LIM, MARYLYN GRACE C.

OOA

                PayPal is an e-commerce business that allows payment and transfers to be made through the internet. But before PayPal became a successful e-commerce business it undergoes so many problems. I admired Max Levchin, cofounder of PayPal; he was able to surpass all his problems.

                The first startup idea that Max Levchin thought of was cryptography software and a service for transmitting money to PDAs. After so many change came, they finally decided to have a web-based payment system. But before it became successful, they encounter problems like fraud and scalability. Because of Max Levchin’s determination and perseverance, he was able to find a solution to his problem. Now, he is very successful and PayPal is being used everywhere.

                From that story, I learned that to be a successful startup founder, you should have the determination to build things, not just for yourself but also for the benefit of other people. Next is that a good founder should be adaptable with his environment. He should know that nothing goes according to plan, there are still will be changes on it. Lastly, it is hard to do a startup all by yourself. Sure you can do things alone but it is hard to accomplish things just by yourself. Having a good cofounder is having someone you can rely on in a fundamental way.

LIM, MARYLYN GRACE C.

OOA

                Hotmail is a free webmail service of Windows Live provided by Microsoft. Like PayPal, Hotmail also encountered so many problems before it became famous to everyone.

                Sabeer Bhatia and Black Smith were the founders of Hotmail. Before, their first startup idea was a web-based personal database called Java Soft. But their main problem is that their employer’s firewall prevented them from accessing their email accounts.  In order to solve this problem, they thought of making an email account that can be accessed anywhere through a web browser. On the process of making Hotmail, they encountered problems like funding because many of the VCs turned them down because the VCs were thinking that how can they make money if they are going to give it for free. But eventually Sabeer Bhatia and Black Smith were able to solve their problem and now billions of people are now using Hotmail.

                 I learned that it’s hard to find someone to fund your project especially if it is unfamiliar to them. But it doesn’t mean that if one rejected you, you will already give up. A good founder should always have a backup plan in order to succeed and if the founder has the determination and perseverance he can do anything and he can be successful even in a short span of time.