1718T2 Silicon Valley/Reflection/Day5

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REFLECTION

Day 5

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Reflections

Student Name	FLYR	Blk71	Twitch	Zendesk
Adeline Jong	Andrew shared that being entrepreneur is not an end destination. Eventually you want to pursue what you are trying to innovate, disruption, change problem, entrepreneurship means to do that. It is more meaningful than pursuing the name of being a founder of startup.	The industry is shifting from product to service. They shared that companies should using non metric way of measuring their human resources. As IT people, we tend to think that we need to build everything before start something. Entrepreneurs should constantly question what we are doing and you are doing. Partnering with the right people is important. Investors would actually choose strong team rather than high revenue startups. Failing fast, get up fast and learn it fast, fail forward.	Twitch differentiates from competitor by knowing the community by name of those creators who are in partnership with Twitch. He has given me a new perspective on the streaming industry because there is value in live content because of interaction at real time. The future vision of online streaming is where there is fan engagement and control player. Some technologies incorporate in live streaming by twitch were voice AI, twitch aws.	Zendesk is able to have a comparative advantage over their competitors because they are able to scale up and accept big clients. Their revenue model is to charge per agent user using their product. They are able to build a sustainable model hence are successful in the market.
Andrew Tay	Don't get carried away from personal delusionals such as having a name card that says Founder next to your title when starting a startup. Have an idea that would be transformative instead	Even though after the failure the product maybe dissolved. But the network, the lessons will remain. So, do fail fast, fail often, but definitely fail forward.	The name twitch came about when Starcraft was a popular segment on Justin.TV. In Starcraft you players move their mouse multiple times in a short span of time, hence the name twitch.	Worry not about competition but about your own product. If your customers wants to leave let them leave.
Benedict Wee	I learn that to be an entrepreneur “you need to learn not get carried away by delusional ego and stick with a path that truly inspire you” and the first priority when starting a company is that you need ask yourself what are you doing it for? Are you here for the interest, passion or money? Are they going to lead one part of the company one day?	I learn that Southeast Asia market is a very young market with a lot of opportunities and have the ability to grow as having a market share of the local market enable to attracts companies in the Silicon Valley who will want to penetrate in and also “Never stop dreaming and look out for opportunities and learn from all these experiences“ as “Passion will give you perseverance and direction and execute on your passion”	I learn that Twitch value their creators as “You are not just a number on the spreadsheet to us, twitch bring the human factor involved which is more human related like they will celebrate your birthday” and one important quote i learn is that “Figure out what you don’t like in life so you won’t do that. It is ok to mess up but continue exploring as you wont get it right the first time”	“90% of the revenue comes from support” for Zendesk, where they are able to let their clients let them scale their business and enable customisation of pre-response to cater to different keywords of what the user types
Claire Teo	It is true many seem to say that their end goal is to be an entrepreneur, however entrepreneurial is indeed a mean to an end and as an aspirating entrepreneur, we should always ask ourselves what we want to achieve.	Today's session at block 71 made me reflect on myself. I've always told people about how I'm interested to be an entrepreneur, share ideas with my friends, go for all the entrepreneurship talks, but yet, have I actually progressed towards my goal? Like typical Singaporeans, am I just all talk but take no action? Was I afraid of the risk of failure, or do I not what I truly want for myself? What do I eventually want to achieve being an entrepreneur and what am I truly passionate about? I think these are the things I would like to take it back tonight and reflect upon it. Actions make a difference, not ideas.		there will definitely be competition if ones idea is good and I think what's important is for a company to know what is their unique selling proposition. As much as there could be other companies that may replication what zendesk is doing, they are clear about what they bring to the table which are scalability, simplicity and machine learning.
Clara Chong	“It’s meaningless to aspire to be an entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur is a means to an end.” Our career aspirations should be motivated by solving a world/local need/problem that we truly care about trying to solve, not some egoistic label of being a founder.	“Keep looking for opportunities, they won’t just come to you. You need to work hard but also look hard!” Doing your best has an added level of taking lots of initiative to find the right opportunities for yourself!	“Not a number on a spreadsheet.” Although Kevin meant this in respect to how Twitch is such a successful platform for its creators, I think it also serves as a key reminder to maintain sincere relationships with our users, employees and other stakeholders in doing any business including startups.	“The muji of customer experience software” Design is at the center of Zendesk which is what its users value. Without a great product design, users would not be able to understand the product which renders it useless.
Clarissa Poedjiono	“Being an entrepreneur is not a destination but a means” FLYR’s technology revolves around data science, travel, and fintech. It successfully tapped on the area that bridges the needs of the aviation companies and its consumers. From the visit, I learn a lot that being an entrepreneur should not be the end goal in mind but we have to have a clear idea of what changes we want to make in the society and being an entrepreneur is only one of the means to realize it.	“Fail fast but fail forward.” To open up a new start up, we must be able to capture the opportunity and always experiment responsibly and learn from our mistakes. We need to never stop dreaming without forgetting to reflect on the experiences. Moreover, Southeast Asia is already known to people in the bay to be the upcoming unicorn where the startup scene is flourishing and we have the competitive advantage of having a firsthand knowledge of what is going on in the region and it would be good to make a full use of it.	“You might not know what you want for your career but you must find out what you don’t like”. Twitch is a tool for people to have a voice. Twitch has had collaboration with universities to teach students to be content creators and it was said that the key success of being a creator is to have a branding and consistency.	Zendesk acquired a start up in Singapore that manages customer service experience. It leverages on the fact that the existing CRM software is very difficult to use. Currently, Zendesk has successfully established a worldwide presence by focusing on this area of technology.
Derrick Lee Ming Yang	Andrew was a pretty cool chap that gave me a glimpse to the airlines industry and the problems faced by both providers and consumers. All of which can be solved using technology, understanding data science specifically.	I really enjoyed networking with the different founders and the vast difference in opinions when asked about SV’s mantra of Fail fast, fail often.	It was really cool to hear about how Twitch supports their content creators down to managing the relationship itself as well as constantly enabling creators to maximise revenue.	The potential for scalability in ZenDesk is a key factor to why consumers choose ZenDesk.
Eustace Zheng	“It is always best to gain experiences revolving both large institutions & startups before starting something up yourself” this struck me really hard because we often hear advice such as starting something new as young as possible, this is something different	“The next up and coming market would be the South East Asia one as opposed to the well known Silicon Valley, do not be disillusioned by the area but be assertive to know which market fits your needs”	Always be more on the ground & form close partnerships with the community you are targeting, that will be a great differentiating factor.	Worry not about the competition but instead worry about your own product, if your customer decides to leave, it means you are doing something inadequately
Felix Wu	Do not get carried away by ego and grandeur when doing a startup. Entrepreneur is not a goal. It’s a means to achieve a goal. Start with a goal/dream/objective/disruptive idea. Data may not be that difficult to acquire as you believe. You just need to talk to the right people (airlines have a dedicated team to look into innovation to increase revenue)	Fail fast, fail often, fail forward. Learn from past mistakes Action is better than inaction. Prioritize core of business to test validity. With each failure comes learning and experience and resources. Take more risks while you’re still young. We are better than we think we are, put yourself out there more to learn, grow and stretch	Stream hosting is really a very interesting concept. Stream hosting lending another person your viewers/network. It helps Twitch build the online community between streamers. It also increases the chance of discovery which benefits the watchers. Trends in media consumption. TV (scheduled screening)->YouTube (video on demand)->Twitch (community involvement in watching). Future of Twitch: move beyond games category. Possibly looking into sports and education.	Zendesk motto/vision: “Becoming the muji of software customer support”. Price is not the most important thing for clients. Zendesk charges their clients more but better caters to their needs and wants which has led to their rapid growth as an organization
Student Name	FLYR	Blk71	Twitch	Zendesk
Goh Jia Yi Timothy	Machine learning algorithm that can forecast and provides a flexible fare flight protection for consumers.	Very interactive experience with lots of ideas and experiences being shared!	Every gamers dream company to broadcast and to bring change to the gaming community	Interesting customer relationship management concept that is extremely scalable and able to provide service that enhances consumer loyalty.
Goh Jin Qiang	Do things because u like it and not because of the fame	Be open to opportunity - You will never know where it might leads you to	Transforming the next generation of peer education, content creators can also become ‘professors’	Listen to your customers not your competitors
Jacquelyn See
Jamie Chew	Simply wanting to be an entrepreneur is not good enough of a career goal. We have to be specific in knowing what kind of impact we want to make this world.	“Fail fast, fail forward”. The visit to Blk 71 has left me very inspired. As a Singaporean, I grew up under a lot of pressure to go towards a certain route - study hard, grow up, get a job and support my own family. However, having met people who went through different paths, such as attending schools, internships or even living in America, I feel particularly encouraged to be bold and to never stop dreaming of achieving greater heights.In Singapore, there’s a social stigma involving the startup scene - we are very hard on failure and entrepreneurial spirit is much lower. In Silicon Valley, it’s really about failing fast, learning while you can. There is a strong support system, so there’s a lot of connections and people who can share and help support your dream. There are several points of reflection through this visit, but my main takeaway for myself would be: “Dream high. Work hard. Don’t sweat it.”	“You are not just a number on the spreadsheet to us. “ For many big data companies, clients are just numbers on the spreadsheets. Personally, I feel that Twitch’s emphasis on the people (internally and externally) is what makes their success today. It is truly remarkable that just four years ago, they had 150 employees, and today, Twitch has grown into a 1500-men team.	Having used Zopim’s services in 2015 during my internship, it was fun to visit Zendesk to understand how they have acquired and integrated it into their solutions. I love its vibrant company culture and heavy emphasis on interaction design, and I am keen to explore career/internship opportunities with them in future.
Jared Sim	when thinking of the number of people that we employ that depend on the business, it keeps me awake at night	be prepared to change your technology and change your maker, what matters most is the people; rather get a good team than the technology	you’re not just a number on a spreadsheet	if your customers paying you a lot of money you build what they ask for
Jeremy Bachtiar	Look for something you want to bring change in this world. Dont be carried away by delusion and personal ego. As a startup owner, you are nothing without your people	As a someone who is trying to build your own startup, build your own core product well enough before anything else. Find the right group of people to make the dream come true	Individually, discover what are the things you dont like instead of what you like to help you discover what to do in life. As business owner, treat your customers well. When your customer/users are happy, your business thrive	Don’t be afraid to take the risk especially when you believe in what you are doing. (Inspired by how the guy decided to quit school to build the startup and ended up working here.
Jolyn Yio	Andrew spoke about entrepreneurship as a means to an end, the end which is about transforming or disrupting something in the world. Instead of wanting the label “founder” on the namecard. In my opinion, Success can be determined through purpose.	It is enlightening how a Belgian startup is operating in San Francisco under a Singaporean organization, this shows how versatile startups have to be as part of the journey towards success.	The visit at Twitch taught me that I should find something that works for me, be it at gaming or something which I love, there will always be something.	Despite the short visit, I was able to understand how Zendesk worked as a company and it has come to my realization that many big companies use support softwares from third party companies to save time and costs. Even for small companies as they do not have the expertise. This is something I can apply in my future business venture
Jonathan Chew	“Don’t be an entrepreneur just for the namesake because it is not sustainable, do it because you are passionate about solving a problem or making a change in the world”	“It’s not enough to be passionate about something, execute your passion because passion gives your perseverance, determination and drive.”	“Even if you don’t know what to do, take the time to know what you don’t like.”	“If the customer pay us more money, we can do whatever they want for their application.”
Moses Fam	"It's best to stick to a path as an entrepreneur if it is your passion" There are many people who wish to be a founder for the name or their ego which is rather short sighted, rather the true meaning of entrepreneurship. Finding the importance / drive to entrepreneurship is important	"Failing fast and learning fast ". Learning from failure is treasured in Silicon Valley.	"Live content creates a new paradigm.". Live content isn't just creating content it's creating a new relationship with content creators	“Keeping it clean “. User interface is becoming an important component for customers to be enticed. Keeping it clean is part of it .
Remy Ng	It is meaningless to say that you want to be an entrepreneur	Fail forwardv	Content creators are not just numbers on our spreadsheet	Zendesk is scalable, more so than its competitors
Student Name	FLYR	Blk71	Twitch	Zendesk
Rizudin Bin Jalar	Entrepreneurship is going to be tough journey where one should focus on improving existing services and selling to the market. Never about the status .	Don't worry so much, start doing and learn from your failure! And take some Riz (risk)!	Keep exploring, keep finding what you dont like so that you will know what you really like .Make sure that product is customisable to the customers' needs
Shilpa Suresh	Founders emphasise on hiring the best, most invested people for their business , not only for short term benefits but also as a means of preparing the company for future growth. On a tech standpoint, they do a great job of mixing the proven strengths of fairly nascent technologies and creating a highly reliable product.	Incredibly effective way to get all the information you need to figure out if you want to start a business either in SG or in the US. This decision essentially boils down to two things: your startup’s reliance on a strong startup ecosystem and your startup’s appetite for cutthroat competition. Silicon Valley is highly competitive but benefits from an innovative culture while Singapore provides a ripe, unsaturated market with a supportive government but lacks in the culture necessary to allow startup founders to take large risks and possibly fail.	Twitch’s interesting business model and and culture that allows employees to take ownership of work and make changes to the company has allowed it to grow and keeps it growing and innovating continuously. Their vision to disrupt the gaming industry by transforming gaming into a competitive sport is carried out not only on their product but also through non-digital means. Considering that the tech world tends to forget about the human factor in tech, there is a lot to learn from twitch and it’s emphasis on human connection.	Minimalism is a common thread in the way the company functions. In both its products and the way it runs it business, zendesk cuts through the complexity to provide a simple, clean, utilitarian product that has made it the preferred CRM used by a large portion of a the market.
Tan Jian Hua	Impressed by the visit to Flyr. Andrew did a really good job on explaining what the company does.	I really enjoyed the fireside talk and to see different entrepreneurs come together and talk about their experiences	The trip to twitch was really interesting and it showed behind the scenes of the company	Learnt more about CRM software and the kind of products zendesk has
Tan Ming Sheng	Truly understand what you want to develop that you believe in it, at the same time manage your expectation well along your journey.	Being adaptive instead of sequential of doing things, having an open mindset will enable you to look things from a different perspective.	Improve on something that has already exist which benefit the next generation, try it out. There is no harm in it.	They don't see competitors as their threats, they just keep doing what they believed in it and managing their challengers is essential for their growth.
Tay Wei Xuan	"When asked what do you want to be when you grow up, saying that you want to be an entrepreneur is not an answer."	"Execute on passion."	"Don't focus on the things you like, focus on the things that you don't like so you know what to avoid in the future."	It is interesting to know more about the solutions that Zendesk provides and how Zendesk works closely with its customers to improve their branding.
Terence Yeo	Entrepreneurship is a mean and not an end	human capital is the most valuable resources in your company. Technology and data can be used to look after the welfare of employees. There are 'problems' in Belgium, there are 'opportunities' in America. Can consider taking up masters in USA immediately after college. Also consider working for a huge corporation to farm cash	It is important to build personal relationships with your partners and not treat them as just a number on a spreadsheet	I learned that they only provide customer support software and not CS manpower. Zendesk can provide a feedback loop to their clients in order to help them improve their products
Wong Zhe Yin, Treasa	“Entrepreneurship is a mean to do something meaningful” - not get carried away by your own ego just because you want your own startup. Do something meaningful which you are passionate in working on; this could increase the chances of having a sustainable & successful business.	“Grow your startup idea in south east Asia” the key is to ride on the innovation wave in a south east Asia even though Silicon Valley is a technology haven. “Can-do attitude” it’s all about having the right attitude and work ethics in order to achieve success wherever we are.	“Follow your passion, even if it’s gaming” twitch breaks traditional barriers of monetizing gaming & streaming. There are also no glass ceiling for female gamers on twitch’s platform.
Xavier See	I feel Flyr allows people this flexibility that will ultimately reap benefits in the long run as customers are looking for such platforms to save money. This is especially so as since post recession, people are constantly looking to save money although it has been years since the financial crises.	You can only learn by doing things and failing, rather than through books. I feel the quote by block 71 is true as people with more failure tend to have learnt much more from their failures. As compared to someone who hasn’t even started trying.	There is a community of over 100,000 players who want something from Twitch. Similar to block 71, i believe twitch is customer centric as they look towards adding value to society by filling a need in the society. People will likely be interested to know more about twitch.	Zendesk has an interesting business model of offering a software that allows companies to coordinate their items online. They are scalable which i feel is important as that means that there is room to keep growing for zendesk.
Zhuo Yunying (Kaelyn)