1415T1g1 Silicon Valley/Participant Information/Reflection/12 Dec
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Microsoft
It was really cool being in Microsoft’s Technology Centre today. The demos with the Kinect was my favourite part. And seeing 3D models for the first time was definitely super cool.
The presentation by Matt was really good too. He focused on the culture and opportunities in SV and provided us with facts and figures to justify just how awesome SV is.
Matt also emphasised on the trend of successful startups having a technical founder who knew not only knew WHAT to do, but HOW to do it (scaling the solution, platform to work on etc.). Therefore, his main proposition was that the technical aspect is very important for startups and therefore works with a team of technical guys to help him and help startups prosper.
Matt also emphasised the the Internet of Things and machine learning are very important trends and factors to consider when thinking about what the future might hold. Machine learning would be especially good for use in the Silicon Valley (just like what Kai said at BitTorrent) to be able to get loads of data, look at the data and get insights from it and improve your solutions. Matt said that was how Cortana worked on recognising user input and providing suggestions.
Quote from Microsoft:
“We are seeing people fail 4, 5, 6, 7 even 8 times before they finally breakthrough.” How do you even have the determination to continue despite so many failures? Passion and technical expertise I would think.
“Who is the first person you would look for when you need help? The person next to you, your friends and closed ones. Your social network of technical entrepreneurs with expertise. And there loads of these kind of people in the Valley."
Serena
The people at Serena are really nice and welcoming. The fact that the CEO came to visit and talk to us, and the preparation of the food and drinks and the gifts for us really made me feel very welcomed at Serena.
Serena is all about change and efficient movement through a life cycle of an application. My main takeaway from Serena was that sometimes you do not have to become an MNC or remain as a small start-up. Sometimes a size of 400 for your company and financial stability is great too.
Stanford
Love the architecture and the hugeness of the campus at Stanford. Despite the coldness and the dark, it was really nice of Monica and the other 2 students to bring us around and finally to the lounge where we got to mingle with NUS students. I got to talk to many of them and learnt about some of the companies they had visited which we did not. They were really friendly and open too, and I liked the dinner mix and mingle session with them.
Once they had left, we all sat around and was talking to Muhammad, Yan Hao and Prof about making it here in the valley (for example by doing your Masters here, finding an internship in the less popular startups) and that we should believe in ourselves that we can do it too, like all the amazing people we have met on our trip thus far. Really hope I will get to work in the valley one day and get to wake up everyday looking forward to the day because I will be doing what I love the most.
Microsoft
Another one of the highlights of the trip: Microsoft provides a wide assortment of services for all industries and businesses. Taking pride in their work and products, their products are everywhere in their facilities. We were lucky to have the General Manager of US DX, Matt Thompson in the facility to give us a talk about how Silicon Valley is and innovation at Microsoft. His point of view is very interesting as he has been to Singapore for many times. His perception gives a clear contrast between Singapore's startup and Silicon Valley's startup. One of the key point that he brought upon that even though Silicon Valley is attaching vast talents from all over the world, there are still people leaving the state when they did not succeed. The Net Foreign Immigration is +19,194 and Net Domestic Migration is -5,428, about a quarter of Net Foreign Immigration. To put things into perspective, for every 4 foreigners that move into the Silicon Valley, 1 will move up. This turnover is tremendous and we can easily observe the upward trend of the continuous influx of talents. The main 2 reasons that Matt brought up is that it is easier to get investments from venture capitalist here and you are surrounded by like-minded people. However, it will be interesting to see that if this will create a bubble and if the bubble will burst in the future not far from now.
Serena
A company that lies in between start-ups and MCNs, Serena provides solutions to customers such as Fortune 5000, StarHub, Boeing, etc. They are very confident that their business model will sustain as enterprises will definitely require their solutions. The key difference between them and the other software solutions is the way they market/brand themselves. They focus on changes and only changes. By offering tools to control change in the various industries, they are able to stay ahead of all competitors by being able to be the first mover. Furthermore, given the speed that the world is changing every second, there has to be a management tool to manage all these simultaneous changes. For MNCs, Change Management is extremely sensitive as one small change made in one area might have a drastic impact on another side of the company/system. Basically, the risk that comes along with changes increases exponentially when the size of the company increases. Working at companies such as Serena is very stable, but you won't get as high of a recognition as a MNC or as much excitement as a startup. Therefore, it might be a great choice for a mid-life choice in changing jobs.
Stanford University | NUS
Stanford University truly matches up to her reputation. This is a place where all the brightest mind in the world gathers. The campus itself is breathtaking, the buildings ranges from ancient Rome styles to modern styles. The sheer size of the campus makes it not walkable and almost all the students are riding bikes. But what truly stuck me is the friendliness of the student here. Despite being one of the best, they do not exhibit any sign of arrogance. On the contrary, they were extremely friendly whenever we approach them for directions. One of the Singaporeans there even walked us all the way from the bus stop to the clubhouse. I am always impressed if someone is smart, but I will be more impressed if they are humble. All in all, Standford is an amazing place with even more amazing people.
Afterwhich, we had a mini gathering with the NUS people and fellow Singaporeans that are studying/working in the Silicon Valley. It was one of the most important nights and dinner as we get to mingle around and speak to people. Listening to the alumni speak about their experiences from SMU all the way to where they are now was inspirational. It makes us have the mindset that if they can do it, we can do it too. Also, it was awesome listening to our fellow peers from NUS talking about their experiences and dreams. It is so aligned with ours. It was amazing to meet them and find out even though we are different, but how similar we actually are.
