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Day in the Life as CEO

I thought it'd be interesting to document how my role as founder/CEO changes over the time, and that it'd be a great way to educate future inDinero team members how I contribute to the team. Back when we were just getting started, my job was simple: design features in photoshop, program them in ruby on rails. Show them to customers, gather feedback, rinse and repeat. But since raising money, I've been doing more "business-y" tasks to take inDinero to the next level. I'm sure my role will change over time, so I'll do this again when I feel that my role as CEO has drastically morphed once again.

10AM - Scan inbox for important messages, archive anything that isn't directly relevant to work. Schedule calls with potential hires, references for potential hires, and customers.

11AM - photographer from New York Times comes to visit us at the office. Takes a bunch of photos over the next hour. Noon - Eat Lunch, chat with customers over olark chat. Nice influx of requests today because of the mentions we got in American Express' Open Forum and Mashable.com over the weekend.

1PM - Call references for several potential engineering hires.

2PM - Talk to potential engineering recruit by phone, sell him on the idea of joining inDinero.

230PM - Chat with reporter from Reuters. Interview was scheduled only 18 hours ago! 315PM - Talk to lawyer about everything from employee compensation to other more confidential things :)

4PM - Another reference call for a potential engineering hire. Yes, we do a lot of reference checking!

430PM - Getting my new assistant up to speed on how to help me with my inbox, scheduling meetings to make my life easier, etc...

5PM - Review designer portfolios, work on improving candidate-flow for potential lead product designers.

630PM - break for dinner with the team.

715PM - talk to engineering recruit who we're about to extend a fulltime offer to. Answer his questions on why inDinero is the best startup in Silicon Valley, convince him to join us.

9PM - focus on only product, design new functionality based on the customer feedback I got earlier in the morning from people I chatted with through the inDinero website.

1AM - shower, read a book (this week, it's "Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller")

2AM - off to sleep, rinse and repeat process the next morning.

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16 Comments

Sep 28, 2010
Marc said...
hey, great post! I saw your picture on namesake. are you affiliated with them?
Sep 30, 2010
Roman said...
Seems it was productive day!
Oct 01, 2010
Central Park said...
Ville bara skriva att om ni åker till New York så bör ni verkligen hinna med ett besök till Frihetsgudinnan även om nästan alla åker dit så är där fint :)
Oct 05, 2010
Miles A. Harris said...
Excellent story on Bnet! I enjoy following your progress with Indinero.

Ingenious product. Your attention to detail has given the customer what they really want and can you use as opposed to forcefeeding something you perceive they might need.

Oct 14, 2010
steve said...
Congrats on being a CEO at such young age! by looking at your schedule, looks like the 9pm is the most important one.
Oct 24, 2010
Dylan said...
You have a lot of great insights on your blog. Looking forward to your interview with Calacanis on TWISt this friday.
Nov 01, 2010
Orwallo said...
how did you design features in photoshop? can you write a post with an example on that?

I don`t think Photoshop is a conventional software design tool, so it`d be useful to know

Nov 02, 2010
mike said...
hmm, what happened to my reply.
I wanted you to say more about how you design on photoshop if possible
Nov 07, 2010
Rick said...
Wow , your day is moe interesting than mine. Like your reading material
Nov 08, 2010
Paul Marek said...
Sadly, when I tried to use inDinero as "the easiest way for businesses to manage their finances", I got screwed - let this be warning to other Canadians thinking about using this service... inDinero CANNOT include your credit card data into your management process, rendering this service essentially useless to Canadians. The problem is - they don't tell you any of this until you've already inputted ALL of your other financial data into their system - bank accounts, PayPal accounts, FreshBooks, etc...

When I requested that my Canadian credit cards be included, I got a sorry response about how they are a small company without the resources to do this and not sure when they will be implementing it.

Without providing an initial warning that Canadians cannot include their credit card data, it makes one think that your information is potentially just getting robbed. Why the secrecy?

Nov 13, 2010
clive boulton said...
1pm and 4pm look most important, Good that you're properly checking references.

I've seen a trend with corp HR to just a background check concurrent with extending the offer. Probably because companies in Calf, and now other states, don't give references to avoid suits.

The reference check is left to the hiring manager. Many hiring mangers don't purse. And the result can be you get what you asked for at interview, not what you wanted to hire.

Nov 28, 2010
Aman said...
Hey Jessica,

Very inspiring to see you work so hard at such a young age.

It's tricky starting up your own business and working full time at the same time, that's what I am doing currently but it's great to see an post of a day in life of a CEO and a Entrepreneur.

Good luck.
Cheers,
Aman

Dec 02, 2010
John Anyasor said...
Hey Jessica!

You've probably already forgotten about me, but you sent me this email back in May when I was contemplating quitting college:

Hey John,

Thanks for the comment you left - it's always tempting, especially when college seems to suck up all of your time. The best way to put things in perspective is to just reflect on the past two years you've been through... then you'll see more than just piled up work and studying :)

Well, I took your advice. Started reading more. Writing a lot. I'm no science whiz, but I love to write.

I make money off of it even from blog, not enough to completely support me yet, but it's a start! I'm still a third year in college so I have plenty of time. I'm hoping to become financially-free and location independent before I graduate.

Thanks for your advice. Without it, maybe I would've dropped out (okay I probably wouldn't have quit), but life would've sucked worse if you hadn't given me the belief that even though people might be more successful or more popular, they can still be reached and even give you advice of their own.

Good luck, CEO. I'm sure you're having a ton of fun.

Dec 28, 2010
Patrick Adams said...
Ms. Mah,
Greetings from Michigan! My name is Patrick and I am the Director of a start-up non-profit organization called Remembrance Ranch. We exist as a Wilderness Treatment Center for at-risk teenagers. Our goal is to take troubled kids, show them all kinds of love (through mentorship, outdoor behavioral health, & animal-assisted therapy), and educate them on their ability to become successful in life despite their past. Like you, Jessica, these kids have a choice to make at a young age...and we are available to them to help them make the right choice! Check out our website at www.remembranceranch.org.

I am writing you for three reasons:

1. I was wondering if you have thought of the opportunity to create a program through Indinero specifically for non-profit organizations? It would be similar to your business software, but slightly tweaked to fit the needs to a non-profit organization (to include, but not limited to the millions of church's out there). I would like to ask that Remembrance Ranch could become your pilot organization for the new software...I could work with your team directly to make the software fit for all non-profit's. There is a great need for such software...lets work together to make it happen!

2. As a young, successful entrepreneur, I would love to have your support for our program as a mentor to the teens. Something as simple as a video interview with you would give us something to show these teens that success is not limited by age.

3. As the Director of this organization, I would not be doing my job if I did not request financial support from you and Indinero. We exist only because of generous supporters who believe in the success of these teenagers. Please consider us over the next year as you look for organizations to support financially!

Thank You,
Patrick Adams

Jan 06, 2011
julia said...
great site with testking 642-357 good post….i really appreciated your work
Jan 18, 2011
Brandon Giam said...
Hey Jessica,

Been listening through every single episode in This Week In Start Up, and i was just done with your episode. Neways, Great Stuff with In Dinero...Keep it up...

btw, love the fact that you end the day with a book...

Will be in chat more....

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