Roger James Hamilton's Blog, page 9

How do you sell a company you started 3 months earlier for $680 million?

How do you sell a company you started 3 months earlier for $680 million? That’s what Anthony Levandowski just did. He started his company, Otto, in May, and sold it this week to Uber.
Here’s 3 steps that Anthony took in one of the fastest startup-to-sale stories in history:
RIDE A WAVE
At 16 years old, in 1997, Anthony started his first business building websites. But then thought “there was no barrier to entry there, so I’d better think of something more specialized.”
So he decided to take...

Did you know there are tens of thousands of versions of Facebook running at any one time

Which version of Facebook are you using? Did you know there are tens of thousands of versions of Facebook running at any one time – and you’re using just one of them?
In an interview this week with Y Combinator, Mark Zuckerberg explains that in today’s fast-changing world, “The key is building a company that is focused at learning as fast as possible.”
“Companies are learning organisms. You can make decisions so you can either make it learn faster or you learn slower.”
This is how Facebook ma...

Who’s your hero?

Who’s your hero? In 2008, 13 year old Joseph Schooling got to meet his hero, Michael Phelps, when the Olympian visited Singapore prior to the Beijing Olympics. Today, 8 years later, Joseph just made history by beating Michael to Gold in the 100m Butterfly finals – the first Singaporean to ever make (let alone win) an Olympic swimming final.
After meeting his hero as a young teenager, Joseph said “Michael Phelps may be my idol, but I just want to make my own career.”
He then became fully commi...

How fast do things change?

How fast do things change? 25 years ago, if Odessa Swarts had turned on the news in 1991 she would have watched the US troops in Kuwait at the start of the Gulf War. Gorbachev was in power in the USSR, and F.W. de Klerk was President of South Africa under the rule of Apartheid.
Odessa was a sprinter but could not compete Internationally, as the World’s anti-Apartheid measures included banning South African Athletes from competition, including the Olympics.
That was despite her having the 100m...

Are you taking the path of working hard or hard work?

Are you taking the path of working hard or hard work?
The RIGHT WAY: Working hard is about doubling down on what you’re best at and love most. When you work hard in your genius and in your flow, it doesn’t feel like hard work. The reward is in the work, because you keep getting better at what you’re best at.
That’s why two of the wealthiest men in the world, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, keep on working hard even though they don’t need to.
As Warren Buffett says, “Take a job that you love. Y...

Michael Phelps incredible story

With 3 gold medals this week, Michael Phelps is now equaling the 2,168 year old record set by Leonidas of Rhodes (in 152 BC) for the most individual Olympic gold medals and has a chance to beat it with his two final races this Thursday (200m IM) and Friday (100m fly).
This is all the more incredible, given the story of his 2 year climb from the verge of suicide, which I wrote in July. Here is Michael’s story from rock-bottom:
One night in September 2014, less than 2 years ago, Michael’s world...

What are you doing with your spare time?

What are you doing with your spare time? A year ago, 30-year-old Eric Martin decided to spend his evenings after his 9-to-5 job to help startup founders he had never met with a new website that was yet to launch.
He got 100,000 shares for his efforts which – a year later – are worth over $20 million.
That’s because that new startup – jet.com – just sold to Walmart for $3.3 billion. Martin’s reaction? “It feels good. It feels really good. The way I think to describe it is ‘occasional hysterica...

The startup paradox: To create something that scales, you need to start by doing things that don’t scale.

The startup paradox: To create something that scales, you need to start by doing things that don’t scale.
Well known Venture Capitalist & Y Combinator co-founder, Paul Graham, wrote a famous essay called “Do Things that Don’t Scale”. It’s one of the best essays on how to start a business.
He wrote “One of the most common types of advice we give at Y Combinator is to do things that don’t scale. Startups take off because the founders make them take off. There may be a handful that just grew by...

Yolande Mabika inspiring story about finding her family with the aid of her skill

QUESTION: If you lost your family and were desperate to find them, what would you do?

ANSWER: Qualify for the Olympics in the off-chance that they would be one of the 4 billion who watch it on TV – and recognize you?

That’s exactly what Yolande Mabika is doing…

As a young child Yolande was separated from her family during the Congo Civil War. This was during the deadliest conflict in modern African history that left more than 5 million dead and millions without a home.

All she remembers is ru...

How tough is your journey?

How tough is your journey? A year ago, 17 year old Yusra Mardini was stuck in a broken down dinghy with 20 other Syrian refugees between Turkey and Greece.
Facing death like so many who had failed to make the trip, she and her sister jumped in the water and swam the boat all the way to land, saving everyone on board (almost all who couldn’t swim).
The story could end there but – incredibly – today Yusra will be representing no country, with no flag and no National Anthem, when she enters the...