Our first post on Women 2.0! I wrote a few words to share my experience starting a tech-based company without a tech partner. I hope this will be helpful to you and please feel free to reach out @arumkang for questions.
How to Start a Tech Company Without a Tech Partner
Check our video out! This is us, Coffee Meets Bagel in a minute :)
Ugly Betty may not be the best girl to go to for dating advice but, she got me thinking the other day.
Here’s what triggered my thoughts…
“I’ve had to say goodbye more times than I’ve liked, but everyone can say that. And no matter how many times we do it, even when it’s for the greater good, it still stings. And though we’ll never forget what we’ve given up, we owe it to ourselves to keep moving forward. What we can’t do is live our lives always afraid of the next goodbye, because chances are they’re not going to stop. The trick is to recognize when a goodbye can be a good thing; when it’s a chance to start again.” –Ugly Betty
I’m a believer of “LOVE CONQUERS ALL” and Betty Suarez here is saying we sometimes have to let our loved one go for the “greater good’? I agree there are certain situations that can be difficult in keeping a relationship- long distance in many cases or friends and family’s disapproval (I’m throwing possible situations out there). However, no matter how difficult the situation is, if the two love each other and have the patience and strength to fight through, there is no need to part ways. I say “recognizing when a goodbye can be a good thing” is an excuse and is a way of giving up on the relationship.
Why can’t people love hard even if it entails heartaches and fighting through challenging times?
What do you think? Is this a cowardly excuse to get a chance to start anew OR is there really a GOOD goodbye?
How can I complain when we have 50 something degree weather in mid February? As I was strolling around west village the other day- more like speed walking around town trying to get things done on time, I couldn’t help but notice all the show windows were filled with BRIGHT colors. It hit me then that spring is right around the corner!
While I was plowing through each day to live my life to the fullest, Spring has snuck up on me…but what a pleasant surprise it was.
I’ll give you the truth–
I’m not a dating expert with a Ph.D in what, Psychology? is that what most dating experts have?
I’m not a sex columnist who can suggest 1000 different sex positions.
But, I’m a young woman living in the city who’s trying to figure things out for herself like everyone else here. This city is bachelor’s heaven with overflowing beautiful and smart women and I’m trying to survive amongst them! Hopefully I won’t be brutally crushed under their Louboutin heels, but hey I have a pair too. I see how this city can be awesome for singles but also see how great it would be for couples. My girlfriend and I always say, “This place is so cute, you should come here when you’re on a date,” or “I want to come here with a guy, not you!”
There’s definitely a hint of bitterness but more of excitement in knowing there’s more to come for us singles in New York. So there it is- we’re all in this together in finding great company.
Let’s see how spring brightens up our black/gray wardrobe and hope for more. Grab a cup of coffee, relax and enjoy the ride.
It’s that time of the year again. You may have noticed a surge in people joining online dating sites and studies on online dating lately. It’s no coincidence that it’s around Valentine’s Day, perhaps the most polarizing holiday in the Western world. Either it’s the most romantic or the most depressing day of the year. Like me, there are a lot of people out there stuck without a date. That shouldn’t bring you down, though. It all really comes down if you think the glass is half empty or half full.
For those optimistic about finding a date at the last minute, Valentine’s Day is only a few days away and, although it does not seem like a lot of time, you may still get lucky. Single people don’t go away over night. There are still some subtle things you can do to get a date, even if it isn’t on V-Day. Subtle cues can attract a date from a mile away. Wearing red is not only lucky but has been proven to attract a member of the opposite sex (or the same-sex as well, depending how you roll). If you take the person you’re interested in to a place with a higher temperature, that can also increase your chances of having a successful date.
Then again, you shouldn’t put pressure on yourself. Don’t let it get to you that you don’t have a date. Take some time on V-Day to focus on the most important person of all: yourself. It sounds cheesy but depression never really helped anyone. In fact, depression can lead to an awful lot of health complications down the line. Instead of wallowing in sorrow and playing Aimee Mann songs, go out and live a little. In the grand scheme of things, V-Day is just another day of the week, albeit with some baggage attached to it.
Like the proverbial glass of water, it really is what you make of it. Personally, I believe that Valentine’s Day is a manufactured holiday, much like that terrible movie that came out a couple of years ago. You don’t need a day to tell you that you have to find someone to love or treat the one you love to a great night out. For my fellow single people out there, you aren’t forever alone when everyone else is in the same boat. For those that have a date, I wish you luck in getting a dinner reservation if you haven’t booked one by now.
Startup Living: Startup Lessons for Beginners (Learned the Hard Way)
Startups are hard. If there is one piece of advice that will help you overcome, it’s learn from your mistakes. That way, fail or succeed, you will always be moving forward.
Connectsy was a mobile app my Co-Founder and I launched with plans to take on the world. A year later, Connectsy is no more….
I read this several weeks ago but I really like it and have been thinking about it a lot so want to post it here for a reminder for myself.
It’s a post by Jason Freedman. You can read it here.
I often get distracted and think about all kinds of things that I need to look into, like talking to investors, getting terms and conditions right, making connections etc. That’s all you read in the startup world online so it makes me nervous that I might not be spending enough time doing that. But honestly, Jason is right. Customers don’t care how you build the product—they care about the product. So let’s focus on that.
I also realized that when people tell me “you need to be out there and talking to potential investors”—there are different degrees of “talking” that you can do. For example, our product is not out yet so I’m very hesitant about talking to anyone that I don’t know about the business in details. I often struggle with how much information I should reveal, and whenever I politely give a vague-enough answer, I end up feeling a bit awkward. But the more I engaged in such conversation, the more I realized that people are often okay with this vague answer, and there are still a lot of critical feedback that I can get from talking generally about industry problems and solutions.
So by “talking to investors” it’s not necessarily that you talk to them or pitch to them about your business. It’s talking to them about your interest, your passion, your industry, your insights etc. And just being around to keep yourself familiar in the scene. That’s what it is.
Even as I write this, it is still somewhat hard for me to “talk” to strangers at networking events without being able to really “talk” to them about my product. But it’s definitely more clear now.
I met with my old professor this week to show him and discuss with him about Coffee Meets Bagel. To be honest, I have been wanting to talk to him for a while but just kept putting it off for one reason or another, mostly being “I need to show him a better version” “when I’m ready” etc. The 20 minutes I had with him frankly was one of the most valuable feedback I have gotten so far from anyone about this product. And frankly some of the points he made, I sooo wished I had gotten them 2 months ago. So here are some reflection:
Reflection 1: Advisors can add tremendous value. And I don’t mean Board of Advisors or formal Mentors etc. In fact, the word ‘advisor’ might not even the right word in this context. When I say advisor, I mean just people with real knowledge and experience relating to your business. It could be a professor who has done a lot of research in this area, entrepreneur who has gone through it, or a smart friend who uses similar product and who has thought about the industry etc. And all you really need is 15-20 minutes. Phone/In-person whatever doesn’t matter.
Reflection 2: Just ask. And early. I have to admit, this one is a little harder for me to followup. I suck at asking. I’m happy to help anyone so I don’t know why I suck at asking but I think this is a function of how I grew up—extremely independently. Anyway, just ask. Just ask. Don’t be afraid to ask. I have to remind myself of this.
The best thing of course that happened from the meeting is that he LOVED our product! :) Can’t wait to get it out.
Hunch, intuition, gut-feeling, voice whispering in your ears—whatever you may call it, I have experienced, repeatedly, many instances when my first intuition proved to be right.
In this interesting study conducted by Psychologist and Villanova University Associate Professor Rebecca J. Brand, women could intuitively evaluate men’s physical attractiveness from their written online profiles. Without photos, they were asked to evaluate men’s attractiveness from their writing. The result—the women actually didn’t need photos to to discern which ones are attractive.
This Huffington Post article does not include the details of how these women evaluated men’s attractiveness and how much it correlated with the actual attractiveness of the photos. The interpretation is that women are generally attracted to confident men, and the confidence level is reflected in men’s writing. And because our looks/attractiveness impact our confidence level, the more confident you are, the likely that you are attractive.
I find it fascinating that even in such short online profiles, such deeply personal traits can be analyzed. More interesting question would be whether this would apply if done among men. I don’t think for women, being attractive necessarily translates to confidence. In fact, a lot of attractive women I know are insecure. Also, I am not sure if men will be able to pick up on these subtle cues. It would be an interesting study.
I read a very interesting, funny and also insightful article on The Spec on online dating. As a single, 31-year old male, Frank tried both paid service, e-harmony and Plenty of Fish. I’m not sure why he chose e-harmony over match. You can read the full story here but this pretty much summarizes it.
e-harmony:
“The user experience was phenomenal. All the matches came into my inbox. If there was mutual interest, we’d proceed with the guided communication. This was four-step process generated by eHarmony where you had the opportunity to get comfortable with your match until you were ready to take it offline.
And therein lay the reason I stopped using eHarmony. Having two presumably mature adults getting to know one another via a Q&A computer template seemed abnormal. I could have been more patient, and the website does tell you that it may take up to a year to meet your perfect match, but this site just wasn’t for me. I wanted my online dating experience to mimic real world dating as much as possible.”
Plenty of Fish:
“Dating on a free site is about being active. You have to put in the time and that means logging on several times a day and chatting with someone who may or may not be who she claims to be.
Although it’s exciting to meet dozens of attractive single women every day, it can also be a bit scary. Let’s just say not everyone I’ve chatted with was single or even a woman. This is where pay sites have a distinct advantage — the security.”
His conclusion clearly highlights the painful limitations of online dating sites, which therefore forces users to make tradeoffs.
“If you place a monetary value on your time and user experience, and if the added security features are important to you, then registering with a pay site is the way to go.
Conversely, a free site may be more your style if you’re willing to sift through hundreds of profiles and you enjoy the freedom of choice. I see value in both.”
And I’m here thinking, why do we have to make this choice? Why is it that unless you pay substantial amount of money, you can’t get the security you want at the fraction of time you must invest currently in free dating sites?
Just wait. I think Coffee Meets Bagel might have just the right solution. :)