what we do in life..
echoes in eternityby Malcolm Ong

My Next Course

I remember I first met Mike indirectly through a mutual friend because we both had a common interest in DJ’ing. It was soon revealed that we both wanted to start a company someday. From that point, we’d meet every week just bouncing ideas off each other, poking holes into each one, and explored what we could potentially work on together. We learned that we were both interested in creating something with a social good mission, and in fact, passionate in taking a stab at solving today’s issues in education. One thing led to another and Skillshare was born in Fall 2010.

When I look back, it’s incredible to think how far we’ve come, how much we’ve been able to accomplish, and to watch Skillshare grow up. We have vibrant teaching and learning communities in cities all around the world. Our team and “family” has grown with a number of talented and ambitious members helping us realize our vision. And along the way, I’ve been able to learn invaluable lessons that will be ingrained in me forever. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to help Skillshare reach this stage, proud with what we’ve been able to accomplish against many odds, and excited with what’s to come in the next phase.

While I still have the same level of passion, energy, dedication, and commitment for Skillshare, our mission, and our team, I’ve also realized that I can contribute the most value to companies whose path to success is far less obvious than Skillshare’s. It was one of the reasons why I decided to start a company from scratch in the first place, and it’s also why I took a step back from my day-to-day role a few months ago. I’m still a Board Member and Advisor, and, of course, will continue to help in whatever capacity I can.

This was obviously not an easy decision to make, especially considering that Skillshare is in such a pivotal stage in its life. Fortunately, I’m confident that, thanks to the strong team we have put in place, Skillshare will continue to grow and change education as we know it.

In closing, I want to express my gratitude for all my friends, mentors, investors, and colleagues who have supported me and Skillshare with our accomplishments to date. I’ve started to advise a few great companies and mentor for 500 Startups, and am looking forward to the next course in my life.

Keep on learning,
Malcolm

Random muse on elevators

Being in NYC, I use a lot of elevators. Now, this might be a bit nerdy but, the algorithms used in elevators have always intrigued me.. even from a practical POV.

• Why don’t elevator doors stay open when idle on floors (and during times) where people commonly enter (as opposed to exit)? In theory, this could shave a few seconds each time.
• I’m in a 10-story building with 2 elevators, E#1 at floor 10 and idle, and E#2 at floor 5 and going up. If I’m on floor 1 and hit the Up button.. why would I have to wait for E#2 instead of E#1 coming down to get me?
• What is the optimal floor # for taller buildings to segment elevator banks? ie. if you have a 100 story building, at what n should you have a second bank of elevators that skip floors 2 through n?
• Do elevators keep track of how many times a “request” button is pressed? (my assumption is no, but it’d be interesting if this stat was used)
• Could you design an elevator system (with reasonable practical and financial constraints) that adapts and learns based on usage?
• (and a nice-to-know fact) What % of elevators have a working Open/Close button?
• (and more of a pet peeve) Is it really more cost-effective to hire someone to man an elevator vs. upgrading to an automated one? The inefficiency of manually-controlled elevators really annoy me.

Of course, these questions only generally address optimizing users’ wait times. It doesn’t take into account optimization of power usage, maintenance costs, etc.

Anyone have any opinions on this? Is there an easy way for us non-elevator-engineers to somehow tap into an elevator system and tweak its algorithm (and measure our results)?