Jeff’s Posthaven

Interns ah, how we love to brainwash you.

At Golden Gate Ventures in 2013, we have our largest cohort of interns ever since we were in business a year ago. Our first intern in 2012, Justin Hall has since joined us as an associate just a few months ago.

We love our interns in 2013. Our cohort this year consists of Amira Jeneid, Kelvin Lim, Kevin Liu, and Warren Lee (still counting).

Most of them joined us for the summer and I had great fun working with some of them, sometimes too much fun. I have promised them that I will brainwash them whenever I could and try to make their internship a win-win for both parties. I believe I accomplished most if not all of those promises. They have diligently helped us with investment activities, startup research, event organization, and also working with aspiring founders at the Founder Institute (Singapore). We hope the various activities and people you met has broaden your horizons in what the startup world is like. (99% chaos x ambiguity)

Some parting advice for the interns whom have crossed my path this year and also to those who have not.

1. Your clear advantage now which no one can take away from you, is your youth.
2. You may or may not have found what you would like to do for the rest of your life but at least you had a glimpse. A glimpse of what it is or is not, things that you should do or do not.
3. Experienced industry folks are not that hard to reach. Hunt them down and ask questions, what is the worst that can happen?
4. Look outside school for what is to come. Reality sits outside the school yard. Google is your best friend (for now). For some of you — Stackoverflow (hint hint).
5. Finally, for those heading back to school. Cherish the time left, be a kid, play hard and work hard and make as many friends as you can (trust me - especially those who have different backgrounds as you).

Hit me up if you need anything. You know where to find me.

And for all the hard work and laughs. Mahalo.

It is with a heavy heart yet again this time of the year where another batch of founders are graduating from Founder Institute Singapore. This is my fifth run and it has been an interesting ride to say the least.

It went by really fast and not without drama even though Adeo was not here to kick off the semester. We tested a few things running the semester this time round and spent a little more time getting to know the founders in and out of class. The Founders in the Bay 2012 trip gave a boost to the class from a fellow founder Sam from Family Play who was with me and 9 other founders in the Bay Area.

It is always heartening to watch them grow, mature, harden like real steel in the world of business and startups. Towards the end of the semester, ideas get sharper and more focused. Visions become bolder but executable.  Many of them have put on more “confidence” as they will all soon know enough they will be jumping into the unknown. Several will do very well, some of whom have received term sheets before graduating, which is interesting considering we are an idea stage incubator. Finally, we have the largest female cohort (25% are female grads) ever to graduate at one go, and all of whom are pretty special. They are determined and can hustle with the best men and women out there.

In closing, a few words for those of you who are graduating:

YOU ALREADY HAVE THE BALLS TO GO THROUGH WITH THIS AND FINISH, SO PLEASE AIM BIG. LOOK TO CHANGE OR REINVENT OLD INDUSTRIES IF NOT THE WORLD (NOONE SAID IT IS GOING TO BE EASY). IT IS NOW YOUR JOURNEY TO BUILD THE COMPANY YOU WANT TO WORK FOR, NOONE CAN TALK YOU OUT OF IT EXCEPT YOURSELF. THE @FOUNDING FAMILY IS ALWAYS HERE.

HOWEVER MUCH YOU HAVE LEARNT, GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITY. YOU ARE HEADS ABOVE A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE SINGAPORE ECOSYSTEM SO BE PROUD AND SHOW THEM THE WAY.

NO GOODBYES, LET’S START DOING.

Thank you again to all mentors and sponsors alike who made SGFI happen!

It seems like the technology startup hype is sweeping through Singapore recently. In the last 2-3 months, I have encountered various signals that this hype has descended upon us. 

It makes me read and smile at Chris Dixon’s blog post again. Enjoy it here. ;)

For the founders out there hustling and crushing it. Beware of people around you whether they are approaching you as potential cofounders, advisors, consultants, incubators, accelerators, investors, customers, partners or other players in the startup ecosystem.

Do more due diligence than you have ever done before. There are always exceptions and good intentioned people who deserve a chance. As long as you arm yourself with enough information to make an informed decision, you will be fine.

Consult with people you trust. Be clear you know what you want and always trust your gut. If in doubt, pull out.

As we all know in our little technology startup sector that there is a serious shortage of good talent. It is becoming apparent out here in Southeast Asia and likely will get worse if the region improves as an ecosystem.

At Golden Gate Ventures, we like to think we operate with a down to earth hacker culture (we are also launching several internal software products that scratches our own itch very soon). With our involvement in Super Happy Dev House, and Founder Institute Singapore, the need to train more people who can built stuff gave birth to Startup Academy.

As such, I will be embarking on a journey to pick up coding (again), and I will be detailing my journey on a wiki (powered by Padlet). The ultimate dogfooding. You can read about my motivations, projects, on-going research on programming courses (online, offline and hybrid) and my views on them as I hobble humbly along. 

Wish me luck and if you are kind enough to reach out to help me when I get stuck, please let me know. Eternally grateful.

[Startup Academy's 2nd run of our programming courses are accepting applications now!]

We should have our own version of the video below.