First milestone for my startup and back to a normal routine

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Cybersam

It’s been a while since I last blogged. I have been busy the last 2 months developing an photo-based browser and capturing tool of online classifieds for my startup Invantory. The good news is that I have finally released the app to the App Store yesterday and is now waiting for approval from Apple (finger crossed). There are still a lot that I need to do in order to get the product to the form and state we had envisioned. The 2 most pressing tasks at the moment are getting the camera feature incorporated into the app by the end of the month and developing the web application (very basic function) for release next month.

My work/sleep schedule the past month has been pretty messed up because of the project. Each day, I went to bed later than I did the previous day. Apparently, I tend to get in the zone only during the wee hours of the night after my wife has gone to bed. Since visual design and coding require long, uninterrupted time to perform, it was hard to stop working at 1-4am, especially that’s when I am feeling most productive. For this reason and the aggressive deadline, I often end up going to bed after sunrise. Working this way has its benefits. It’s the time of the day when it’s really quiet and best of all, no distractions – no phone calls, no incoming emails, and far fewer tweets and Facebook updates. I actually get very productive during this time. But there are drawbacks. I feel my biorhythm was out-of-sync and find my energy level low. This schedule isn’t really sustainable and not good for my health in the long-run.

Now that the app is released, I am getting back to the normal schedule and have a more balanced routine.

Synthesize not just analyze

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Cybersam

I just finished reading this post on Boston.com. The article mentioned systems thinking a few times, but it is the word “synthesize” that strongly resonated with me. When I was writing my master’s thesis, my thesis supervisor ingrained it in me that synthesis is just as important as analysis. I remember whenever we met, I would just report my findings of my research to him. But he would immediately stop me from continuing and ask me to synthesize a pattern, trend, hypothesis, or solution from these findings. He emphasized to his students the principle of first decomposing a system to its constituent elements (reductive) and then combine the separate concerns into a unified, coherent entity (holistic). He stressed that careful analysis without good synthesis is useless, conversely synthesis without analysis is almost worthless and can even be dangerous. Analysis and synthesis are complements of each other.

Since graduating from grad school, I am finding that analysis and synthesis plays an even more important role in decision making. Knowing how to perform a synthesis of any analysis is vital. However, while many organizations are either good at analyzing problems or making irrational decisions, very few are capable of performing both analysis and synthesis. This is why Lex Schroeder, the author of the above article, is spot-on to say that universities, industries, and think tanks should embrace a new approach that enable future leaders to “synthesize information, making something new and useful out of seemingly disparate ideas.” And I couldn’t agree more.

Picture credits: Applied Systems Thinking Institute

What can entrepreneurs learn from Restaurant Impossible

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Cybersam

Lately, I am hooked to a reality TV show on the Food Network called Restaurant Impossible. In the show, Chef and Restauranteur Robert Irvine is given the mission of turning a failing restaurant around in 2 days on a $10k budget. Each episode typically starts with Chef Robert coming into the restaurant to assess the situation. Next he creates an improvement plan, which typically includes doing a physical makeover of the restaurant with the help of his interior designer and general contractors, revising the menu, training the staff, cleaning the kitchen, or introducing additional modern dishes. It’s quite a feat to turn a failing restaurant around in 2 days and with $10k budget. To be honest, I do find the show to be dramatized sometimes and still don’t buy the fact that their $10k budget can realistically produce the kind of interior decor that the designer had conceived. That aside, the show is still entertaining and even educational. Entrepreneurs can learn a lot about identifying problems in a business, turning a business around, and running a business. Here are some of the take aways from the show:

Listen to the customer
Sometimes the restaurant featured in the show is simply out of step with the market. The root cause of this problem is often attributed to the restaurant failing to listen to its customers and continuing with the path of producing the same food or maintaining the same dinning atmosphere. To get a critical sense of what the restaurant is lacking, Chef Irvine often starts his assessment of the restaurant by simply asking the customers for their critique of the restaurant. Establishing customer feedback loop is key for any business. Feedback doesn’t need to explicit like asking customer directly. Sometimes tacit feedback is just as good in finding out what customers want. Body language like smile, cringe, and puzzle can be very telling about what they think of your products and services. So be critical, observant, and engaging with customers.
Know the bottom-line
It amazes me how many restaurant owners in the show don’t know what their operating costs are. Some owners don’t even know that they are losing money until Chef Irvine reveal it to them after he looked at their books. Business is all about the bottom-line. Understanding cost is a fundamental imperative for any business. Any entrepreneur should know the cost and cost structure of their business like the back of his hand. If there is no mechanism for tracking costs and revenues, they should be established. It doesn’t need to be sophisticated. Tracking financial/performance metrics by pen and paper is still better than not knowing what’s going on in the company.
Set (high) standards
Chef Irvine is relentless when it comes to food quality. He trains kitchen staff to maintain a high level of standards. Food must be made with fresh ingredients or mostly with fresh ingredients. No compromise. If a dish doesn’t meet the standards, it gets tossed to the trash rather than to have it served to the customer. Chef Irvine is also adamant about service too. Waiters and waitresses must meet and even exceed needs and expectations. Chef Irvine expects the staff at minimum know the menu well and be able to describe and make recommendations as well as being attentive to customers. But you can’t foster an environment of high standards, unless you clarify expected standards with the staff. Chef Irvine is good with setting clear expectations and even giving feedback to articulate how the standard is not met and what needs to be done to address it. Similarly any business should set high yet attainable standards, clarify them to employees, and finally provide constructive feedback to maintain those standards.
Keep it simple
In the show, Chef Irvine is often seen revising the menu. Not surprising, most restaurants have big menu with multiple pages, which makes it hard for the customers to select the dishes to order. Also, big menu makes food prep difficult due to a large variety of food involved. The message is clear. For any business, it is better to be in the position of doing few things very well, than to doing many things mediocrely.
Creativity
To turn things around, Chef Irvine would create new dishes to appeal to the customers. He did so not by using more expensive, new ingredients or complex techniques. He uses existing and often run-of-the-mill ingredients that are already found in the kitchen to create those new dishes. Basically the same ingredients, but combined and cooked differently using simple techniques. The moral of the story is that in the face of constraints and fewer resources in a failing restaurant, Chef Irvine is forced to rely only on improvisation and ingenuity to continue using the same ingredients to yield better results. Call it readjustment, improvisation, or recalibration. Sometimes constraints in business can be drivers to creativity and produce good results.

Well, those are my main take aways from the show. The show is not only entertaining, but for those who are running a business, it is also educational.

HackStar Boston 2011 (Part 2)

Posted on December 12, 2011 by cybersam

In the first part of the article, I recount my HackStar experience at TechStars Boston. Today, I am going to talk about the impact of HackStar has on me and my current endeavor of doing a startup.

Before joining the program, I had thought that my time as a HackStar would be spent mostly coding, which is something I was more than happy to do. While being a HackStar is a lot of hard work, the truth is that I found that there is more than just battening down the hatches and code. To my surprise, HackStars are actually treated as participants of the program, just like any of the team members in the program. While Hackstars don’t get the one-on-one mentorship (since we are not founders), we like the teams have access and participate in activities like lectures, talks, and workshops led by mentors and guest lecturers. Of course there are times when I had to skip a few of the classes and events as I needed to spent more time working in tasks that may be time sensitive. However, I found these lectures and workshops extremely valuable (more so than the classes on entrepreneurship that I took in business school). TechStars lectures and workshops have highly relevant, useful content for starting entrepreneurs to take their startup to the next level. I would encourage any HackStar to attend these classes as much as possible. At the end of the day, it is all about time management and balancing between working on a project and attending classes. Nonetheless, HackStars at TechStars Boston really have unprecedental access and opportunities.

As an entrepreneur who recently started a startup called Invantory, I regularly seek veterans who are doing or have done a startup before. Conversation with them often bring new insights and perspectives, which adds tremendous value and clarity to what I am doing. The network that I built at TechStars has been very beneficial in this regards. Since starting Invantory, I have met with mentors and alumni asking them for their help and advice. In fact, many of them were enthusiastic about helping me in my endeavor. I have also found it gratifying to see how the teams grew in maturity and confidence during the course of the program. I am happy for the alumni of TechStars 2011, with whom I still maintain close interpersonal relationship. I really enjoyed the camaraderie of TechStars Boston.

I have had a long career working in big firms. Nonetheless I have always contemplated with starting my own company and struggled in pondering what is best for me. Do I choose job security and stability over starting my own startup with no or little money? The HackStar program provided that opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs like me to try out the startup life for 3 months and gain skills that they can immediately apply when they can become real entreprneurs. The program has influenced my outlook, identified seeing what is missing, and discovering what are needed to be done in the context of building my startup.

TechStars’s official HackStars webpage provides a pretty comprehensive list of compelling reasons for joining HackStar. But if you are an aspiring entrepreneur and that your objective is to gain more exposure as well as expanding your network in this space, the choice is a no-brainer. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about the program.

HackStar Boston 2011 (Part 1)

Posted on December 11, 2011 by cybersam

In this blog I hope to share my personal insights to TechStars Boston, a startup accelerator program, from the perspective of a HackStar. The term HackStar is a TechStars slang for a hacker (typically a software developer, a UX designer, or any technical contributor) who provides his/her time and technical skills to help companies selected for the program to become viable businesses by the end of the program. I joined TechStars Boston class of 2011 as a Hackstar in March 2011. For me, I didn’t apply for the program directly or formally. In fact the process happened quite impromptu. I first learned about the program from friends Brent and Eric at Everture, one of the incoming teams, two days before the start of the program. As I already know the managing staff at TechStars, I quickly arranged a meeting to meet with them to learn more about the program before being invited to join the program as a HackStar by the end of the day. The opportunity was great timing since I was transitioning from the industry to the freelance consultancy and entrepreneurship space in the software and Internet space. I already had some spare capacity which allowed me to commit to the program full-time. I also can’t pass up the opportunity of working with the incoming TechStars cohort and learning more about doing a startup. So my decision was really a no brainer. I accepted the invitation and joined the program.

There were 12 teams that participated in TechStars Boston 2011. The teams brought a diverse background to the program. Geographically, half of the team were from outside of Boston with 3 teams from the UK, Estonia, and Israel. There was also more female representation in the program with 2 female founders and 1 female co-founder. The teams represent a pretty diverse group of businesses ranging from enterprise software to game to even hardware. I just love the diversity of the cohort. One of the important aspects of TechStars Boston has always been the people. The staff, teams, interns, and HackStars at TechStars Boston are all part of a very big, fun family. Everyone learn from each other. It’s an amicable, highly-collaborative environment. Teams and HackStars collaborated with each other. HackStars have as much to receive and learn from the teams as they do in contributing to the teams. Strong relationships extend beyond the program. TechStars also fosters building strong relationships with mentors, investors, and the startup community. The program invited veterans in the startup space to come mentor the teams or run workshops with variety of topics that are pertinent to the success of the companies.

Skill sets and seniority can very considerably among HackStars. However that didn’t distinguish any HackStar from the others. We are all equals despite our age, seniority, and background. HackStars assist anyone (staff and teams) in every way possible. Nonetheless, it is easy to get overwhelmed sometimes. HackStars could be assigned to a team long-term or be allocated to different teams or projects for quick hacks. There were 12 teams in our cohort and every team needed engineering help in some form or capacity. As a result, it was important to coordinate any work with the managing director. Katie Rae, the managing director at TechStars Boston, often asked for our preference in the types of projects we are interested in working. This helps her to coordinate and manage the needs as well as interests between the teams and Hackstars. The first six weeks at TechStars can be overwhelming for everyone. Something that I learned in my former job is that the busier people get, the more important it is for everyone to meet and sync up on a regular basis. One advice I have for any HackStar reading this post is that you should try meeting with the managing director at least once a week to sync up even if it is for 10 minutes. During the meeting, try to provide some feedback of the teams, update him/her what you are doing, and mention any coming tasks (standard stand-up meeting format from the Agile methodology). In general, there is no right or wrong way of doing things. The HackStar program, just like TechStars is constantly evolving. It’s a startup environment, so don’t be afraid to be a self-starter and be creative, while staying professional (always).

There are more I would want to write. But I have babbled enough (for now). I will continue the second part of this article in the next blog post tomorrow.

Blogging (Again)

Posted on December 10, 2011 by cybersam

I am ashamed of myself. I have not been updating this blog for sometime. So when my business partner Ian wrote a blog post on our company blog about derelict blogging and why it may not be good for everyone, I realize that something need to be done with this blog site. I can’t just leave it untended. So it’s blogging time again.

HTTP basic access authentication with Objective-C and iOS

Posted on May 18, 2011 by cybersam

In this blog post I am going to show how you can make an HTTP request to a webserver that supports basic access authentication using Objective-C and the iOS framework. Regretfully, I don’t have the time to create an Xcode project as an example. But the information and code should give you an idea of how you can build basic access authentication support in your iOS code.

Before we dive into the code, let’s do a quick review of how basic access authentication works. Before an HTTP request is sent to the server, we need to append an HTTP header called Authorization to the request. Here are the steps to generating the Authorization HTTP header:

Using username = myusername and password = mypassword as reference.

Concatenate user name + colon + password. ie. “myusername:mypassword”
Encode the concatenated string with the base64 algorithm. ie. “myusername:mypassword becomes” “bXl1c2VybmFtZTpteXBhc3N3b3Jk”
Append the Base64 encoded string to the “Basic ” string. ie. “Basic bXl1c2VybmFtZTpteXBhc3N3b3Jk”
Finally assign the value to the Authorization header

In Objective-C code, the above logic is translated to:

NSString *authStr = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@:%@", @"myusername", @"mypassword"];
NSData *authData = [authStr dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
NSString *authValue = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Basic %@", [authData base64Encoding]];
[request setValue:authValue forHTTPHeaderField:@"Authorization"];

Just one problem, NSData doesn’t inherently support Base64 encoding. We need to add Base64 encoding algorithm to NSData via Category, a mechanism Objective-C that allows programmers to extend an existing class without subclassing it. Anyway, you can download the Base64 encoding code below.

NSData+Additions source code

Credits and Reference:

Cocoadev/BaseSixyFour (there are a few other Base64 algorithms posted here)
StackOverflow on NSURLConnection and basic access authentication

Note that you can certainly implement Base64 encoding using C functions or by other means. But I find Category most intuitive to achieving our goal.

Tip
If you are still stuck, use the curl command on a shell to troubleshoot. Here are some examples:

% curl -v -H 'Authorization: Basic bXl1c2VybmFtZTpteXBhc3N3b3Jk' 'http://host/path'

% curl -v --trace-ascii dump.txt 'http://myusername:mypassword@host/path'

Creating multi-variants of an iOS app from a single Xcode project

Posted on May 10, 2011 by cybersam

When someone at work asked me about creating multiple variants of an iOS app from a common codebase (ie. from a single Xcode project), I thought couldn’t this be achieved through defining multiple targets in that Xcode project?

I have done this before for a project where I created a “lite” version and an “HD” (iPad-only) version from a full-featured iPhone codebase I originally created. I was about to document the process on this post before coming across this blog post from Just2Us, which does a great job in explaining the entire process. Instead of duplicating the content, just refer to the blog post.

One thing I would do differently from what is described in the referenced post is that instead of adding a new target, I would recommend duplicating an existing target – this way I avoid the hassle of configuring the new build target and including the files to my target phases manually.

I have also created a project to demonstrate the multi-target in Xcode. You can download the file here.

Quick guide to iOS dateformatting

Posted on May 3, 2011 by cybersam

This blogpost will focus on the setDateFormat: method of NSDateFormatter which allow us to define the date format of the textual representation of the date and time in iOS/Cocoa. Here’s a summary of the specifiers used in the date format string.

The most commonly used date format specifiers are (keep in mind that they are case sensitive):

y = year
Q = quarter
M = month
w = week of year
W = week of month
d = day of the month
D = day of year
E = day of week
a = period (AM or PM)
h = hour (1-12)
H = hour (0-23)
m = minute
s = second

In general, the number of characters in a specifier determine the size of date field. Let’s use an example to illustrate date formatting.

eg. Input date = 2011-05-01 Sunday

1-character = 1-digit/character number or word (if number/word can’t be 1 character long then abbreviation or fullname is displayed).

[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"E, d M y"];  // Output: Sun, 1 5 2011

2-character = 2-digit/character number or word (if number/word can’t be 2 character long then abbreviation is displayed).

[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"EE, dd MM yy"];  // Output: Sun, 01 05 11

3-character = 3-digit/character number or word, or abbreviation (generally).

[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"EEE, ddd MMM yyy"];  // Output: Sun, 001 May 2011

4-character = full name (generally).

[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"EEEE, dddd MMMM yyyy"];  // Output: Sunday, 0001 May 2011

Here’s the weird part though, if you specify 5 E’s, you get an rather unexpected output. You would think that the output date field would be longer than 1 character:

[dateFormatter setDateFormat:@"EEEEE, ddddd MMMMM yyyyy"];  // Output: S, 00001 M 2011

For date formatting, the following reference table has been very useful:

Date Field Symbol Table (UTS #35 Unicode Locale Data Markup Language)

Back to blogging and a quick update

Posted on April 15, 2011 by cybersam

It’s been a while since I last blogged. Life has been so hectic that I hardly have the time to blog (not that I have been blogging regularly). I have been working on multiple projects since the beginning of the year. So I have been super busy with work.

In the beginning of the year, I have been toying with the idea of creating a new business in producing my own independent software products. But after careful consideration, I decided to focus on developing my consulting services in mobile and digital interaction development to establish a more steady stream of cash flow. I am still incubating these product ideas of mine on the side. Hopefully, I can start spending more time by Fall and turn one of these ideas into a viable business.