Thoughts on Week 1 of #SINY

By Henry Cameron Chang

What I learned the 1st Week @ SiNY:

It’s about me, but it isn’t.

We’re all here for different reasons, but for me, I’m here because I love people and technology and I want to make a direct impact on the world. Spending a few years in the corporate world taught me 4 things:

• I hate wearing suits
• Profits > People
• It takes forever to get anything accomplished
• No one cares about you because you’re replaceable 

It’s staggering to me that in only one week I can meet 42 people like me, I can learn how to connect with them on not just a professional but personal level, and I can truly get the sense that when you focus on people and what people want, money is irrelevant. When you make it your business to serve others, and find out how you can make their lives better, money comes on its own.

Money is like dating. Those who try too hard to look for it will not find opportunities. But when you forget about looking, and focus on doing something that is invaluable to others, happiness finds you. It’s touchy-feely, but damn, I love you guys. You guys are like 42 brothers and sisters I never had. 

Hackathon.

I didn’t even know what a Hackathon was until yesterday. But wow! You want results? Do a Hackathon. By nature, I tend to plan, organize, re-plan, re-organize, and ultimately, get nothing done. Not to be corny, but “learn to do” makes so much sense. Lean Startup Machine (@Lean) is brilliant, by the way.

That color stuff really matters.

If you put me, a marketing guy, in a room with a sales/biz dev, a web dev, and a product-design guy/gal without telling me how to read their color to better understand their personalities and thought processes AND then told me to finish a project with them in less than 22 hours, there would just be a lot of shouting in the room, and a piss-poor explanation 22 hours later to the Director about why we didn’t get the job done.

Loved meeting and learning from all the speakers we’ve had. I’m really looking forward to the future!

Cameron is a student in the Technical Marketing track at Startup Institute NY. You can reach him at @hcameronchang.