Document Actions
Now in Singapore
I'm on a flight again. We land in Singapore in a couple of hours. It will be my first time in Asia...almost.
One time I touched Asia by proxy -- in a boat in Istanbul. It was the summer of 1999, I had just finished my semester in France as a junior at Stanford. Paris was hot, and full of fanny-packed tourists. My time was up with my host family. I moved across town to my friend Larry's one room maid's quarters on the rue Marboef. It was hot and miserable, no bed, just some random books from Larry's shelf.
Larry's dad lived in Antibes. We took the train down there and sat by the ocean for two weeks, and then we got bored. Restless, we got in to his Dad's Mitsubishi Nimbus station wagon and drove to Italy. Italy was fun, we camped outside of Rome for a few days and then drove across the country. Pretty soon though we got bored and and set the goal to get to Asia. We needed to be back in 2 weeks. We took the ferry to Greece and drove the windy road to Istanbul, got on a boat and literally bumped into Asia. We never did step off that boat however. Instead, we went back to Europe and had to pretty much circle right back home to France.
I'm pretty full of anticipation to see something entirely new. I'm gonna be speaking at a Retail Banking conference in Singapore which picked up my ride out to Asia. For someone that's never been to Asia, and has never taken an econ or finance class in my life, this should be interesting. I've made the mistake several times of not wearing suits when I really should. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs often do that and get away with it, however a banking conference in Singapore is probably not the best venue to experiment.
Next I'm off to Cambodia for 7 days to meet with our field partners and borrowers in Phnomh Penh. 2 years ago at Kiva, when we actually started to hire people, we made the decision that every employee goes to visit a field partner at least once a year. The idea was to create an environment where everyone feels connected to those we serve -- the lenders, borrowers and the field partners. Without getting out of SF once a year, it would be hard to create that environment. Now that we are 35 employees, the benefit is alive and well at Kiva and proving to be huge in terms of our company's culture.
Right now, I'm putting my electronic devices away...
One time I touched Asia by proxy -- in a boat in Istanbul. It was the summer of 1999, I had just finished my semester in France as a junior at Stanford. Paris was hot, and full of fanny-packed tourists. My time was up with my host family. I moved across town to my friend Larry's one room maid's quarters on the rue Marboef. It was hot and miserable, no bed, just some random books from Larry's shelf.
Larry's dad lived in Antibes. We took the train down there and sat by the ocean for two weeks, and then we got bored. Restless, we got in to his Dad's Mitsubishi Nimbus station wagon and drove to Italy. Italy was fun, we camped outside of Rome for a few days and then drove across the country. Pretty soon though we got bored and and set the goal to get to Asia. We needed to be back in 2 weeks. We took the ferry to Greece and drove the windy road to Istanbul, got on a boat and literally bumped into Asia. We never did step off that boat however. Instead, we went back to Europe and had to pretty much circle right back home to France.
I'm pretty full of anticipation to see something entirely new. I'm gonna be speaking at a Retail Banking conference in Singapore which picked up my ride out to Asia. For someone that's never been to Asia, and has never taken an econ or finance class in my life, this should be interesting. I've made the mistake several times of not wearing suits when I really should. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs often do that and get away with it, however a banking conference in Singapore is probably not the best venue to experiment.
Next I'm off to Cambodia for 7 days to meet with our field partners and borrowers in Phnomh Penh. 2 years ago at Kiva, when we actually started to hire people, we made the decision that every employee goes to visit a field partner at least once a year. The idea was to create an environment where everyone feels connected to those we serve -- the lenders, borrowers and the field partners. Without getting out of SF once a year, it would be hard to create that environment. Now that we are 35 employees, the benefit is alive and well at Kiva and proving to be huge in terms of our company's culture.
Right now, I'm putting my electronic devices away...
