Data for Self-Scrutiny and Critical Thinking

This past weekend was evidence that I am "always working", a direct quote from my roommate. 

I am simply glad I got through Datakind DC Datadive #data4good experience, feeling very uncomfortable being surrounded by 'real' data analysts and programmers. I told a few people how rusty my quantitative and programming skills were, even after Jake Porway tried to collectively convince us that someone like me was still welcome. I was lucky not to encounter intimidation, first meeting a science journalist from the Huffington Post who traveled from New York to satisfy his hunger for data immersion. He has a degree in history and taught himself programming. Though people tend to group with their own peeps in this event, there were many strangers who made connections and accomplished a few projects with impressive findings. Who knew Evgeny and I ended up looking at (and web scraping) changes in rice prices in Indonesia over time through a retailer's website? I then said confidently in writing:

- Between Aug 2010 and today, prices of rice at the retail store increased more drastically than world prices. 

- Today, consumers pay almost four times the price of world's rice commodity price at the retail store (middle-class grocery store). Curious case!

- We found some news articles as early as December 2012 where the president of Indonesia ordered BULOG (the National Logistical Supply Organization) to stabilize the price of rice, along with soybeans and sugar. This confirmed that our findings are a national concern in Indonesia at the moment.   

Small victories, indeed! Putting myself in discomfort that would typically threaten my confidence and finding myself satisfied with another opportunity to connect the dots (my buried love for numbers and chart with analyzing 'big data' to help ourselves better understand complexities).

Of course, I cannot help but link it to my venture, Sarjana.co.id. Questions started popping up in my mind: Does one meta-site really change students' decisions in pursuing higher education?
Do students really invest in "scraping" for information which determines their future?
How many more times will they visit Sarjana.co.id after our first visit at their schools?
What does increasing Twitter followers and Facebook fans mean?
Would universities see any value in working with Sarjana.co.id, based on the answers to the above?

These questions were the same 'kind' of questions people at the Datadive were asking themselves at the World Bank that weekend. It was self-scrutiny. The World Bank provided data and allowed data divers analyze, for example, overhead costs in the monstrous multilateral structure and their relation to projects' budgets.  

Scrutiny is seen as putting people down, but if you watch Shark Tank, scrutiny is reality and it does build you up (depending on how you see it). For starters and movers out there, self-scrutiny is taking scrutiny to the next level, where we question our motives and steps, not because we lose ourselves, tangled in problems or complexities, but because we strive for something. Striving for addressing problems at a societal level, instead of imposing solutions that we think are appropriate. We have to many of those who impose things like laws and educational curriculum that don't ultimately affect them. 

Self-scrutiny is definitely a path to critical thinking. Education is a sector full of 'pretty, cheery' things, where all good things added up seem to be good -- scholarships, online education, foreign professors, international curriculum. Sarjana.co.id is really taking a position in the midst of an education system that is nearly 'obsolete' (thanks to Sugata Mitra's definition of education's obsolescence, http://www.ted.com/pages/sole_challenge). If Sarjana.co.id does not take the unpopular path of critical thinking, it's going to be cheering for the wrong team: the reluctant, yet defensive bunch in the hijacked system.

So how should Sarjana.co.id hack the system?  

If goodwill is an asset, humility should be, too

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." What a punch in the gut by Einstein.

This is revealed to me by Stacey Edgar, the mind and heart behind Global Girlfriend, one of the largest U.S.-based fair trade importers of apparel and handicrafts. The chapter that begins with this quote is titled "Believe." This core of this chapter is the story of Global Girlfriend's entry to Whole Foods.

I spoke to Stacey by phone for an interview when I was writing a study on U.S. jewelry market, and hers was one of the most comforting and humble (thus inspiring) voices that I've ever listened to.

Nancy, who now comforts me through crises and uncertainties, tirelessly reminds me that my modesty combined with other qualities that she claims I have will get me far in life. Truth be told, this is tough for me to hear. Humility is one quality that you cannot claim you have; once you do, it fades a little.

Kate and I talked about humility over wine, and about how entrepreneurs, along with hubris, struggle with humility when they expose their ideas to others. We think that trust is a key supporter to this particular process. When an entrepreneur takes the stage to share her idea to a panel of investors or a group of colleagues, humility is tested. When she does it to get feedback, she needs to trust that the audience have her best interest, regardless whether or not the assumption is valid; otherwise, feedback meets defensive comments. With my inexperience, I am not sure if speaking to a panel of investors is simply and solely about defending your idea. Is there room for vulnerability? Should one think that there may be an investor (or two) who sees character over ideas or prospects?

Perhaps it takes humility to believe in miracles, in job creation or youth empowerment. If one was to monetize humility in my venture, I wish to put it as the most valuable asset on my venture's balance sheet. This gets me to think about the humility of my team, who practically are my co-founders. Logically, companies should grow their assets and generate returns with them. How I should live my life should be how my venture should grow. Because I believe, 'will' replaces 'should'.

Back in writing business

Committing to writing about start-ups is as easy as committing to having children. It will pan out, and make sense much later, but it takes a while to convince myself. I guess if everything fails, I can make a living out of talking about my failures: speaking engagements and book deals.

Since summer 2012, there was one trip to Indonesia, hiring of two employees and solidifying the direction for  Sarjana.co.id. [I realize I haven't been clear about my venture(s) previously on this blog, but I will rely on your research skills.] Sarjana.co.id has indeed built credibility and awareness in East Java, among students, high schools, and universities. We've joined hands with large universities in their events (competitions and admission testing).

Looking back, the crew of Sarjana.co.id survived so many uncertainties.

Hiring was not easy! As a start-up we've been lucky to have hired a few who really believe in the vision and prospects of Sarjana.co.id. We had quite many no-shows, people who turned down offers or bailed in the last minute before their first day of work. Job creation seems like Cinderella's dream; it happens smoothly only with miracles. Thanks to public figures who convinced me to believe in it.

I learned how to sell the vision of the venture like selling to a potential client or investor. Hires do take risks when joining a start-up like mine, with big altruistic dreams, and they spend their time and energy not knowing how their work will be perceived by our target market or other employers in the future. Now that I have a few retained, I need to be religiously reading about human resource and talent management, on top of ... (no, I shouldn't go there).

The direction that Sarjana.co.id is now taking, after quite the uncertain times, is a collective challenge for the team. It's finally grounded, where we have subtracted from the multitude of ideas that I have had to a few. We specialize in serving member universities and using the network we are building to provide marketing-related services. Focus is scary, because it may be make-it-or-break-it, but that's what is prescribed for many, many good reasons. I have yet shared the whole picture with the crew, which is probably not a good practice, but what's on our plates now is enough to keep all of us occupied.

The big question that I should try hard to answer is, what do I want to get out of investing in blogging?

Everybody is now talking about 'big data'. Well, the words on my blog posts will be 'big data' somebody. One can analyze how I loved and dreaded different parts of growing my ventures.

My mind wanders, my mood affects decision making, and my ambition doesn't help me focus. So I can probably and hopefully keep myself in check by writing about the paths that I take, which at this point affect Sarjana.co.id users' perception and the jobs  that have been created out of my ideas.