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Backstage Interview With Niniane Wang

mini in Wang. Come on board. Thanks. Privacy. Make yourself comfortable. This is one of my favorite things about being a host on these things. Is that I your cto Which means Chief Technology officer of Minted. I don't even know another CTO in this, Like, because I run around with people who are not CTO types. So the idea that I could sit here with you today is very inspiring. And what's your story? You want my life story? You familiar is okay with you, You know? Of course, I've done research on you. Okay. More things about it that you want. You want me to know? But you have an amazing career. Tell us a little bit about how you got where you are and where you're going. Okay? I was born in Beijing, and I came to the States when I was five. My dad came to get his PhD of math and I weigh our technical. Um, I actually started programming when I was five because my parents were very busy. They bought this game console and they bought a radio shack one because it was cheaper than a Nintendo a...

nd we had very few games But if he didn't put any game cartridges and had a basic interpreter, so I would type in basic programs, which I didn't know what they were for. Your five? Yes, and they would be very simple. They'd be like T o I I was looking for a stick in the yard. Got is a stick. You were programming. Well, I think actually, anyone could do it. It's if you learn basic, which is what I learned is very simple. And I didn't know what I was doing was just typing in. So we actually didn't have a memory, Carson. Just save it on, so to type it again every single time. But I had a lot of time that it didn't have anything to do after school. So one day my dad decided not was maybe nine that he would enrolled me in a programming class. And so I went to the class and they announced that we would learn basic. And then they passed out the syllabus and I realized that I had already known all of it from this video game console was very confused. It was like that scene in Karate Kid, where he suddenly knows karate without understanding why. And then I might get one, right. I went home. I told my dad We don't need to take this class anymore already. Know all of it. And he thought it was a joke. So I had to go to the class. But it was the best way to learn. I didn't realize that I was learning as I was doing it. Um then I learned list from one of my parents friends who thought it be funny to teach a 10 year old list. Um, this is a more convoluted language. So I I went to all these public schools, and I was didn't feel very connected to the other people in these public schools. Um, I felt very much like fish out of water, so I skipped three grades, and then I went to Caltech, and I study computer science. Graduate was 18. Great. She graduated from Calvin. If you pick that up out there in the Internet world graduated from Caltech at 18. So you skipped. Apparently a few more than three. Not to me. Three. Is that right? Yeah, I guess I was what I was doing. Math about myself, which is bad math to do. Um, when you're at 18. Okay, you've got What's your next move? Graduating there. So I really want to work in games. And I went to Microsoft and worked at Microsoft Games. Was a great experience. I got to do graphics rendering. And I did cloud rendering and rain and snow rendering, um, along with many other things. That was a good experience. Um, and I joined Google in 2003 and I got to you help start desktop search, which was one of the favorite. Thank you. So please call it like you found that you created that for Google. You heard a little company? Yeah. Okay, so I'm just trying to call what a founded it. Uh, no. Well, the main visionary with Steve Lawrence, who is amazing. But I was there from day one and helped start it. Um, it was a wonderful experience. Like we were a great team and socialized four times a week outside of working together all the time and develop their own language speaking to each other. It was a wonderful time. Um, and then after desktop lodged, Gmail had just launched. So I went and lengthy Gmail ads revenue team, and we did a bunch of experiments with different ways of serving better ads. We did the links that you see on the right hand side if you have a calendar entry to offer to add it to your calendar. We did the bar at the top of your inbox, but you're you're also reputed within Google Toe have been an amazing recruiting machine because people wanted to work with you and your big brain. So, like, that's a very much of people think so. You're talking about treating a lot, but yeah, but you're talking so two points one back up a little bit, I find I think that writing code and creating lines of code is amazingly creative. I'm not. I'm not a coder, I don't know a handful of programming languages. I don't even know one. But I know I watched the process sort of a something who has Someone has removed from it, and it's insanely creative. So, um, that's one of the things that I learned about when I was reading up on your your past was that that is one of the most creative things that is in our culture. right now, the fact that you're as technical as you are and then what I read the sort of the big backstory is that you were super influential in that bringing amazing engineers into Google, which is a is a personal thing. It's like it's very human connection, like you're showing people that they're going to be a part of changing the world the next one Z So what don't you dio like what? What don't you have mastering it all? You can't thing. Forget to sing hair. OK, Um well, I think that with recruiting, if you're passionate about something that I comes through and people want to work with you on it. So I felt like I just had to say what was the truth? And then it made other people interested, too. Um so I try to only work on things I'm passionate about, because then that's not so much. Recruiting is just talking and letting your actual passion show through. I think I do think programming is very creative, and it's people like to say that really great coat is beautiful and that looks like art, and they'll say, this line this file of code with the work of our um, so I think it is very creative, and there's ways to do things that are less efficient and ways to do things that are better architected. And there's a sense of of wonder when you look at something that was architected in a great way or coated in a great way. And there's also the instant gratification of creating something and seeing at work. Sometimes there's the frustration that doesn't quite work, and then the moment when it actually works is extremely fulfilling their this sort of a breakthrough. You have many breakthroughs per day, which is so one of the things that you know, the folks that are out there watching this right now live and in the future downloaded project or product product they they want. They are no doubt experiencing all kinds of block. It's like they're like, I can't get over this problem. I can't get a new client. I can't solve this this creative problem. And so talk to me a little about your process. Is it sort of just like work harder is not that I want to hear that there's there's gotta be something. You have something special knowing all the things that you created, these things that we take for granted that we open our genealogy works and as of your vision. So that's one of the reasons you're here in our there are two day launch. But when you like talking about overcoming problem a little bit from, ah, like a sincere personal coach, not just the work harder. Oh, yeah, I think that everyone goes through that. If you really care about something done, you will encounter mental resistance to it from time to time. I find there are three things that work well for me one where you get your pencils out. Yes, one is to break it down into the smallest step that you can start with. Starting is often the most difficult part. Once you start, you, you have the ball gets rolling. So instead of the task being something enormous, like create a website, the task could be very small, like draw what I want the first page to look like. Or the task could be something as small as look at some examples of other websites and pick a few that I like or it could be. Just break it down into something that you could finish in 10 minutes and then give yourself credit for having done that. And once you do it, I'm good at Pat myself. On the back of that, I think the second thing I have found is having someone they're in the room with you is really helpful, even if they're not working on the same thing. I like to call it laptop parties where you're on your laptop working on something, and they're on the not top working on something else usually. But just having you both there is motivating. It's like having a buddy to go to the gym with. You might be doing different workouts, but at least someone went with you. Um, and then I think the third thing actually is, too. Sometimes when we're perfectionists and we have so much ambition and dreams, you lower your expectations a little bit. Um, my mom likes to say, Why does it need to be so perfect on? My dad says, you know, can't expect out of 10 things to be perfect. If seven or eight out of 10 are good, then that's good enough, and I think that some of us who are very have great goals can start to imagine this has to become the best thing ever. This has to be the greatest thing that the world has ever seen. Doomed. Um, I think I can actually prevent you from starting. Yeah, it seems like there's a lot of pressure I've had that come up in some of the other sessions of the last day already where there is this desire, every every program to train change the world. And the irony is that changing the world happens through a lot of iteration on a lot of small pivots, and and that often gets in the way of. If you don't have an idea that's cure cancer, then you don't start. And I think that's where comes into sort of like what you said earlier about when you're following your passions. People that think the things that you actually believe deeply in that you're more inclined to discover Yeah, and because you have the energy and energy mommy figure it does, that stamina is a huge part of not just being successful, but being being able to survive in the profession that you have chosen like having stamina do you back that? I think it's more for me. I would have a slight twist. I think it's more picking something that you really enjoy as you were thing. I think when the joy of discovery can propel you further than trying toe have discipline, to force yourself to do something you don't want to dio. I think the way I learned to program was actually really enjoyable. I didn't even know that I was learning to program. I thought I was playing with my Radio Shack console, and if someone had sat me down and said Today you're gonna learn to program and this is gonna affect the rest of your life I probably would have had a much harder time. Then I thought I was goofing around. And then two years later, I discovered I actually learned something that was very, very pleasurable. So I think we all start doing something because we really enjoy that thing in the moment. The people who program love doing it and they get itchy if they don't do it for a few days. The joy of senior code compile is actually extremely rewarding. I think holding on to that and doing the things that are enjoyable for you and trying to forget the other noise will help you have more stamina. If you keep thinking about discipline and doing things you don't want to do, it actually will tire you out a lot faster. Yeah, I think that's great advice, and that's the subtlety that you sort of injected. There was really what I was driving and I was just a education conference in London. There's actually no education, but it was a founder's gathering and, uh, a bunch Other CEOs of education. Amazing creativelive is very hot topic amongst them because we sort of came out of left field and we're educating people all over the world that it really crazy rate. And they're all talking about measurement. How can we like we're gonna quantify and measure making it to the next level? And then they said, Well, what do you guys do like? Well, we just put out cool stuff and we get these crazy long watch times because the people that are on the other end of these cameras are like they can't get enough of because it's it's fulfilling their passion, and we're trying to make the world more creative place. So if we can put this kind of material out, there is tactical stuff. They can learn this inspiration. We don't have to dry. So there's no it's not really disciplined, saying If you don't get to the next step and in line with the way you're thinking, yeah, that's my philosophy and it's also what we do admitted We strive to bring out people the passion of our communities designers and they talk about how they're addicted to minutes it and how their spouses go through this withdrawal. And then one day when their designs get published than they start to make commissions, their spouse starts to love. Minted Teoh Way strive to have hijacked that per second because we don't have much time left. But I wanted to get onto Minted because that's nothing the year that the chief technology officer for right now so in 30 seconds or less, talks about mental and tell us exactly what it is that you guys do better than anybody else in the world. We are a platform for a global community of designers and they submit designs and art into our competitions and in the top percentage of voted designs will go on to our site for other people to customize and purchase. So it's everything from wedding invitations Teoh art that goes on your wall Party decor. Holiday card. The artist makes commission on every sale. That's that's an incredibly powerful platform. And I think it resonates really deeply with the audience that Creativelive draws. So if you are a designer and and you haven't spent time on minted dot com, go, it's an amazing platform. There's people that make real money. That's that's one of the things that I found so inspirational from it. So, yeah, um, what's the best way for people to fall? Follow you and pitch? Okay, Well, obviously can go to mentor dot com. Um, and I have a Twitter account. That's this. My first name at many in that Linnean. Let's spell it, and I and I a N e. That's and is it just It's just at Ninian, right? Yeah, that's right. Cool. So minton dot com at any and anything else that you want people to follow. Well, you can go to CNN dot org's That is my website. Your own dot organs. Awesome. Yeah. Cool. Huge. Thanks for joining us today. I'm a big fan. I'd love to have a round of applause