost in the Shell

[tomasleexyz]

If you see fraud and don’t shout fraud, you are a fraud.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

[tomasleexyz]

FACEBOOK RIP END Ch.

Where were we? Ah -- Facebook (FB)! That intimate place to share in once upon a time. It turns 13 this year (born on 02.05.2004). Its corporate mission, yet the founder CEO Mark Zuckerberg's illusive dream, "to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected1" hasn't altered much thru all these years, has it? First of all, Mark repeated that FB is "a tech company, not a media company." But the matter-of-fact is their business model has been distributing contents with: Instant Articles to allow publishers delivering readers content within 10sec time; FB Live to benefit brands promoting contents and products (Unarguably, the Video tab in their mobile app today uncovered their ambition in TV media business); Atlas to permit advertisers accurately measuring performance; and so forth. Per FB 4Q16 and Full Year Financial Report, their key revenue stream was predominantly driven by selling advertisements ($26.88B; 97%+ of Total Revenue). In another word, even without generating its original content, FB is considered as a media marketplace to both User Generated Content (UGC) providers and Professional Generated Content (PGC) providers. To the users ourselves, we are supplying our concurrent "lifetime" events as original content and the most variable, our privacy to FB, and as well, digesting on-demand advertisement inventories in FB for the return of using the platform. Be alarmed a trade deficit (an imbalance between output and input) exists between FB and us, though. And for the 2M+ business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers, media companies and celebrities2, FB Business, now acts as an intermediary, provides training, resources and tools for captivating its 1.86 Monthly Active Users (MAUs) to their businesses. Like how people got their news in the good old America Online (AOL) era, 44% of Americans today receives news (PGC) from FB, contrary to the irreversible 21% UGC decline contributed by emotional exhaustion as a consequence of increased PGC and social problems, which highlighted in the previous chapter. Although FB endeavored thru various interactive features (e.g. On This Day and Life Event) to recreate an intimate place for us, it still became a 'regular' utility to just keep up with friends and families. Their complicated privacy settings is another key contributor to the rapid decline of users shared personal photos, vacations, and vitally, self-expression after a divisive election last year; Private updates are also easy-captured and shared. FB users like me perhaps recognized our private contents legally possessed by FB can all be seen in public advertisements, kudos to the press repeatedly underlined the FB Terms of Service, and furthermore, most users prefer remaining silent online to avoid any social conflict cropped up due to speaking of their different ideology. #DeleteAccount and #Unfriending are now the most common choices among overwhelmed FB users after struggled to burst or embrace filter bubbles. Of course, there were also a number of users unwillingly suspended or deleted by FB, like the drag queens Sister Roma and Lil Miss Hot Mess. In the history of social networking (AOL, Friendster, and MySpace), we already ascertained less personal updates lead to less engagement between users, the very same principle why users abandoned FB for the latest new things that feel more special and intimate, like SNAP. Despite all, whether FB denied or admitted as a media company, their situation is hostile. Even now in denial, people hardly believes FB is an objective, non-partisan company after the fake news issue and the speculation of Mark's personal agenda. If admitted so, the financial damage to FB is unimaginable to investors and Mark himself.

Today, social networking experience is no longer limited to the User Interface (UI) or mobility and flexibility, but more or less relevant to "social, emotional and spiritual needs" as Mark Zuckerberg conceded. On the economic effect, FB Ad, a money machine, might only be good at benefitting the rich and ripping off the poor. In this case, the plaintiff is an independent artist in San Francisco, Amanda Kirk, who created a drawing of a smiling sloth proclaiming its life's motto: "Nap all day, sleep all night, party never."; and the defendant is Redbubble, a multi-million dollar publicly trade company. Her most-lifted design has been seeing at targeted ads on FB and IG. However, they weren't coming from her, but an infringement piece distributed and promoted by Redbubble marketplace. Alas, she isn't ready to file a lawsuit against the company because of an exponential financial burden. Since that, she never shared any of her works on social media; those ads paid by Redbubble could still be seen and every click of those counterfeits ad will contribute an extra cent to FB bottom-line profit. Yet again, this is only one of thousand counterfeit cases reported in FB business forum. But as a community leader or business, have FB done sufficient enough to serve and protect their users, other than telling them "hover over" the Ad or Page to filing reports? Another giant bubble (Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the DMCA safe harbor does not apply to trademark infringement claims. Tiffany Inc. v. eBay Inc) FB must take full social responsibility while governing the 1.86M MAUs global village to resolve before it popped. Otherwise, more unhappy users will permanently sign off without notice.

What eventually gonna kill FB isn't any abrupt hindrance, but its own inability reigns over a community with 1.86M people magnitude. The more complexity the platform becomes, the more anticipation their users presume. The psychological "network effect" of users sharing less would only grow stronger and stronger, until the time FB figured out how to repair the broken bridge to humanity. Before then, rest in peace, my beloved Facebook.  

[tomasleexyz]

Do Uncomfortable Things

[tomasleexyz]

Fortune follows the BOLD.

Facebook

[tomasleexyz]

The more complexity it is, the higher expectation there is.

[tomasleexyz]

There are 3 universal symbols on this fucking planet: the dollar sign $, alc % by vol, and calories per serving.

Me

[tomasleexyz]

You can’t be normal and expect abnormal returns.