This week I spoke with Marco Chiang, Co-Founder of a new start-up called Leaf; Co-Founder of www.csinterviews.com; Lead Developer at Off Campus Student Services and Founder of the UMass Hip Hop Culture Organization.
Alexa: What is Leaf?
Marco: The idea behind Leaf is that we’re revolutionizing the way people build and maintain their social and professional networks. Leaf is a team of UMass students passionate about technology, especially wearables and how they will affect our everyday lives. It’s pretty much magic how it works. Imagine a wearable smart bracelet that you wear on your right hand. Everyone, say, at a conference has one of these bracelets. If they want to exchange contact information, all they have to do is shake hands with someone. The bracelets know when you’ve shook hands with someone and then you now have the ability to share whatever information you want with them via a mobile application. There have been previous attempts to solve the paper waste and inconvenience of business cards but Leaf is truly the natural solution – the natural way to connect.
Alexa: What inspired you to create Leaf?
Marco: It took a team of UMass students to set an example, something to really bring out the dormant entrepreneur in me. My junior year I attended the first TEDx UMass event. I was blown away that students put together the event. I immediately reached out to the founder, Nate Tepper, and I was hooked on his motto, #thinkbig #actbig. From that moment on I knew I could be more than just a student looking for a cushy job after I graduate. A couple of months after the event I left the east coast to intern at Apple out in beautiful California. I met so many amazing people, especially other interns. I quickly realized that we were all playing this game of figuring out when is the right time to ask for contact information. These are the people I eventually want to work with, the best and brightest working at the top tech companies in the world. I said to myself, “there must be an easier way to exchange contact information”. Thus, Leaf was born taking advantage of the fact that almost everyone shakes hands when they first meet. It’s the perfect opportunity to do what should be a simple and effortless process (exchanging contact information).
Alexa: What experiences served as stepping stones to creating Leaf?
Marco: Life is filled with opportunities, especially when you’re young and in college. Each opportunity I seized was a step towards Leaf. I have to say the best experiences that make me who I am today include being President of an RSO, the UMass Hip Hop Culture Organization, working as a lead web developer for a UMass website, interning at two giant tech companies (Cisco and Apple), and meeting the TEDx UMass team. It wasn’t obvious to me at first that I wanted to be an entrepreneur or even if I wanted to do anything amazing in my lifetime. When I look back I realize I probably couldn’t have gotten to where I am if I passed up any of the opportunities I took. Leaf is all about seizing opportunities. The people that you meet in your life are potential friends, business partners, mentors, lovers, and more. It takes that extra step of creating a connection with someone to realize the potential of that relationship. That’s where Leaf comes in.
Alexa: What is the UMass Hip Hop Culture Organization?
Marco: Switching gears a little bit but also very relevant to who I am today, I found my passion for break dancing my senior year in high school. I was on the high school varsity soccer team but it had become too saturated with sports politics and my discovery of hip hop and dancing changed my life. It gave me confidence and a way to express my creativity using my own mind and body. When I came to UMass I founded the Hip Hop Culture Organization (HHCO) and became president. HHCO is a collective group of bboys/bgirls (breakdancers) and hip hop dancers that get together, practice, chill out, and support the hip hop scene whenever we can. Practice sessions are open to everyone and we embrace newcomers who are interested not just for the dance aspect but the whole hip hop culture as well. We are willing to teach you the foundations of bboying/bgirling (breakdancing), and we host weekly hip hop workshops taught by students – all for free! My vision for HHCO is to continue to inspire students to embrace dance and if you already love dance, never let it go.
Alexa: What kinds of things do you do at the office of Off Campus Student Services?
Marco: I’m currently the lead and sole web developer for the UMass off campus student services website (umocss.org). I help build and maintain a website that allows students, tenants, and landlords with off campus housing. When I first applied I met under 25% of the requirements but I somehow still got the job because I proved how much I wanted it. A common theme with the opportunities that come up in my life is my ability to prove how badly I wanted something. The experience I’ve gained from working here has directly led me to internships at Cisco and then Apple.
Alexa: What was it like interning at Apple?
Marco: The summer of 2013 was by far my best summer yet. I love nothing more than to be busy doing what I love to do. I imagine the phone call I received from Apple extending their offer to me was a lot like when Harry Potter had Hagrid show up at his doorstep and tell him he is going to Hogwarts. Working at Apple was no less magical. The people were incredible and surprisingly approachable even though many teams are shrouded in secrecy. All the interns were working on exciting projects that added real value to the company. We got to meet the top executives at Apple as well and to hear their success stories. All the work I did was incredibly rewarding because I built a tool that my team needed to use so that motivated me to work beyond 40 hours a week. There’s also no place like the Bay Area – just tons of events going on that inspire interns and entrepreneurs to do amazing things.
Alexa: What is www.csinterviews.com ?
Marco: During the recruiting season, a friend of mine, Trevor Elkins and I always shared interviewing experiences. We we’re getting interviews at Google, Microsoft, Apple, Verizon, Amazon, and much more. We found a lot of the questions to be challenging and we thought, a lot of our peers aren’t prepared for these interviews. Computer Science is a growing field and demand is increasing but the demand for very bright students is also increasing. We wanted to create a way to share some of our experiences and help prepare our peers get an understanding of best interviewing practices and tips. That’s when we decided to create a website that does just that. Trevor mainly posted technical coding questions and solutions while I did extremely well in the behavioral questions so I wrote articles about improving one’s soft-skills.
Alexa: What do you think the most helpful tip you have shared or received is?
Marco: The one piece of advice I’ll never forget was from my step dad when I was trying to decide what college to pick. I was never very studious and I did well enough in high school but Ivy Leagues never appealed to me. My step dad then told me that “higher education, no matter where you get it, is all the same”. While that may not be 100% true I figured it’s how I make the best of my situation not what I deserve or think I should be given. An important skill I’ve learned at UMass is how to adapt to different situations and identify which opportunities are worth pursuing. I think everything turned out pretty well, haha.
Alexa: What do you want to do after graduation?
Marco: Regardless of where I end up or what I end up doing immediately after graduation, I know I’m going to be working hard to be a key player in future technology. I want to be at the forefront of the hottest tech and right now I’m hooked on wearable technology. Helping people and enhancing everyday life is a huge passion of mine so I definitely see myself working in that field. I also want to build my own personal dance studio and gymnasium someday and invite all my homies over for a huge dance/tricking party.