Hey everyone,
Saw some new faces joining me last week, helloha!
I decided to write this newsletter by bringing together my newbie parent's view and my first-time founder's view because it reflects well where I'm in life and what I'm passionate about. It is the true me.
My girl is arriving on Jan 2, 2021 and we're counting down now! This is our first child so we're both delighted and anxious, of course more so on the delight side.
We have been preparing the nursery room and reading books about newborn and parenting principles (oh yes, we're ahead of the game) to get ready for her. You might not know, but the last month of pregnancy is tough because the baby gets a lot bigger and mum is bored of the whole pregnancy by now.
As a new father, all I know is be there for my wife and being supportive and helpful. Honestly, I didn't feel much of "being a dad" in the last 8 months, but as the date approaches, I start to think "Woh - I'm a father now. It is real!"
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Searching for passion
I spent the last 18 months running Toasty, a video collab startup company, and I stepped down from my CEO role in October. Since then, I've been taking time to refocus myself.
What this means is that I'm re-evaluating my life, my work, and myself. It sounds cliché but this exercise has been truly rewarding for me.
My biggest realization is that in the last 8 years, I was in a hardcore execution mode, and I didn't spend any time thinking about who I am and what I really enjoy. I was the most hardworking person, and for every company I worked for, I treated it like my own. And then what?
The timing now is right for this evaluation, as I'm 30 and becoming a father.
In the last month, I was searching for my "passion" or you can say "interest areas". I put down a few words "education" "learning" "EdTech" "ChildrenTech" "building business" "video". These words do relate to me, but somehow I just couldn't resonate with them.
Then one conversation last week with a new friend I met online inspired me to think in a new angle. Instead of putting down these "nouns", I should use "verbs".
- Kevon "enables learning"
- Kevon "enables building and efficiency"
- Kevon "enables expression through video"
Why?
Learning: I've been a big fan of books, articles, podcasts, and having worked in kids edu, I enjoy seeing human acquire knowledge and grow.
Building: My career has been about building web products and building companies. I enjoy creating from 0 to 1. I also really enjoy making things efficient.
Video: Tell you all a secret, I love making videos (Youtube, entertaining type). At Toasty, we also worked on video tech. Expressing via video is what I love.
Woh - when I describe "my passion" this way, it makes a lot of sense and I find the 3 possible directions I want to head towards.
​Skip Those SEO Tips Articles. Read This First As a Founder​
As a founder, you hear about SEO but all the articles out there are crazily technical. You want to know why you should care about SEO.
And believe it or not. Most founders focus on product much more than marketing in the early days. This is because intuitively, we’re inclined to work out a solution before we drive traction. But this is not going to work in 2020.
So I wrote this article to help first-time founders understand the importance of doing marketing early and how SEO plays a key role in building up sustainable traction for you.
If you're just starting out, I hope this can help you!