Difference between revisions of "1415T1g1 Silicon Valley/Participant Information/Reflection/9 Dec"
(→Safi) |
Tyzhang.2012 (talk | contribs) (→TengYu) |
||
| Line 422: | Line 422: | ||
<!-- START OF REFLECTION --> | <!-- START OF REFLECTION --> | ||
<div style="width: 70%; margin-left: 20px; float: left; padding: 20px; "> | <div style="width: 70%; margin-left: 20px; float: left; padding: 20px; "> | ||
| − | <div style="font-size: 20px"> | + | <div style="font-size: 20px">Day 03. - Two's A Company; Three's A Crowd</div> |
| − | <div> | + | <div> |
| + | <b>Twitch</b> | ||
| + | I couldn't contain my excitement when it comes to Twitch; it is a gamers heaven. An avid recreational gamer myself, it was very easy to relate to how interesting it would be to do something you like/love so much as a career. The common phrase that we hear is, "Yes you may have something that you like, but at the end of the day, you have to put food on the dining table". This mentality, even though it is the harsh truth, shouldn't be the barrier that stop us from pursing our passion and yet earning a decent living. Throughout the entire journey, our host kept emphasising on the word "Passion", which is a rare term to hear that associates employees with their companies. Everyone in the company plays games and the culture is very unique. On some days, they may even spend 70% of their time playing some form of games without much worry of their backs. This is the exact reason of why the company is so successful. What better way to test out your system then to use it yourself in the shoe of an actual customer? One of the most interesting aspect of the company is that they provide a platform for their clients (the gaming companies such as EA, Blizzard, etc) to gain immediate and 'real-life' feedback on their games by simply tuning in to the channels. With this, the companies are able to spot the flaws/mistakes and put out the fire before it even escalates. All this is done without having to actually conduct the analytics on the data and send them over to their clients, which makes the entire process much more efficient. At the end of the day, every time we talk past a employee, their eyes sparkle with passion when they talk about their work or company. They have a great sense of pride in what they do and are very eager to serve the entire gaming community all over the world, It was truly an extraordinary experience. | ||
| + | <br><br> | ||
| + | |||
| + | <b>BitTorrent</b> | ||
| + | Torrent: a word that everyone loves but the governments/distributors hate. What really intrigued me is how the technology works. The founder actually broke out of the conventional way of simple FTP in order to provide a faster way of file transferring. By breaking the file into chunks and storing them with various downloaders' computer, they saved on the cost of holding servers and also the cost of maintaining a cloud database. One of their quote is "How can you data in the cloud go missing if there is no cloud?". With the rampant of questions targeting towards safe and secure file transferring, their solution of allowing anonymous file sharing (BitTorrent Sync) will be a great hit especially with those who are severely concerned about their privacy. Interestingly, our host is also from Singapore Management University (SMU) with a double major in Finance and Corporate Communications. However, he realised that what he does not benefit the greater good of a bigger population, and as a result he decided to be a data scientist instead and pick up the ropes as he moves along. It is very interesting to talk to him to find out more about how manage to conduct a career switch for different industries, and this is something we don't get from most Asians. Furthermore, the entire company is very open-minded and they encourage initiative and innovation for relevant or irrelevant results. Good ideas will be sincerely considered by the Senior Executives; This encourages employees to take part more in the company and have a sense of purpose in their company. | ||
| + | </div> | ||
</div> | </div> | ||
<!-- END OF REFLECTION --> | <!-- END OF REFLECTION --> | ||
| Line 432: | Line 439: | ||
<div style="position: absolute; top: 10px; right: 10px; width: 50px; height: 20px; overflow: hidden"> | <div style="position: absolute; top: 10px; right: 10px; width: 50px; height: 20px; overflow: hidden"> | ||
<div style="margin-top: -4em"> | <div style="margin-top: -4em"> | ||
| + | |||
==<div>YiHao</div>== | ==<div>YiHao</div>== | ||
</div> | </div> | ||
Revision as of 19:33, 10 December 2014
Twitch TV is a very interesting company bringing a very peculiar concept to the world of gaming by letting people watch gamers play their game and give commentary.
We only used to have video clips of players playing a game on YouTube. I would admit watching them to figure out how to succeed a particular level when I'm stuck. However with twitch you can see it in real time and get the players comment and discuss the game with the players.
The company itself was quite interesting. Made up of people passionate to it's core business model, gaming the staff of twilio are gamers and they also remember to game while working. Being passionate about their games here means that they will dedicate a lot of efforts into making twilio into a good product. I learn that to speak to gamers you have to be a gamer yourself your self fully understand the needs of gamers to fully deliver a product that they want.
At the same time however, we get to see the benefits it brings to other companies such as gaming companies. They get to view how well people enjoy their games and how they can further improve the games.
BitTorrent. BitTorrent is an interesting technology that I started using when I was 15 years old, about ten years ago. BitTorrent was popular after the closure of kazaa similar peer to peer file sharing. However, little is known that BitTorrent has also services that generate revenues.
The company sits on a very interesting technology that has no rivals. In a way it is sitting on a monopoly that has yet to seen a worth rival. I think that's one of the few things that make BitTorrent special.
As all companies, it aims to make money out of its products. For example, bundles. Bundles help artist skip the middle man and directly sell their works to the public. BitTorrent then takes a 10% cut. I think that this is a smart move by them as this way they know that by letting artist sell at a price and directly, many many people will get to purchase it. So the 10% earned from each sale will actually grow. While this move by BitTorrent is smart, as mentioned by Kai however is that the industry and market has yet to see a price point that everyone is willing to pay. BitTorrent has been successful enough to gather big stars into Bundle, they will need to worry about the price that people are willing to pay for songs off the internet. BitTorrent has to find a way to protect itself when the industry finds a price that can be very low. For instance, apple is now charging 99 cents for music, yet according to Kai it’s not a price that consumers are willing to pay.
Twitch.tv – Filling the market gap
Twitch is one of the novel tech companies. Their service is unparalleled by any other existing video/game streaming services. There was a market gap for video streaming and Justin.tv (former Twitch) was able to fulfill the demands of numerous gamers and game content creators. This clearly shows the reason for success of many tech startups. They identify a market gap and provide original and unique solutions for the users. This is akin to the success of other tech start-ups like PayPal, Facebook, etc. In addition, although twitch office has a culture of gaming the environment at the office seemed professional and serious.
BitTorrent – Lessons for technopreneurs
The company has availed itself from illegal profits and has proven itself as a reputable content distribution service provider on top of the BitTorrent protocol created by it’s founder.
“Engineers just build stuff for the world!” ~ Kai BitTorrent Analyst, SMU Alumni. This is very true. Many a time engineers and developers like scientists, but unlike inventors have the mindset of making the world a better place. Although monetary benefits is part of their agenda, their motive and intention is far greater. This is something that every aspiring technopreneurs should learn. The ultimate goal should be to provide a service to the people who use the technology. Financial goal should be secondary.
BitTorrent’s financial growth is mostly attributed to their mundane but working business model coupled with a strong user base. Although their business model is not a full-proof profit maximizing strategy, BitTorrent is still able to obtain a decant profit as a tech company. This is another valuable lesson for technopreneurs; Focus on the users first and think about monetization later. But, yes, it’ll still be great to have a plausible business model from the beginning.
Twitch
I couldn't contain my excitement when it comes to Twitch; it is a gamers heaven. An avid recreational gamer myself, it was very easy to relate to how interesting it would be to do something you like/love so much as a career. The common phrase that we hear is, "Yes you may have something that you like, but at the end of the day, you have to put food on the dining table". This mentality, even though it is the harsh truth, shouldn't be the barrier that stop us from pursing our passion and yet earning a decent living. Throughout the entire journey, our host kept emphasising on the word "Passion", which is a rare term to hear that associates employees with their companies. Everyone in the company plays games and the culture is very unique. On some days, they may even spend 70% of their time playing some form of games without much worry of their backs. This is the exact reason of why the company is so successful. What better way to test out your system then to use it yourself in the shoe of an actual customer? One of the most interesting aspect of the company is that they provide a platform for their clients (the gaming companies such as EA, Blizzard, etc) to gain immediate and 'real-life' feedback on their games by simply tuning in to the channels. With this, the companies are able to spot the flaws/mistakes and put out the fire before it even escalates. All this is done without having to actually conduct the analytics on the data and send them over to their clients, which makes the entire process much more efficient. At the end of the day, every time we talk past a employee, their eyes sparkle with passion when they talk about their work or company. They have a great sense of pride in what they do and are very eager to serve the entire gaming community all over the world, It was truly an extraordinary experience.
BitTorrent Torrent: a word that everyone loves but the governments/distributors hate. What really intrigued me is how the technology works. The founder actually broke out of the conventional way of simple FTP in order to provide a faster way of file transferring. By breaking the file into chunks and storing them with various downloaders' computer, they saved on the cost of holding servers and also the cost of maintaining a cloud database. One of their quote is "How can you data in the cloud go missing if there is no cloud?". With the rampant of questions targeting towards safe and secure file transferring, their solution of allowing anonymous file sharing (BitTorrent Sync) will be a great hit especially with those who are severely concerned about their privacy. Interestingly, our host is also from Singapore Management University (SMU) with a double major in Finance and Corporate Communications. However, he realised that what he does not benefit the greater good of a bigger population, and as a result he decided to be a data scientist instead and pick up the ropes as he moves along. It is very interesting to talk to him to find out more about how manage to conduct a career switch for different industries, and this is something we don't get from most Asians. Furthermore, the entire company is very open-minded and they encourage initiative and innovation for relevant or irrelevant results. Good ideas will be sincerely considered by the Senior Executives; This encourages employees to take part more in the company and have a sense of purpose in their company.
