I love tinkering and bringing ideas into reality. Seeing that idea come to life is amazing. The energy, thrill, excitement and daily challenges faced in order to bring an idea into reality is simply amazing. It’s true what Don Williams, Jr once said “The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.”.
Below I share with you my entrepreneurial journey in Australia building start-ups and the lessons I have acquired by taking them. Without these I would not be the man I am today.
WebAnt Analytics– a quantitative service providing a holistic web analytics and customer metrics solutions that allows you to get inside the mind of your online audience. This also included the famous InSite module which could generate “phantom customers” for automation & monitoring. We used a lot of interesting models I learnt during the course of my MBA studies to provide a unique selling proposition and differentiate ourself from our only competitor on the Australian market (at the time), Red Sheriff. And then came free Google Analytics (Urchin) and the show was over. To read more click here.
Ramify – a company that provided tools and objective ratings of unit trust funds and Unit Trust Fund Management Companies using both quantitative and qualitative data. It was to be a valuable service to the Unit Trust Funds industry participants including retail and institutional investors, financial planners, agents, banks, Unit Trust Management Companies, regulators, etc. This one took me to Malaysia, presentations to board members of RAM (Rating Agency Malaysia Berhad) and dinners with CEOs of financial banks. To read more click here.
RockinTheShed – A weekly 2 hour Rock and Alternative radio station show delivering sounds from local and international artists blended with current news and happenings in the Rock and Alternative arena. The show played across 12 radio stations geographically in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and USA. We got to meeting & interview many interesting & famous bands and expand our broadcasting range. My band photography business span off from this venture. To read more click here.
Musichouse – A music ecosystem compromising of an Electronic Press Kit (EPK) for artists & producers with exclusive access to online & offline (radio) broadcasting channels via RockinTheShed. We developed a number of monetization models to appeal to our target market. RockinTheShed served as an initial hook to get leverage for Musichouse. We had a great team of smart entrepreneurs like Dave Manna (Sydney’s top Music Producer), Artur (RockinTheShed host) and Denis who is today the co-founder of embedster.com (Y Combinator 2010 Alumni). To read more click here.
Startup School 2010 was a success! both on the quality of the turn out of entrepreneurs, speakers and the organizers – Y Combinator and Stanford BASES.
The day started on a nice crispy Saturday morning 16th October 2010. Breakfast was provided to all those that attended while the Dinkelspiel Auditorium at Stanford University was prepared.
The morning of Startup School 2010 - at Stanford, Dinkelspiel Auditorium
Startup School 2010
Schedule
The theater got packed out with many great minds of all ages – even entrepreneurs 12 years of age eager to start changing the world. The following are notes I took during each of the speeches + video. Hope you enjoy the content and find it as valuable and inspiring as I did.
Brian Chesky (Founder of Airbnb) speaking to an audience of entrepreneurs. Spot me in the 3rd row! 🙂 Photo by Robert Scoble
Andy Bechtolsheim - Founder of Arista Networks & Founder of Sun Microsystems
Wow, what a great start to this day. Andy went over how Silicon Valley got to where it is today and then touched up on the following interesting topics:
The process in creating a business is in 3 steps: Discover –> Design –> Deliver
“Discover” phase has more value but typically less money is spent while moving to the right to “Deliver” has less value but more money is spent on it.
“The Horizon Effect”, also a topic in psychology, outlines how the majority of humans only purse goals which are in our horizon, stuff we can see, instead of stuff we cannot see. Aim past the horizon like Christopher Columbus did when he sailed past to the horizon only to find that he would not fall off the edge of the world.
Great companies:
Apple – spends the least on R&D ($1.2b) and consumer research. They trust their gut instinct to deliver super products. They also have less products to maintain than most companies.
Google – expects to solve the impossible. Most of their success today is attributed to the 1 day per week given to their employees to brain storm & prototype new ideas.
Innovation is the never-ending search for better solutions.
Most successful companies have more than 1 founder.
Paul Graham - Partner of Y Combinator & Founder of Viaweb
Paul spoke of Super-angels vs. VCs and how the landscape has changed. I didn’t take notes during Paul’s speech since Paul made it available online here.
The best way to have a good idea is to have plenty of ideas.
When something makes you angry, write it down. Then find a solution to fix it – that’s an idea right there. The question then becomes “how do you filter many ideas into a few to action”.
Key to business traction: Make someone awesome so that they show it to their friends who too want to become awesome. Hence they end up using your product.
Finding a good co-founder is like there is now 2 of you doing this.
Early on you don’t need offices, go virtual with a product like CampFire.
Private offices eliminate idea generation and progress. It is detrimental.
User “Experience” is the most relevant, not the technology. You are selling the experience not the technology.
As a founder, optimize your business venture for happiness. Read book “Drive” which outlines 3 human needs: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Seek Freedom and Autonomy.
In the end, you want to have a choice and be happy about it.
Over drinks (after work) is where most ideas come from. People are more relaxed and free to let their imagination run wild.
Establish a business agreement (contract) at the very beginning of your venture. This should outline who does what and equity split. This eliminates nasty legal issues once the business becomes successful.
Books recommended by Tom for every entrepreneur to read:
Reid Hoffman - Partner of Greylock & Founder of LinkedIn
There is around 7 +/- 2 of sites people have in their mind. Your goal is to be one of those 7. Search is in the 7.
Competition is the noise you need to get above. One way to do this is to make sure they sux and you don’t.
Release version 1 of your product asap to test your hypothesis early and to prove your ideas. If you are not embarrassed by version 1 you have released too late.
Build an intelligence network early, from investors, co-founders etc to help with testing your hypothesis (pivot).
Make social features available for when new customers ask – “who else is here that I know”.
Don’t plan for more than 6 months forward since the consumer internet changes rapidly.
Hire people who cohere as a group and learn quickly.
Solve your venture’s hardest problem of distribution e.g. how to get to massive size. And then you are on your way to success.
If you are on LinkedIn let’s connect. Just let me know who you are.
My LinkedIn profile is located here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/semerda
Ron Conway - Partner of SV Angel + Ron's good friend MC Hammer
Provide a service where users are happy and then monetize.
Entrepreneurs build and innovate companies and investors should be lucky to be a part of it.
Never forget its your company, the founder’s company.
Once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur.
It takes guts but anyone can do it.
It’s crazy to start a company with 1 founder. It’s all about building a great team. And if you are a founder you have to build a great team some day so why not build it the day you start the company – the 1st hurdles to get over.
There is more in the videos below where Ron outlines his journey and the journey of great friends from Napster, Google, Facebook and Twitter.
Don’t be a cannon fodder. Work on things you love. Life is too short.
Key before you start your own music startup:
Artists are poor so they won’t pay you,
The market is totally saturated,
The economies are challenging with required payments to labels every quarter and lawyers waiting for you to become big so they can sue you.
If you want a good laugh and learn heaps about the risks of starting up a music venture then you should watch Dalton’s music business review (videos below) of his 6 years of building Imeem, what worked and what didn’t.
Mark Zuckerberg - Founder of Facebook speaking with Jessica Livingston (Y Combinator partner)
Facebook’s mission is: Give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.
Mark stated that he acquires companies primarily for the excellent people. “Past handful acquires were a success so why not more.”
The goal is to build Facebook as the McKinsey of Entrepreneurship.
In the video below Mark speaks with Jessica Livingston (Y Combinator partner) on the initial days at Facebook, about the new movie Social Network and answers popular questions about Facebook.
Had many unsuccessful launches but persistence got them through. Paul Graham stated “you guys won’t die, your like cockroaches”.
Michael Seibel from Justin.tv introduced Brian and his co-founder to the Y Combinator methodology and eventually to Paul Graham. Initially, Paul didn’t like the business idea. That changed quickly.
Brian used a classic motivation / psychology approach that Anthony Robbins teaches: “Whatever you focus on expands (you get)”. So he decided to focus on revenue by printing a positively inclined graph depicting revenue and pasting it on the bathroom mirror. This way it was the 1st thing he saw every morning and the last before going to bed to dream. It worked!
Paul Graham advised: “Go to your users”. So Brian and his co-founder flew to NYC, Washington DC and Denver and knocked on people’s doors to sell their service – “do you know how much your bedroom is worth?!”.
Then, David, Barry Manilow’s drummer posted his apartment for rent while he toured with Barry Manilow. This changed the direction of AirBnB and the 1st “wiggles of hope ~ PG” appeared. AirBnB launched version 5 of their product and started to be Ramen Profitable.
Today, AirBnB is in 8200 cities, 166 countries and traffic has started booming in the last 5 months.
AirBnB is now a “Community market place for space”.
All this started with an airbed in a living room to solve an accommodation problem.
The following videos are titled “Powerless and obscure” – 1,000 days ago (October 2007). How Brian started AirBnB and it nearly fell apart only to survive after the 5th launch. Very inspiring and educational.
Yippee!! I have been accepted into Y Combinator’s Startup School 2010!
Email with the good news - perfect b'day present!
I stretched in bed as my eyes opened up to be greeted by another beautiful Californian Saturday morning. I reached for my smart phone to check email to see what has happened in the last 5 hours that I was asleep. And there it was. An email from Y Combinator informing me that I have been accepted into Startup School 2010. It couldn’t have come at a better time, only 3 days after my birthday – what a great birthday present. 3 also being my lucky number.
Startup School is an annual event sponsored by both Standford BASES and Y Combinator. To put it simply, Startup School teaches technical people about startups. It is said that “the atmosphere of energy in the room at startup school is something you have to experience to believe” – now I get the opportunity to experience this first hand. I’m thrilled and excited! Thank you Y Combinator for this amazing opportunity.
Who is Y Combinator
Y Combinator is an American seed-stage startup funding firm, started in 2005 by Paul Graham, Robert Morris, Trevor Blackwell, and Jessica Livingston.
“Y Combinator is a new kind of venture firm specializing in funding early stage startups. We help startups through what is for many the hardest step, from idea to company.
We invest mostly in software and web services. And because we are ourselves technology people, we prefer groups with a lot of technical depth. We care more about how smart you are than how old you are, and more about the quality of your ideas than whether you have a formal business plan.” Source: http://ycombinator.com/about.html
Hacker News
Y Combinator is also responsible for the very popular Hacker News. Hacker News is a social news website about computer hacking and startup companies. It is my daily source nutritional intake of mind stimulating content and discussions. I highly recommend this site for anyone interested in startups – http://news.ycombinator.com/
Startup School lineup
The line up of speakers for this day is exhilarating. They include:
Andy Bechtolsheim
Founder Arista Networks; Founder, Sun Microsystems
Where: Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University. When: 16 October 2010, 9:00 am. More info:http://startupschool.org/
I’ll be Tweeting & Facebooking “live” from this event. If you haven’t already connected with me, please do. Just tell me who you are when you do so I know you’re a fellow hacker. If you are going to Startup School 2010 I would be delighted to meet you there and/or via the social links below. Come and say G’day to this Aussie.
Catch me online:
Twitter – follow me today to never lose a new & exciting post.
Linkedin – connect with me on a professional level. We are after all only six steps away from each other.
Yap, I'm from down under. Ernest Semerda doing a baby freeze.
About Ernest Semerda
Ernest Semerda is an experienced Engineering Leader formerly a hacker from Sydney (Australia) and now a Mountain View (CA, Silicon Valley) resident. Ernest holds 2 degrees; a Bachelor in Computer Science from University of Western Sydney and a Executive MBA from Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM). Ernest has experience helping build & grown startup companies with a few years stint in the corporate world. Startups are his specialty and also his passion.
So Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol (OGP) was held at Facebook HQ (Headquarters) on the 23rd of August 2010. 164 people attended that afternoon event. A very healthy turnout with alot of interesting people from all sorts of industries working on many exciting projects thirsty to find out how to integrate with Facebook.
What is OGP and what does it do for you?
Open Graph Protocol (OGP) is a light-weight version of Semantic Web and it is implemented using RDFa. The OGP enables you to integrate your Web pages into the social graph. It is currently designed for Web pages representing profiles of real-world things — things like movies, sports teams, celebrities, and restaurants. Once your pages become objects in the graph, users can establish connections to your pages as they do with Facebook Pages. Based on the structured data you provide via the Open Graph protocol, your pages show up richly across Facebook: in user profiles, within search results and in News Feed.
Let’s OGP enable my website – step by step guide
To turn any web page into graph objects, we need to add basic metadata to a page.
Let’s take a look at my photography website (http://ernestsemerda.com/bands.foto) and how I implemented the Facebook Like button with Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol (OGP).
1. I added the following 7 “must have” metadata properties into my page (bands.foto). If you want to know the detail on each metadata the see this site http://opengraphprotocol.org/. There are only 4 required properties (the 1st four) but the others are a must in my opinion in order to provide more detail to Facebook about your page.
<!-- Facebook Open Graph -->
<meta property="og:title" content="Band Photography" />
<meta property="og:type" content="website" />
<meta property="og:url" content="http://ernestsemerda.com/bands.foto" />
<meta property="og:image" content="http://ernestsemerda.com/images/ernestsemerda_logo.png" />
<!-- recommended -->
<meta property="og:description" content="Band photographer based in San Francisco, Sydney & New York" />
<meta property="og:site_name" content="Ernest Semerda Photography" />
<!-- admin -->
<meta property="fb:admins" content="ernestsemerda" />
It’s important that fb:admin is added (last property) since without it you will not be able to administer your page’s Object Graph in Facebook.
3. Copy the iframe html code Facebook generates based on the properties you opted for and paste it into your web page where you want the Like button to appear.
General rules of the Like button:
Make it easy for users to Like things on your site. Place the Like button close to the object they are liking.
When publishing, use only the ‘voice’ of the object. For example, if users are liking an actor in a TV show, that actor should publish stories about themselves, not general information on the show, or the TV network.
4. Check your final work using Facebook’s URL Linter. Thanks Paul Tarjanto from Facebook for creating this cool tool. So enter the URL of the page you pasted the Like button and hit Lint (submit). Linter uses the same code that is used for the Like button and other Open Graph Protocol consumptions. Therefore, it gives you the closest possible match as to how your page will be treated when it’s crawled in production. http://developers.facebook.com/tools/lint/
5. Congratulations, your done! Click on the Like button to test it out.
Why is this important?
Once your page is Liked, it will become an object in the Facebook graph where users can establish connections to the page as they do with Facebook Pages. Based on the structured data provided via the Open Graph protocol, the pages can show up richly across Facebook: in user profiles, within search results and in News Feed. For example, since I’m using og:type=website, clicking on Like will make my band photography page appear under your “Info” tab in the “Likes and interests” section. Give it a shot.
As the admin (me in this case) will have access to a Facebook Page like section for my web page hosting the Like button. As shown below. This provides insights (statistics) on Active Users, Likes, Views, Feedback and allows me to “market” my web page across Facebook. A double win!
Facebook Page like Insights (statistics) on Active Users, Likes, Views, Feedback etc.
“Facebook may begin pulling RSS data from pages with like buttons in order to deliver updates about these pages automatically to those who have liked then. This is HUGE! – Facebook now accepts Non-Official OG:types and will consider making official any og:type which reaches critical velocity.”
Totally agree with Mike. It’s better to be ready then come to the party late. Which is why this blog and my personal development blog already carry Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol Like buttons. Here’s to Semantic Web, better search engine results & web exposure for marketers.
If you are already using (or just installed) Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol (OGP) please share it here with the rest of the online community. Would love to see the various ways this great feature is being used. Happy Facebooking and here’s to Semantic Web!
I just finished reading a New York Times business best seller which geeked me out big time. It’s called Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most. The book is based on 15 years of research at the Harvard Negotiation Project. The content walks the reader through a step-by-step approach with examples demonstrating how to have approach and handle these conversations with less stress and more success. Let’s face it, no matter how competent we are, we all have conversations that cause anxiety and frustrations. This book is the golden goose that helps us tackle these issues at home, on the job, or out in the world.
The core of difficult conversations
Difficult conversations are almost never about getting the facts right. They are about conflicting perceptions, interpretations, and values. They are not about what a contract states, they are about what a contract means. They are not about being hurt by an action or word they are about how that action or word was interpreted and the impact on our values, what it meant to me. These are not question of right or wrong, but questions of interpretation and judgement.
If your time poor then you can now stop reading because I just told you the holy grail of difficult conversations. If you want to learn more, keep on reading. If you want to chill while learning, you can visit sites such as 텐텐벳.
Don’t assume their intentions
It’s important to never assume the intentions of the person you are dealing with because your thinking how you feel about them will be affected by it and ultimately, how the conversation goes. So never assume we know the intentions of others when we don’t. The truth is, intentions are invisible. We assume them from other people’s behavior. In other words, we make them up, we invent them.
Because our view of others’ intentions (and their views of ours) are so important in difficult conversations, leaping to unfounded assumptions can be a disaster.
This shadows what I learnt back in May 2010 at Jeff Slayter’s seminar on the best kept secrets of modern day heroes and leaders. Jeff shared with us this same concept to never judge a person without first separating their “Behavior” from their “Intentions”. Separating these two allows you to delve open-minded and find that their intentions are not as bad as their behavior may be making us think. This is also the trait of a successful leader to be able to see past the behavior of their followers and understand their true intentions – only then is a leader capable of truly understanding their followers.
Best approach to take when communicating
If you need to deal with faults in your difficult conversation, instead of talking about those faults which automatically put people into defense & denial mode, figure out:
1. What kept them from seeing it coming and
2. How to prevent the problem from happening again.
What we are trying to do here is explore why things went wrong and how we might correct them going forward since talking about blame distracts us from a resolution.
So, instead of trying to persuade and get your way, you want to understand what has happened from the other person’s point of view, explain your viewpoint of view, share and understand feelings, and work together to figure out a way to manage the problem going forward.
“Life is just one damn thing after another.” ~ Stone, Patton, and Heen
A difficult conversations checklist
Here is a checklist to follow when having a difficult discussion:
Where does your story come from (information, past experiences, rules)? Theirs?
What impact has this situation had on you?
What might their intentions have been
2. Understand Emotions
Explore your emotional footprint, and the bundle of emotions you experience
3. Ground Your Identity
What’s at stake for you about you? What do you need to accept to be better grounded?
Step 2: Check your purposes and Decide Whether to Raise the Issue
Purposes: What do you hope to accomplish by having this conversation? Shift your stance to support learning, sharing, and problem-solving.
Deciding:
Is this the best way to address the issue and achieve your purposes?
Is the issue really embedded in your Identity Conversation?
Can you affect the problem by changing your contributions?
If you don’t raise it, what can you do to help yourself let go?
Step 3: Start from the Third Story
1. Describe the problem as the difference between your stories.
Include both viewpoints as a legitimate part of the discussion.
2. Share your purposes.
3. Invite them to join you as a partner in sorting out the situation together.
Step 4: Explore Their Story and Yours
Listen to understand their perspective on what happened.
Ask questions.
Acknowledge the feelings behind the arguments and accusations.
Paraphrase to see if you’ve got it.
Try to unravel how the two of you got to this place.
Share your own viewpoint, your past experiences, intentions, feelings.
Reframe, reframe, reframe to keep on track. [cf. page 204]
From truth to perceptions
From accusations to Intentions and impact
From blame to contribution
From Judgments, Characterizations to feelings
From “What’s wrong with you” to “What’s going on for them”
Step 5: Problem-Solving
Invent options that meet each side’s most important concerns and interests.
Look to standards for what should happen.
Keep in mind the standard of mutual care-taking; relationships that always go one way rarely last.
Talk about how to keep communication open as you go forward
Three Conversations
Use the following with the checklist above in Step 1: Prepare by Walking Through the Three Conversations.
The “What Happened?” conversation.Challenge: The situation is more complex than either person can see
Assumption: I know all I need to know to understand what happened
Goal: persuade them I’m right
Assumption: Each of us is bringing different information and perceptions to the table; there are likely to be important things that each of us doesn’t know
Goal: Explore each other’s stories: how we understand the situation and why.
Assumption: I know what they intended
Goal: Let them know what they did was wrong
Assumption: I know what I intended, and the impact their actions had on me. I don’t and can’t know what’s in their head.
Goal: Share the impact on me, and find out what they were thinking. Also find out what impact I’m having on them.
Assumption: It’s all their fault. (Or it’s all my fault.)
Goal: Get them to admit blame and take responsibility for making amends.
Assumption: We have probably both contributed to this mess.
Goal: Understand the contribution system; how our actions interact to produce this result.
The Feeling Conversation.Challenge: The situation is emotionally charged.
Assumption: Feelings are irrelevant and wouldn’t be helpful to share. (Or, my feelings are their fault and they need to hear about them.)
Goal: Avoid talking about feelings. (Or let ’em have it!)
Assumption: Feelings are the heart of the situation. Feelings are usually complex. I may have to dig a bit to understand my feelings.
Goal: Address feelings (mine and theirs) without judgments or attributions. Acknowledge feelings before problem solving.
The Identity ConversationChallenge: The situation threatens our identity.
Assumption: I’m competent or incompetent, good or bad, lovable or unlovable. There is no in-between.
Goal: Protect my all-or-nothing self-image.
Assumption: There may be a lot at stake psychologically for both of us. Each of us is complex, neither of us is perfect.
Goal: Understand the identity issues on the line for each of us. Build a more complex self-image to maintain my balance better.
It’s always best to assume that you will encounter difficult discussions, even when you have mastered the ins and our of discussing what matters most. The difference now is that having this knowledge on how to handle difficult discussions allows you to know that it’s okay to talk about them, so the misunderstandings may not be as emotionally draining and are less likely to threaten the relationship.
So you scored an awesome deal on you rental. A convertible mustang deal for only $19.99 per day. That’s what the advertising said. It must be right. That’s what you are expecting to pay.. until you drop to your friendly car rental shop and find out the actual cost of your rental. Well this doesn’t look all that great now does it. Knowing you’re facing concealed charges can be stressful; if that’s the case, try this exercise for anxiety practice.
The advertised price of any rental is what I call the “1/3 price” of the actual deal. The hidden part is the 2/3 part. Simple math tells me that there is a lot more to pay. Here’s a breakdown of what that 2/3 is all about, how to minimize it with some careful planning so that you’re not stuck trying to make last-minute (under pressure) decisions at the car rental shop. Make sure also to find a reliable car rental service like the car rental sydney for a better service with no hidden charges.
Our LA rental – Mustang
Taxes on you (the 2/3)
Let’s dig straight into this.
The 1/3 is what the rental company calls “time & distance”. This is your car. Let’s take a standard 4 cylinder vehicle as an example with a cost of $19.95 per 24hr day. When looking for a more permanent option instead of renting, here is the best place to sell your caravan where you can also buy one.
The 2/3 part is the “Insurance”. Even if you purchased a holiday package deal which stated “car included” this part of the bill is NOT included with the rental deal. This means the $19.95 might have been covered by the package but the Insurance never is. The Insurance is all about you.
But wait, there is a way out of paying for rental Insurance
If you/spouse have car insurance in Californian (say you own a car in California since you work here) then you may have rental cover too. Call up the insurance company and check! Most personal car insurance plans cover rental cars in USA & Hawaii. That should save you a nice chunk of the rental insurance.
Here’s what the Insurance looks like on this $19.95 rental:
Note: these are optional! However as I always say, it’s not you but other drivers that you should watch out for when on the road driving.
Damage Waiver (DW):Also known as Collision Damage Waiver covering the rental vehicle during an accident 100% with $0 deductible.
Cost: $8.99 per day.
How to avoid it: If you have a Wells Fargo credit card then you can waive this fee as long as you use your Wells Fargo credit card to pay for the rental. See here. Most American credit cards give this benefit.
Personal Accident Insurance (PAI):Covers your expenses from an accident with a lump sum payment. Remember this is America, without health insurance you are a dead duck in the water should the unfortunate happen.
Cost: $3.00 per day.
How to avoid it: When you left your country (say Australia) you would have (I hope) purchased insurance which would have included health. This should cover you for a bit while you’re in the states. Else if you are working as a full-time employee for a company in USA then you already have health insurance (HMO/Kaiser etc) through your firm. So you don’t need extra expense.
Supplemental Liability Protection (SLP):Third-party liability protection and will provide additional protection. e.g. You destroy someone’s house / other car during the accident. This covers the other party repairs if it’s your fault.
Cost: $11.99 per day.
How to avoid it: No way that I’m aware of unless you already have car insurance in the USA and this is covered somehow within that policy. Highly unlikely though.
So final numbers for a week (7 days) rental look like this:
Car: $19.99 x 7 = 139.93
DW: $8.99 x 7 = 62.93
PAI: $3.00 x 7 = $21.00
SLP: $11.99 x 7 = $83.93
Total: $391.72
Taxes: $35.25
Final cost: $426.95, and here you thought you got a bargain that would cost roughly $139.93 for that week. DW+PAI+SLP alone cost you $251.72.
Other common fees & ways to avoid them
Sales taxes – if you are hiring in California expect to pay additional 9% tax on top of your bills. That’s an additional $35.25 ontop of the bill above. We asked our friends at car hire heathrow airport and according to them, there’s no way out of this. Sorry no way to avoid this one.
Taxes and airport surcharges – if you are picking up your car from the airport you will be hit with 10% – 20% airport tax. If you can find out where the closest car rental place is located near your hotel vs the airport. Unless you have no lift to your hotel from the airport then you will get stuck with this tax.
Gasoline charges – you will often get asked if you want to prepay a full tank of gas so that you can return it with any amount of petrol (gas) left. Say no. Gas is cheaper outside and you will save money. Seriously how well can you predict how much gas you will consume.
Drop-Off charges – always drop off the car at the location you picked it up, especially if it is supercar like Ferrari. Charges vary here so don’t get stung or find out upfront what the charges would you especially if your travelling across state.
GPS charges – this one is a good money-maker for the rental companies. $10 per day to hire a GPS unit. Save yourself the $70 per week fee by using your smart phone & Google maps.
Hire on the weekends – companies like Enterprise have weekend deals because there are so many stock left over. Check out their websites, they always advertise this. Another rental company you can consider is vinsautogroup. Vin’s specialises in car leasing deals. Also when you drop into the car hire shop few minutes before they close on Friday you will be in a better state to bargain a great deal. I once hired luxury executive cars from a chauffeur driven car service for half the listed price and paid 1/3 of the listed insurance on it. Killer bargain.
Me with my weekend special rental – Mercedes-benz C-300
Sign-up now for a newsletter – most rental companies send out monthly newsletters with specials / deals like free upgrades or discounts. You can use those when making your rental.
I have an awesome credit history in Australia. With property & stock investments behind my name over a number of good years and credit cards with limits I’d never hit you’d think I have it easy on the credit history front in America. I mean America and Australia already have a tax treaty which stops me from getting taxed twice and includes nice tax breaks for all Aussie ex-pats.
Well that’s where things change. American financial institutions, and uncle Bob, don’t care about your good credit history in Australia. They say you have to start from scratch here and prove to them you are capable of managing your money on the American soil. If you intend to stay in America for only a few years to earn some cash and go back home then getting credit history in America will not be your priority. However if you think there is a slight chance you may stay I recommend you get familiar with how credit works in America. If you’re a parent, then you should also learn how to secure your child’s financial future with The Children’s ISA.
How does credit work in America
So let’s look at this:
You start with 0 credit score in the USA.
Your prior credit history in Australia means nothing, even if you are a good investor.
0 credit score means you can’t buy Ford shares UK, or get a car loan (sort of, I will explain this later), a credit card (there is a way though which I will explain later), buy anything which requires bank’s leverage (money) like a house, car, shares etc…
In the U.S. credit scores are broken down into 5 categories each contributing to a percentage of your credit score:
35% – Payment History: This is whether you have paid on time or not
30% – Debt To Credit Limit Ratio: This is your total debt compared to your total credit limit
15% – Length Of Credit History: This is how long you have had credit
10% – Types Of Credit Accounts: This is the different types of credit you have
10% – Inquiries (hard): This is when a creditor checks your merge credit report
Most important factors in your credit score:
Whether you pay your bills on time and
How much of your available credit you actually use.
Credit score
As I mentioned above you start with 0 credit score. Once you start building credit history your score will increase.
The range:
Credit scores range from 300-850, with 723 being the medium FICO score of Americans.
Scores below 600 are considered high risk borrowers,
Since best method is to get a car loan. Even if you don’t need a loan get one at least for 50% of the vehicle’s value. Make sure it’s not lower than $5K. This is what I did with my wife. It was tricky because no financial institute will give you a “car loan” since you have no credit history but you need credit history to get a car loan. A chicken or egg scenario. However there is a way! I found this small hole the hard way and will explain it in my next post on purchasing a car using a loan. Check out Houston in house financing for easy car loan.
Get a secured credit card. Note, a “secured” credit card not an unsecured one. No one will give you an unsecured credit card. With a secured credit card you pay the institute (bank) a sum of money ($2K in my case) and they use that as security for your $2K limit credit card. You do get this money back once they approve you for an unsecured credit card but for now budget around $2K out-of-pocket. An unsecured one is your typical bank credit card where you use the banks money. This means you will need to recharge (pay credit card dept) on your money every month. Remember you are “proving” to your bank you can pay off the “dept” in a reasonable amount of time and know how to handle it. You will be able to convert to a regular, unsecured credit card after 12 to 18 months of on-time payments.
Do not max out any of your credit cards, or even get close. Keeping your credit use to less than 30% of your credit limits (10% is better) will help you get the best possible credit score – and should help keep you from getting over your head in debt, as well.
Pay utilities (power, gas & electricity) and property rental in your name and set up automatic payments or reminder systems so that you’re never, ever late. All it takes is a single missed payment to trash your credit scores – and it can take seven years for the effects to completely disappear.
Get a store card like Macy’s Credit Card. Macy’s is one of America’s largest chain of mid-to-high range department stores. Department stores like Macy use finance companies, rather than major banks, to handle the transactions. These cards don’t do as much for your credit scores as a bank card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, etc.), but they’re usually easier to get. Again, don’t go overboard. One or two of these cards is enough.
Your credit score
Finally, you’re also entitled to a free annual look at your reports from AnnualCreditReport.com or CreditSesame.com. This is known as a “soft inquiry” (thanks Brian P. Hamachek). It is ok to use these systems to frequently check your credit score since they are not recorded on your credit report. Hard inquiries (when buying a house or car) remain on your credit report for 24 months and an impact for only first 12 months. A good rule of thumb is to only apply for credit when you really need it, this will give you the opportunity to be elgible for the best 5 year fixed rate mortgage.
CreditSesame is a nice free online tool which also advises you how to improve your credit score and show you what causes it to fluctuate. I use this one regularly.
I believe I covered most of what’s needed (stuff I did and am doing) but if you know of more stuff I can do or have missed here feel free to share it in the comments section below.
Update Sep 10, 2011 – Thanks to Brian P. Hamachek and Philip Tellis for contributing to this post in the comments sections below. Some updates were made to the body of this post. You guys rock!
Here’s to building a fantastic credit history in America.
This is what I love about Silicon Valley. It has the resources, people and culture to give you the opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals, get involved in engaging conversations and even bounce ideas off each other.
The high-tech industry back in Sydney is nothing compared to what is available in Silicon Valley. There has been a recent shift in greater awareness and acceptance of the value that can be gained by investing in high-tech ecosystems but it’s still a slow process and is a decade behind what Silicon Valley has to offer today. It isn’t happening fast enough and let’s face it, there is no place in the world like Silicon Valley. Bradford Cross discussed historical perspective and challenges of the widespread efforts to reproduce Silicon Valley in cities across the world. In a nutshell it’s too hard to compete with culture and century of history in Silicon Valley. Bradford’s article is worth a read to understand the history and value Silicon Valley has brought to the world and which it will continue into this century.
Where to connect with like-minded people
So you are in Silicon Valley and want to connect with like-minded people. Here is a breakdown list of where you can start. At first attend as many of these as possible until such time when you have tuned to those that add value to your needs.
The no.1 best place to start is meetup.com. Meetup.com (also called Meetup) is an online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings in various localities around the world. The site has the tools to allow facilitators and people interested in meeting up to make this connection seamless and pain-free.
Meetup.com believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference. Thus you will see a huge pool of meetups in the bay area (Silicon Valley). Everything from:
Stanford Bases: Stanford University’s entrepreneurship group with one of the largest student entrepreneurship groups in the world dedicated to cultivating the next generation of entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and beyond.
Hacker Dojo: Located around the corner from my place (in Mountain View) is a place for hackers to hang out and code. Also the home of Android weekly developer meetings and monthly presentations from cloud companies.
Jewish High Tech Community: Helps improve the quality of life in the Silicon Valley for Jewish people working in and around technology by educating them about important trends and issues in technology.
Yahoo’s LAMP meetup every month to share Yahoo’s experience and provide an environment to learn from each other.
If you see me at one of these meetings please say hi! I love meeting and connecting with like-minded individuals. I like to look at people I don’t know yet as friends I haven’t met yet. Say g’day to this Aussie 🙂
There are a number of different public transport options to commute around the Bay Area and San Francisco using the Public Transport System. Here are the most popular forms of public transport options and instances where to use each one. If you plan to hire a car then visit my previous post located here.
Public transport options
In The Valley (Bay Area)
CalTrain
The CalTrain is a double-decker diesel-powered commuter train that runs on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). Basically from San Francisco all the way down to San Jose. The fare varies on the zones you want to visit. A map is provided at each station showing you the zones. So a trip from Mountain View to San Francisco covers 6 zones (max zones) and will cost around $12. You can also get a day pass which is double that price – basically a return pass is a day pass but you can go up and down all day long.
VTA (Valley Transportation Authority)
VTA operates both buses and light rail within the local Santa Clara county. The buses travel up and down El Camino Real and cost a few bucks pending on your destination. Make sure you have $1 in coin/notes since there is no change given by the black payment box inside the bus. There are stops on El Camino Real every few hundred meters so be prepared for frequent stops and longer journey times. The buses and light rail are high-tech with display & computerized voice giving you updates what street you are approaching so you should never miss your stop.
Super Shuttle
This is the easiest and most cost-effective shuttle service to and from the airport from your home, office or hotel. It’s a huge blue van franchise with a capacity to carry 8-9 passengers. These things run like crazy at all sort of hours. Plus the bonus is that you will get to see a bit of the bay area as the van picks-up/drops people closest off first.
BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)
No not Bart from the Simpsons but the rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on 104 miles (167 km) of track with 43 stations in four counties. The fare is based on a formula that takes into account both the length and speed of the trip. The minimum fare is $1.75 is charged for trips under 6 miles (9.7 km) and maximum one-way fare including all possible surcharges is $10.90.
Muni (Municipal Railway)
The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni) is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. Its network consists of 54 bus lines, 17 trolley bus lines, 7 light rail lines that operate above ground and in the City’s lone subway tube (called Muni Metro), 3 cable car lines, and a heritage streetcar line known as the F Market & Wharves. The Muni buses are probably the easiest ones to catch. They have routes all over the city and cost only $2 to ride. Don’t forget to have $1 coins or notes since there is no change given by the black payment box inside the bus.
Cable Car
The San Francisco cable car system is the world’s last permanently operational manually operated cable car system, and is an icon of San Francisco, California. Cable cars operate on two routes from downtown near Union Square to Fisherman’s Wharf, and a third route along California Street. They are plenty of fun to hang out of one as it takes you up and down the steep hills of San Francisco. A bit pricey at $5 for a single ride but definitely worth the wait and the ride.
Too expensive. This isn’t New York where a cab ride is super cheap. When you factor in tip on top of the fair & the traffic that will surely keep that meter ticking up it’s just not worth it. Of course if you have the cash to throw at a cab you can catch one anywhere in the bay area & San Francisco.
Where to use each form of public transport
Destination: SFO (airport) to Mountain View/Palo Alto Transport: Bart & CalTrain or Super Shuttle Duration: 1-2 hours.
Destination: Union Square (SF) to Fisherman’s Wharf (SF) – San Francisco has many steep hills that will test your patience and drain your energy levels. It’s ok to try to walk them once but the 2nd time just use the public transport. Transport: Muni (anywhere from Market St) or Cable Car (from corner of Powell & Market St). Duration: Around 30 mins.
Destination: Mountain View/Palo Alto to San Francisco Transport: CalTrain Duration: 40 min to 1 hr. If you catch the “baby bullet” which has limited stops you should get there in 40 min else budget in 1 hour.
Destination: Mountain View/Palo Alto to San Jose Transport: VTA Rail or CalTrain Duration: Up to 1 hr on VTA Rail but it’s a nice scenic & quiet ride. CalTrain will get your there in around 20 mins.
Hope this information gives you an idea about the public transport options available to you to move up and down the valley. There is plenty to do and see here so enjoy your stay in the bay area!
If I have missed something, made a mistake or you want to know something more specific about other areas and how to get there please contact me using the contact form located here. I always respond within 24 hours.
Things To Do in Silicon Valley, The Bay Area & in San Francisco.
So you decided to visit Silicon Valley and/or San Francisco and want to know where to go. Here is a hand full of places in Silicon Valley and San Francisco you can visit during your stay. Of course there is plenty more to do and see then what’s listed below, but this should be a good start for you. Don’t forget to read public transport options so you know how to get around Silicon Valley and San Francisco.
Things To Do in Silicon Valley (south bay)
Silicon Valley is suburbia, sprinkled like candy with many high-tech firm and great places to eat. It is nothing what you expect and must be experienced to be enjoyed.
University Avenue & Stanford University, Downtown Palo Alto You can’t go wrong here. There are plenty of great restaurants to eat at, shops to explore and Stanford University is just round the corner (across El Camino Real).
Stanford University is enormous. There are plenty of free shuttle buses from Palo Alto CalTrain (on University Ave) which can take you directly to and around Stanford University. The University is beautifully located on a large piece of land surrounded by trees, grass lands and mountains. You can freely walk through the grounds and enjoy the Spanish-colonial style building architecture. Drop by the library and the gift shop if you want to get yourself some merchandise.
The road leading out of Stanford University is called University Avenue and heads directly into Palo Alto downtown. Downtown is full of great restaurants and shops.
Some of my favorites places to eat there:
Cheese Cake Factory – largest menu of choices you will ever see. And their cheese cake’s are like no other. Simply delicious.
La Strada Ristorante Italiano – nice little Italian place with great Seafood Marinara and delicious thin crust Pizzas.
Zibibbo – outstanding food & presentation and they know how to match the wine to your meal. They are a part of a larger group called Restaurant LuLu. Their San Francisco LuLu Restaurant is just as superb.
Castro Street, Downtown Mountain View This is my home town and also another great place for dining and mixing with the locals.
Downtown Mountain View, Castro Street – one of the things to do in Silicon Valley
Red Rock Cafe – if you want to feel experience a hackers atmosphere then this is the place to be any evening during the week. Grab an Avalanche (a better version of Starbucks Frappuccino), connect to the free wi-fi on your laptop and absorb the energy in the room. You will no doubt also find me there. Check out my post on Red Rock here.
East West Bookstore – known as a spiritual bookstore, it is the source for expansive ideas, a retreat from ordinary life, and a gathering place in support of community ideals and spiritual growth. It was founded by a monk by the name of Swami Kriyananda who is the author of over 100 books and the composer of over 400 pieces of music. If you are into spiritualism then you will find this place valuable + it’s across the road from Red Rock.
Some of my favorites places to eat at Castro Street:
Gelato Classico Italian Ice Cream – you won’t look at another ice cream again after having some of these. Try the Tiramisu Gelato, there is something super tasty about it.
Tomi Sushi – this place is a must for dinner. The sushi here melts in your mouth, it’s reasonably priced ($16 dinner combination) and the atmosphere & setup is authentic Japanese. including the chefs.
Santana Row
Santana Row is an upscale shopping, housing, dining and entertainment complex in San Jose, California. Westfield Valley Fair is located just to its north, on the other side of Stevens Creek Boulevard, and the Winchester Mystery House just to the west, across Winchester Boulevard.
Googleplex – a must! Located at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View. You will see plenty of Google bikes around which the Googlers use to move around between the campuses. Something is always buzzing around here. From the T-rex in the courtyard, outside swimming pool to the university style feel atmosphere.
If you venture a tad down the road you will come across the Android complex with the large statue of the Android robot next to a cupcake and around the corner Mozilla & LinkedIn Corporations. If you run into some sheep don’t worry, they are working for Google eating cutting down the grass.
HP (Hewlett-Packard) & Symantec – because they are right next to each other on Ellis St in Mountain View and the HP founders are famous for having kick started what is known today as the Silicon Valley.
Facebook is located on 1601 S California Ave, Palo Alto. Although there is not much to see from the outside. See my post on Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol (OGP) where I have included a picture of the building. Again not much to see but if you have it on your to-do list then why not.
Me at Googleplex for lunch – a must on the things to do in Silicon Valley
Attend a Meetup
If you have the time try to go to one of the popular meetup groups. There is always a buzz in the air, plenty of energy and interesting people to connect with + score a free pizza & coke. Read my prior blog post on which meetups to attend.
Recapping the popular meetups:
Hacker Dojo: Located around the corner from my place (in Mountain View) is a place for hackers to hang out and code. Also the home of Android weekly developer meetings and monthly presentations from cloud companies et al.
Yahoo’s LAMP meetup hosted every month to share Yahoo’s engineering efforts and provide an environment to learn.
Stanford Bases: Stanford University’s entrepreneurship group is one of the largest student entrepreneurship groups in the world dedicated to cultivating the next generation of entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and beyond.
San Fransisco is a city of micro climates. You can notice the difference as you drive up 101 or 280 and the weather changes from a beautiful sunny day to overcast & cloudy. So check the weather online before setting off on you trip from the valley into the city.
Lombart Street & Zig Zag Street Lombart Street is famous for having steep hills. The Russian Hill part of Lombart Street intersecting with Van Ness Ave is the start of the most steepest hill in San Francisco. It must be driven up to be experienced. As you drive look back for a second to get a glimpse of the street’s sharp inclination.
Once you reach the top, you will be greeted by the most famous “Crookedest Street in the World.” with a 40-degree slope and tight hairpin turns. It is lined with houses and beautifully manicured gardens. It’s worth walking and driving down it.
San Francisco – Lombart Street at night
Fisherman’s Wharf
It is the northern waterfront area of San Francisco and a famous tourist location. It is best known for being the location of Pier 39 & it’s blubbery sea lions, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, the Cannery Shopping Center, Ghirardelli Square, a Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum, the Musée Mécanique, the Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf, Forbes Island and restaurants and stands that serve fresh seafood, most notably Dungeness crab and clam chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl. It is also the place where you can organize a trip to Alcatraz (ref The Rock movie with Sean Connery) – which is clearly seen from Pier 39.
Cobb’s Comedy Club
My favourite comedy club! Headliners who performed at Cobb’s Comedy Club are regular guests on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman. Many have their own comedy specials on Comedy Central and HBO and can be seen starring in movies and on television.
More here: http://www.cobbscomedyclub.com/
Samovar Tea Lounge
Fanastic place to start your day with a nice selection of teas. There are 3 unique locations: Samovar Yerba Buena Gardens, Samovar Mission-Castro, and Samovar Hayes. Yerba Buena Gardens is my favorite for it’s atmosphere and unique location.
Website: http://samovarlife.com/
Dinner
LuLu Restaurant – great service, reasonably priced food and always fresh and tasty.
One Market Restaurant – awarded a Michelin Star for its excellence. If you have extra cash laying around this place is worth a visit.
Burger Bar – never disappoints, if all you want is a burger. Try the Kobe Beef Burger – it comes from Wagyu cow and the Kobe beef is rich, tender and juicy and cannot be matched by any other beef.
Nightlife
Vessel – located in the heart of San Francisco’s Union Square district, Vessel represents a luxurious lounge of signature San Francisco style and elegance.
RubySkye – another club located in the heart of San Francisco’s Union Square district in the famed theatre district, Ruby Skye is San Francisco’s premiere Nightclub and Special Event Venue.
San Francisco – Golden Gate Bridge. North of SIlicon Valley.
More Things to do in Silicon Valley?
This should keep you busy during your visit. There are also great posts by the Y Combinator team on things to do while you’re in Silicon Valley here:
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