Web 2.0 Entrepreneur

When I can’t entertain everyone…

• Posted by Tengku Zahasman on October 24th, 2007 filed in Ramblings


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Ever since I started this blog, I’ve received numerous amount of requests through my contact form. Some asked if I could be free for programming works, some offered me interesting job positions, some asked for my opinions on their Web 2.0 ideas, some wanted me to review their web apps in this blog, some proposed for becoming business partners while others simply sent supportive messages for my writings. Thank you to all of you and I appreciate every messages sent

My concern now is when people ask me if I could work with them on certain projects. While I do take some of the projects and programming works proposed, I had to pass few of the rest even though I’ve seen some of the most brilliant ideas you guys poured. It’s not that I don’t want to take those projects, but sometimes I just can’t. Allow me to state some of the situations when I just had to say no:

1. I can’t take up big projects that needs to be settled by the next week - because that will only mean sleepless nights with high amount of caffeinated drinks to me, which won’t make me feel any better. If I am to accept external projects, I hope it’s something I can do on a steady progress. No client-work-with-urgent-deadlines please. I prefer working on self-initiated projects.

2. I can’t work on controversial apps - especially when adult content is involved. While I do understand that there’s huge business opportunities for porn-based applications these days, I just can’t find myself working on something I believe to be morally wrong. And even if I do, it definitely won’t go into my portfolio - which means there’s nothing much for me there. I’m sorry if we disagree on this matter.

3. I can’t work on unplanned apps - Even if you can’t provide a complete functional specs, at least point me to some highly-similar apps and sites with the designs you wish it would look like, perhaps some working examples…. anything. A simple naked idea won’t do much. If I have to think 90% of how the app will turn out myself, I’d rather declare it to be mine in the end. Your idea is great, but we need to work together to make it a reality.

With these said, I hope to hear more ideas while keeping the constraints within my ability. Remember that I also have my own projects to work on. So give me some space, and I’ll give you your idea

The Computer Programmer

• Posted by Tengku Zahasman on September 5th, 2007 filed in Ramblings


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I’m pretty much a programmer, and jokes like this never fails to make me chuckle :

Found at OffBeatEnough

A man was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said, “If you kiss me, I’ll turn into a beautiful princess.” He bent over, picked up the frog, and put it in his pocket.

The frog spoke up again and said, “If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will tell everyone how smart and brave you are and how you are my hero.” The man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it, and returned it to his pocket.

The frog spoke up again and said, “If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will be your loving companion for an entire week.” The man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it, and returned it to his pocket.

The frog then cried out, “If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I’ll stay with you for a year and do ANYTHING you want.” Again the man took the frog out, smiled at it, and put it back into his pocket.

Finally, the frog asked, “What is the matter? I’ve told you I’m a beautiful princess, that I’ll stay with you for a year and do anything you want. Why won’t you kiss me?”

The man said, “Look, I’m a computer programmer. I don’t have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog is cool.”

Programming is kind of an addictive activity (much like playing games) especially when you’re working on a cool function and you know you’re already half-way there. By the time you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, nothing can stop you and take your hands away from the keyboard. Not your girlfriend’s call, not your mom calling out for dinner from downstairs, not even the clock that already strikes 2AM. Your main mission: finish that code and make it dance!

Time management is very important for being a mentally and physically healthy programmer, because as a programmer, you’ll need to balance your social life and your non-social little hobby - programming. If you can’t manage this well, you will be left with no option but to choose either one. I believe every programmers will face this kind of dilemma every now and then in some part of their lives. Programmers who have a lover and who socialize around a lot kinda have this tiny wish that everyone will one day just vanish and leave him alone with their laptop so that they can have all the time to work on their projects without anyone making it such a big deal. On the other hand, programmers who have very little social life and who doesn’t have a romantic partner - although happy for being able to do what they love - do have that tiny wish to be loved by someone and “having a life” and being well accepted in the community.

Just some thoughts..

Talk about being a busy entrepreneur…

• Posted by Tengku Zahasman on August 2nd, 2007 filed in Ramblings, Entrepreneurship


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This was me at 8PM yesterday, happily playing squash at the Cyberjaya’s Community Club with an unknown guy from MMU who dared to challenge me for a match when suddenly I received an SMS message from one of my users who’s complaining about my site being inaccessible. I wasn’t playing happily anymore the rest of the game because I knew I have hundreds of users unable to access the site at that moment and I’m in the middle of a match! (no, I’m not talking about this website. This is just a blog.. come on.. )

So because my mood have been sapped, 20 minutes later I had to cut the match short, went looking around for a wi-fi enabled hotspot area around Cyberjaya and ended up squatting on the stairs of TMNet’s front door (a Malaysian broadband provider) to get access to their office’s wireless Internet to solve the problem. I just had to get online quickly!

Apparently my whole dedicated server was down. And it took more than 4 hours for my provider to actually get the server back up and running. That was the third time in a row my server went unaccessible and when you had to pay RM840 (USD250) every month for the server, you’ll expect a much better service than that. It was found out later that they had problem with the network cables and switches which were unfortunately connected to my server. So they sent some men all the way down to the datacenter (which was funnily at the same place I was squatting at) to fix the problem.

This is just one of the challenges you had to face of being an entrepreneur. Your sweet time can suddenly be interrupted by unexpected (and unwelcomed) circumstances. It can happen anytime and anywhere; while you’re having your dinner, while you’re in the cinema enjoying your long-awaited movie, even while doing your “business” in the toilet. Suddenly a problem creeps in and you had to immediately change your mindset from whatever-ur-doing-at-the-moment to having the problem fixed, unless if its not an urgent one.

And I haven’t yet talked about how I had to deal with users’ complaints afterwards.

Sometimes it can be tiring… but that’s what keeps entrepreneurship interesting…