Exit Interview: Michael F. Smith Jr.

As promised, we have the exit interview with Michael Francis Smith Jr., a.k.a Smitty, who just left his position at Yahoo to join a new startup called Spuul. We asked Smitty about Spuul, his views on Yahoo, Koprol, and the startup scene in Southeast Asia.

He outlined his reasons for jumping ship from a stable and cushy high paying job full of meetings and planning to one that requires him to stay up coding all night, sleep all day, and eat ramen just to survive. Just kidding Smitty.

Without further ado, we present to you the interview.

What led you to decide to leave Yahoo and join Spuul?
It’s pretty simple. I wanted to get back to startup land. Working for big companies can be fun, great pay and lots of travel but dealing with big companies can be a morass of meetings, planning and process – things that take you away from actually making things. I wanted to get back to making things. I enjoyed my Yahoo! experience a ton and wish the company the very best. I have a lot of friends at Yahoo! from around the globe.

What is Spuul and who else are behind this company?
Spuul is in stealth mode right now. We will launch soon and all will be revealed. Spuul is backed by some serial entrepreneurs, some industry veterans and geeks like me

Will you be staying in Southeast Asia?
But of course. I love SEA. My family is here.

What’s your connection with Pollenizer?
They are friends of mine and one of the more successful incubators/accelerators in the region.

What’s your take on Yahoo and what would you like the company to be doing or focusing on?
I think fixing Yahoo! is easier said than done. It is an amazing company with amazing assets but the competitors are tougher than ever and the market has moved a bit away from Yahoo’s core strengths. My advice to Yahoo! is fix the Indian to chief ratio. Focus – meaning turn off more things and put the resources behind the future.  Figure out a way to hold on to talent.

How is Koprol doing and who is leading that project?
Koprol is doing fine. My role in Koprol was to first find it, acquire it and then integrate it. We did that and now Koprol is integrated into normal Yahoo! product management and engineering orgs. It is lead by its founders – as it should be.

How does Koprol fit into Yahoo’s regional or even global strategy?
I think to constantly put the product out there as the only meaningful metric or description of the Yahoo! Jakarta team might be missing some of the nuances. The Jakarta team is not only working on Koprol, they are also building other global products and the internal metrics of the team when it comes to talent, attrition, quality and costs are very competitive. The Koprol founders have done an amazing job.

It looks like there’s an exodus at Yahoo (even if it may be entirely
coincidental) what is your take on this?
I think you might have to look at it another way. The market is hot right now both globally and in the valley. Yahoo! employees, most of them, are seasoned, know their respective markets and are in demand. Many people are not only driven by a salary, because for this most part that is what the big corporate world offers – plus stability, a chance to work on big projects and the option to not have to work a ton of hours.

For some people that will keep them firmly in their seats. For others – startups provide the road to fun, challenges and maybe a chance of wealth but usually the pay is lower and the perks are less. However you get to build, take chances, own a piece of the company and grow invidually with less management.

It is a trade off. Bottom line is I think you are just seeing the natural attrition of employees moving around in another boom market. In this regard all big companies struggle to keep their employees. Google, Amazon and others all experience this. Maybe Yahoo! a little bit more due to their constantly changing exec roster and the view that they are losing but Yahoo! is still an incredible company with a chance of turning it all around. Yes – it is a company needing to be turned around.

Is Southeast Asia a natural breeding ground for startups?
I think so. It appears to be getting better and better but has a long ways to go. I look at it like this – if you want to make it happen in China, pack your bags for China. If you want to focus on India, hop on a plane for India. If you want to conquer the world or some big chunk of it then Singapore looks like the best place. English rules – yes it is the lingua franca of the world. Employment visas are possible. The airport is awesome. Transit systems, telcos and so on are more than sufficient. The biggest players in the cloud market have set up shop and the geeks are descending upon town for conferences, communal events and to check out Asia. I know of no other spot like that.

What is your opinion about running a startup here in Southeast Asia as
opposed to the United States and especially Silicon Valley?
I have never really ran a startup in either place. I have just been a part of startups in both places. However we live in a different era – one where location is not a defining factor as much as it used to be. As long as you connect to the internets you can do almost anything. Given this my assumption is you can do a startup almost anywhere but the nuances of finding staff, finding the support system and leaning back on the ecosystem become important. So the valley is the best but I think Singapore is also possible. I guess I will be setting out to either prove or disprove this theory.

And finally, what excites you about Southeast Asia’s technology scene?
I am not sure I am excited about the technology scene since I don’t see a lot of invention or disruption – nothing on the scale of the valley. I feel the technology scene is global but I think SEA is a more interesting place to live. The culture, the travel, the people and the challenges are unique. So I am excited to be here but then even more excited to try and build a startup here since it makes the norms even more challenging.