Two Year Review: 2013-2014
Happy New Year! Much has happened, but where to start?
Startups
Starting February 2012, I took the online Tech Entrepreneurship course offered by Stanford (the first of its kind, I believe!), and met some wonderful people that I am still in touch with today!
Attending the course led to a snowballing of amazing startup experiences.
(1) I worked closely online with my groupmates from the course, and crafted an exciting app that helps you achieve your dreams. After completing the course and creating the concept of a bucket list app, my groupmates and I went to a mobile hackathon in Hollywood, in hopes of finding developers who could help our idea come to life.
(2) Instead, I met another group of motivated and talented people and joined them on the quest to create a business card app. The team I worked with would eventually become a project over 2.5 years in the making, of which I am proud to call myself Co-Founder.
(3) In November 2012, I found a free pass to Startup Weekend and took the role as designer for yet another group. I worked cohesively with the team of 8 during the weekend, won Second Place with my team, and received some advising from investors. That was quite exciting! I continued to work on the project for some time.
For awhile, I juggled three projects, with each in their respective stages of infancy, but after my second project made a major business decision (a pivot, perhaps), I decided to spend my nights and weekends devoted to creating my networking platform. I had to leave my first project (which is still an interesting idea to me, ah, my first love) so that I wouldn't go insane. Now, my first project has made great progress, and is on its way to being beta tested by users (so proud!).
I was working on my third project, but besides (and despite) the fun hackathons and work sessions I attended with my team, we were not able to get the product to market. It was a market problem, and even when we changed projects, it became a resource problem: not enough time nor talent to get it done. Eventually, I put more effort back into my second project, and that's where I am today.
Of course, from the very first hackathon to now, I've participated in many more hackathon events, some with themes (social good) and others that were wider in scope.
What did I do for the past two years?
January 2013:
This was the year I worked my arse off at my day job (coming in on weekends, working late, etc.), just so I could spend a week at CES. Just about worth it, except for the part where I drank too many Red Bulls and got ill.
February 2013:
Participated in the Color Run 5K (trained really hard for it and didn't stop during my run)! Also got locked out of the car, and a random guy we ran with jumped into the backseat and stained my car ceiling. I was so pissed.
March 2013:
From early 2013 on, my main startup team began doing product demos and eliciting feedback. Met a lot of potential organizers and tried to sell them on the idea of our app.
April 2013/May 2013:
At the end of the month, as per tradition, Pat visited me in Southern California, and I showed her around like a good tour guide. Of course, I didn't have to, but what's a homie to do when another homie is in my hood? Pat bought me a notebook from then-up-and-coming artist Britto, and I recently saw the artist's work everywhere.
June 2013:
Attended a best friend's bachelorette party in San Francisco. Tea time, garden roaming, and drag queen dinner completed the experience. Also attended my alma mater's alumni weekend as leadership, which was nice: great food, company, and much swag I was proud to showcase.
July 2013:
Visited Mount Rushmore: The Most Patriotic Way to Celebrate America! We flew to North Dakota and enjoyed myriad sights and sites, including the Crazy Horse Memorial, Badlands, and some caves nearby. Had a really good time exploring the area. Came back and celebrated the 1-year anniversary of my startup.
August 2013:
Attended said friend's wedding in Hawaii! A mixture of fun, happiness, and sorrow. For a couple of days, I stayed in a hostel and played on the beach (2 blocks away). I learned to boogie board from a local. Later, I traveled from Oahu to Maui for the wedding. Rented a ghetto car and drove the wifey-sis around the island, but couldn't make it all the way through. Got a bad sunburn, right before the wedding. Enjoyed a sunset wedding and caught a bouquet (coerced, or even peer pressured by the other single ladies because they didn't want to do so). After the fun and games (and shaved ice), I returned to the main island with the wifey-sis and took some challenging hikes up and down the Island (and went to a bar where I tried to pitch to an old man). I hiked on train tracks and missed my plane. Boo hoo. We hung out with her friends, then took her to the airport. Luckily, I had the company of the best man from the wedding: we went snorkeling (I got washed away once, wow, them waves), ate some delicious sushi, and hung out for the day. It was after he left that I was all alone, with just myself, the sand, and the surf. Perfect for building sand castles.
September 2013:
Not too notable, this month was. From correspondences, I recall a certain marketing event I wanted to volunteer at, and I was promised a shoutout and many other things. Even when I helped out at the event and asked about the shoutout or announcement, the organizer in charge was not only incompetent and forgot to deliver on what she promised, but also lied about having promoted us on the social media channels. She even had the gall to ask me for photographs after her link expired. I was so pissed - she was all talk, and gives marketers everywhere a terrible name. I didn't want to be surrounded by inconsiderate liars like her, and it was because of her I decided not to join the marketing organization.
October 2013:
I attended an event conference, and Vegas' Tech Cocktail with another friend. Joyous and informative occasions, they were. Spent Halloween in West Hollywood with some friends.
November 2013:
Rekindled something with someone special, somehow. Explored NOLA for Thanksgiving. Delicious turkey dinner. Visited a mansion garden, peeked into theold Six Flags, saunted soberly down Bourbon Street, drank Absinthe at a pirate bar, ate delicious seafood (ACME, was it?), and walked into the Mardi Gras museum. Fun all around.
December 2013:
Attended a startup party and hackathons. Completed health/fitness challenge with friends and squatted a lot.
January 2014:
Rang in the new year with friends. Had fried asparagus, yums. Spent some time at the house... this might have been the time I played the mustachio game for The Avengers movie. Started a year of Kiva donations. Went to AT&T Developer Summit/Hackathon and CES. Had a great time, minus the food poisoning. Macklemore was fun to watch.
February 2014:
Spent Valentine's Weekend in Vegas for Tech Cocktail Week. Yummy fare in Downtown Vegas. I was pleasantly surprised. Also unpleasantly surprised when I lost a dance-off. Went to the Heart Attack Grill, too. Prepared for an incubator pitch, but didn't end up making it in.
March 2014:
Took a trip out to Seattle. Visited the Space Needle (outside only), a nice gushing waterfall, the capital of Washington, Olympic National Park (four climates in one!), and the underground realm (the old city). Love the sculptures outside, too. Removed my wisdom teeth, ouch.
April 2014:
Took an amazing trip to Cambodia, and had a great time. Ate lots of crocodile pizza, yummy ice cream, and other delicacies. Went tombraiding and water-village exploring. Glamour shots were fun, and I was initiated into Reiki. The company I was with made it all the more memorable.
May 2014:
Visited San Francisco.
June 2014:
Visited San Francisco for beekeeping class, mead tasting, and cider tasting. This was during the time of the World Cup.
July 2014:
Rough trip to Santa Barbara. Finally explored the famed Solvang. Heard fireworks in the distance. Began doing film screenings with another organization for startup. Left my day job to help with family company.
August 2014:
Had a lot of difficulties with the family company, and with finding other side gigs.
September 2014:
Felt hopeful for the future after changing my focus to design.
October 2014:
Started a new job - it's the happiest I've been with my career. I love my team and enjoy the product I'm working on. Feeling imposter syndrome every day, which means I have to continue to improve at my craft. Amazingly enough, I also moved to LA.
November 2014:
Had a calm Thanksgiving this year. A little bit of a food, a lot of serendipitous shopping (gift cards galore, $100 JC Penney and $25 Mall, along with a $50 Macy's card I had lying around), and a harrowing hike at the Channel Islands.
December 2014:
Visited the Philippines for Christmas and New Year's. Started with a Christmas feast, followed by spa, exploring of Intramuros, walking around various malls, tasting tea and desserts, eating yummy food, and walking around arts capital Angono. After a bad panna cotta, I experienced a dreadful couple of days (food poisoning) and was in pain for New Year's Eve. Luckily, the best person ever took care of me.
In 2014, I took on a challenge to complete my goals with fellow goal achievers, and:
Now, January 2015 is here. After I get over this food poisoning, I commit to:
Startups
Starting February 2012, I took the online Tech Entrepreneurship course offered by Stanford (the first of its kind, I believe!), and met some wonderful people that I am still in touch with today!
Attending the course led to a snowballing of amazing startup experiences.
(1) I worked closely online with my groupmates from the course, and crafted an exciting app that helps you achieve your dreams. After completing the course and creating the concept of a bucket list app, my groupmates and I went to a mobile hackathon in Hollywood, in hopes of finding developers who could help our idea come to life.
(2) Instead, I met another group of motivated and talented people and joined them on the quest to create a business card app. The team I worked with would eventually become a project over 2.5 years in the making, of which I am proud to call myself Co-Founder.
(3) In November 2012, I found a free pass to Startup Weekend and took the role as designer for yet another group. I worked cohesively with the team of 8 during the weekend, won Second Place with my team, and received some advising from investors. That was quite exciting! I continued to work on the project for some time.
For awhile, I juggled three projects, with each in their respective stages of infancy, but after my second project made a major business decision (a pivot, perhaps), I decided to spend my nights and weekends devoted to creating my networking platform. I had to leave my first project (which is still an interesting idea to me, ah, my first love) so that I wouldn't go insane. Now, my first project has made great progress, and is on its way to being beta tested by users (so proud!).
I was working on my third project, but besides (and despite) the fun hackathons and work sessions I attended with my team, we were not able to get the product to market. It was a market problem, and even when we changed projects, it became a resource problem: not enough time nor talent to get it done. Eventually, I put more effort back into my second project, and that's where I am today.
Of course, from the very first hackathon to now, I've participated in many more hackathon events, some with themes (social good) and others that were wider in scope.
What did I do for the past two years?
January 2013:
This was the year I worked my arse off at my day job (coming in on weekends, working late, etc.), just so I could spend a week at CES. Just about worth it, except for the part where I drank too many Red Bulls and got ill.
February 2013:
Participated in the Color Run 5K (trained really hard for it and didn't stop during my run)! Also got locked out of the car, and a random guy we ran with jumped into the backseat and stained my car ceiling. I was so pissed.
March 2013:
From early 2013 on, my main startup team began doing product demos and eliciting feedback. Met a lot of potential organizers and tried to sell them on the idea of our app.
April 2013/May 2013:
At the end of the month, as per tradition, Pat visited me in Southern California, and I showed her around like a good tour guide. Of course, I didn't have to, but what's a homie to do when another homie is in my hood? Pat bought me a notebook from then-up-and-coming artist Britto, and I recently saw the artist's work everywhere.
June 2013:
Attended a best friend's bachelorette party in San Francisco. Tea time, garden roaming, and drag queen dinner completed the experience. Also attended my alma mater's alumni weekend as leadership, which was nice: great food, company, and much swag I was proud to showcase.
July 2013:
Visited Mount Rushmore: The Most Patriotic Way to Celebrate America! We flew to North Dakota and enjoyed myriad sights and sites, including the Crazy Horse Memorial, Badlands, and some caves nearby. Had a really good time exploring the area. Came back and celebrated the 1-year anniversary of my startup.
August 2013:
Attended said friend's wedding in Hawaii! A mixture of fun, happiness, and sorrow. For a couple of days, I stayed in a hostel and played on the beach (2 blocks away). I learned to boogie board from a local. Later, I traveled from Oahu to Maui for the wedding. Rented a ghetto car and drove the wifey-sis around the island, but couldn't make it all the way through. Got a bad sunburn, right before the wedding. Enjoyed a sunset wedding and caught a bouquet (coerced, or even peer pressured by the other single ladies because they didn't want to do so). After the fun and games (and shaved ice), I returned to the main island with the wifey-sis and took some challenging hikes up and down the Island (and went to a bar where I tried to pitch to an old man). I hiked on train tracks and missed my plane. Boo hoo. We hung out with her friends, then took her to the airport. Luckily, I had the company of the best man from the wedding: we went snorkeling (I got washed away once, wow, them waves), ate some delicious sushi, and hung out for the day. It was after he left that I was all alone, with just myself, the sand, and the surf. Perfect for building sand castles.
September 2013:
Not too notable, this month was. From correspondences, I recall a certain marketing event I wanted to volunteer at, and I was promised a shoutout and many other things. Even when I helped out at the event and asked about the shoutout or announcement, the organizer in charge was not only incompetent and forgot to deliver on what she promised, but also lied about having promoted us on the social media channels. She even had the gall to ask me for photographs after her link expired. I was so pissed - she was all talk, and gives marketers everywhere a terrible name. I didn't want to be surrounded by inconsiderate liars like her, and it was because of her I decided not to join the marketing organization.
October 2013:
I attended an event conference, and Vegas' Tech Cocktail with another friend. Joyous and informative occasions, they were. Spent Halloween in West Hollywood with some friends.
November 2013:
Rekindled something with someone special, somehow. Explored NOLA for Thanksgiving. Delicious turkey dinner. Visited a mansion garden, peeked into theold Six Flags, saunted soberly down Bourbon Street, drank Absinthe at a pirate bar, ate delicious seafood (ACME, was it?), and walked into the Mardi Gras museum. Fun all around.
December 2013:
Attended a startup party and hackathons. Completed health/fitness challenge with friends and squatted a lot.
January 2014:
Rang in the new year with friends. Had fried asparagus, yums. Spent some time at the house... this might have been the time I played the mustachio game for The Avengers movie. Started a year of Kiva donations. Went to AT&T Developer Summit/Hackathon and CES. Had a great time, minus the food poisoning. Macklemore was fun to watch.
February 2014:
Spent Valentine's Weekend in Vegas for Tech Cocktail Week. Yummy fare in Downtown Vegas. I was pleasantly surprised. Also unpleasantly surprised when I lost a dance-off. Went to the Heart Attack Grill, too. Prepared for an incubator pitch, but didn't end up making it in.
March 2014:
Took a trip out to Seattle. Visited the Space Needle (outside only), a nice gushing waterfall, the capital of Washington, Olympic National Park (four climates in one!), and the underground realm (the old city). Love the sculptures outside, too. Removed my wisdom teeth, ouch.
April 2014:
Took an amazing trip to Cambodia, and had a great time. Ate lots of crocodile pizza, yummy ice cream, and other delicacies. Went tombraiding and water-village exploring. Glamour shots were fun, and I was initiated into Reiki. The company I was with made it all the more memorable.
May 2014:
Visited San Francisco.
June 2014:
Visited San Francisco for beekeeping class, mead tasting, and cider tasting. This was during the time of the World Cup.
July 2014:
Rough trip to Santa Barbara. Finally explored the famed Solvang. Heard fireworks in the distance. Began doing film screenings with another organization for startup. Left my day job to help with family company.
August 2014:
Had a lot of difficulties with the family company, and with finding other side gigs.
September 2014:
Felt hopeful for the future after changing my focus to design.
October 2014:
Started a new job - it's the happiest I've been with my career. I love my team and enjoy the product I'm working on. Feeling imposter syndrome every day, which means I have to continue to improve at my craft. Amazingly enough, I also moved to LA.
November 2014:
Had a calm Thanksgiving this year. A little bit of a food, a lot of serendipitous shopping (gift cards galore, $100 JC Penney and $25 Mall, along with a $50 Macy's card I had lying around), and a harrowing hike at the Channel Islands.
December 2014:
Visited the Philippines for Christmas and New Year's. Started with a Christmas feast, followed by spa, exploring of Intramuros, walking around various malls, tasting tea and desserts, eating yummy food, and walking around arts capital Angono. After a bad panna cotta, I experienced a dreadful couple of days (food poisoning) and was in pain for New Year's Eve. Luckily, the best person ever took care of me.
In 2014, I took on a challenge to complete my goals with fellow goal achievers, and:
- Spoke in front of 300+ people (at the AT&T Developer Summit Hackathon).
- Completed twelve $25 Kiva donations for 2014.
- Revised resume.
- Moved to LA.
- Completed Insanity again (second time, full round).
Now, January 2015 is here. After I get over this food poisoning, I commit to:
- Cook healthy, delicious meals 3+ times a week.
- Work out 4-5 times a week.
- Travel internationally at least once this year.
- Travel domestically at least twice this year.
- Become a better designer, either by taking classes, attending seminars, or attending conferences.
- Explore and re-explore my artsy / creative hobbies.
- Make new friends.
- Develop an individual identity.
- Create more projects of interest.
- Improve my comedic flow (by taking a class of sorts).
There's many more options to explore, and I look forward to learning and self-development opportunities in the future.
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