Most Important Skills For A Co-Founder At Lost Abroad
Jack, a co-founder navigating the challenges of a startup, highlights problem-solving, learning agility, and persuasion as crucial skills. The ability to "discover problems and find really creative solutions," such as pivoting towards creating learning content instead of game mechanics based on user feedback, is essential, as is the ongoing need to acquire new skills quickly ("jumping off a cliff while trying to manufacture an airplane on the way down") and persuasively advocating for decisions with stakeholders and investors.
Problem-Solving, Persuasion, Data Analysis, Entrepreneurship, Adaptability
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Jack (Xinkang) Du
Co-Founder, Principal Educator/Chief Education Officer, CMO
Lost Abroad (lostabroadgame.com)
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. 2009
Bachelor of Science with Honors (Master's equivalent in commonwealth countries): marine biology and quantitative genetics/marine biology, 2012; Graduate Diploma of Teaching, 2015, both are from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management, 2022
Business Management & Admin
Education
Entrepreneurship and Business Owner
International Student, Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Immigrant
Video Highlights
1. Problem-solving skills are crucial for discovering and creatively solving challenges in a startup environment. An example cited was addressing low organic traffic despite high overall website traffic by focusing on user referrals and creating more learning content within the product.
2. Adaptability and a willingness to learn are paramount. The interviewee emphasizes the need to acquire new skills quickly, such as market research and business law, often on the fly to overcome the challenges of a startup.
3. Persuasion and storytelling skills are essential for influencing team members, investors, and other stakeholders. The ability to present evidence and build a compelling narrative is highlighted as a key asset for securing buy-in and funding
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
I would say probably problem-solving, the ability to learn, and persuasion.
Problem-solving is about discovering problems and finding creative solutions to solve them. For example, our website has good page traffic, but organic traffic is lower. This means if we stop paying for users, they'll stop coming.
So, how do you solve it? One way is to find referrals. How can we make our existing users recommend us more? I created a survey and conducted interviews. We found that current users want more learning content, like vocabulary, or a better structure in the game.
After some data analysis, I realized creating more learning content is four times more efficient and effective than creating more gaming content, like fun mechanics. This leads to development and a learning path. Having a startup is like jumping off a cliff while manufacturing a plane on the way down.
There are many things you have to learn. Maybe ten minutes ago, you didn't know something existed, but now it's super important and you have to learn about it. Nobody on the team knew how to do market research. I took a class at UCLA Anderson and interned in market research, and now I'm leading it.
I also took a business law class and learned about intellectual property law, contract law, and employment law. You can't not know law if you start a business. You have to enjoy it and be good at it.
For the right people, it's a lot of fun. Persuasion is also key. When you have a meeting, people need to believe it's the right approach. You have to have evidence to persuade them why it's the right way.
When you're in front of an investor, you have to pitch your idea and try to get funding. Persuasion, especially storytelling, comes in really handy. I think these are the three most important skills for startup founders.