More Than Just a Program

Looking back, I honestly didn’t expect the Young Banatao Learning Lab to become such a big part of my journey.

When I first joined, I thought I was just going to learn more about startups, design thinking, and how to build products. I didn’t realize how much the experience would change the way I look at problems, people, and even the things I want to build.

There were a lot of workshops, seminars, discussions, ideas, and projects along the way. Some things worked, some didn’t, and some ideas completely changed along the way. But I think that’s what made the experience valuable.

One lesson that really stuck with me was “fall in love with the problem, not the solution.” I used to get excited about building the thing itself. Now, I find myself asking more questions first: Who actually has this problem? Why does it matter? Is this really something worth solving?

More than anything, the past two years taught me that building something meaningful isn't about getting everything right on the first try. It’s about being willing to listen, learn, adapt, and keep going.

It’s weird looking back at where I started and seeing how much has changed since then.

A lot more to learn from here.