Conversation with students in Nanjing, China
Last month when I lectured in Nanjing, China. I had a chance to talk with college students and they asked me many questions. One student recorded it and published it in the school newspaper as follow:
Student: What should I do if I just graduated from college but could not find a job?
Answer: You cannot stay home and feel bitter about it. You cannot sleep late, wait for your mother to cook for you, send resumes to some companies and wait for them to give you a job. Looking for job is a FULL TIME JOB. You must actively spend at least 8 hours every day to find job. If the economy is very bad and no one is hiring then you may consider to work for a company with minimum payment or even without payment just to get the experience. Some day when the economy gets better and companies are hiring, you will be ready for better job because you already have the experience.
Student: Is it possible to be an entrepreneur and start my own company in this bad economy?
Answer: Why not? If you believe that you are an entrepreneur than just do it. Anyone can be an entrepreneur if they recognize a business opportunity and go for it. Sometimes it may happen faster than you can imagine but you must be ready for it. Starting a company in a bad economy is much easier than in a good economy. In bad time no one would dare to do anything so if you recognize and seize the opportunity, you have better chance to succeed. Today there are so many favorable factors to help you starting your own company. With open source, many tools are free so you do not need a lot of money to buy software. There are many skilled people and students who could not find jobs so you do not need to compete for them. With Facebook, Twitter, websites and blogs you can market your company for free. If you start your company now, you will be ready when the economy improves.
Student: I want to start a software company, hire many people and create more jobs for my country.
Answer: The purpose of a company is not about creating jobs. The purpose of a company is to create products, create demands, and ultimately create customers. If you have customers, you will create jobs. If you hire a lot of people but no customer then you will NOT last long. You must measure your success by how many customer that you have, NOT how many people that you hire. If you have more customers, your company will grow and you will hire more people. That is the ONLY way start a company.
Student: If I want to have a lot of money do you think that will be good motivation to start a software company?
Answer: If you only want to have a lot of money, you may want to take chance by buy lottery ticket or trade in the stock market. No one would start a software company because they think about having a lot of money. Most of them are passionate about technology and want to do something exciting, something that they love. Money may or may not come afterward. Steve Jobs or Bill Gates are passionate about computer and software first and their successes bring money afterward. Not every software company is that success or make their founders rich but many software companies are doing fine and their founders are happy with what they have done.
Student: Then what does it take to build a good company?
Answer: A good company is the company that last a long time. You should build a company with the idea that you are never going to sell it. This way you will build a company that is stronger and will last longer. If you build a company so you can sell it and make money than you probably will not succeed. The “Get rich quick of the dot com” is gone a long time ago. Today the world needs strong companies, more products, more innovations and create more jobs. Please think about long term strategy not short term. Please think about quality not quantity. Please think about ethic not selfishness. Please consider what can you do to help your people, to support your family, and contribute to your economy. As a young generation, you hold the future of your country in your hand, please take care of it.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
