If you can churn out 10 apps in 2 days, you are super productive.
But if no one uses them, you aren’t being that useful.
I’ve realized that being useful is so much more rewarding than being productive. It’s a joy to know that people find Learnemy’s idea useful enough to try it, even though it’s really unproductive to get offers manually.
I build Learnemy, an online marketplace that finds you the right instructors and classes in Singapore. Follow us on Facebook or TwitterPeople who have heard my talk at the recent Barcamp 7 would know that my advice to any non-tech founders who wished to pick up a programming language is to…..
In my case, the access to coaching came earlier for Ruby on Rails than for Python which is why Ruby became my choice of bling. I used the method of coach + online resources, I liked it and I would advocate it. I’ve also seen such success on a fellow non-tech founder, Clarence, for Bandwagon (he was introduced to Angular.js and coached by Tom.
You get answers to stupid questions, and you’re very likely not able to articulate your stupid question well enough to ask it on stackoverflow because of tech speak is slightly different from normal speech.
You get explanation for the explanation on why your code doesn’t work. Error messages can be non-intuitive to understand.
After the error messages, you get to know the solution without wanting to bang your head against the wall.
I’m super stoked (so super stoked I’m about to fall off my chair, convulse and foam in the mouth) to tell you that Learnemy now does matching for programming!!!
I took so long to start because I was targeting the verticals with more demand. But I wondered if it will be a good idea to focus on the long-tail keywords (aka less demand, less competition) since I already have some really talented tech instructors in my database beforehand. The trigger came when I read this post about me and Learnemy where the blogger mentioned he would want to learn coding using Learnemy (although he later mentioned that he has no time now, sighs). So I thought no harm trying it out.
And the results shocked me. I realized that it’s much easier to use social media for the tech vertical, plus I’ve gotten 2 requests in a single day.
Moral of the story:
Ok, you’re going to think that it’s highly unnatural and marketing-ish for anyone to do a little promotion for a presentation at an un-conference like Barcamp. But let me explain my dilemma.
<sidetrack> Interesting how I use ‘let me…’ on my blog. Not as if you can control me, actually. lol</sidetrack>
If I’ve spend hours preparing my presentation but don’t get to present, I would have wasted my time preparing. And if I decide to propose anything without much preparation, I would be wasting others’ time if I do get to present. I’ve never been to an un-conference on time, so I really have no clue on how getting to present works. Which is why I thought it should be a good idea to do a little promotion so I don’t waste my time preparing and hopefully I don’t waste others’ time listening to me.
If you have founded a tech startup, don’t have /are looking for a technical co-founder and you can’t code, this presentation is for you. I’m going to share on why you should learn to code, what should you do before learning how to code, and what language you should learn. It pretty much can be summarized by the roadmap below.
See you tomorrow later today at Barcamp!
In this post, I’m going to blog with you in mind, giving you the most attention I can (which is obviously what you wanted) in this short span of time before I move on in life and forget about you.
There is only one you. Yes, one person behind most of the trolling efforts done to me. You are in my social network, most probably Twitter and maybe Facebook too. I would love to find out who are you ala Kindaichi Case Files but then again, I don’t think you deserve this from me.
Although in my self-obsessed moments I think you are some guy who has unrequited love for me but when I quietened down late at night and really, really think about you, I realized that I pity you.
Yes, from the bottom of heart… I pity you.
There are many people who derives joy from seemingly disgusting acts, like an obstetrician helping a woman give birth (omg did you see how that big head comes out of a tiny hole? And the obstetrician pulls the baby’s head? And how the obstetrician would make a cut on the vagina if the baby is having difficulty coming out? Gross) or a facial reconstruction doctor whom has to fix this. It’s disturbing.
But it’s beautiful. It’s about bringing a new life into the world, or giving a life back to someone.
Which also led me to think, what kind of person derives joy from discouraging a new startup founder? What kind of person doesn’t move on from trolling one person?
How sad it is for a person who derives joy from destruction.
The Freudian in me wondered about your childhood. What happened to you? If something bad had happened to you, do you need help?
I wonder.
Then again, I shouldn’t care. You’re weren’t honest to me about your identity. So you don’t deserve this from me, and you don’t deserve any more of my attention.
But this I can give you, the right to troll all you want in this post. This is your place.
I hope you enjoy it.
I build Learnemy, an online marketplace that finds you the right instructors and classes in Singapore. Follow us on Facebook or TwitterFor the guiltless.
Being a founder is like being a student – there’re no proper working hours and there’s always something to do. An hour spend not studying is an hour wasted for a better grade. Similarly, an hour spent not working on the startup is an hour slower to get to a milestone, which is not cool.
So where do I squeeze out the extra hours? I cut my sleep. Then I wake up tired. But I’m too guilty to go sleep or take a nap. So I spend time doing crap to perk myself up. In doing so, I get less time to do my work. So I cut my sleep. Then I wake up tired.
See the vicious cycle?
I build Learnemy, an online marketplace that finds you the right instructors and classes in Singapore. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter
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