2025 Q1–Q2 Reflection: Learning How to Learn

1. Pursuing My Ideal Type of Living

Right after Christmas in 2024, I decided to move back. Things wasn’t easy at first, I had a lot of frustration inward and anxiety on job hunting back then, but hey, I’m now back in the 34 degree city and it’s now summer time.

Main Challenges

• Reconnecting with Taipei
  Returning to Taipei has prompted deep reflection on what it means to live both independently and meaningfully. I’ve been wandering around and coffee shop hopping pretty much, viewing things from a blurry filter and trying to familiarise with things around the city.
• Adjusting to the Closed-Up Distance with Families
  Living closer to family has brought both comfort and new challenges, requiring a delicate balance between personal space and familial connection. Navigating these dynamics has been quite a bumpy road ever since I’ve lived on my own for months in London. I am still figuring out the right distance, but things are fine at the moment.
• Planning for Digital Nomad Life
  With aspirations to embrace a digital nomad lifestyle, I have begun exploring how to design routines and environments that support both productivity and well-being, regardless of location. This has become my focus and personal goal at this stage.

2. Turbo-boosting at Work: Navigating AI & Startup Vibes

I joined Zeabur last November while I was still in London, and decided to become the second full-time, as well as the first marketing hire, in this engineer-driven startup.

Main Challenges

• Increased Accountability & Skill Shift, Strategic & Tactical Balance
  Stepping into a Product Marketing Manager (or Founding Marketer) role has meant taking on greater ownership and responsibility. I spent the last three months setting up the press release, event marketing and social media marketing, basically each channel that we will need in the upcoming growth stage. My previous focus on content and channel marketing has evolved into a need for high-level, strategic thinking, while still ensuring effective execution.
• Independence in an Engineer-Driven Culture
  The company’s engineer-driven, solution-oriented culture expects everyone to break down problems and build their own solutions. Bridging the gap between technical and non-technical team members requires constant communication and empathy. I’m glad that 4 of the other members including the CEO are all very well awared of the technical barrier for non-tech member like me, which had indirectly prompted me into taking up minor engineering tasks like fixing the blog page css file. This shift has required me to become more self-directed, setting strategic goals and executing them independently.
• UX & Marketing Convergence
  The boundaries between user experience and marketing are increasingly blurred. I am learning to integrate end-to-end user journeys, data-driven insights, and cross-functional collaboration into my daily work.

3. Reconnecting Spots: Leveraging My Previous Experiences

“Treat AI as a stakeholder, instead of just a tool“ is my reflection after working in an AI startup for half a year seeing numerous cases on AI implementation. I’ve been wondering how to incorporate AI into businesses quite often lately, and reaching out the Service Design tools to see if there’s any briding between the two concepts.

Main Challenges

• Reconnecting My Service Design Training
  Drawing upon my background in service design, I am revisiting foundational principles and applying them to new contexts, particularly in the integration of AI and user experience. First starting with overlooking the entire service blueprint, user journey, identifying which being the most urgent weak link that requires AI integration, then one can gradually build up a service prototype for implementation.
• Recollecting My Takeaway from Previous Jobs
  My experiences in B2B SaaS and B2B2C in-house roles have provided valuable lessons in SEO, content marketing, cross-functional collaboration, and navigating complex decision-making processes. I’ve been reflecting a lot on my takeaways and trying to form a clearer path:

• Kicking Off Side Gig on Connecting AI with Service Design
  I have initiated side projects that blend AI tools with service design methodologies, using these as a playground for idea prototyping, user research, and community nurturing.

Overview: The Art of Learning How to Learn

“Meta-Learning” is what AI summarised based on my thoughts. I’d say he most significant lesson this half-year has been mastering the process of learning itself—adapting quickly, seeking feedback, and iterating on both work and life.

Selected Quotes from coffee chats:

• “Zeabur’s core competitiveness lies in open ecosystems and versatility, enabling rapid deployment and serving diverse needs.”
• “In early-stage teams, the daily challenge is to clarify and ground abstract problems.”
• “Taste is the key to product value and differentiation; especially in the time where anyone can build products, taste determines whether you create something truly valuable.”
• “A marketer in the startup world is not just a marketer, but a bridge between product and market.”