Since the last blog a few weeks ago, I’m settled in at my new home for the summer in Philadelphia living with my friend. I have been all over the place and have only actually slept there a few nights. I have been balancing my time between my family in Philly and my girlfriend in New York while working where and whenever I can.
The Team’s Progress
My team and I are getting organized and cranking up the communication and – most importantly – the work. We still have a few key things to get in place so we are all on the same page and able to go full speed. We just began development on our website landing page to start engaging with early users.
We’re also finishing up our new logo, user experience (UX), and user interface (UI) for our application. As soon as our development schedule is finalized, our marketing campaign will get off the ground.
Time Management Challenges for the Bi-Coastal Startup
While we are making positive strides with our platform, team, and company, the challenges are also increasing. The biggest hurdle we are facing is something we have absolutely no control of: time.
We are racing against the clock to put together an unbelievable platform. The team puts hard work into all the nooks and crannies that go on behind the scenes. This is something we simply need to keep aware of while we move forward. We need to make sure we stay on deadline. But it’s hard to guarantee completion on time. In my experience, if something is planned to take one week, expect it to take two to three weeks.
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Another challenge on my end is we have team members on the West Coast. As the CEO, I need to work with my team the way that will make everyone most efficient. In this case, it means communicating during irregular hours for me on the East Coast. Some members of our team have additional jobs during the day, so we communicate when they get home. That means I can have calls until 11:00 pm or 12:00 am EST.
While the time difference can be a bit of an inconvenience, it’s worth every second I go to bed later. I work with amazing people who are extremely motivated, believe in the company, and work hard to help the company get off the ground and be successful.
Learning to Pay Attention to the Details
Every day I learn something new. Whether I am reading an article, meeting someone new, or facing a challenge I must overcome to move forward, everything is a learning experience.
Throughout this journey, there has been a recurring lesson I continue to learn the hard way. No matter what you’re trying to accomplish, it is easy to overlook the simple yet critical components that go into making it happen.
When you overlook these components, you may find out later that whatever task you are working on will take longer – and in some cases, more capital – to accomplish. The lesson here is: whatever you’re working on, always take a good look at everything that will go into it before diving in with high expectations.
Whatever you’re working on, always take a good look at everything that will go into it before diving in with high expectations.
The iSchool helped me to realize there are a lot of moving parts to projects. This includes considering the people you are working with and how working with the right people can make the process smoother as well as the finished product a million times better.
Keep enjoying the sun and I look forward to updating you all soon!
