Interview with A Founder: Conor McLaughlin (Co-founder of 99.co)
By David Wu (AppWorks Associate)
Conor McLaughlin was previously the Co-founder and CTO of 99.co, the real estate marketplace in Singapore and Indonesia. He spent six and a half years at the startup, whose backers include Sequoia Capital, 500 Startups, and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, helping to grow it into a $100 million company. As a member of AppWorks Accelerator #21, he is currently working on his next big project, a yet-to-be-named language learning startup.
【What advice do you have for first-time founders?】
First, you need to decide: do I want to run a sprint or a marathon? For a sprint, you may be open to acquisition from the beginning, delay non-startup aspects of your life, give yourself two years where you drop everything to test an idea, choose to raise more money earlier on and thus be more diluted, or do anything else that implies a shorter time horizon. Typically 1-5 years - this can lead to a major boon in a short period of time if executed well. If you decide you are in the sprinting business, you will most likely be pushed toward binary outcomes because of how many investors and employees you have on your cap table. As a first-time founder, you need to be clear with yourself on what you are willing to put on the line. As Reid Hoffman says, it’s like jumping off a cliff and building a plane on the way down… hopefully you build a plane in time.
If you are running a marathon, you are deciding that your competitive advantage is consistency over intensity. You are in this for 10, 15 years. With this time horizon, you will realize you need ways to metabolize stress and maintain emotional, spiritual, and mental health. You need to maintain relationships with friends, family, and romantic partners. When you are looking at this 10 year period, you realize the people around you can only put up with so much. Unfortunately, while work is something people can generally bounce back from, there are many things in life where you cannot - an example is your relationship with your partner. If you’re going to run a marathon, you need to be clear with yourself about what time you have for other aspects of your life and what time you have for your company. Eventually you need to learn what the right speed is where you can run as long as possible. It’s amazing how often it is that those people that keep going, assuming you have chosen the right problem to solve, eventually find daylight. Part of that is just lasting long enough.
Second, you need to revisit and continually ask yourself: should I still be running a sprint or a marathon? Circumstances change. Maybe you sprinted for the first two years to secure interesting results and funding; now it's time to transition to a marathon and clean up the life debt a bit. Or inversely, maybe you're finally leaving the trough of sorrow and it's time to sprint for a bit. Most founders will be in a long distance race with periodic sprinting. From my observation, founders most often stop because of two reasons: They either A) run out of money or B) run out of energy. There’s plenty of advice out there for scenario A (hint: don’t). But in my experience, scenario B is far more pernicious and dangerous to would-be successful founders. If you are in a marathon but fail to pace yourself and run it like one long sprint, you are unlikely to make it to the end.
Much founder advice speaks to this: Don’t let your startup make you fat. Exercise 5-10% of the time. Pick up a hobby outside of your startup. Go home for holidays. All of it leads back to one thing: You need to take care of yourself. Because injury will be far worse for your progress than being a little slower. “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast”, as the US Navy Seals say. This is surprisingly difficult advice for intrinsically motivated founders to follow, because in the event of failure, it makes them vulnerable to the thought, “Well, you didn’t work hard enough.” But for those that already have the hustle, your job is to avoid the moment of epiphany where you look in the mirror and think, “This isn’t worth it.”
All founders will have to sacrifice some things. The point is to not sacrifice everything. It will make you more resilient. Not less. It will give you the space to see situations more objectively and make better decisions. And most importantly, it will let you love what you do because it will remind you that the work isn’t just in service of yourself, it’s in the service of others. I do not think you can judge hard work over a day, or even a year, but I do think you can judge hard work over 5-10 years. Hard work is not just about the next 1-2 months. There will be times when you need to run as fast as possible, but if that is happening all the time you are probably not being smart about the situation. So don’t hurt yourself, be consistent, keep disciplined, and keep going.
Lastly, focus on your metaskills. Public speaking, reading, writing - skills applied in every aspect of your life. Generally what they reflect is learning how to think better. As a founder you need to think about - how can I think more clearly, be more creative, rigorous, analytical? As Warren Buffett and others have said: I have never seen a successful person that did not read as often as they could. Actual books and long form scare a lot of people. That’s your competitive advantage. Read blog posts from smart people, follow smart people on Twitter, listen to podcasts. Always be focused on how you can develop yourself to think better. Fostering the habit of improving your thinking will foster discipline in yourself. And discipline will let you turn that rigorous thinking into action.
【I imagine running the “race” has been especially tough this year. How have you gotten through 2020?】
I have leaned on routine and community. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to foster discipline in myself. I make my bed every morning, meditate every morning, make sure that I go to the gym 3-4 times a week. There’s so much uncertainty in both the world and the entrepreneurial space. Keeping certain things consistent gives me a spine to my life that I can fall back on. If I’m not feeling well, my discipline takes over and I’ll go to the gym. That helps me relieve stress - falling back to routine and having some mainstays of consistency and structure.
And community - it’s been the big mental health zeitgeist of this year. Everyone is recognizing that without the people around us, our mental health diminishes. Joining AppWorks was very intentional so I could surround myself with like-minded people who could question me, hold me accountable, and inspire me. And also just forming personal connections where I felt that I was still taking care of my mental health by connecting with others. Being a founder is an incredibly lonely journey. In the early days, there’s not a lot of people around. Later, when you do hire lots of people, you need to be the boss, the leader - for certain things, you can’t tell the employees everything, and even if you do, there will always be a bit of distance. You need people to relate to - people want to be seen for who they are, and appreciated for what they give. When you are a founder, sometimes it’s hard to feel that you are seen. So I intentionally put myself in situations where I can be inspired, be held accountable, and more importantly connect with others, and feel that I’m not alone. And that me and my co-founders are part of a communal journey with those around us.
【When you talk about how to run the race, I get the sense that you’re drawing from previous experiences and, perhaps, mistakes. What are the mistakes you’ve made in your founder journey and the takeaways?】
I think you could take a calendar, point to a random week, and we could list out all the mistakes from that week (laughs). I do subscribe to Steve Jobs’ philosophy: mistakes will happen, but mistakes happening means we are making decisions. Not making decisions is perhaps the biggest mistake. It’s often the reason for frustration, loss of speed, loss of momentum - so many of the issues you encounter in startups. Not making enough mistakes is probably the #1 mistake that I’ve made.
Second, going back to my advice to first-time founders, is not understanding what game I’m playing. Not understanding that all the money in the world is not going to be worth it if your spouse or partner decides to leave you because you have relegated them to a second-class citizen in your life. I think I forgot that at points. There is more to life than just the company.
Third, be careful about who you choose to work with. At minimum, if you’re doing a standard 8-9 hours at the office five times a week, that’s a lot of time with those people. You want to like the people that you work with - you want to know they’re high integrity, you want to respect their values, and you want to have common values. Choosing the right people that give you energy rather than take it away just makes running the marathon so much easier.
【We welcome all AI, Blockchain, or Southeast Asia founders to join AppWorks Accelerator: https://bit.ly/3r4lLR8 】
run for something funding 在 ลงทุนแมน Facebook 的精選貼文
สรุปเรื่อง Japan Airlines ฟื้นหลังล้มละลาย ได้อย่างไร? แบบเข้าใจง่ายๆ /โดย ลงทุนแมน
ถ้าบริษัทเรามีหนี้สินกว่า 690,000 ล้านบาท และกำลังจะล้มละลาย
เราคงถูกมองว่าบ้า ถ้าไปเอาคนที่ไม่มีประสบการณ์ในธุรกิจนั้นมาแก้ปัญหา
แต่เมื่อ 10 ปีก่อน ตอนที่สายการบิน Japan Airlines ใกล้จะล้มละลาย...
Continue ReadingHow does Japan Airlines revive after bankruptcy? Easy to understand / Invest manly
If our company has more than 690,000 million baht debt and is going bankrupt.
We would be considered crazy if we went to get someone who hasn't experienced in business to solve the problem.
But 10 years ago when Japan Airlines were going bankrupt.
Japanese government invites people who have no experience in aviation business to become CEO.
Why would the Japanese government make that decision?
And who was the one who solved the problem for Japan Airlines that day
Invest. Man will tell you about it
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First let's meet Japan Airlines first
Japan Airlines was founded in 1951 by the Japanese government to build Japan's airplane travel network after WWI ended.
First 3 years after Japan Airlines serving only in Japan.
Before 1954, Japan Airlines began to serve first international flights in Tokyo-Honolulu-San Francisco
Year 1961 Japan Airlines is listed on the Stock Exchange of Japan.
Year 1987 Japan Airlines was privatized from cuddle state enterprises into private companies to provide more agility and profitable capacity.
Japan Airlines has an advantage of many rival airlines as companies have lower loan costs than other airlines. The company not only loans to expand businesses easily, but also to sell tickets below many airlines to attract passengers to service.
But easy access to Japan Airlines funding source is like a double-edged sword because the company started to invest in hotel, resort, or mother, but tour company which is not about the core business of the company.
Japan Airlines employees say that one of the hotels in the USA that the company bought has full customers every year for 30 years. This hotel is not profitable for Japan Airlines..
And it seems that business risk distribution is not working on this airline.
As passengers start to decrease in economic conditions, as the competition in the airline business gradually increases disaster with companies.
Year 2009, the company experienced a financial crisis that it must go into a plan to restore bankruptcy. At that time, this airline has a total debt of 690,000 million baht more than Thai Airways debt. At the moment, it's almost 3 times more until the company's shares are taken Leaving the Japanese Stock Exchange in 2010
Of course, with this burden of debt, there will be no agency except government to help this airline from falling in front of the Japanese government. However, one of the caveats of the Japanese government after putting money is the top executive to run Japan Airlines must be the one who chooses the government. Come by myself only
For the reason the government said at that time, ′′ We must choose the right one first because it is very necessary to fix this airline's problem
Many people predict who is the one who will come to Kriti this time?
Finally, the minister of Japan's Ministry of Transport in those days invited was Mr. Kazuo Inamori, a 78 year old man at that time.
So who is this guy?
Mr. Kazuo Inamori is the founder of Kyocera, currently a multi-business company, electronic parts, office equipment, car parts, electric devices.
Interestingly, this is a profitable company every year since it was founded in 1959, so it's not strange that this guy is recognized as the ′′ father of corporate management
However.
Many questions come back from this decision of Japanese government and few people believe that inexperienced men in airline business can solve the heavy problems of this airline.
Other than that, your people around Kazuo Inamori tell him not to throw away his reputation with Japan Airlines. At this age, he better get some rest in peace.
But for Mr. Kazuo Inamori, he thinks that he needs to help this airline. If he let Japan Airlines fall, it will not only affect the country's economy, but also the appearance, confidence, including nearly 5 thousand companies employees who lose their jobs.
Many people may think that Kazuo Inamori must earn a very high salary to work as CEO to solve this airline crisis.
But actually his condition in getting this job is that he doesn't claim a single salary from Japan Airlines..
Problem he encounters after coming in is that there is a party divided by corporations. There is an internal political system.
Importantly, when he talks to the executives, the shocking number of people don't know how much money each flight department makes for the company.
So the first thing he does is to make everyone in the company know that in 1 years Japan Airlines will go bankrupt if everyone doesn't help each other and have to adjust the idea. Everyone is Japan Airlines. It's the highest service business not just the aviation business.
The one who will impress customers is the company employee.
So he has to make all levels of staff understand what he thinks by talking to the staff himself. Since the ticket salesman, the purse staff is not just the flight attendant.
He also uses Amoeba management system. That's a system that helps determine how much each department makes and how much it costs to work in each department.
When he knows something unnecessary, he cuts all those expenses, including non-profit flight routes.
In addition, the price tags of every product that the company bought so the deployed people will know how much the cost of each company is.
From your hard work, Kazuo Inamori made this airline from a loss of 19,000 million Baht in 2009 Japan Airlines began to profit in 2012 and made the company's shares back to be registered on the Japanese Stock Exchange again this year.
So what is the latest Japan Airlines performance?
Year 2017 Income 415,000 million baht. Profit 40,600 million baht.
Year 2018 Income 446,100 million baht. Profit 45,200 million baht.
Even this year, Japan Airlines should also be affected by the COVID-19 plague.
But going through obstacles and restoration of the organization in the past should help the company go through this crisis again.
And today Japan Airlines has a profit of accumulated over 247,000 million baht.
Currently, the value of Japan Airlines is equal to 191,000 million Baht. Our Thai Airways is about 19 times more..
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Follow and invest manly at
Website - longtunman.com
Blockdit-blockdit.com/longtunman
Facebook-@[113397052526245:274: lngthun mæn]
Twitter - twitter.com/longtunman
Instagram-instagram.com/longtunman
Line - page.line.me/longtunman
YouTube - youtube.com/longtunman
References
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines
-https://www.jal.com/en/investor/highlight/
-https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/JAPSY?p=JAPSY
-https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/ALNPY/
-https://global.kyocera.com/inamori/profile/episode/episode10.html
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyocera
-https://www.jal.com/en/investor/library/information/
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpmX3BrLn-E
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JW_Marriott_Essex_HouseTranslated
run for something funding 在 Ruby 老師 Facebook 的最佳貼文
你們有認真上課嗎?XD
[English Time] "hang" 和 "word" 的用法
hang這個單字本是「懸吊、掛上」的意思,但口語中(最常見的是Hang in there!) ,卻有很多運用跳脫了它的本意,形成相當有趣的句子。
例: How's it hanging? (最近過得如何?) / What's up?
解說: hang這個字用在問候時,可以表達出雙方的親近,最常見的句型就是How's it hanging?。
例:Can you hang on the phone? (可以請您稍等一下嗎?)
例: Can you hang on for just a minute?
解說: 在電話交談中,請對方稍等一下,通常會說 hang on a minute。hang on本身也有「緊緊抓住」的意思,所以若說hang on the phone,容易解釋為「緊抓住電話」。
例:I hung out with my friends, Jessie, Helen and Zoey last night. (昨晚我和我的朋友-潔西、海倫和柔依在一起。)
解說: hang out 是一個很口語的用法,指單純跟幾個朋友在一起「廝混、閒聊」。請注意hang的變化形為 hang-hung-hung。(但hang 解作「被吊死、施以絞刑」時,變化形為hang-hanged-hanged)
例:You’re getting the hang of it! (你抓到訣竅了!)
解說: 當你學習某樣技巧,感覺自己抓到要領時,可以用get the hang of something來表達。 容易出錯之處是誤把 hang 寫成hand(手)。
例: Students are hanging on the teacher's lips. 學生們正全神貫注地聽著老師的每一句話。
解說:由於hang on有「緊抓、握住不放」之意,因此衍生出 hang on somebody's every word/lips這個慣用語,指「仔細專注地聆聽某人的每一句話」。
----------------------------
和老外聊天時,聽到他回"Word",別再傻問什麼字!因為......
James星期天去參加同事的Party,星期一和他和外籍同事聊起來:I was happy yesterday evening on Mary's party.(昨天晚上瑪麗的聚會上很開心。)
"Word." 外籍同事說了一個字就停住。
一時以為自己沒聽清楚是什麼「字」,James還想問"What word?"同事繼續了:"I haven't had so much fun in a while."很久沒這麼開心了。
原來這個word並不是指什麼字,而是"You're so right.",「對極了」的意思。
當別人說了一個想法,你完全同意,就可以用單一個字"word"或是片語 "word up",表示完全同意。用法很簡單又有新鮮感。例如:
A:The meeting was so well run that I did not hear of any glitches.(會議進行的很順利,完全沒有瑕疵。)
B:Word up!(完全同意。)
"Word up" 除了當完全同意之外,也有人用來打招呼,相當於"What's the word?"或"What's happening?"
和word相關的道地用法,大家較熟悉的有eat one's words(承認錯誤、收回前言)和 break one's word(不守承諾),再來看幾個相關的表達。記得要和一個字「混熟」,多讀幾次後試著造句,想辦法讓這幾個片語融入你的口語中:
1. put in a good word for 幫人說情、美言
If my client puts in a good word for me, the boss may decide to give me another chance.(要是我客戶為我說情,老闆可能會決定再給我一次機會。)
2.Word for word 一字不差地
This is, word for word, the message he gave me.(這就是他叫我帶的口信,一個字也不差。)
3.….the word for it 不足以形容
Angry is not the word for it, I was furious. (豈只是生氣,我是氣瘋了。)
4.From the word go 一開始
The project had problems with funding right from the word go.(這個計劃一開始就有資金的問題。)
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