Career a DIY approach NUS SoC Industry Seminar Jan 2013 Pete - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Career – a DIY approach NUS SoC Industry Seminar Jan 2013 Pete Kellock

Outline • My career ...especially muvee • Life as an entrepreneurial journey ...some thoughts on work, jobs & happiness

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How I’ve spent the last 58 years...

Where to go on holiday (best in May) Age 2 wks – 10 yrs Age 10 – 17 Age 20 – 28 (MA +PhD) Age 17 – 20 (BSc) Age 0 – 2 wks Age 34 – now Singapore Age 28 – 34 (Engineer, CTO) Student working holidays... Age 20: 3 months in USA Age 22/23: 2 x 3 months in France

Early Dreams

Patents

Music Composition

Travel

University • BSc, Physics / Maths ...and Computer Science, Music, Geology • MA (Hons), Music ...and International Relations Paying my way: • research assistant • freelance horn player • PhD in Electronic Music: – Science / Technology – Music Composition

PhD Years Solaris • PhD in electronic music “Animation and Real-Time Control Techniques in Electronic Music: Theory, Development and Application in Two Tape Compositions”

Glissboard

Steel Breeze

Earning a Living... ;------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ; PRR State 1. ; ; Only comes here if perf > stub. Monitors existing perf, waiting for an ; event to start recording on scratch perf. ;------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ; * Handle live events (eg start/stop) pr1 ld ix,prfpst ; Perf PST call getibev ; Get input event if any jr c,$20 ; Jump if no events ; ex de,hl ; Input event pointer to de ld hl,pr1tabj ; pr1 router table for jumps call hev_b1j ; Handle event (bank 1 jumps) ; call srecev? ; Should event cause recording to start? jr z,pr1_pr2 ; Jump if so ; * Handle performance events $20 call prun ; Performance runner call getpbev ; Get perf buffer event if any jr c,$40 ; Jump if none ; call prfcky ; Perf Ckey event handler (On/Off) call nz,hevdef ; If not Ckey event, use default event handler ; * Run all active procs + perf & handle bar/beat display $40 call run_m ; Call runner call chkbt ; If beat trans, update bar/beat & % memory jr pr1

Zyklus

Zyklus Band

1989: came to Singapore 1989 to 1999 • NUS - ISS: Designing/managing/teaching short courses • KRDL: Research in digital media • Algorithmic music and sound: Rhythm Morpher, FlexEffex, etc • Video – MPEG7 etc

muvee Unique software for Automatic Video Production – finished productions from raw video (or photos) in minutes or seconds … skills of a video pro in software – for everyone – kids to grannies – for almost anything: family events, kids, holidays, sports… (and pros use it too) – in hundreds of styles

Video: Intro to muvee

Example muvees - Drainspotting - S Am: - First 2 mins. Pictures with Ken Burns. Note slow dissolves then white flashes - Then 10'44": tango.

How muvee works Styles 24

muvee: • Started in KRDL (now I2R) lab some Highlights • End 1999: core idea • 2000: prototypes & patents – Goal: is it possible? …and good enough? ...and if so, get patent protection • Early 2001: taking it out to the world: US. Japan, Europe – Straight to major markets: US, Japan, Europe – Goal: is it *really* valuable enough to form a business? – Worry: is someone already doing it? • Aug/Sep 2001: forming company & launching product – First online sales + First OEM deal • 2001/2002: Raising venture capital – Closed Series A in Aug 2002 • Late 2002: move to our own office – Goal: grow fast! (customers – revenue – mindshare – team)

…cont: muvee highlights • 2004: first mobile phone version (Nokia) – Profitable in 2004 (3 rd year) – Series B • 2005: first in-camera version (Nikon) • 2006: > S$13m revenue. Online version: muveeMix • 2007: Online sharing: Shwup • 2008: muvee Reveal • 2009: Embedding into LG phones • 2011: Mac version ...and lots more

Founding Team Team from lab formed core of mgmt. Spinoff team:  Pete Kellock  Terence Swee  Sarat Venugopal  Phil Morgan  + 4 others (engineers)

muvee autoProducer

muvee today • ~50 people: in SG. Korea, Japan, US • Products for PC, Mac, smartphones, cameras, online, etc

muvee - Achievements Hasn’t made the founders or investors rich (yet?) but... • Pioneered a totally new types of SW: automatic video production • Numbers 100s of millions shipped, millions of users • Delighted customers • Headline publicity • Substantial global mindshare, eg: – > 3m hits for muvee on Google – eg 60k hits for “muvee” on YouTube • > $S50 revenue • > 500 man-years of employment • Excellent adventure • Huge learning experience • Strong & lasting friendships

My Role in muvee • Lead inventor – Core idea (2 of us) – Patents • Head of R&D team: 2000-2001 – Research directions – Product definition – Some architecting & coding • CEO: 2001 – 2006 – Setting direction, recruitment, leading team, marketing, product definition & aesthetics, business development, deal-making, financial control, cash-raising, corporate governance ...and lots more • “muveeMeister”/CXO: 2007-2010 (part time) • Left muvee in Sept 2010.

How I’m spending my time at the moment... External: • NUS Advisor / Mentor • Advisor to an incubator and a startup • Advisor/Assessor for National Arts Council • Board Member, Singapore Land Authority • “Startup catalyzer” Personal Projects • Writing music • Personal investment (equity analysis, etc) • Travel • Ideas for software products / startups

Life as an entrepreneurial journey

Your choices are wider than you think • Not just control of what job, but far more, including – What goals to seek in life – What principles to apply (eg Bret Victor: “Inventing on Principle”, etc...) • In the broad sweep of history (hundreds or thousands of years), we live in amazing times – A large part of humanity (including all in this room) have huge control over their own lives. In the past – and still for billions of people – this degree of choice is an impossible dream – So choose well! Don’t do stuff “by default”. • How to choose? – Keep thinking: pop a level or two at least every few days – Keep doing: navel-gazing doesn’t work

What makes an Entrepreneur? • Businesspeople enter a commercial game and aim to win • Entrepreneurs try to redefine the game ...or create a whole new game ...even if the risks are far higher

So why not do this with the game of life? Your life doesn’t have to be about winning a game created by someone else. You can (at least to a degree) DECIDE THE LIFE-GAME YOU WANT TO PLAY In other words, design your own life.

Career: how I’ve approached it • Always a bit “anti-career” – ...especially in big organizations • Mostly just followed whatever I found fun / interesting / cool at the time – But tried not to switch too often: you need to stick at most things for years to achieve anything at all. Got to grit your teeth sometimes – (I’ve also tried to understand how my interests fluctuate, but without much luck.) • For me, work and job are totally different things – Many times what I’ve been paid for is not the work I cared most about. – Money not v important: things I enjoy most don’t cost much – ...and I usually find the status trap easy to resist • Periods of v. high work intensity • Some long breaks and extended phases without pay

My life – success? • Not as it’s defined by many people! • Money? – Not wealthy, but enough to do what I like from now on • Fame/recognition? • Ding in the Universe? • Happiness / fulfillment? – Still loving the journey – Still finding new adventures – Still lots I want to do – Strong curiousity & passion

What’s important to you in your work? • Money? • Status: impressing family / friends / others ? • Proving you have what it takes? • Respect? • Adventure? • Freedom to do what you like, as you like, when you like? • “Growth? / Self-discovery / “Self-actualization”? • Contribution to the world? • Others?

Here’s a thought... Is winning for LOSERS?

And if you do win - what happens next?

If your primary goal is to win, chances are ...you will fight your way up ...till you reach a level where you cannot go any higher ...and get stuck there . Even if you reach the pinnacle, will you feel happy and fulfilled?

Design your own life – how? That’s up to you, but here are some ideas... Instead of aiming to win a pre-existing career game, you can... – Aim to discover and develop your own new games • Commit yourself to innovating in everything you do – make it a habit • Copy only rarely (eg to learn) – Aim to contribute to the world around you – Aim to support and “grow” the people interact with – Try to find at least one speciality that isn’t transient • Without this, software devp (and many other ICT careers) are hard – constant reboots!