Paul Graham Startup Guide

• The only way to make something customers want is to get a prototype in front of them and refine it based on their reactions.
• Your initial plans are almost certain to be wrong in some way, and your first priority should be to figure out where. The only way to do that is to try implementing them.
• Start by writing software for smaller companies, because it's easier to sell to them.
• It's easier to make an inexpensive product more powerful than to make a powerful product cheaper.
• If you have the cheapest, easiest product, you'll own the low end.
• To be self-funding, you have to start as a consulting company, and it's hard to switch from that to a product company.
• The way to get rich from a startup is to maximize the company's chances of succeeding.
• By 38 you can't take so many risks-- especially if you have kids.
• Don't let your code get too big
• Don't isolate developers from users
• Hiring people is the worst thing a company can do
• The only reason to hire someone is to do something you'd like to do but can't
• Apartments tend to be in better locations than office buildings
• Professional means doing good work, not elevators and glass walls.
• The other reason to spend money slowly is to encourage a culture of cheapness.
• Design your product to please users first, and then think about how to make money from it.
• Talk to as many VCs as you can, even if you don't want their money.
• If you really think you have a chance of succeeding, you're doing the rich fellow a favor by letting them invest.

No matter what kind of startup you start, it will probably be a stretch for you, the founders, to understand what users want. The only kind of software you can build without studying users is the sort for which you are the typical user. But this is just the kind that tends to be open source: operating systems, programming languages, editors, and so on. So if you're developing technology for money, you're probably not going to be developing it for people like you. Indeed, you can use this as a way to generate ideas for startups: what do people who are not like you want from technology?

1. Obviously, starting a company in expensive KLCC tower won't work.
2. Open source blind you away from understanding your non-tech educated users, but helps you to get to low end.
   
3. Do thing raw and rapidly is more important than well planned long term goal.. bcs..you have to be dynamic to compete with big guys.

You wont be success until age 30

When I was a kid, I went to this fortune teller. He study my palm, and my name, then told me this:

Yee Siang, you wont be success until age 30

This message ghosted me for quite a long time, until i growth up, and suddenly realized that on day:

What the fuck? Why I have to let you define my own destiny?! Why are you qualified to judge my life and fate?

Since then, I learn to be confidence in what I am doing, and understand well who can evaluate me and who can't. Sometime this make me a self-centered person, but sometimes, it helps me by-pass many difficult time.

In the end, I know i will ended up for living "who I am" and not "Who people expected me to be".

Why miniMAX chose SVN than SourceSafe

miniMAX have been using CVS with for our sourceforge projects since the starting of the team, and have been switched to SVN since 4 years ago.

There are many choices out there, mainly, source safe from microsoft which are famous in places like ... Malaysia.

I don't really use source safe before, so i can't comment on it. But i have google some links which will show you why:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000660.html
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q133054/
http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/windev/sourcesafe.html
http://www.subversionary.org/node/71

2007 New Year Resolution

After I reviewed my 2006 new year resolution, i have my new set of 2007 new year resolutions now.

Career
I never let anyone or anything else to limit or direct my career path. I am a entrepreneur and I still keeping that spirit now.

• Get MacroPages.com release for Free beta testing then explore the biz opp slowly
  
• Get Davatar.net 2.0 done with Cradle Funding
  
• Get 7sea done
• Setup and Run miniMAX Production Server, then upgrade the miniMAX Development Server
  
• Setup miniMAX Sdn Bhd with a good portfolio, better branding and an open environment
• Exploring the China market
  
• Moving into Mobile market
• Escape the working-for-people loop by keep on exploring business opportunity
• Get to know more talents and hope that I can get them their dream jobs
• Terminate phPluto project
  

Education
Just like what ppl said bout "Don't let your schooling limit your education":

• Master Flex, Actionscript 3 and AMFPHP, yeah! year 2007 is a flex year!
• Try to integrate flex to existing PHP framework
  
• Continue enhancing current PHP framework with cache for better optimization
• Keep an eye on the development of Zend Framework and Adobe Inc, as well as the impact from Windows Vista
• Back to C/C++ world with wxWidget and Ogre3D
  
• Better documentation system and implement that to Davatar and Macropages
  
• Continue exploring better project management system, maybe experiencing 2 difference environment, such as Malaysia vs China

Living and Family
Nothing is more important than people who love me and people that I love. They are the source of my motivation.

• Get a postpaid line and 3G phone that runs Flash Lite and QRcode
  
• Get a better living place with less people and less messy things around, then setup my very own working space there
  
• Back to hometown more often, watch out my retired mum so that she don't get cheated by those greedy MLM ppl
  
• Go more places for vacation with my gf; probably Hong Kong Disneyland, so that she can meet her favorite Pluto and got the soft toy there
• Subscribe to jumbo play and get to play some of my favorite games such as Tomb Raider
• Setup my mini-home bar so i can have alcohol drink anytime i wants :D
• Eat more vegetable and less meat
• Wish my sis get marriage. She is so old and desperate now. HaHa!
• Pray more so that my 2nd hand Nisson still working fine everyday, especially the air con
• opps. ya.. maybe this year should experience reverse bungee jump.. or.. get to persuade my gf to do couple bungee jump with me!
  

2006 New Year Resolution Review

X-mas coming soon... (gotto change the name as some Christian dun like us calling the "commercial Christmas" as Christmas), X-man is giving out present to little kids.. opps.. it should be the big fat old Santa.

I don't care much bout Chirstmas or Xmas.. to me, it is just means a week before the new year is coming.

I drunk madly on last new year.. leaving a deep impression to mr wong... hahaha.. but i will no longer doing it anymore.

I also wrote bout my new year resolutions for year 2006. Now, lets review it:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hmm.. I am not so sure yet, just list down the overview here:

1. Get Web80 launch and hopefully get a total of 500 members by the end of the year -project launching halted but development continue on
   
2. Davatar.net finally made its Release and get into top 10,000 in Alexa Ranking - still far from this ranking (3,105,518... damm it)
   
3. miniMAX making the first ton of gold before May, else I will gotto fall into the loop of working for others - already falling into the working loop
   
4. My Personal website... where are you? - still not up yet, but there is one at macropages
   
5. Hopefully I would have time to revamp MGDC - Thanks junior and lih hern, but i still go some job with it
6. Hopefully, HoverEX can do Alpha Release - opps.. it is more than abondance now
   

Other than all those boring programming job:

1. Wish to live a normal life style.. i am too old to sleep late and eat maggie mee most of the time - i no longer live with maggie mee... and can have nice chinese food in PJ area
   
2. Get out from the Stupid Cyberia.. Hopefully can stay together with my gf ;) - finally get out of the stupid cyberia... but still cant stay together with my gf .. :(
   
3. Bring my gramma to Muar, that is her hometown afterall - opps.. dun hav the opportunity yet.
   
4. Continue Making stable income for living - yeah.. get paid salary now.. consider stable.. but is not something i chased for
   
5. Get a New PC/Notebook after Window Vista Release - nop.. bill din get to meet the deadline.. we cant wait him right, so i got a dell notebook for my gf, and now using company acer laptop
6. Tour to Langkawi, never been there before - this is sad, lobak will be more sad.. better dun talk bout it.
7. Get a passport and have a tour to Thailand - yeah! went to phuket with frens in mid of the year.. and will be going to thai border again in the end of this year
   
8. Eat alot of nice food from various places around the country - nop, but, got to eat lots of nice food in gf's mum place and shen zhen china

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

In conclusion, things i wish for and working on always come in another way that i have never expected before.

For example, all my projects in minimax doesn't meet my goal but work out unexpectedly:

• Davatar.net, although it din't hit the Alexa target, but i have got a fren helping on it and now is close to get Cradle funding to further enhance it.
• Macropages.com, launching was failed but i get to further develop it to more complete
• Maggot Galaxy shut down and reappeared as the Seven Seas.. and is now waiting for the competition results.
  

My career, too, just works like my projects:

• miniMAX din get to finished HoverEX as expected, which caused me to take a break and decided to get working experience to understand what's going wrong
• Then, i meet ken with lobak, and thanks to the frustrated CSSB projects, we joined Zeltrans and Podcastland
• Then, lots of projects came, such as flash podcast, pixelads, bclnshop...
• Then, lobak leave...
  
• Suddenly, ken said we are going to China... and i was in Shen Zhen. where.. I was just wished to escape from cyberjaya...
  

Traveling wise... i get to go to many places, such as

• Phuket, Thailand
  
• Kukup Island
• Fraser Hill
• Shen Zhen China
• Wu Dong, Thailand

So.... that is the summery for the past 1 year... and I am now 24 years old.... which i think.. i m quite old now..

I will think bout my year 2007 resolutions and write it here later on.