More thoughts on transpo!

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

What we all really want is this right?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mathonan/googles-cute-cars-and-the-ugly-end-of-driving#.lc7Vy8RkM

Open an app, summon a car, go to my spot, get out and get billed. No driver in the car so we can carry on a normal family or private conversation. I don’t have to argue about the route, worry about traffic or smell a driver’s nasty foot odor. Yes – that happened the other day on Uber X. Won the lottery of getting a fancy weekend Uber X car but paid for it with a punishing smell of rotting old man feet.

Robotic fleet of cars is the answer to a lot of what ails a city. Bring it.

Lit up my stats the other day with this tweet – even garnered a few retweets from the pros.

But damn if I didn’t speak to soon.

Usually when I am in an Uber or Grab I quiz the drivers. I like to hear their stories, how they use the system and what they are getting paid. Like the last time I was in LA the driver picked me up in an Uber X and then based on when he thought he would drop me was logging into his Lyft app to hopefully bag a ride near my drop off point. Love how this economic model influences behaviours.

I noticed about a week ago I couldn’t get an Uber X in the morning – right around 6:50 is when I order one. But funny thing is I noticed some Grab cars lurking around me. So today there were no Uber X cars but yet my first pull on the Grab app netted me a ride on GrabCar. Lo and behold, yeah I remember every driver, I noticed a car that has picked me up before and the driver with his new blonde hair. Of course I dig in to learn that Uber has rules about appearance and on top of that he said the new 60 hour – 100 ride system is paying less than Grab unless you hit the kickers. So his calculated per hour rate is now down and he isn’t logging into Uber X anymore, thus he was available for a GrabCar ride. Hence I can get a Grab now but not an Uber.

Not sure this move is working out too well for Uber since outside of the city central I see less cars now but I will add when I see them I get one. Unlike the Grab system, where they inflate the cars around you and you don’t always get one.

Also many of the Uber X drivers I know on using the cars rented via the Uber system – wonder how this messes with that system?

Where will this end? My guess is both companies are bleeding money and if so this is a funding game to some extent. Good times.

It’s a marathon – not a sprint

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Read this post from Derek ::

http://sivers.org/relax

When I notice I’m all stressed-out about something, or driving myself to exhaustion, I remember that bike ride, and try dialing back my effort by 50%.

It’s been amazing how often everything gets done just as well and just as fast, with what feels like 50% of the effort.

This goes with a tenant I have tried to use at every startup – it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Why? Because if you burnout out, get sick of your gig or are less happy – then no one wins.

Grab’s problem versus Uber

~ michael_msft ~ 11 Comments

I get in arguments constantly that I am an Uber lover and a Grab hater but most people won’t stop long enough to listen to my stance on it. I will say that after meeting an hearing Sacca I am even a bigger fan but I guess I was just super impressed with Sacca.

First off let me add that as Grab is a local I am constantly baffled and why they are not more local? They took forever to add credit cards, they have no loyalty program (huge mistake), and in places like Singapore their mapping and lack of using zip codes is comical.

On top of all of this the apps just suck – let me get detailed here:

– I will book a taxi. It is on the way. The app will crash. It re opens and it goes back to book a taxi mode. I have one on the way. Of course now I can’t contact the taxi because it shows I don’t have a taxi.

– This happened to me a number of times in Bangkok and since I couldn’t contact the taxi and they couldn’t find me they would cancel on me. I wouldn’t know this since the app thinks I don’t have a booking anyway.

– Other times I would re book only to find I would have two taxis coming. How would a system let me book two taxis? On top of this customer service would call me to inquire why I booked two cabs.

– Other issues like the timing mechanisms are totally broken and the app is just overly complicated.

However let me get to what I think is the core crux of why I don’t like Grab. It fails on the instant gratification scale that Uber absolutely nails. For example this is what I saw this morning when trying to get a GrabCar:

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To myself or my wife this would make it look like we have a chance of getting a car.

Wait for it – this is what almost always happens though:

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And happens and happens and almost always happens.

Why doesn’t it retry till I get a car?

Why does it show me there are cars around me but yet none accept the fare?

This is the part of Grab that lulls me into thinking it is just a booking app – like all other booking apps. Whereas Uber is an Instant Transportation Service living within my phone. If there are no cars available then it shows me that there are no cars. And practically every time it shows cars are available I am able to book one. Otherwise it shows no cars available. Or if really busy you see surge pricing.

I will take a surge price over hitting retry on Grab 100 times. Why? Instant gratification. I know I can book a car. With Grab. It is spray and pray.

There are those saying that Grab will just keep raising enough money to win. I think winning might be beating other regional players – Rocket already packed their bags. However Uber will win the ultimate battle due to the difference in how the core of their service works.

Grab could fix this but they don’t seem to be since the apps are as bad a they have ever been.

Koprol

~ michael_msft ~ 1 Comment

I was sitting at a dinner with some VC’s and a LP talking about the region.

This came up:

https://www.techinasia.com/happyfresh-asia-funding-news/

I chatted a little about Yahoo and Koprol. How Yahoo totally blew it and this closing of Indonesia R&D was the signal for the slow, ever continuing downfall of Yahoo.

At the same time the Koprol deal kicked off the SEA deal making phase and created a group of techies that are slowly infiltrating the region working for startups or startung them. Or hanging at the mall.

I won’t try and list names. You all know who you are.

Congrats!

#SEArising

Gruber nails the Netflix posturing

~ michael_msft ~ 2 Comments

It is exactly what I have been saying – they don’t have the feature. It may well be they don’t even have the rights for offline – those are obtained separately and not part of a standard OTT package of rights.

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/09/08/gizmodo-netflix

So what do you do if you don’t have offline viewing – you say no one needs it. It is too confusing. It won’t work well.

The you ship it at some point heralding it as the best thing since shipping DVD’s to people in the mail.

Getting by in Singapore w/o a car or motorcycle

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Singapore has awesome public transit – no question, but sometimes I just have to get somewhere in a hurry or work is paying and I need a cab.

I used to always use comfort SMS booking – in fact it is still the most convenient way to book a cab. sms postal code. Done. Kills all apps hands down.

Then Uber comes. I tried Uber black a few times and it’s awesome but a waste of money. I tried the other cab services and mostly they all suck but honestly – they are just cab aggregation apps that aggregate the same shitty cabs that like to tell me they don’t have change, their machine is down or they grumble about where I am going. So yes – there is an app for that. If what you want is cabs. I don’t.

About the only product as of late that works for me is UberX. It is cheaper than cabs and seems to be more readily available apart from peak times – which is a still a big Singapore issue. Now some will say – check out GrabCar – the non-taxi product from GrabTaxi.

Let me tell you how that went:

Order GrabCar
Confirmed
Called
Argued with driver about where I actually was
Waited
App crashed
App restarts showing I have no booking
Called driver – still coming but thinks I am somewhere else but since no app I can’t confirm where he is going
Waited
Text driver – no response
Call driver – no answer
Call driver – no answer
Call driver – driver hangs up

I sms driver to say go to hell

GrabTaxi has the worst apps ever. I am still baffled where all the millions go. Durians I guess.

Back to UberX

Biased advice

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

We all know it is a full on startup frenzy in Asia. Not saying it is a bubble but just saying its frothy but I have no complaints. However I would like to offer some unsolicited advice.

If you are a rockstar coder, a super sales person, an amazing manager or the slickest bizdev person this side of the North Pole – then just close this browser window and carry on with your world domination plans.

If you are neither of these but plan on doing a startup – might I suggest getting some work experience first? I am constantly stunned when mentoring folks or talking to people about this startup or that, how little experience some folks have in doing things that are key pillars in business. Selling, managing or business development. Again – maybe you have such a killer idea that this advice is just not warranted but for the rest of you, the 99%, why not try working for the big dreaded corporate or join another startup so that you can learn some things before taking the plunge.

I had a great lunch today with Dr. Bernard Leong. Yes – that Dr., he can code and has done quite a bit of entrepreneurial things in his life but still talks about all the things he wants to learn before becoming the CEO of his own startup. That Dr.

Me – even now I feel like I am being schooled in how to be a proper exec, manage a team and keep up with some incredibly fast moving tech. And I’m old.

The point is I see so many people struggling or thinking they want to start something and yet, all around us are good, funded companies looking for talent. I suggest joining as a cog in the big wheel and learning the ropes. You might not think it is cool but trust me, you will learn a ton and be even closer to starting your own thing.

Carry on.

India!

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

india_me//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

25 years ago I first arrived in India.

I have been coming here ever since I moved to Hong Kong in 1999 – then with BEA Systems, actually Weblogic. Then when I moved to Singapore working for Yahoo I would hit India about every other month.

Then with Spuul I would hit Mumbai from time to time but now I am in Delhi with HOOQ. Delhi is one of the centers for all the Telcos. BizDev time.

I amazes me how much, just like me, stuff has changed. The place is busier than ever. I was in a lift yesterday full of ZTE engineers selling stuff to an India telco. Globalization in full effect. Love it.

Mobile is HUGE here. Just HUGE. The opportunities are massive.

Get in there.

Slight hiatus…

~ michael_msft ~ 1 Comment

I haven’t blogged in a while.

Been to busy and not a ton I wanted to share.

I have a new gig. CTO of HOOQ – a new joint venture of Warner Bros., Sony Pictures and Singtel. Our mission is to conquer the emerging markets premium OTT space. 

We are also hiring. I’ll share more about the journey as time permits.

Life, as always is a strange trip.

I am blessed with an awesome family, health and rewarding employment.

Cya on the flipside