HXBC.us - 竹難月金

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> One of the most frequently asked questions I get recently is "so what do you want to do next?". I've been refining my answer to that over the past few weeks, here's an attempt to put it all down so I don't have to keep it in my little head.
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> Solving problems
> 
> I find it easier to relate and be motivated when whatever I am working on is solving a real problem that someone may be having. So that rules out entertainment/gaming related fields. Not saying that entertainments are not important, they just don't fall into the "problems I need to solve space".
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> Solving problems central to the company
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> There are always problems to be solved in any company. Some of them are central to the company's mission, and some of them more peripheral. For example, many advertising companies have massive scaling problems that are worth solving, but those are more means to the end whether than the end itself. In my experience, it's much more fulfilling to build the product that makes money rather than the product that sells more products.
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> Solving MY problems
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> I don't claim to be a visionary - It's not immediately clear to me that every problem is worth solving, but if I can feel the pain I'd definitely be more motivated to work on a solution. I think that's one of the reasons why the last two products I worked on had been storage products - everyday I am storing more data, and don't get me started on my (lack of) backup plan. There are other problems that I have, and then there are other problems that even though I don't have a pressing need to solve, I can see myself having them down the road.
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> Solving different problems
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> This time around, every recruiter asked if I want to talk to this storage company, that storage startup. If I work on another storage product for a few years, that probably defines the rest of my career. Don't get me wrong, I like to work on storage problems, but at this point I want see if there are other things I like more.
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> Solving problems that I am good at solving
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> Let's face it, everyone wants to solve world hunger, but that's not something I am good at solving. Having invested years in the systems space, I am not in a rush to get out of it.
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> Getting in between people
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> I was talking to a couple people involved in the startup space lately, and one thing seems to be in common: if you can get in between people's communications/endpoints, that will enable you to do so much more. Getting in between people is usually frowned upon in day to day lives, but that worked for Facebook, Twitter, Google, and to some lesser extent, Riverbed. Unless I know exactly what problem I want to solve, a product that gets in between endpoints will allow me to have visibility on more potential problems, and that seems a good place to be at.
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> Twisting the problems
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> Not all the problems fit well in the above categories. Sometimes I just can be convinced with enough twisting. For example, payment is not a space that I am immediately interested in solving. However, payment by definition is getting in between endpoints (buyers and sellers), and payment looks slightly more interesting if I see it from that angle.
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> Good enough problems
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> Not having enough money to retire means at some point I will have to have a job again. The pressure to not drain my savings too much means I cannot only settle for the perfect opportunity (if I even know what that is). Eventually I will have to settle for what's good enough. Balancing the trade offs is not a topic I'd like to think about right now.