This post reflects my entire views based on my attendance of MasterCard - Masters of Code in Singapore from 28th to 29th of March 2015.

Brief Background

• Hackathon took place at 237.io in Chinatown.
• Over 120 hackers joined the fun.
• Organized by [Angelhack](www.angelhack.com)

What I learnt from the hackathon

1. Hackers, Hipsters & Hustlers attending the hackathon came for the prizes view more. Not all of them, but many.
   Prizes do attract talents. That’s an incentive. And this artile where hackathons don’t need prizes. Culture difference.

2. Majority of hackers are young, really young. By this, I meant they are university students. That’s fantastic!

3. But, the hackathon was somewhat imbalanced due to the fact that most hackers participating are still young. They lack exposure. Hence, most of the pitched prototypes were simply re-hashing existing startups.

4. Sponsored by big corporate...

I was forced to take a few economics classes back in my first year of university.

Incentives Make People Move

As an entrepreneur, I was lucky to have the support of nobody but myself. How is that luck? Well, I didn’t need to rely on others to get things done. In the very early stage, it was important for me to build a first prototype and demonstrate that it could create value.

I am a firm believer in prototyping as a proof of concept and/or as a demonstration of one’s capability to translate a preliminary idea into something tangible. This beats business plan, pitch deck and any form of projection. There are exceptions to this rule, especially if you’re a seasoned entrepreneur.

Once you have a prototype, you can incentivize people to place some degree of trust in you.

Another way of looking at incentive will be the tangible and intangible incentives that can be derived from...

This post is about myself, Pascal, and my journey as a global, entrepreneurial and forward-driven citizen of the world. I am writing this post from Singapore where I have always (Since I am perhaps 20) been interested to “work and live” and honestly, freaking lucky to do so at 26.

I will share a brief background of the situation, then a few lessons I learnt over the past 5 years. Cliche at times, but you never stop learning from others.

Background

Blessed I am to be able to live beyond a quarter of a century. I remember that my past birthdays were quite common except for my 4 of them, and hopefully, many more.

At 21
I ‘celebrated’ my first birthday overseas and it was in Malaysia.

At 24
This time, I turned 24 in Hong Kong where I lived for a year while working for a reputable tertiary institution.

At 25
Quite unsure to be honest and this would somehow depend on the timezone. I...

Understanding oneself is probably hard. Acknowledging what is right and what is less right is probably harder. This, however, is essential to growth. As a growth oriented individual - whether it is personally or professionally - I had a tough time in 2014 to unlock my growth potential. But on Christmas Day (25.12.14), I took some time to reflect on my past reflections. Those are my 3 take-aways for 2014,

1. Nobody Knows When It Is The Right Time

*A combination of impatience, urgency to achieve results, solitude, and unpleasant housemates led me to make a critical decision this year. It would be tough to clearly weigh in which ones had the highest impact on my decisions. Nevertheless, I left Portugal to head back to Asia.

Whether it was the right time or not, I can’t tell. I’ve been through a roller-coaster of emotions, adventure, and challenges since I left Portugal. This year...

As the end of 2014 is approaching, and that I have long given up on writing down “new resolutions” for any upcoming New Year, I decided to jot down some thoughtful and random questions. Some of them are just one time-off and some of them can be recurring questions on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Here is a short list,

• What will be my impact in society in 2015?
• How will I measure my impact in society in 2015?
• What are the existing habits that I need to maintain in 2015?
• What are my current habits that I need to let go off in 2015?
• What are the (new) activities which will have a more positive impact (Health, Career, Family, Financial) on me in 2015?
• How can I maximize my (a) efficiency (b) productivity © effectiveness by using a smartphone?
• What can I do better to improve myself?
• What am I not doing enough?

• How many Oscars will Interstellar win?
• Will Uber go public?
• How...

After 1.5 months striving with a portfolio company under Rocket Internet, I have learnt one major lesson:
Execution is key.

There is no novelty in what I have learnt so far, but it is a stunning reminder that having a lot of ideas is relatively easy, but the notion of transforming an idea (or many ideas) into impressive results is another story.

As an aspiring entrepreneur and investor, I believe in Process, Focus and Execution. Having ideas is great but being able to translate an idea into a reality requires an elite level of execution, which is overwhelmingly challenging.

In the context of an internet startup, an execution-driven model can be beneficial. While there is no need to re-invent the wheel, experimenting fast, and learning quickly along the way are highly encouraged.

My personal execution-driven model is about being highly capable of pushing tasks from idea to...

2015 will soon be here and I am to admit (shamefully, sadly) that I am behind schedule in terms of readings.

I accumulated a few books over the past few weeks. Here is my list:

(1) Venture Deals - Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist

A guide on venture financing.

(2) Zero to One

Notes on Start-Ups.

(3) Startup Life: Surviving and Thriving in a Relationship with an Entrepreneur

Real life insights on what it takes to make it in a relationship with an entrepreneur.

(4) Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers

Introduces startup founders and employees to the “Bullseye Framework,” a five-step process to help founders find the marketing channel that will be key to unlocking the next stage of growth.

(5) What I Know For Sure

Oprah Winfrey’s story

The mission is to read 5 books within the next 7 weeks. This means that, on average, I should complete a book...

YES, You CAN!

Live in a city like Singapore

Ranked 2 by Jalopnik for having a great public transportation system.

And Hong Kong is another great city with amazingly good public transporation city.

Buy a bike (or motorcycle)

As easy as it sounds, get yourself a bike. It is so simple.

And if you don’t know how to cycle. Watch this Video

And get out there to practice!

Carpool

Nowadays, there are surely a lot of mobile/web apps to allow you to do so.

Try Tripda, which is a free peer to peer carpooling marketplace. Tripda thrives to allow travelers to save cost, reduce their carbon footprint and make new friends.

Taxi or Uber/Lyft

Haha, pay more. That’s up to you and if you really need a ride right away.

Walking

Last but not least, walking is a healthy way to make it from X to Y.

So, Do you REALLY NEED a car?

I don’t need at the moment. Perhaps, you don’t too.

Background Story
The “well-funded startup”, which offered me a job, bailed out on the eve of my departure flight (to the country where they are based). I was jobless, with a small amount of savings, a bit desperate and probably, very hopeless.

Part 1
I reached Malaysia - like a headless chicken - started FB messenging friends and calling people to ask for help. The response was sadly very weak. However those who did, have changed (and saved) my life. (Seriously).

Part 2
I finally found (amazing, young) people to host me, to help me. This has been a great moral booster. I reconnected with a few friends and this again, was wonderful. I reconnected with my university lecturers

Part 3
A few days after my arrival, I got the news: My previous employer whom I resigned from, offered me a new contract. However, I can’t be paid for taxation reason. I was still jobless and without income...