the spiritual and professional life of yu-kai chou

Failing Your Way into God

AKA: The Life of Yu-kai Chou

That’s Me: Yu-kai Chou

Serial (but not successful) Entrepreneur

Earlier Pioneer in Gamification Since 2003

Partner of Enterprise Gamification Consultancy; President of Chou Force & Octalysis Group

Regular Keynote Speaker/Lecturer at Stanford University, Accenture, TEDx, SxSW

Rated #1 Gamification Guru in the world by World Gamification Congress (and leaderboarded.com)

Things To Look For

• Struggles that led to Strengths

• Failures that led to (relative) Humbleness

• Journey from Skeptic to Christian\

• Blessings in Disguise

Born in Taiwan (agnostic parents)

Taiwan has traditional rituals with lots of idols in Taoism

Moved to South Africa from 2-8

I was in schools that required prayers

I was gullible, and It was fun.

I was gullible, and It was fun.

Those were the purest happy days of my life

Moved Back to Taiwan from 8-13

Massively Behind in Everything

Struggling Academically and Socially

Was not very confident

Always tried to fit in

Often writing punishment assignments till 3AM as 3rd Grader

I caught up to everyone in Middle School

N O T E : I A M N O T I N T H I S P I C T U R E

But I also became a Skeptic

Mom would encourage me to visit church to learn about other cultures

I thought they were phony and manipulative. People actually believe in

this stuff beyond myth???

I would ask tough questions

And they couldn’t answer

• God says “Do not get angry/jealous/murderous” but gets angry/jealous/murderous himself. Is God hypocritical?

• God is all powerful/knowing and sees the beginning to the end. Why does he create/allow evil? Couldn’t he create Satan a bit differently? Did he screw up? (Also with pre-Noah)

• Why would God leave naive infants by themselves at the Garden of Eden with a professional trickster and instead of protecting, hold the infants responsible?

• If Jesus is God, what’s the big deal of dying for people? Couldn’t he just die and come back to life 50 times a day if he wanted? Doesn’t seem like a real sacrifice.

• Do the Pharisees that killed Jesus have a choice? They were prophesied to do so. Do they have free will?

Worse Circular Logic

How is this more believable than Zeus in Greek Mythology?

The churches didn’t like me

I didn’t like them either

Y O U H AV E N O FA I T H ! !

Lived in Kansas from 13-17

Massively Behind in Everything

Struggling Academically and Socially

Was not very confident

Always tried to fit in

Took ESL, Honors English, and Joined Debate Team at the same time

(Got Slaughtered)

People said I looked EXACTLY like Jackie Chan & Jet Li!

People said I looked EXACTLY like Jackie Chan & Jet Li!

Started a Chess Club

Made Friends

Chris Schedler

I said No.

WA N T T O G O T O M Y

C H U R C H T H I S S U N D AY ?

Asked for 6 weeks in a rowWA N T T O G O T O M Y

C H U R C H T H I S S U N D AY ?

I agreed after rejecting 5 times. Goal: “I didn’t like it. Please stop asking”

Instant in the building - felt touched by Holy Spirit (weird).

Youth Pastor was Knowledgable

Answered many questions with historical records, archaeology, etc.

Epiphany: maybe there are more answers that make sense

Started doing my own research and investigation

Eventually, I became convinced that it was true

No reason to pretend I was not convince

Received Jesus Christ in 10th Grade

And then I’m like, “Oh crap. If this is true. Then it comes with a hefty package. I’d actually need to change the way I lived, make sacrifices, and

compromise.

The path of a Christian is not sweet or easy

Many of the best Christians in the Bible lived terrible (but joyful) lives

I caught up to everyone in High School

N O T E : I A M N O T I N T H I S P I C T U R E

B Student “Okay” in extracurricular activities

Follower Very good at computer games

Year I received Christ

A+ (98%) 4.0 Student Chess State Champion

State Competition Varsity Swimming State Orchestra Competition in Violin

Forensics highest rating in State Competition Varsity in Debate Team

Wrote string quartet music/novel Confident Leader

Discovered Gamification

(Note: no empirical proof that this is causal or even correlated)

Last Semester of High School

South Pasadena, CA

Massively Behind in School (different graduation requirements)

By far hardest academic semester in my life (even today)

Skills so far obtained (order of importance):

!

Persistence while struggling Empathy

Confidence Worldly Perspective

Analytical Skills

UCLA

17-20

I was NOT behind in anything

But, I was bored of not struggling, so…

I started a company first year of college

REWARDME.COM

Eventually led to bigger things

• FDWorld -> • FDCareer -> • Viralogy: Social Media Ranking -> • Viralogy: Recommendation Engine -> • RewardMe: QR Code Loyalty -> • RewardMe: Gamified CRM Platform -> • Gamification/Octalysis Consulting

REWARDME.COM

Our Startup Team

REWARDME.COM

Very smart people

Future Delivery• First gamified platform for career development

& recruitment

• Partnership with Disney Interactive Media Group, Bed Bath & Beyond etc.

• Rated a “Top 10 Social Network for Gen-Ys” by mashable.com

• But…

Failure

• We were inexperienced

• We were young and couldn’t raise money

• The economic crisis of 2007-2008

• Companies are laying off. Tool to help hiring = not useful

• We switched directions

Viralogy

• One of the earliest Social Media Ranking Sites

• Popular among bloggers

• Our code embedded on hundreds of blog websites

• Over 200,000 Visitors

• But…couldn’t monetize in bad economy

• We needed to live. We switched directions

Key Observation• Most of my brilliant teammates never struggled

growing up

• Did not know how to cope with failure and stay persistent

• Did not need to acquire upgraded social skills and empathy

• Had harder time seeings new creative visions

• My struggles growing up were blessings in disguise

Viralogy II

• Social Recommendation Engine that made eCommerce sites smarter

• One of the best technologies in the industry

• We raised $75K over 8 months

• Generated some revenue

• But…we weren’t passionate about it

• Couldn’t raise more money

Legal Status Issues• Didn’t have legal status after graduating

UCLA

• Went back to community college - Full Time, International Tuition, Illegal to make income

• I could pay employees, but couldn’t pay myself

• Couldn’t raise funding due to deportation risk

Legal Status Issues• Was interviewed by New York Mayor

Office, PBS, documentaries on why US needs a Startup Visa

• Community College Student for 4 Years!

• Eventually savings ran out

• Moved to Vancouver, CA, where parents lived

• Fairly depressed

The Right Prayer• Never prayed “Keep me in the US” but

“Wherever you know is best.”

• Established a bond with my father first time in my life

• Possibly prevented a divorce between parents

• Became easier to raise money

• Being forced out of the US was a blessing in disguise!

RewardMe

RewardMe

RewardMe• First digital loyalty program (not counting

FourSquare’s Mayor System)

• Raised $1,100,000

• Product performed 11x better than competitors

• Rated a Top 10 Companies to Watch (AlwaysOn)

• Closed a $1.5M deal with national chain.

Fasting to Funding!?• Previously did everything I could to raise

$75K over a year. Extremely difficult.

• Fiancee proposed to fast for this issue, so did 40 Day one-meal vegetarian fast.

• Random people showed up and wrote checks for $200K, $200K, $250K! Helped close the round (before traction).

• Completely humbled…nothing I can do can compare to money just showing up

RewardMe Failure

• Personnel/Cash Issues

• Ethical judgement: Protect Investors

• Stepped down as CEO

• Acquisition offers on the table - ethical judgements

• Dark dark days - Depleted my spirited

• Soul Searched

Kevon Saber:

In all trials and failures, ask:

1. Does this increase my maturity 2. Does it bring me closer to God 3. Does it increase in my fruitfulness

Octalysis

Avoidance

Ownership

Empowerment

Meaning

Unpredictability

Accomplishment

Scarcity

Social Influence

-Narrative-Elitism -Humanity Hero -Higher Meaning

-Beginners Luck -Free Lunch -Destiny Child -CoCreator

-Points-Badges (Achievement Symbols) -Fixed Action Rewards-Leaderboard-Progress Bar -Quest Lists -Win Prize -High-Five -Crowning -LevelUp Symphony -Aura Effect -Step-by-Step Tutorial -Boss Fights

-Milestone Unlock -Evergreen Mechanics -General’s Carrot -Real-Time Control -Chain Combos -Instant feedback -Boosters -Blank Fills-Voluntary Autonomy -Choice Perception

-Virtual Goods -Build from Scratch -Collection Set -Avatar-Earned Lunch -Learning Curve -Protection -Recruitment -Monitoring

-Bragging -Water Cooler -Thank-You Economy -Mentorship -Social Prod

-Friending -Social Treasure/Gifting -SeeSaw Bump -Group Quest -Touting

-Appointment Dynamics -Fixed Intervals -Dangling -Prize Pacing -Options Pacing -Patient Feedback -Count Down -Throttles -Moats

-Glowing Choice -MiniQuests-Visual Storytelling -Easter Eggs -Random Rewards -Obvious Wonder -Rolling Rewards -Mischief -Sudden Rewards -Oracle Effect

-Sunk-Cost Tragedy -Progress Loss -FOMO -Evanescence Opportunity

-Status Quo Sloth -Scarlet Letter -Visual Grave -Weep Tune

Silver Lining• Started writing on Gamification - became really

famous/successful in industry

• Started teaching chess to a bunch of kids in school

• Extremely happy these days

• Still resolving RewardMe

• Blessing in Disguise? I don’t know. But so far EVERY worst occurrence in my life turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Time will tell.

Thank You. Truly.

yukai@yukaichou.com