詐騙的藝術

最近在思考“詐騙”這件事。 最簡單的概念來說就是說謊。說爛掉的蘋果是好蘋果，說兩房的房子是四房。可是這只是低級騙子的行為，因為早晚會被發現的。

Book review 2022

2022 is another year that is very significant to me. I turned 50 (hopefully got a bit wiser), continued to “work” in a very strange environment and I lost my dad. As for reading, I continued to not remember much from the books that I have read – and it’s getting worse – sometimes I…

Book review 2021

2021 is another crazy year. Yup, still no traveling and there were lots of restrictions on social gathering and work-from-home time. I managed to finish (yet) another master’s degree and somehow got involved in a “project” that is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But most of all, I seem to be remembering very little about the…

爸爸的生平

父親於1939年出生於潮州汕頭礐石。從他口中提到他的童年生活，都是自由快樂的。因為是基督教的家庭長大，他分享小時候的故事通常與教會有關，例如他是詩歌班或者是教會在他們鄉下有好多正面的影響。

十大我最看好的新創

好吧，在公佈前有兩件事要說明！ 我對新創的定義有點不一樣。不是甚麼獨角獸/上市為指標，而是它有否創造或者是改變一個市場/社會的一些現象。另外，階段這件事很重要。不是單看公司營運幾年或者是員工有幾位，簡單來說，新創就是還在演變的意思。 除了人類大部份有十根手指以外，其實沒什麼好說十大的。好新創我有幸接觸很多，所謂看好，應該是我個人喜歡/欣賞/羨慕/ 崇拜/妒忌他們背後代表的事情吧！如果大家想看有深度的技術分析，我建議大家馬上訂閱曼報！

Book review 2020

2020 is a crazy year. I have done very little traveling and as a result, the amount of reading has dropped (I used to do a lot of reading on planes). Anyway, to continue this little tradition, I am writing a 3 words review of books that I have read this year (as usual, I…

Taiwan — a place of dichotomy

Taiwan, not Thailand (for those who are new to Asia), is a place for the ages. Not because of its unique position in Asia; not because of its wonderful people and landscape; not because of its amazing food and freaking night markets; not because of any of these cliche people have managed to label a…

腦妓

誰不想用腦袋賺錢？ 當然，在這個所謂知識型社會，單單只靠努力的工作已經不多。 所以，用腦袋賺錢應該要分等級。

淺談Podcast的發展

這一陣子，台灣podcast真的變得很熱鬧，只是我們小小公司就已經有三位同事在經營Podcast頻道。所以今天想整理一下我對Podcast的看法。

Natural selection

I am writing this right before I dive into the long journey of reading Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Hopefully, when I finish it (someday), I can look back at the propositions that I have now and hopefully have more learning out of it.

Looking at racism from the far

Racism, specifically what’s happening in the US, can sometimes feel quite distant for us living far away. Sure, most of us, as human beings, know racism is bad and it should not be tolerated. In fact, I have a taste of it myself, being an immigrant from Hong Kong to Australia when I was 13.…

Reasons why I am not watching “The Last Dance”

I am a basketball nerd and fell in love with the game because of the Dream Team and of course, the greatest player of all time, Michael Jordan. But just when the entire basketball world focuses on this latest documentary, “The Last Dance”, I have decided not to watch it. Yes, Michael Jordan is the…

Our minds are made up

A quick test: think of any memorable news, journals, articles, blog posts, social media content, do they give you a new perspective, angle or simply change your opinion/position? The answer is most likely no. We are living in a time that our minds are made up. Think about it, when was the last time you…

COVID-19 impact to startups

As someone running a leading startup ecosystem builder in Taiwan, I get this question very often these days. What’s the impact of COVID-19 to the Taiwanese startups? The answer is simple but boring: it depends. What’s more interesting is how this question reveals some of the misunderstanding and misconception that people have for startups. 1.…

顏色不分性別

最近台灣有一則小新聞，一個小童拒絕帶粉紅色口罩（大概認為粉紅色是女生的），然後政府跟很多團體就提倡“顏色不分性別”的口號。所有讓社會更和諧的事情我都支持，只是這件事有一些邏輯值得釐清。

We live in a very strange time

We live in a very strange time. COVID-19 is scary of course but it also serves as the biggest affirmation to our troubles in recent times. Fake news, populism, junk science, and politics which is perhaps more similar to religion 100 years ago. Growing up in Hong Kong back in the 70s, I remembered when the…

Life after COVID-19 ends

We all know about Michael Jordan’s shot in the Finals against the Utah Jazz. It’s a great shot, isn’t it? But wait, what if he missed? As Jeff Van Gundy, NBA coach and TV analyst, once said, let’s make the judgement “when the ball is in the air”. Everyone is an expert after the fact,…

People I enjoy working with

Recently as I was browsing through my old blogs, I noticed I mentioned a few times people I try to avoid working with. Then it dawned on me that I haven’t really talked about people I actually enjoy, or even love, working with.

An open letter to mature founders

Dear founders-to-be, I know you have thought long and hard about it. And you have finally summoned your inner strength to really give this a try. Or, given all the craziness we have seen in the last few months, including this mysterious COVID-19, perhaps the decision was made for you. But in any case, after…

Company values

Yes I know, it is one of the most boring topics. For those who have spent times in large corporates, company values may only mean that random poster hanging on somewhere near the reception wall (that no one reads) or that lip service senior executives pay at major conferences (but at no other times).

Why startups fail?

It’s a pretty boring topic. Many people have written about it. And if you Google on this topic, you will find that most articles don’t really describe the root causes of why startups fail, rather they are simply describing what happens when startups fail.

What I think about virtual banks?

Yesterday I had dinner with my friend who is now working in a virtual bank and she asked me, “what do you think about virtual banks?”. With such a broad question, I mumbled for a few minutes (especially after a few beers) without clearly thinking through it. So today I will try to recap all…

人生道理

一早看到Ray Dalio在臉書提到Ashton Kutcher用他的App寫了做人的原則。之前我看了Ray的書也寫了一些，今天決定一次過把我所有的人生的原則/道理寫下來（發現越寫越多）！

All the fuss about work from home

With the recent outbreak of the coronavirus, many companies are implementing “work from home” (WFH) policy. As with anything in life, some work and some don’t. Whilst there is a lot of discussions on this topic recently, I think some points deserve more attention.

如何問問題

不管是創業還是人生，我們都會碰到不少問題。有問題，除了好好研究和積極面對以外，當然就是找適合的人問一下。正所謂，“聽君一席話，勝讀十年書”。

Common beliefs I don’t subscribe to

I am a regular guy. I believe in most things as-a-matter-of-factly because they were told to me by somehow who is trustworthy. And how do I determine if these people are trustworthy? Well, that’s based on some other people who have told me so. Oh yes, that’s basically what human knowledge is and therefore stop…

How to find out if we are an asshole?

I think it’s fair to say that we have all encountered assholes in our lives. And there are many books in the market that teach people how to deal with them, mostly colleagues in the workplace but they are applicable to life in general as well.

My hero

I grew up never had a hero, or any idol for that matter. I am never really into any celebrities, sports stars or any business tycoons. I have huge respect for all these people, don’t get me wrong, but they are certainly not what I would consider as a hero. Until recently I came across…

旱鴨子教游泳

前一陣子，Jamie在天下雜誌寫了一篇“台灣新創圈怪象：旱鴨子卻教游泳”，大概意思是沒創過業的人怎麼能去教別人創業。有人贊同，也有人反對（也順帶攻擊他）。其實他本人和他們加速器裡面的同事有沒有這方面的能力本來就不應該是焦點，因為這沒有讓我們更接近道理。

Book review 2019

Alright, this is becoming a little tradition, I am writing a 3 words review on books that I have read this year (as usual, I cheated a little bit).  Search for #yauread on Facebook for my book list or read my previous blog posts 2016 book review and 2017 and 2018 book review!

學問

我老婆常常會問我，“為什麼你這麼愛唸書啦？” 我每次回答都是，“我沒有啊”。 然後我老婆只會給我一個不想再聊下去的眼神。

單一產品

新創這一兩年有蠻大的改變，從大家都愛說的“平台”（通常都非常niche）；隨便蓋一個App做growth hacking；大多數是toC的市場，到現在說的什麼Deep Tech；跟產業連結；toB的市場（每次一些專家說toC跟toB的時候，我都好想問，你們覺得Slack是那一種呢？）。這些改變，讓大家本來很怕的硬體新創又創造了新的機遇。 今天想想這件事。

檢討

怎麼說也是一個decade的最後一個月，是時候自我檢討一下。自我檢討其實是一件很可怕的事，因為不只是要問自己怎麼看自己，而是要想自己如何想/看/想看到別人如何想/看/想看到自己（一直如此類推）。就好像前幾天我在照鏡子的時候突然發現，神經啊，我老婆原來是要天天看著我這個長相的人（好了，先不要討論其他個性的問題等等）– note 1。

Milton Friedman and our world now

Recently I have stumbled upon some YouTube videos on Milton Friedman, a famous American economist who received a Nobel prize on economics. Generally, I don’t put too much weight on Nobel prizes because I believe it’s a highly convoluted system with a lot of inside dealings (especially peace prizes). But Professor Friedman is truly different.…

新創大趨勢

新創熱潮從大概十年前在亞洲各地開始發展，到今天已經有很大的改變。到底未來會怎樣？從世界上最大的accelerators/單位來看看，應該會給我們不錯的啟示。

細節決定一切

要了解一個人，看他在大事情上的處理是不適合的。因為大事情本來有關聯性的事情太多，反而看一個人在小事情怎麼處理（特別是沒人注意的時候），是可以看到那個人蠻多的個性。 舉一個例子。

Collaboration?

Recently there has been quite a lot of discussion on collaboration at the office. And it seems some colleagues have been struggling to get a good grasp of the concept. So here is my attempt to break it down in the business context.

時代革命

發生了好幾個月的“反送中”活動，到了今天，已經從一開始的反送中條例，到五大訴求（雖然應該蠻多人說不出是什麼），再到時代革命，甚至乎有一些人把它跟最敏感的港獨議題拉在一起。 我也有我的想法，可是我覺得想法是不值錢，不重要的。重要是到底自己的想法有沒有演變，有沒有進步，不然這個想法也只是一種自我安慰，自我陶醉的行為。 要有進步，也不是天天自己去想就有，而是需要有適當的腦袋衝擊。 最近終於有了。

Startup competition (again)

This could be just a confirmation bias. Most startup folks around me know I am not a big fan of startup competitions and I have previously posted on similar topics. However, after acting as a ‘judge’ for another startup competition today, I can’t help but continue to reinforce this belief/illusion. Perhaps the reason why I…

我們有什麼差別？

自從參與Taiwan Startup Stadium (TSS) 的工作以後，一直以來都有人問我，你們家跟其他政府計畫有什麼差別，有什麼優勢？特別在Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA)的出現以後，我更多被問到的是，我們跟TTA有什麼差別？ 我相信在台灣政府大力推動新創的方向下，以後只會有更多好的新創計畫出現，好像Taiwan Startup Terrace，所以我就試試在這裡解釋一下。更重要的是，一起學習如何在一般事物上作出有效的比較。

The power of “not doing”

It was a nice afternoon in Hong Kong. We were looking at the beautiful Victoria Harbour. It was spectaaaaaacular. And I was with a man, a wise man, though I forgot who he was. As our topic transitioned from the scenic view of Hong Kong to land use, politics, particularly government and business (mostly property…

秩序

去年在台灣買了一台車，常常帶家人開車到處玩，非常過癮！ 同時也發現，台灣交通真的很亂，很沒秩序。機車儘管載了一家大小也會亂閃，小路出大路大部份車都不會讓，覺得慢慢開在旁邊就好。在台灣開車，真的會體會到什麼是第四度空間（三台車開在兩條線上）。 這件事讓我思考到，什麼是秩序？

爭取

2013年，新一代香港人第一次看到比較嚴重的警民衝突。 2019年，我們這次又學到什麼呢？

Problems with analytics

After the recent defeat of Houston Rockets, there have been a lot (more) debates on whether analytics works – which as most of us basketball fans know, Houston Rockets is absolutely religious when it comes to analytics.

商業合作

在新創圈，單純走互聯網概念的”平台”越來越不好做，反過來跟企業有關的B2B的項目變多。這些項目更接近亞洲的”洲情”，更實在。

專業經理人

不只是台灣，亞洲很多地區都有面對企業，特別是“中小企業”，接班的問題。提到接班，大家會想到，如期交給下一代，不如交給專業管理人。 今天來討論一下。

最好的決定

前同事突然說要找我到他公司，跟他部門做什麼人生規劃的分享。 以前在四大工作，常常會到各式各樣的場合做類似的分享，蠻習慣的，可是現在卻覺得有點怕。

Book review 2017/2018

Back in 2016, I wrote a little review on books I read that year (2016 list), using 3 words only for each book. I didn’t do one last year so let me combine last year’s with this year’s list (yes, I cheated on some, stop nitpicking!).

What’s there to learn?

I have my fair share of interviews. Back in the days when I was climbing the corporate ladders, I was obviously lucky to catch a few breaks here and there but ultimately it was also about me willing to try out different career options. My motto is: it never hurts to meet more people.

蝸居

香港人最常，最喜歡，又最討厭討論的議題一定是居住問題。 年輕的怕上不了車，賣掉的天天後悔，買到的想再多買一個。 大家人生好像沒有其他計劃，只要買房子就好了。

留給最我的說話

一個很常見的話題 – 我會給二十年前的我什麼人生建議？ 其實答案很簡單， 說什麼都沒用，因為那時候的我根本不會聽進去。特別是不會聽一個用二十年前的角度講事情的人。

開開心心

前幾天在臉書看到朋友分享以下這張圖： 除了再次體會中文的深奧，最吸引我的是‘開心’。

在家千日好

過去幾年，一直聽到身邊的朋友討論希望搬到另外一個地方生活。 原因不外乎兩個，小孩教育、香港房價，可是講的多，做的少。為什麼？原因也不外乎幾個，怕其他地方沒工作機會，文化有差異，還有最重要的，會沒有那個任勞任怨的工人姐姐。說白了，一般香港家庭，沒工人姐姐已經是不能運作了，可以說是家不成家。

最佳拍檔

我不是很喜歡足球，可是也逃不了昨晚歐冠杯的討論。 聽說那個守門員害了他的球隊輸了一場可能二十年才有一次機會的球賽。

創業導師 – 最終篇

機緣巧合，三年前認識一位新創創辦人。 他做的是文化旅遊。 沒錯，一件我一點都不能領會、體會的事，更不要說一門生意。 可是那時候剛進創業圈，也是一家共享空間媒合的，好吧，試試看吧！

休息 寫作 再寫作

這禮拜是“合作寫馬拉松”的第二次啟航。 新夥伴提議寫“媽媽”，本來是一個很好的題目，又剛好接近母親節，理論上應該是很好寫的。 可是我想了一個禮拜，什麼都想不到，更不要說開始寫。 （不要誤會，我跟我媽媽感情很好，她也非常健在，可是就是想不到什麼事情！）

AI is here?

What broke the Internet today, well at least my Internet, was the Google AI assistant making a restaurant and hair salon appointment. As I read through my friends’ reactions on social media, I can’t help but wonder, what does this really mean?

My prediction of the future (beta version)

This is not my first prediction of the future. Yet, after reading another book on this topic, I just can’t help but to try write another random one. Be warned. These are extremely random and most of them are without their appropriate justifications (I can write more if I get any questions). In fact, I…

最佳合夥人

前幾天，一家我已經幫忙很久的startup打來問我，如何找合夥人？ 這位年輕的創業家，居然在香港搞文化產業也做出不錯的成果，可是一直以來他都是single founder。 這件事讓我想到合夥人這個議題。

Knowledge

Another night of drinking, another night of great company with my business partner. And the same theme keeps on re-appearing: business is all about people.

Saving private startups

One of the most interesting phenomenon I observe in the startup ecosystem is that everyone assumes startups need help – a lot of help. Therefore everyone is offering mentorship, training, advising, sharing (paid or pro bono), and of course a lot of grants too… Is this right?

Empathy 2.0 – Being Selfish and Otherful

Empathy is in… “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively”

遊戲規則

今天給一位前輩提醒，說我應該更實時地把一些想法紀錄下來。 好吧！ 不知不覺在這個所謂創業圈混了好一陣子了，當中有一些遊戲規則我是覺得挺有趣的。

Life lesson

One of the biggest reasons I started this blog was to leave something for my son to read. I believe when he gets to the age that would even bother to consider some of these things, I would probably be too old to communicate with him effectively or simply be dead by then. Also, I…

政治立場

昨天跟友人吃午餐，她突然說：“我是有政治立場的。” 我覺得有點奇怪，為什麼有政治立場好像需要利申一樣。 再想想，我呢？

原則

最近我在幫忙寫一本關於如何管理銀行的教材，裡面講一大堆應該用什麼原則 (principles) 去管治等等。 相信沒人會反對，做人也應該有原則。 我的原則？

創業加速器

昨天有朋友問我，“什麼是加速器？” 在現今全球創業潮底下，就算對創新(innovation)、創業(startup/entrepreneurship)沒什麼興趣的人，都很大機會有聽過incubation, accelerator, co-working space, hackathon, 創業比賽，等等等等。

妓女

寫了這麼久的網誌，有兩個議題一直不敢寫。 一個是關於妓女，一個是關於酒。 妓女是因為怕爭議性高，酒是因為太愛。 酒就慢慢想，今天試試寫妓女吧！

The Gary Vaynerchuk effect

Gary Vaynerchuk is the man. He was at the RISE conference last week and he literally stole the entire show, on and off the event. He is indeed a social media expert, my Facebook and Twitter feed is flooded with posts about/with him.

Hay Day

I am a real late comer. I only started playing this game recently. This doesn’t matter. There is never the perfect time. I was one of the earliest players of Clash of Clans. And the game only grew popular after I got bored with it. So I missed out a lot of cool features the…

這麼快 那麼慢

很久沒寫了。 一半是因為忙著寫一堆比較“認真”一點的稿，不是拿去投就是搞自己的網站(Leroy往右談商業)。另外一半就是過去一個月真的有點忙，工作、功課、活動一大堆，雖然不算是忙到廢寢忘餐，可是腦袋總是想著一些事情，沒有什麼空檔好好去看／聽書跟寫東西。

向左想 向右想

我們從一出生，開始學喝奶、學走路、學撒嬌、到學講話，無一不是跟著一個個目標往前走。就好像《愛麗絲夢遊仙境》裡面也說了，“如果你不知道你要去哪裡，你走那一條路都可以。” 我們需要明確目標，就像在我們上了學之後，努力去學寫字，學數學，學語文，學一大堆幾百年前人類發現發明的東西，全都表露無遺。

危機四伏

在這個變化莫測的世界，我們每一天都在面對危機。 經濟蕭條的時候，我們擔心會被開除，一夜之間，再沒辦法付房貸，沒辦法養家。沒錯，要吃西北風也要有能力負擔一個西斜的單位。 年紀變大就更可怕，我們擔心自己或是家人生病，一夜之間，生命時鐘突然變成了倒數計時器。沒得救就算了，突然醫生說有一顆一年幾百萬的標靶藥可以把生命延長，看著自己一點點的積儲，看著自己的伴侶，看著剛出生的小孩，才發現當自己的閻羅王原來一點都不簡單。

The startup books that you should avoid

If you search “best startup books” on Google, just like almost every other time when you are unsure of something, you are sure to get the following titles. Yes, reading is fun but if you are a founder of an early-stage startup, you should really avoid reading them.

The art of communication

Last week I had a chance to attend a communication course. To be honest, I have attended my share of these types of ‘leadership’ and ‘management’ courses, and the results have been mixed at best. However, this one is different. Very different.

What we think is correct may not always be so…

One random day in 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger, as requested by the bus driver. That led to the Montgomery bus boycott, and of course, ultimately leading to the famous speech by Martin Luther King, “I have a dream“.

How’s your relationship going with your startup?

Building a startup is a whole lot like starting a love relationship. Oh, as you go further into the journey, such as raising a series A, term sheet negotiation with institutional investors is pretty much identical to signing a prenuptial agreement. But let’s be patient, we will get to that later. Everyone has to start…

Startup weekend

Another startup weekend. Another major disappointment. I am not dissing startup weekend. I like it. I have helped organise one, mentor and judge on a few other ones. I love the enthusiasm, excitement and the wonderful vibe one can always experience from this volunteer-run event.

寧教人打仔

前幾個禮拜，在路上看到一位媽媽對一位大概只有三四歲的小孩大罵。 “我講過好多次，你不要挑戰我的底線！” 我可以肯定，那個哭得很可憐的小女生應該聽不懂這種在電視劇才出現的對白。反而那位母親在工作上卻是挺有機會聽到這句話。父母潛意識找小孩發洩實在是非常普遍的。

寫捨寫

不知不覺在這網誌已經寫了快兩年。 從開始到現在，初衷沒變過，只是希望給自己一個平台去整理和表達一些想法。雖然想事情一直都是我的嗜好（我老婆常常唸我很愛發呆），可是發現如果強迫自己多寫的話，思路會比較清楚，也讓自己更了解自己。

當人類比機器人取締時

人工智能（artificial intelligence – AI) 最近炒得火熱。這不是因為科技上有什麼總大的突破，而是一般傳媒的功勞。現在大部份人的智慧及知識都是靠上網看看新聞／文章學的。 從Alpha Go（電腦下圍棋），電動車（Google或是Telsa），直到Amazon Go，一下子大家又覺得機器人對我們人類做成很大的威脅。Will Smith 2004的I. Robot突然又變的很有道理（雖然已經是十幾年前的電影）。

Snap(chat) is the new Enron

The whole startup craze has gone too far. Many millennial who are part of this startup movement have probably never heard of Enron (or probably not much anyway). Enron was a major energy company (a bit of an understatement) that had a spectacular crash. Just before the crash, it (allegedly) reported an annual revenue in…

Black and White

Even being an immigrant myself back in the 80s, racism never meant anything to me more than some people being “mean” to others. Yes, the “meanness” varies but I have never given it any serious thought. Until recently in my doctoral study, perhaps more so because it is a degree from the United States, the…

Social “de-development”

Our society has made progress – significant progress in the last few decades. From health, culture to politics, we have indeed made gigantic leaps. So much so what we have learnt is only to continue with this development. Imagine Hong Kong back in the 50s-60s.  Hong Kong people were generally poor.  And to make a living, they…

法理情 情理法

很多年前在台灣，計程車司機講了一句話，讓我永記心中。 “你們香港人愛講法理情，我們台灣人卻愛講情理法！” 這句話的確有點道理，我們香港人做事比較愛講規矩，可是缺人情味。台灣人人情味十足，可是做事卻有點隨性，覺得“規矩只是規矩”。 沒錯，對這種generalisation不能太認真，更不可能覺得每個地方的人都是一模一樣，可是把它當作一種工具去分析事情還是挺有意思的。 就好像七警事件。

七級浮屠

今天一早天朗氣清，突然心血來潮，覺得想去跑跑步。 我Google了一下，發現香港東有一個海濱公園，叫鰂魚涌海濱／寵物公園，記得那邊環境不錯，所以就去那邊試試看。 我跑了十幾分鐘，發現有一堆老人在看海邊，我也沒太多管閒事（也還有一點力氣），就繼續跑。 再跑了幾分鐘，剛好那邊是公園的盡頭，我就回頭繼續。 於是又看到那些老人，現在人變多了，更重要的是，我看到他們把救生圈掉到水裡面！ 我馬上跑過去看看，發現有一個五六十歲的婆婆在水裡面。

創業綜緩金

我們其實不難看到全世界的政府都在支持創業，當然香港也一樣。 先不說為什麼政府要支持創業（這個話題可以談很久），可是可以肯定的是，支持創業的撥款的確是越來越多。如果再加上一些“業餘”天使跟白熱化的創投市場，“錢”真的多得很（也先不討論QE跟低息環境是不是把這些“錢”變便宜了）。 表面看起來，這樣對於有心有力創業的人，一定是好事。可是對於整體環境來說，這是好事嗎？

Startup lesson

Recently I was involved in (albeit in a rather limited fashion) putting together a mini-entrepreneurship program for a local university. We covered most of the key topics in the startup literature world – lean canvas, business model, market validation, design thinking, fund raising, financial management, etc.  It’s literally a mini-MBA course for startups. Yet I…

Startup vs Corporate

Coming from a big corporate background, I have often been asked (perhaps none more so than myself), how do I compare the two? Being someone senior in a large corporate, our job is like reading a map. Figuring out precisely where the starting and finishing points are, identifying roadblocks, calculating how much fuel we need,…

Evaluating startups

Recently I met quite a few startups through business/coaching and it has led me to one simple question. What if John Lennon pitches to modern day startup investors/mentors/judges about making songs that could change the world? The following is probably a good indication of what may happen…

Transition

The essence of the word ‘transition’ suggests change. Yet change is implicitly embedded within the concept of time, which in totality represents our experience of life in this world. And life is temporary. Therefore, it is much more meaningful to understand the word ‘transition’ as temporary. The logical next question would then be, when does the…

The next 100 years

After reading The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century, I’ve decided to join in the fun and predict the future. Obviously I have no place in arguing with the author’s geopolitical analysis, which is fascinating, but I thought it would be fun to add in two other elements. One on technology and one on…

T-1

T-1在財金世界是指交易(transaction)發生前的一天(minus 1 day)。 當T-1放在日常生活的時候，它的意義就變大了。 T-1

2016年自己大事回顧

看了去年寫的 2015年自己大事回顧 ，發現已經沒什麼太大的感覺。 決定今年用另外一種寫法。 只是說一件感恩的事跟一件抱怨的事。

素人的自傳

最近看了幾本關於一些名人生平的書。 突然覺得，如果有我自己生平的書也不錯啊！ 於是心血來潮，跑去問老婆，“如果有一天，有人要寫我的生平，然後他訪問你，問你會怎麼形容我這個人，你會怎麼說？”

一件很尷尬的事

尷尬事很多，可是這件事大概都有發生過在我們身上。 牙齒黏著一些食物，特別是豆豉之類的。（所以白癡才會在第一次約會吃墨汁義大利麵） 說實在，這件事沒什麼特別，吃東西有東西黏著牙齒，其實是很正常的事情。 可是如果你有細心觀察，不知道為什麼，大家都會覺得這件事很尷尬。

鹹魚

“做人如果無夢想，同條鹹魚有咩分別呀？” 不少香港人對這句周星馳在少林足球說的經典對白都很熟悉。 這句話聽起來好像很勵志，可是我覺得周星馳的電影，都是有一點在誤導觀眾。

搬家

香港有句話，“上屋搬下屋，唔見一籮穀”。 算算看我也好像搬了不少次屋／家。 移民前一次，移民一次，回流一次，自己搬出來一次，去上海工作一次，回流一次，去台灣工作一次，回流一次，還有把下個月快要搬家的也算進來，難怪我這麼窮！

Modern day religion

It’s only right to write about this today. Trump won. I don’t follow politics and have almost zero knowledge/interest about it. So most of the information I have is through hearsay and by most accounts, Trump is not a good guy. Obviously it’s hard to define good these days but then let’s just say we will…

創業營之後

每次參加完創業營，都想做一點筆記。 剛剛幾個禮拜，都有參與一家大學弄的創業營及其課程。我們不斷提出design thinking，lean canvas這些概念，當看到有一些團隊確實是有領會，我們是很開心的。 可是還是有一些團隊，沒有抓到重點，我現在試試舉一些例子。

我只是不在乎

我基本上有童年回憶的，都會有教會的片段。 我甚至乎差點想做全職傳教士。 可是不知道什麼時候開始，我慢慢跟教會，跟基督教，越走越遠。不是想通了什麼，也不是反對什麼，反正慢慢疏遠就是了。

簡單的問題

今天看了一位知名創投人的訪問。 其中一個問題是，“你覺得創投人應該自己也有創業的經驗嗎？” 這個問題我之前寫過，今天卻有新的體驗。 最簡單直接當然就是說“應該”還是“不應該”，然後給一個隨便都可以上網找到的理由。

進化論

進化論應該是現今科學界最受歡迎的理論。 最近剛好有機會看了幾本關於進化論的書，好像可以裝懂一點，可是我永遠不能想像我們是從一些很不一樣的生物（好像猩猩）演變過來的，不管時間花了多久。 當然，我不能想像並不代表什麼。可是說到底，理論只是一個工具，一個幫我們去了解真相的工具。它的有效期是在於下一個更好的工具的出現。 儘管我對進化論有多不了解/不滿，最近我卻對它有一些幻想。

孤獨的人生

最近身邊發生了一些事，讓我重新體會人生的孤獨。 我們一般聽到別人的好消息／事情的時候，我們都會說， “太厲害了” ／ “他就好啦” ／ “真好運” 當然，替別人開心是正常的，不管是羨慕還是妒忌。 反過來說，我們一般聽到別人的壞消息／事情的時候，我們都會說， “太不幸了” ／ “加油” ／ “以後會更好” 雖然反應差不多，效果卻很不一樣。

孤獨的業師

過去幾年，參加了不少大大小小的創業活動，有做過搞手，有做過評審，也做過mentor（台灣叫業師）。其中雖然我最喜歡做業師，也是最不好做的。 說什麼業師，本來就沒有太多可以／應該分享，因為我一直覺得業師唯一的功能就是鼓勵團隊。說真的，如果創業是一盤棋，我們最多可以說就是鼓勵他們先把“兵”推前一步（當然這也不一定是對的），其他晚一點再說吧。 這個世界，action跟inaction影響一切。

The rise of social enterprises

After a week of conferences on philanthropy, impact investing and social enterprise, it’s time for a quick reflection. Social enterprise is often heralded as the next breakthrough in both social science and business – we should do well and do good. It is better than the traditional non-profit model because it has a ‘business model’ and…

The rise of personalised opinions

This has been bugging me for a while – with our different concerns and conflicts at a seemingly all time high – what is so different about this generation that we are living in? I believe it is the rise of personalised opinions. Allow me to break this down. We always have opinions, this is…

我們是誰？

再簡單的問題也可以有非常複雜的答案。 可是這次我覺得答案是可以挺簡單的。 我們最真實的一面就是我們生氣要罵人的時候。什麼牌品，賭品，跟酒品也是這個概念。 當我們非常生氣的時候，我們罵人絕對是“對事不對人”，只是那件“事”就是要讓別人難受。

秋天的聯想

一個小學老師常用，卻很老土的題目。 再想一下，為什麼老土呢？ 最簡單的理由可能是，這個聽起來就像一個很感性的題目，也是因為感性，越是要硬配合它，就只會覺得越不感性。也說真的，用這種工程邏輯思考的我，本來就不可能把這個題目寫好。 可是同一時間，這個題目讓我想到最近看的一本書，“四代香港人”。

創業迷思

剛剛參加了一個台灣的創業營。 每次說是去當導師，其實都是一個自我學習的好機會。三天兩夜，聽了二十幾隊的介紹，又有一些想法。

The modern day currency

This is definitely another piece of work-in-progress. Recently, I have been thinking about what is the modern day ‘currency‘.  Not money in its functional sense but what people really treasure so that businesses revolve about.

Uber

不管是香港還是台灣，都有不少人在討論到底政府對Uber的立場應該是怎樣。

Pokemon Go

Pokemon Go 上禮拜殺到香港，表面上看到的瘋狂程度，應該沒有太多人會覺得奇怪。 香港人本來就很會趕潮流。

Democracy 2.0

A few years ago, I was engaged in a heated argument with my former colleagues (obviously after a few beers) about whether China is ready for democracy.

聆聽

相信沒有人會反對溝通上聆聽的重要性，不管是在工作，家庭，跟朋友或是陌生人。

Market validation

I believe the essence of modern day startup is all about constant market validation – doing it as light and as quickly as possible. Agile, lean, whatever words you want to throw in here. And super early stage market validation (before even a landing page or a line of code is written) is particularly important. We…

消防勇士

一個極具爭議性的話題。 有消防人員殉職，我相信是每一個香港人都會心痛的事。也是因為這樣，大家有不同情緒表現是可以理解的。這時候一定是會比較脆弱。 當然，這也是一些要爭取自己社會及政治地位的人的好時機。 有合理的，有荒謬的。可是我覺得有一些事是要說明的。