The Start!

My life has completely diverged from where I saw myself 10 years ago. 10 years ago, I was in high school hoping to be working at some big corporation, doing the same thing daily and making money - the secure life. The life without risk. First step to accomplishing this goal was to go to college - I got into the University of Texas Electrical Engineering program, and it had to have been the worst couple years of my life. The electrical engineering program at the University of Texas is pretty well known, and it was definitely a path that could lead to a comfortable life - there are plenty of oil industry companies hiring for engineers from UT, but it wasn't what I was seeking. Every class seemed like a drag - at least the ones that I went to, and there was nothing about electrical engineering I liked. I've had interest in games and electronics, so I believed electrical engineering was definitely what I wanted to pursue. After getting my first semester grade reports back, it correlated pretty well with my interests - it was as low as you could imagine. After staying in electrical engineering for another full year (being completely clueless), I finally changed my major to Computer Science - which was more of what I wanted to do - programming / making things / solving problems and puzzles. That was the first step I took off of the path I was "planning" to take. Most days after I switched to Computer Science was fun - even though it was a repetition of class / games / eat / study, I was doing what I liked doing - learning new languages and solving programming questions. Sounds extremely nerdy, but I enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment after I solved each problem.

After about 2 years into Computer Science, a friend of mine who was an organizer for 3 Day Startup had suggested I participate in the program. With some hesitations at the beginning after being informed of what it is, I applied, interviewed, and got accepted. The idea of 3 Day Startup is to put it simply - "Start up a tech company in a weekend by doing market validations, creating demos, pitching the shit out of your idea, and more. Learn by doing". During 3 Day Startup, I was able to experience something I hadn't yet in college. My parents had always said the "University of Texas is oh so great". Being in Austin for almost 4 years, I just wanted to grab my bags and head back to Katy, Texas where I'm originally from. The high school I went to had some intelligent, fun people, but at the University of Texas, I didn't seem to find the same type of people. It may have to due to the lack of socializing I had done (or possibly my major - but no way - computer science majors are the most social....). The "crew" of 3 Day Startup was completely different than what I had seen so far going to UT. They were smart - many people who had improved their expertise through their own time and interests. Not necessarily 40 students with all having a 4.0 GPA, but people who had the experience and the skills - specializing in many different things. People with skill that go beyond just numbers representing how well students do in class. I met programmers who had already had apps available on stores, designers who had taken part in fashion shows, MBA students who had worked at a big trading firm, and many other kinds of students. Every single person was good at something they valued - each also with their own distinct personalities. With all of their expertise, every single individual was self motivated. Self motivated to learn, improve, and to also start their own company. What was I doing there? I'm a drop out engineering student, who applied to computer science because of the interest of games and problem solving. I had just applied to 3 Day Startup because some friend just suggested I apply... Seeing and being around all of these people, I felt uncomfortable to say the least - I felt unqualified and out of place. After coming to Austin, this was the only non school related program I had really taken part in and had never taken step outside of my little bubble I created. This feeling started to change though as the weekend went through. Working in a group of about 6 or 7 people, of which about 2 or 3 were developers, I soon started to realize that everyone is still learning. After seeing these other developers make things / talk about things, I was clueless. I was on Google looking things up like "what the fuck is an MVP", "Ruby on Rails? What?", "SaaS!?" As the weekend went along, a lot of questions I had were also asked by these other "oh so perfect" developers that I had built them to be in my head. They've got their expertise, but there are still things a lot of these people don't know. The only difference between those other students and me was that they acknowledged when they didn't know something. I was used to being "decent" - knowing stuff at least other people knew - so there weren't many times growing up where I had asked "What does BLAH mean". I wasn't used to asking questions. I remember seeing people ask STUPID questions when in high school and in my head, I would think "oh god here we go again - this guy... sigh", but that was the incorrect way of thinking. I've heard of professors saying "There's no stupid questions". I partially agreed with this - but always thought that "you ask questions - BECAUSE you are stupid". Now here I was afraid of asking questions, Googling everything because of the way I had always handled situations like this. This mentality definitely has changed since then, and I have 3 Day Startup to thank for that. Through the weekend, I realized a couple more key factors that differed between the other students and me. Another difference was the utilization of their free time. Watching other developers actually make prototypes for their companies throughout the weekend, I realized programming wasn't their "occupation", it was also their hobby. They spent their free time actually programming, reading, and other activities that would improve their skills. The final thing I noticed was how social everyone was. Most of the people here were not afraid of stepping out of their bubbles - they are comfortable talking to strangers, getting to know them. I was never really the type to "be myself" when meeting new people. I never really talk to someone until I get to know them. But here were roughly 40 other students who had meet other for the first time socializing with each other and working together right after they had met each other.

Overall, the 3 Day Startup weekend went well. I was able to learn a lot from just the short weekend. Not just learning how to start up a company, but also knowledge of how to better live my life. I was able to meet many people who I still talk and work together with. But most important, I had finally decided what I wanted to do with my life; starting my own company. This blog will mainly be about everything I am doing to start my own company. Just beware - I suck at writing. When I informed my girlfriend of my "one thousand words per day" challenge, the first thing she said was "but you suck at writing". Hopefully through this I will learn how to write... Even knowing I suck at writing, I am going to publish everything I write. Embarrassed as I am, I've decided to step out of my comfort zone! This whole one thousand words per day challenge was something I learned about at Microconf, which I just got back from. Microconf was one hell of a conference. I enjoyed every talk given, and I enjoyed talking to the many entrepreneurs present at the conference. I will go into more detail of this probably in the next few posts about everything I had learned there.