The Only Thing I'm Addicted to is Winning!

Over the past week there has been a huge focus in the media and even the geek internet culture around Charlie Sheen's supposed breakdown. He's been doing a lot of interviews, but mixed in are a lot of interesting quotes that can be applied to entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur is on a thin border between insane and brilliant.
"Defeat is not an option. CBS picked a fight with a Warlock."
Most entrepreneurs don't end up losing because of market forces or what can be attributed to specific failures. At the end of the day, entrepreneurs fail because they decide to give up and accept defeat as an option. When starting a company, Elon Musk referred to it as the equivalent of eating glass and staring into the abyss on a daily basis. From day one, you need to realize that there is nothing else you can do accept win. It may be a hard road, but complete and utter defeat is NOT an option. Take a look at Airbnb. They failed to attract any attention and failed continuously for not only days, months, but actually years. Instead of accepting defeat, they persevered and kept going. Most startups don't die due to specific circumstances, but because they commit "suicide". Here are two HIGHLY suggested links:
Airbnb story from Startup School:
Paul Graham on "How Not To Die":
"Everyone will say: Don't be special, be one of us! NEWSFLASH: I am special, and I will never be one of you"
No one will understand what you do. They will hear the entrepreneur word and think you are crazy, broke, or some combination of all three. You have to ignore those that don't understand us. We're a crazy breed and we're special. If this were for everyone, then it wouldn't be special. As an entrepreneur you have to have thick skin and trust that it will all work out. Even when it does, you will always feel as if the respect you deserve isn't where it should be. Steve Jobs said it best with a quote that goes along the lines of "You have to be insane to do this and you have to love it. Any sane person would do what a sane person would: just quit and give up." Focus in on being different and drown out the noise. They will be fast to hate on you and they be move even faster to congratulate you.
"It (my brain) fires in a way, not particularly from this terrestrial realm"
As an entrpreneur you need to think at a level that is not from this world. Look back at the legendary Apple ad campaign about "Think Different". The rest of the world happens to be a fickle bunch. On the one hand, they want to vilify you for being an entrepeneur and take you down a level or two. On the other hand, they want something that is outside the box and pleases them. The only people capable of doing that are entrepreneurs. If what you're doing is criticized as "tame", then you are doing something very wrong. At the end of the day, you should seem as if your creation is from another planet. Your brain needs to think in a manner that is truly extra terrestrial.
"I have one speed, one gear ... go!"
There is no slow down mode when it comes to entrepreneurship. You need to be always be five steps ahead and pushing on red line. The main advantage of a startup is pure acceleration and speed. Speed in the real world is calculated by distance over time, I'll declare that startup speed is the amount you want to accomplish (alot) divided by the amount you want to focus on (a small focused portion where you have domain expertise). Accomplish something sizable and focus on what matters. Say no and cut out a lot for each version. It will let you move faster and stay in that one gear that matters: Go!
"Can't is the cancer of happen. aka I can't do it."
Yoda said it best: there is no try, there is only do or do not. As an entrepreneur, whether you made something happen is a very binary answer. Either you have made it happen or you have not. By saying "I can't do it", you are setting yourself up for failure and almost certain death. Take a look at the most successful companies in the technology sector and you will realize that "can't" is not in their DNA. The best companies defy the laws of possibility and do what many would simply throw into the "can't" category. Dream big and look for scenarios where many would say can't and make something happen.
"I exposed them to magic. I exposed them to something they'll never see in their boring normal lives...they'll live with that for the rest of their lives."
Your product needs to be the equivalent of pure and utter magic. One of my favorite Techcrunch articles from Paul Carr is centered around this notion of technology being magic. You need to wow people, many of which you will never meet. The best products will seem like magic to most of the general population and be an escape from their normal boring lives. A few days ago someone asked me, "How does Onswipe do what it does?" and I answered back with a simple response: "Magic. We code magic."
It's not about finding celebrity trends or other silly things. It's about looking in places you would have never thought of for inspiration to make a better product and a better startup. Many of your influences will come from the startup world itself, but many will come from random offbeat sources. No matter what, just keep winning.


Article from:
http://onstartups.com/tabid/3339/bid/42086/winning-6-charliesheen-quotes-to-make-you-a-better-entrepreneur.aspx

Think Big Donlad Trump

Donald Trump ranked #4 on our list of The Top 21 Celebrity Entrepreneurs.
“Get in, get it done, get it done right, and get out,” Trump once said. Indeed, this has been his motto from his earliest days assisting his father’s real estate business to his multi-million dollar deals in the high stakes world of Manhattan real estate.
He has earned a reputation as a ruthless, cunning and suave businessman who can spot a business opportunity a mile away. He has turned the deal-making process into an art form and he has demonstrated that he can come back swinging after even the hardest of challenges to wind up again on top.
Estimated to be worth over $2 billion, Trump has secured his name as one of the greatest entrepreneurs of the 20th century.
“What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate,” says Trump. He has reacted to the twists and turns in his life with optimism, becoming CEO of the largest privately held company in New York, with over 22,000 employees and estimated revenues in excess of $10 billion. What did he use to get ahead?

“I learned a lot about discipline and about channeling my aggression into achievement. I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best. Always look out for yourself.
I was relentless, even in the face of total lack of encouragement, because much more often than you’d think, sheer persistence is the difference between success and failure. When somebody challenges you, fight back. Be brutal, be tough, Just go get them.
My style of deal-making is quite simple and straightforward. I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get what I’m after. Sometimes I settle for less than I sought, but in most cases I still end up with what I want. You can’t be scared. You do your thing, you hold your ground, you stand up tall, and whatever happens, happens.
My experience is that if you’re fighting for something you believe in – even if it means alienating some people along the way – things usually work out for the best in the end. The most important thing in life is to love what you’re dong, because that’s the only way you’ll ever be really good at it. Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game. Without passion, you don’t have energy, without energy you have nothing.
If you go for a home run on every pitch, you’re also going to strike out a lot. I try never to leave myself too exposed, even if it means sometimes settling for a triple, a double, or even, on rare occasions, a single.
If you want to sell a car and you spend five dollars to wash and polish it and then apply a little extra elbow grease, suddenly you find you can charge an extra four hundred dollars, and get it. If you want to buy something, it’s obviously in your best interest to convince the seller that what he’s got isn’t worth very much.
When I build something for somebody, I always add $50 million or $60 million onto the price. My guys come in, they say it’s going to cost $75 million. I say it’s going to cost $125 million, and I build it for $100 million. Basically, I did a lousy job. But they think I did a great job.
Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. I’m a great believer in asking everyone for an opinion before I make a decision. I ask I ask I ask, until I begin to get a gut feeling about something. And that’s when I make a decision. I have learned much more from conducting my own random surveys than I could ever have learned from the greatest of consulting firms.
Somewhere out there are a few men with more innate talent at golf than Jack Nicklaus, or women with greater ability at tennis than Chris Evert or Martina Navratilova, but they will never lift a club or swing a racket and therefore will never find out how great they could have been. Instead, they’ll be content to sit and watch stars perform on television.

Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. I like thinking big. I always have. If you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big. Most people think small because most people are afraid of success, afraid of making decisions, afraid of winning. And that gives people like me a great advantage.”

Thanks to Mr. Wong Wai Sing for the this article.

20.2.2011

Entrepreneurship is a LIFESTYLE!

"Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle"
This is a phrase I learned recently from Dr. Choo (FICT Dean), Mr. Nicholas Chan (Venture Capitalist from Singapore), Mr. Junior (Young Entrepreneur) and Mr Daniel (Young Entrepreneur). We have meeting back to back these few days. The take away from these meetings are we have gain more knowledge, insights and "a reality call" about a life of an entrepreneur; we also got 6 projects that we can involve ourselves as university student into the real industrial and business world and we also can see how an entrepreneur life with his or her passion and enthusiasm! This is not just an event or just a project anymore. These are real life business, real life projects that they offered to us to take up, to fail or success, but most importantly to learn, gain experience and prepare ourselves to start up our own business in the NEAR future with their guidance and advices !!

Share another learning I learned from Mr. Nicholas.
K E E N
K = Knowledge
E = Exposure
E = Experience
N = Network

This are the traits or quality that we must have to be an successful entrepreneur, guys. (Note: I am not very good in explaining these four words) Knowledge does not means knowledge from books. The knowledge here meant, knowledge about a certain field, about the business world and many knowledge about ICT (if you venture in ICT field) etc.
Exposure means we need to be expose into the 'real stuff' instead of just dummy projects we are doing in university and everything are just theory. By stepping in the real world tasting the 'taste' of the real world, than we will have Experience. From here, I would like to share another thing I learn simultaneously.


We make good Decisions everyday.
And these good Decisions come from good Judgments
And these good Judgments come from GOOD Experiences
While these GOOD Experiences come from BAD Experiences 


From bad experience we will learn from those drawbacks, thus making the right move and gather good experience!
Lastly, Network. I remember he saying network not that " Yeah! I have 5000 friends, 2 full Facebook Account!!" This is not the network he meant. Those are social network. The network he meant is the group of people who are able to offer mutual assistance among each other. (Note: Hope my definition is correct!)

LAST to share, experiences could make us less depend on luck. In short, "Experience reduces Luck!"


I am sure what I have shared above will not be the exact version what Mr. Nicholas said  during our sharing with him because I am still in a learning process from him, gathering my KEEN! Lolx! ^^
To all UTAR entrepreneurship members and also anyone who read this post, if you are interested to know more and sure that you have the commitment and courage to take up the life as an entrepreneur, please do add me or message me! I am sure I will be happily and willingly to share these opportunities with you all!
FB and emailing address: egosky-winnshern@hotmail.com
Twitter: EgoSky2010
Skype: EgoSky2010

EgoSky - WinnShern
Now or Never
UTAR Entrepreneurship Society Chairman 2010 - 2011