Summer 2022.

I packed my entire life into two suitcases and flew halfway across America to California.

When I landed, I had no friends, no couch to crash on, and a measly 12 followers on Twitter. Human waste littered the streets where I lived. Your shoes crunched as you walk on broken car glass. This was it – the city where autonomous cars roam and nerds overshadow jocks.

Like many, I came to San Francisco to build. After starting a modestly successful company in college, I wanted to venture out West and try my luck in the mythologized tech mecca of the world, San Francisco.

My first few months were spent scouring for a community. I hopped between cafes, hoping to run into other founders and builders. I started tweeting. I came to tech events. But all this ‘networking’ rarely amounted to anything. I seem to keep on running into people who want to be founders, but aren’t founders themselves.

I struggled to find a group of friends/founders in my first months. But in a random act of serendipity, I found myself invited to a dinner sponsored by a local VC firm. I can’t recall the name of the restaurant, but they had some of the juiciest rotisserie chicken I’ve ever had. There I met a guy named Jeson. He introduced himself as a founder amid a pivot. I noticed he had an accent. I asked where he was from – Malaysia.

We quickly bonded over our shared heritage of being from Southeast Asia, talking about our experiences as an immigrant and starting companies while in college. The conversation took a lighter, more comical turn when we realized we both just broke up with our girlfriends and were coping by hitting the gym.

Suddenly we weren’t a couple of founders sizing each other up. We were just two dudes, bonding over sour romance. Jeson invited me to his apt-proclaimed *Founder’s House*, a house he shared with four other builders.

* A consumer social founder on their fifth product idea.

* A banker who quit to work on his fintech app.

* An AI founder amid a $3m raise.

* A guy who sold his previous startup and is looking for his next thing.

The place smelled a little. The trash hasn’t been taken out in days and someone’s missing a bed frame. It didn’t matter. **The scent of ambition overpowers all**.

Months passed. The steep hills and Karl the Fog became less foreign and grew familiar, like the briny air and the low tides of Rhode Island. The seasons also began to change.

**If Earth runs on climate cycles, San Francisco runs on hype cycles.** Winter rolled around the corner, and soon the frosty snows of crypto & Web 3.0 melted and made way for the refreshing spring that is AI.

A new generation of builders emerged, all vying for the checkbooks of eager technocrats. When I met Jeson, he was incubating an idea in maritime logistics. Now he’s working on an AI agent. These hype cycles make San Francisco a very transitory city. They tend to go like this:

1. A large market shift happens (technological breakthough, COVID, etc.)

2. Trend emerges and herds flock to chase it (B2B SaaS, AI, Web 3.0, IoT, etc.)

3. Ideas emerge but few are good.

4. Some get funded.

5. The hype fades and people move to the next trend.

6. The previous wave of builders leave the city and make way for the next cycle.

**In a city of so much change, the only constant is the founders’ obsession, hustle, and optimism.** Everyone here believed that they were onto something big. Something unicornian. Past failures didn’t deter anybody. In fact, we wear our wounds as badges of honor. They prove that we are in the arena, fighting.

Having spent four years across three American cities, I’ve yet to encounter a place that embraces ‘the grind’ more than San Francisco.

**This ecosystem normalizes arduous work hours, hyper-focus, and repeat failures.** It promotes a monastic life, free of distractions from your craft. It helps that restaurants close at 9 and cafes at 5. You’d rather eat soggy cardboard than go to a nightclub here.

So – why do we flock to San Francisco?

* We come because we are enchanted – no longer by gold but by technology.

* We come because we thirst for greatness and crave connection with those who seek it too.

* We come for its cult of productivity – where all you do is hack for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.

And in that endless, clockwork motion of rise, create, and repeat, **greatness blooms.**

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```

Why I Moved to San Francisco

You often don't feel like you're growing while it's happening.

The incremental changes and the daily struggles make it seem like you're stuck. Life feels like it has plateaued. But the truth is, you're making progress, even if it doesn't feel like it.

I know this firsthand. I’ve banged my head against the wall for stuff that bore no fruit, only scars and a bloodied face. But a watershed moment always follows. Something changes. A fresh challenge comes along. And suddenly I'm reminded of just how far I've come.

It's easy to underestimate our progress. It's easy to think we're not making the strides we should be. But the truth is, we're growing, we're learning, and we're getting better with each passing day. And when you take the time to pause and reflect, you might appreciate the progress you’ve made.

Growth happens in retrospect.

Whenever a new platform launches, there’s a magical window of time when its culture is developed & defined by its earliest users. And like how culture permeates an entire company, platform culture similarly seeps into user behavior. In the long run, it shapes how people use and talk about your product.

This is why your first users are crucial. Barring a few moments of ingenuity, humans are an unoriginal, conforming species. We imitate others. Akin to your first hires, your earliest users set and maintain the culture that everyone else follows. A new user learns how to use app by copying how other people use it.

A few real-world examples of platform culture at play.

**Airbnb:**

* In 2009, the founders of Airbnb noticed that most home listings had terrible pictures.

  * Customers weren’t attracted to them and won’t book.

  * They personally visited 100+ hosts to offer free professional photoshoots, and by doing so sat a platform culture at upheld quality listings.

  * Within weeks, other hosts followed the founder’s example and hired professional photographers to take photos of their homes.

  * Bookings rose and the rest is history.

**Behance:**

* Scott Belsky started Behance to create a design communit.

* But he wanted it to build the place for ***the world’s best*** designers. Cream of the crop.

* He went on a quest to acquire them by hand - emailing 100+ top designers and personally helped them to set up their portfolios for free.

* Behance launched all these award-winning designers, setting a culture of craft and quality.

* They established a culture that is set until today. Behance is still a home for a creative’s best, most polished work.

**Airchat:**

* Pioneered a fresh take on social audio by combining audio with voice transcription.

* Early users were confused on how to use the app - the kind of conversations you can have, post length, topics, and more.

* Naval & Sigil (founding team) spent upwards of 12 hours a day on the app to spark conversations and content that aligned with their original vision.

As you build your product, consider and **define** what your Platform Culture will be. What behaviors to encourage? What to look for and what to avoid? Or in Gen Z lingo, what’s the *vibe*? Like in Airbnb’s case, it’s worth considering what actions and behaviors will help make your product commercially successful.

Second, **recruit** early users who are a culture fit. Help them get started and encourage them to evangelize the same culture to others. Remember - people imitate each other. Just as a single pebble creates expanding ripples in a pond, the actions of your earliest users shape the character of your platform.

Finally, **maintain** it. Think of tending a garden – it requires deliberate attention, nurturing, and occasional pruning. Champion users who adhere to your standards and don’t be afraid to show the door to those who don’t. Ultimately, the mark of a platform with a strong culture is one where users feel empowered and engaged in a community.

On Platform Culture

I have a wife.

I have children.

I haven’t met them yet, but I know they exist in the future, and they’re counting on me today.

It’s easy to do dumb things when you only answer to yourself. It’s easy to be ruled by emotions and get distracted by the world’s temptations. But now I’ve realized that it’s much harder to indulge in such impulses when you’re responsible for your future spouse or children.

**Here’s the thing I’ve learned about responsibility: it’s burdensome *and* empowering.** It’s like carrying a backpack up a mountain. There’s more weight on your shoulders, but you also have everything you need to reach the top. It guides you and becomes your source of strength.

The future life I want to have – family, wife, career, and relationships – is my source of strength. I choose to work hard for them. God knows I’m far from ready. I’m a work-in-progress. But that’s okay because it keeps me striving.

Every action you take is a vote for the life you want to have. Would your future self thank or resent you for the choices you’re making?

Think about your wife & kids

I sold my first company today.

The deal took four weeks to finalize. I signed the papers last night and the press release went out this morning.

You’d think I’m the happiest man in the world right now. But truth be told, I feel…almost nothing.

My mind is barely on the acquisition - it’s 100% focused on the new venture I’m building. I don’t find myself indulging in this moment. I’m just thinking about how I can create something bigger and better than kerja.io.

Perhaps that’s the curse of being ambitious. You’re never happy with what you have. You always want more. You create but barely marvel at your own work. You chase, yet you are never content.

Is this perpetual fire a blessing? Or is it a curse? I don’t know. Time will tell. But for now, I think I’m done pondering on my emotions. I gotta head back to the office.

I’ve got work to do.

I sold my company and I don't know how I feel about it.

Time and time again, I think about managing the dichotomy between speed and quality:

You can either build things (1) fast but sacrifice quality or (2) take time to do it well.

But now I realize that you don't have to make this sacrifice. In fact, some of the most ambitious, well-built projects are accomplished in record times:

* Visa: Dee Hock launched BankAmericard (later Visa) in 90 days, signing up over 100,000 customers.

* Disneyland: Walt Disney built Disneyland in 366 days.

* Empire State Building: Constructed in 410 days.

* Shenzhen: Added 1 million residents in one year (1998-1999).

* iPod: Tony Fadell created the iPod in 290 days.

* Amazon Prime: Launched six weeks after starting in late 2004.

History has shown us that you can have both speed and quality.

Now - you might roll your eyes at these examples. After all, they are famous projects, etched into the pages of history. You might think these examples do not apply to the average startup or project. But if that's what you believe, then you've already lost. Anything worth building requires a Herculean, Eiffelian level of ambition. It doesn't matter if you're building an ice cream parlor or a supersonic plane. You should approach anything with the same standards.

**In my experience, those who continue to insist that you can't build great things in fast timelines just aren't made of the iron needed to get shit done.** Don't accept their version of reality. Great work can be achieved with heartfelt intensity, intense focus, and willingness to sprint.

Be relentless, be ambitious, and most importantly, get it done.

Excellence Without Delay

Imagine you're hiking up a mountain. 

There's a familiar route to the top. It usually looks like 2 years in Consulting/Finance, B-School, then perhaps Venture Capital/Private Equity. Thousands have walked that path, and many more will follow. But there's an alternative path - one that's more adventurous and edgy. There are vast valleys to cross, waterfalls to climb, and (inner) beasts to conquer. But the thing about taking the road less traveled is that you'll never know what it has in store for you. There's no map or guide, and the people who have conquered it are so rare that they've become mythologized.

Still, we take the road less traveled. We do so for a chance at greatness. We crave the excitement and glory of venturing on our path, with little regard for what others say or think. We do so because we'd rather die of thirst than drink from the fountain of mediocrity.

To quote Jobs, we take the road less traveled because we're one of the Crazy Ones. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

The Road Less Traveled

Chindoscore.com is my first viral product.

Inspired by the infamous Rice Purity Test, it boasted a series of funny, stereotypical Chinese-Indonesian traits and activities. You complete the checklist of questions, then you get a score that shows ‘How Chindo You Are’.

On launch day, I texted the link to some friends and had a couple of meme accounts post about it on Instagram.

Then I took a little nap.

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```

I woke up an hour later to 650 users. By 4 pm, local celebrities/influencers took the test and shared it with millions of followers.

We reached 10,000 users within 12 hours, 30,000 in 36 hours, and 75,000 in 4 days. My little quiz, which I built in two hours, was a viral hit.

A week after Chindoscore launched, I went to a Christmas dinner where someone asked me how it felt to go viral.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. Of course it felt good. I wouldn’t deny that a bit of clout tickled the more vain side of me. But deep down, the success of Chindoscore meant a lot more to me.

Nested in my backpack is a navy blue notebook packed with a laundry list of startup ideas. Most remain as ideas, forever caged between pages, destined to never see the light of day. Some of them made it into early designs and prototypes. A few were developed into actual MVPs with real users.

None of them took off. So when Chindoscore did, it did not feel like ‘luck’. It was a testament to the skills I’ve developed and a reminder that my efforts were never in vain.

You might not notice it, but Chindoscore is filled with carefully engineered product and design decisions. Everything - from the fonts and colors I used to the order of the questions - was carefully coordinated to maximize virality.

I wouldn’t know how to make these decisions if I hadn’t spent the last few years learning and building. Every failed project, every scrapped idea, every long night spent chasing an outcome that didn’t happen—it adds up. Each one taught me something, and eventually, all those lessons came together.

Chindoscore might’ve only taken me two hours to build, but it was years in the making.

I’m still searching for my breakthrough idea. It’s part of the process. But I know this: I’ll keep building, experimenting, and learning. Because, in the end, that’s what great founders do.

```cv
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```