Each month, Built in Los Angeles features some of the key players in Los Angeles' burgeoning tech space and the women who are making it all happen. We'll ask these founders, strategists, developers and innovators what drives them forward, their secrets to success, and what advice they have for the next generation of female entrepreneurs.
Puno | Octoplace
Puno shares her morning regimen for success, her expectations, and why there was a period at which she always smelled like milk.
[ibimage==27792==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-right]WHAT DO YOU DO?
I am the co-founder of Octoplace, a web app that shows you where the foodies eat. I create the user interface and user experience design using a wacom tablet, photoshop, illustrator, coda2, the javascript console, and google.
I also spend time figuring out the world of social media and marketing. Even though I went to b-school for marketing, the world has changed so much that I don’t think the same rules apply anymore. Shoot! Even back then, I didn’t think the rules applied.
Laying out the pixels is the easier part for me, but only when I have an understanding of what I’m trying to build. I spend most of my time “method acting” various user personas. For example, I started food blogging and instagramming to get insight on what makes it so addicting, why people stop, and what problems there are with the whole workflow.
HOW DID YOU BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR?
Man, I don’t even feel comfortable saying I’m an entrepreneur. We’re still trying to figure out if this startup can turn into a business! LoL, I guess what else would you call me?
My husband, Daniel, quit his job about 2 years ago to start brushing up on programming. We did one project together called Octofeed so he could mess around with the Facebook API. We got some press, a few users, and thought maybe we could do this for real. I quit my job at Activision at the end of 2012, we went on a month long honeymoon in Thailand, and then decided to work on Octoplace early this year.
I’ve always been a renegade in terms of what I want to do and how I want to run things, so I suppose it’s just natural that I pursued building our own stuff.
WHAT'S THE BEST ADVICE YOU'VE EVER RECEIVED?
Keep your expectations in check. It’s not as good as you hope it would be, but it’s not as bad as you’re making it.
WHAT'S YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE ON A DAILY BASIS?
Staying on a schedule. I did it for about 3 months and loved it! Then I just fell off of it when I went on vacation. It was a good balance of working out, social media, working on Octoplace, and going out to physically meet people.
WHAT'S YOUR SECRET WEAPON?
Dancing! Dance by yourself in the morning for 30 minutes. Just let loose and make it unforgettable.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE INDULGENCE?
Hanging out with friends for a whole day. Start off with brunch at a new place, drink mimosas and then end up lounging around till your stay is over welcomed. Or go off and have a random photoshoot.
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
I worked at Starbucks as a barista, back when the machines weren’t automated. I always smelled like coffee beans and milk.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR YOUNGER WOMEN?
Really think about who you want to be surrounded by, what type of people, how do those people inspire you? Then figure out what to do to be around those people all the time. They may even be your potential customers.
Also, learn how to be extremely resourceful. I love google, skillshare.com and quora.com.
Connect with Octoplace here in the BILA community, or: "I’m visual, let’s Instagram! @punodostres
