How G•2•M Fails in 2017: A Premortem

In 2013 and 2014, our organization offered Go•To•Market programs in Goa, India. The target for these programs were high potential entrepreneurs selected by a government partner. These participants experienced a successful program featuring Stanford MBA faculty which resulted in refined business models, pitches and a Go-to-Market strategy. Coming off the success of this program, we launched a similar program with an incubator in Malaysia. It failed miserably.

While there could be many factors to attribute the failure to, such as an unexpected rotation of the program faculty, new cultural and language barriers, and a new, untested technology infrastructure, we now reflect on the fact that the selected participants were not the appropriate target for the program. The participants were selected by the incubator, which is highly influenced by the government bodies responsible for economic growth in the newly founded "Silicon Valley of Malaysia." The partnership with Stanford was touted as the next step to realizing the transformation of Malaysian business and elevating it to a new level. This highly publicized relationship drew potential participants who had connections with the government bodies, influence in the current economic ecosystem and were in varying levels of the business lifecycle.

Because our organization was not familiar with the ecosystem, was not, contractually, responsible for participant selection, and did not have the level of insight or authority of the incubator or government, there was a missed opportunity with the program. Participants found the content to be inapplicable to their current business venture, for the most part, and had expectations of direct contact with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, which was never a part of the curriculum.

With the significant investment that the Malaysian government made and the very little perceived return on investment gained by the participants' development, the program was discontinued short of its three year fulfillment. With the falling out of this program, our organization also lost reputed viability in other Asian sectors that were in the pipeline, such as Singapore and Taiwan.

In our other programs, our organization plays a central role in selecting participants who are at the critical stage of their business that can be most impacted by the curriculum. In custom programs, we now better realize the importance of understanding our pool of applicants if we are not highly involved in the selection process so that we may work with the faculty to deliver the most applicable and impactful content possible.

The 5 Life Lessons I Learned From Public Transportation

Until recently, I was the occasional user of public transportation. For me, nothing beats having keys to my own car that I can drive anytime, anywhere. My car is a safe haven of my music and temperature settings that I can adjust and maintain to my liking, lock it up and come back to it when I need it. Public transportation was, as the Dowager Countess would say, "So middle-class." The only use I had for it was occasional visits to San Fransisco, touring around Manhattan, or making my way to the airport in Madrid. I've never been a metrophile because it wasn't really a "fit" for my lifestyle, and honestly, I liked it that way. After all, isn't it scary to give up your temperature settings, your comfort zone and your lock and key? Well, the following lessons will hopefully encourage you to think outside the locks.

Lesson 1: Travel Light

Do I really need to carry a book if I am not going to read it? Can I leave an extra deodorant in my office drawer since I usually keep one in my glove compartment? What about that water bottle I usually lug around? Are these things I wish I used but don't, and just carry around to make myself feel responsible and "in control?" Or are these things my "safeties" that I use occasionally but not all the time? Think about the products, thoughts and ideas you take with you everywhere. Set them down for a day and see what happens. I think when you put some things down you might be able to pick more relevant things up...

Lesson 2: Plan Ahead

In keeping with Lesson 1, it's come to the surface lately that my daily decisions, however trivial they may seem, can have a prominent effect on other events of the day. For example: when boarding the CalTrain at the Palo Alto Station toward South San Jose, I discovered it was wise for me to board in almost the last car so that when we arrive at my station (Tamien) I am in easy access to the narrow staircase to the parking lot that gets backed up fast from the rush of passengers. What I also noticed is that by making a small adjustment through forethought, I am able to avoid a certain amount of frustration later. This also begs the question of how much I want to dedicate daily decisions to reaping somewhat minimal savings of frustration.

Lesson 3: Every Minute Counts

Duh, right? No, they do. At 7:25 I leave my house to catch the 7:39 VTA, which gets to Tamien at 7:50, where I have 6 minutes to get to the baby bullet platform, which projects me to Palo Alto at 8:27... you get the rest. This mind frame is a blessing, because when I am at home in bed I say to myself, "I get 7 more minutes of cuddling with my puppies." Or, at other times, I say, "It's only a few minutes that I have to deal with this, I can do it." By focusing on the fact that every minute is precious -yet fleeting- I feel like I am maximizing the minutes I am at a place of enjoyment, yet not worrying about the minutes that I am not.

Lesson 4: Look Up From Your Phone Sometimes

The social experiments of, "look at how many people at parties are on their phone" are not very meaningful to me. I know people in these times are engaged through technology. There are complaints of people no longer being social in person, but I don't really see too much alarm here. People still build communities and networks, it's just in their safe "locked climate" sort of way (see the intro to this post). The life lesson that is meaningful here is the connection to the world outside your peripheral. Roll your window down when you are driving. Stop at a random exit on a trip to walk around and breathe in the air. Take a window seat on the CalTrain and put your phone away. Watch the neighborhoods roll by, look at individuals that are headed to work or home, put yourself in their shoes and think about what might not be going their way today. That is what's missing in society today. Empathy and role-swapping, the rest will follow.

Lesson 5: Sometimes You Have to Go Backward to Go Forward

It's cliche but so true. I was a snot factory one day and left work early. Since I live in South San Jose, my options are somewhat limited for off-peak hours. I ended up taking the CalTrain south to Diridon and then took VTA north to Convention Center, then south down the Santa Teresa line. Sometimes you need to turn your back to where you want to go, stop and wait a bit for circumstances to align, before the opportunity for you to get to your next stop will come. In fact, many times I've been able to get to where I'm going more efficiently, with less waste, when I go back a little bit or stop my journey part way before resuming. Timing is everything.

References:
VTA Schedule
CalTrain Schedule
Stanford Marguerite Shuttle

Passports and Voters

I was just flipping through a few infographics, and thought I'd share this comparison.

Courtesy of: http://www.macmillanmh.com And:

Courtesy of: http://daddu.net

You're Welcome

The Woman as a Feline

7 Minutes of Being Thankful

I'm thankful for my 2 arms and 2 legs.
I'm thankful for my ability to pay bills.
I'm thankful for my friends.
I'm thankful for my parents.
I'm thankful for my chihuahuas who love me no matter what day I've had.
I'm thankful for the color purple.
I'm thankful for making mistakes that aren't that terrible, and learning lessons that are useful.
I'm thankful for the ability to learn lessons.
I'm LUCKY that all of the terrible mistakes I've made have not caused terrible harm to others.


I hope.

I'm thankful for having loved once.

Or am I?

Ok back on track.

I'm thankful for being good at something (many things) that I enjoy.
I'm thankful for enjoying things I am good at.

I'm thankful, very thankful, for realizing I have things to work on.
I'm hopeful that people will be patient with me while I do that.

I'm thankful for having good taste in friends and roommates.
I'm thankful for my growing appreciation for nature and its gifts.
I'm thankful for my sense of what is right and what is right for me (sometimes different things).

I'm thankful for my knack for communication.
I'm thankful for my new skills that I am learning.
I'm thankful I have never ever ever had to worry about where my next meal will come from.

I'm thankful for this breath that I take.
And I am thankful that I am not afraid if this breath will be my last.
Because I am thankful that I got to take just one at all.

7 Minutes.

Human Resources