From Maths to Machine Learning - A Data Scientist's Journey to Building a Language Learning Startup

Introduction (2 min) - The host introduces Luka Smyth from Papo and welcomes him to the podcast. Personal Journey (5 min) - Luka talks about his background in math and machine learning, working at a startup called Nate, and how that inspired him to start his own startup Papo. Building Papo (4 min) - Luka explains how the idea for Papo, an AI language tutor, came from his experience learning Portuguese and seeing the power of chatGPT. He started it as a side project with his brother. Early Days of Papo (3 min) - Luka describes the challenging early days working on Papo in the evenings while keeping day jobs, before having to quit their jobs to commit fully. First Coding Project (4 min) - Luka talks about building an on-screen eye tracker keyboard to help people with disabilities communicate, inspired by his dad's work. Joining Antler (3 min) - Luka shares about joining the Antler startup incubator for 10 weeks to build out Papo. Pitching Investors (2 min) - Luka mentions they just pitched but unfortunately did not get investment from Antler. Work-Life Balance (3 min) - Luka discusses his approach to work-life balance, including intense periods of work followed by relaxation. He enjoys powerlifting as a physical hobby. Learning and Motivation (3 min) - Luka talks about how he learns best through doing side projects, not formal education. Building things motivates him to learn what he needs. Q&A (3 min) - The host asks Luka some shorter questions about influences, books, handling failure, and more.

In this insightful episode, we journey through the dynamic tech career of Darwyn Palenzuela, a serial founder whose beginnings in the mid-1990s were rooted in crafting fan pages and websites. Transitioning from gaming startups to top CEO roles, and almost touching the cusp of retirement, Darwyn's relentless passion led him to helm another innovative company and immerse himself in a VC program. Dive deep into his daily grind, and the challenges of startup leadership, and learn from his invaluable lessons on patience, grit, and strategy. Beyond the boardroom, Darwyn shares his sources of inspiration, from sports legends to transformative books, and gives a peek into his relaxing pursuits that range from sailing to beach outings. A poignant reflection on past mistakes, a mission to empower communities, and advice for budding entrepreneurs make this episode a treasure trove for anyone aiming to navigate the tumultuous yet rewarding world of tech entrepreneurship. 0:00 - Introduction and welcoming Darwyn as the guest speaker. 1:30 - Darwyn talks about his background and first coding projects making fan pages and websites in the mid-1990s. 3:00 - Transitioned to starting a gaming company as founding CTO, then got poached to be CEO of another company. Exited that and started another gaming company that he ran for 5-6 years before getting acquired. 5:00 - In 2018, thought about retiring but decided to start something new instead. Now runs a company as CEO and participates in a VC program. 6:30 - Describes the day-to-day activities of running a startup - having a vision, getting into the trenches, dealing with challenges, bouncing back from failures, thinking big picture but focused on the next 3 months. 8:30 - Key lessons are understanding what you're getting into, thoroughly believing in it, and having the necessary skills to execute. 10:00 - Main hobbies outside of work are going to the gym, beach, sailing, and fishing - things that help process thoughts in a different environment. 11:30 - Main influences are sports figures who succeeded through natural talent and hard work. 12:30 - Balance is more focused on work since it's like a hobby. Resting is a state of mind. 14:00 - Deals with stress by drawing from experience, and having patience combined with action. 15:30 - Early influences were Anthony Robbin's materials. Later influences were books on strategic management to improve business knowledge. 17:00 - Staying motivated by picking a mission you're passionate about and doing whatever it takes to accomplish it. Continuously learning. 18:30 - The misconception is that it's easy to be a founder/CEO/CTO. It takes real grit. 20:00 - Failure example was not structuring a deal properly and being impatient - learned to be more patient and read the other party. 21:30 - Advice to younger self would be to have more patience and better understand people/politics. 23:00 - Tech career has shifted focus to providing beneficial services to help communities like the Philippines. 24:00 - Wrap up and conclusion.

0:02 - Introduction to Nasir and the podcast. Nasir started coding at age 12 by creating bots for an online game. This got him interested in programming. 0:07 - At 16-17, Nasir built an app and won a competition. This further sparked his interest in coding and building products. 0:22 - Nasir worked at various companies like ITV and startups to gain experience in different environments. 0:27 - Recently, Nasir left Tractable and joined Antler as an entrepreneur. He had been working on an AI-powered financial advisor and saw Antler as an opportunity. 0:32 - Nasir explains his view that startup accelerators like Antler may not be suitable for everyone. People should focus on finding a good co-founder, researching the problem, and outlining a convincing solution. 0:40 - To manage work-life balance as a developer, Nasir sticks to a schedule and focuses personal time on startup ideas. He aims to build products that help people. 0:46 - A CEO Nasir worked with provided great mentorship and created a supportive environment. The book "Thinking Fast and Slow" also strongly influenced Nasir's logical thinking. 0:52 - As a first coding project, Nasir learned the importance of excitement, seeing results, and iterating quickly. 0:57 - To stay motivated, Nasir focuses on solving problems and helping others rather than just efficiency. 1:02 - A misconception is that software engineers aren't business/user-focused. Nasir believes many are good at the business side too. 1:06 - Nasir shared a failure working with a difficult project manager. He learned he can't always get along with everyone. 1:11 - If he could advise his younger self, Nasir would say being skilled in one area doesn't mean you'll succeed in everything. 1:15 - From coding, Nasir learned almost anything is possible if you keep trying. Failures are part of learning. 1:17 - End of key points.

James started entrepreneurship early (2:38 - selling balls at age 8, WonderBalls website still exists today) In high school, James learned to code (7:15 - built soccer penalty game, financial tracking software) After university, James started 6 startups at once (10:38 - Peach, BrandCamp, Symposia, glamping business, etc) Two years ago James co-founded Zentient (15:20 - digi-cultural architecture collective) James believes finding the right people is most important (17:10 - Good to Great book) Work-life balance for James (19:38 - disciplined rest, separating work locations) James stays motivated by curiosity (22:15 - taking on exciting projects) A failure was Zentient and James almost going broke last year (25:10 - overextending themselves) If he could go back, James would skip university (29:20 - travel, self-teach coding, start a business instead) James is surprised Google thinks he's in a relationship (39:40 - enjoys romcoms, music, linguistics) James wishes entrepreneurs were taught startup skills (47:15 - tracking features, iterative development)

Summary of the key points from the show notes: (2:34 - 5:30) - Jolanta shares her background and journey from computer-generated graphics and animation to software development. (5:30 - 7:45) - She has worked at startups helping them go from 0 to 1, using full stack, front end, and machine learning tools. She also worked at Head Box, a venue tech startup, as their first in-house engineer. (7:45 - 9:45) - Jolanta talks about the power of programming being a reflection of the programmer - it can enable amazing outputs if done ethically, but can also be dangerous in the wrong hands. (9:45 - 12:00) - She emphasizes working effectively over working hard - being efficient and using proven frameworks to deliver results without sacrificing personal time. Her work-life balance improved when she learned not to work extremely long hours. (12:00 - 15:00) - Jolanta discusses dealing with stress in tech fields by balancing busy mind work with opportunities to relax the mind and be physically active. She also shares how making mistakes is part of the iterative process. (15:00 - 18:00) - She recommends frameworks like Pirate Metrics and Human Centered Design for delivering successful products efficiently. Books like Clean Code and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People also informed her work. (18:00 - 21:00) - Staying motivated involves finding hard, exciting challenges and projects. Jolanta aims to dispel misconceptions that programming is boring, sharing how it is creative and concept-driven. (21:00 - 26:00) - Additional key points from the interview (26:00 - 30:00) - More key takeaways (30:00 - 38:00) - Final key points and wrap up