Figuring out starting up

Why I’m not afraid of being a young entrepreneur

By Elisha Tan in Starting up, Thoughts October 21, 2013 0 Comment

Have you met an older person who’s a total dick – no manners, inconsiderate, rude?

That person has more years of experience in being an adult but that doesn’t mean anything.

This is why I’m not afraid of being young (both in terms of age and startup experience) and I’ve stopped respecting people more just because they have done something for a longer period of time. And sometimes, I snigger when people go “you should listen to me because I’ve done it for X years….”

No. I’ll listen to you if you have skills.

Number of years doesn’t mean shit. Skills and results will show themselves, there’s no need for any verbalization.

Elisha Tan is the founder of Learnemy. Learnemy is an online marketplace where you can find offline classes taught by trusted instructors with an infectious love and real world application of the subject.

Need an extra pair of hands

By Elisha Tan in Starting up September 16, 2013 0 Comment

I need an extra pair of hands for Learnemy (co-founders, team members, volunteers anything). If you know someone who is keen, hook me up at elisha@learnemy.com

How I figure what I want

By Elisha Tan in Thoughts June 12, 2013 0 Comment

I do this when I want to figure out what I want – talk to God.

For atheists, replace ‘God’ with ‘Genie’ for the rest of this post. It works the same.

Now, God is almighty and he can do anything. He’s now right in front of me and asks, “What can I do for you?”

My answer to that question helps me understand what I lack, and what I need to get to reach my goal.

For example, my answer to that question has been “I want wisdom to figure out what decisions I should make” for a couple of weeks now. That answer shaped the questions I ask the people I meet and in turn, their answers help me get to my goal.

Try this out the next time you feel lost.

One thing I believe

By Elisha Tan in Starting up, Thoughts May 7, 2013 0 Comment

I believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Learnemy dies

Not when I run out of money, because money can be made

Not when I can’t find customers, because people always spend money (yes, even those “I don’t like to be sold to” people buys something everyday)

Not when I can’t find good team members, because the world has 7 billion people

But when I stop believing in it.

Yes, Learnemy dies when I stop believing in it. Circumstances only speed up or slow down its death, they don’t seal its fate.

What kind of tragedy deserves more sympathy?

By Elisha Tan in Personal, Thoughts April 16, 2013 0 Comment

Should there be a scale for tragedies, that we pay more attention to those events higher on the scale, ignoring those at the bottom?

I used to believe that people should help people first, not animals or the planet. So to me, NGOs dealing with animal welfare, environment or anything that does not directly improve the welfare of the human life are a waste of time.

Then I realized something.

Some care about people, some care about animals and some care about environment. We are different.

But we all fit.

The world is filled with different people and it’s like we’re different pieces of jigsaw puzzle. We can’t be more different but we cannot do without each other because the big picture can only happen when this different pieces come together. It is stupid to think one piece of puzzle is more important than the other.

So yea, neither is Boston or Pakistan is more tragic than the other, more deserving of attention or sympathy. In fact, don’t measure them on the same scale.