Stairway To Heaven

I went on a business trip to KL for a travel conference. It would be good to relook into the user journey as a business traveller, which might help fine-tune our travel-tech product. As a business traveller, there are fewer "must-do" tasks in the itinerary. The event is pre-defined. 1. Speak at the conference on the topic ChatGPT on the 7th of June: 3:20-3:40. 2. A fireside chat with another Speaker on Innovation on the 8th of June: 2:20 - 4:00. Pre-trip planning: 1. Accommodation.  As the event venue is very convenient in the city centre, there are a lot of accommodations to choose from. As long as there are rooms available, and it is within the business budget, it should be fine.  In the past, I used to book from aggregators, such as trip.com/agoda. But after I understand how the hotel membership works, I choose to book directly from the IHG app as a member. It provides good rates, as well as member points.  There could be little changes to the dates to stay, so accommo...

For a considerable duration, my role within the company primarily revolved around resolving immediate crises. It has been quite a while since I seriously reflected on business matters. The initial discussion occurred last Thursday, a day when the majority of the team was operating remotely. I had the opportunity to delve into the company's business strategies with two pivotal team members. We began the dialogue with my intention to develop products that create value. The preliminary question we addressed was, "Who are these products designed for?" I attempted to measure the value through The volume of users utilizing our digital product. The number of businesses employing our B2B solution. However, these benchmarks might be too broad, requiring further specificity for effective execution. Worse, they don't adequately answer the question of "Who". Vinnie suggested that we should focus on the needs of the ultimate customers. For Vinnie, expenditure on children...

At the beginning of 2021, I posted a blog post, saying that I will set no resolution for 2021. Instead, I focused on the experiment of behaviour change, starting from my own personal weight loss. It worked. My weight was 83.7 KG on the 1st of Jan 2021, and 69 kg on the 31st of Dec 2021. There is a weight loss of 14.7KG in a year. It worked because of everyday actions/behaviour changes, which does have good impacts in the long term. The actions are simple to take, as long as I keep them. Eat mostly corn and sweet potatoes for the dinner. Walk/jogging every week. This is considered a successful experiment. This year, I plan to take the same approach to fix some of my personal issues and professional works. Honestly, my personal mental status was pretty bad last year, with pressures from both personal/family and the work during the endemic. One generic bad habit I have to make changes: Easy to get distracted while working on tasks.  When switching between roles and tasks, it was diffi...

After failing to lose weight in three consecutive years, I realize that setting some goals as a resolution doesn't really work.  This year, I decided to take advice from doctors and experts: make some changes in life and keep them as a habit. "Behavior change is a learnable skill, and you can learn it". A few advice which worths taking: 1. Drink more water. The first thing after waking up is to drink some water. And drink more water in a day. 2. Add protein to the breakfast: Add an egg. Sometimes eating an apple is ok. 3. Take a walk/jogging 2-3 times a week. Good habits can last long and be beneficial in the long term. The fact that I failed to lose weight in three consecutive years probably means that it is a habit and behavior issue and I need to solve it in the long term strategy. Another big failure comes from my career. It's our 6th year. In the first three years, it grows. However, after 3 years, Fooyo still stays as a small company, and no radical breakthrough...

It is a war and those who fight and survive might become heroes of tomorrow. Top inspirations I learned from this crisis are as follows: 1. As a company or a government, risk management is super important. Those who manage the risks well and planned ahead could possibly overcome hard times and survive strong. One of the key principles for risk management is to distribute the risks over multiple buckets. To a B2B business or country, the key competitiveness would lie in supply chain management, getting the right suppliers and deliver to the end buyers. In the past, the key decision will be primarily influenced by the cost factor. In a low-risk environment, it would be fine. However, in a high-risk environment, this may break, and cost could be much less a factor than the following two factors: The reliability of the supplier The alternative choices in case of the supply chain breakdown. This reminds me of the fruits suppliers in SG's supermarkets. Even for oranges, it c...

The Coronavirus has certainly brought lots of impacts to businesses and people's lives. As a junior independent thinker, I have been observing the trends and making some judgments/predictions. 1. Observations:  There is a leadership crisis in some countries. The reactions of the politicians to COVID-19 reflected weak leaderships for some countries. Examples are immature decisions such as “herd immunity" which could harm the general public. This may be deeply linked to the side effects of capitalism and the country's fundamental operational logic. A nation could fail if their leaders are weak, especially during a crisis. The world is getting more competitive and risky, relying purely on individual and business interests may bring some short-term happiness, but will set a bomb for the long term. Government leadership will matter more in the future. Among the countries, I would say China and Singapore are doing relatively great. Despite some delays and information trans...