Jimmy E. Chan

I’m an entrepreneur, product builder, and computer engineer.

I'm on X and LinkedIn.

About me

• Grew up in Ecuador. I speak Spanish
• Moved to Montreal, Canada at 17
• Went to McGill Engineering; thesis on natural language understanding
• Studied business at UofT/Rotman
• YC W20 alumni
• Co-Founder & CEO of Castodia and Dropbase
• Live in San Francisco
• Enjoy spicy food, board games, soccer, hike in forest trails
• I have a lion 🦁

Beliefs

• The future is not what we predict; it’s what we build
• Great storytellers craft visions of the future and compel it into existence
• Good judgement = fast and deep nth order thinking
• Extra preparation partially compensate for inexperience
• We don't spend enough time in deep, quiet reflection
• It's inspiring to work with people who have >=1 superpower you admire
• The key to starting anything is to blindly take a small step towards it
• Working smart and working hard are necessary to achieve goals. Do both, in that order
• Great design is simple, delightful, and keeps users in a state of flow
• Craft and excellence matter; mediocrity leads to failure
• There is no true love without personal sacrifice; to love is to willingly make them
• Love seems to be all that matters in the end. Care, kindness, and fairness closely compete for second place

How I think

• I cognitively frame most thoughts as a tree (a rooted out-tree, to be precise). Trees help me structure and solve problems, learn and explain concepts, communicate clearly, and understand the world better

Advice

• Avoid unexamined ideas or narratives. Be highly critical of them: most do not deserve room in your head
• Smart people can have poor judgement. Avoid people with poor judgement