Entrepreneurs
IPTV service for Taiwan and China?
When I pitched this business idea about a week ago in a blog post, I received numerous emails of encouragement and some with helpful suggestions. This is a refined version of the business plan presented on video and set to drumbeat.
Would you want this service?
Vivek Wadhwa
Vivek Wadhwa is a Wertheim Fellow at the Harvard Law School and executive in residence at Duke University who specializes in studying innovation in business. He was formerly a tech entrepreneur who founded two tech companies.
His studies, published at Globalization Research, have included looking at the level of innovation in China, the relative gap in engineers graduated when comparing India/China and the US (His studies controversially assert that the US does not have such a huge deficit of engineers) and a study showing that the number of Indians and other immigrants in Silicon Valley is not as great as many presume.
Mr. Wadhwa writes a column for Businessweek and enjoys aiming to debunk popular notions and perceived wisdom.
Vivek Wadhwa: China is NOT the new Silicon Valley
While William Bao Bean said in a recent interview that we should Expect More Digital Garages in China, Vivek Wadhwa disagrees, asserting that China is not innovating and has still has not moved beyond copycat status.
“China is simply unable to innovate,” said Wadhwa, a Harvard fellow and Duke University professor. A former technology entrepreneur, Wadhwa now specializes in studying business creativity and innovation.
China’s tech economy is built on copycats that totally lack any sort of innovation, particularly given the amount of money spent on research and development by companies and the government in China, Wadhwa said.
As to Bao Bean’s assertion that creativity and digital garages will be inspired in part by the high level of investment brought in by foreign venture capitalists, Wadhwa said: “There is a lot of money being wasted by a lot of VCs in China.”
China’s younger generation is extremely creative, but those running China’s research and development are not bringing anything new, Wadhwa said.
Asked for numbers to back this assertion, Wadhwa said that the numbers tell the exact opposite story. China files a large number of patents and produces a large number of research-related papers, but there are few actual innovations coming out.
Nonetheless, those good number hide a total lack of creativity, based on Wadhwa’s qualitative analysis.
Wadhwa said the exact opposite seems to be true in India, where relatively little is invested in research and development. India has fewer patents and papers than China, but the country is building itself into a innovation powerhouse.
The fundamental difference, Wadhwa said, is that Indian engineers are encouraged to think beyond their narrow role and build more innovation into their activities.
William Bao Bean: Expect More Digital Garages in China
Long belittled for ripping off Silicon Valley’s successes pixel-for-pixel, China’s web entrepreneurs are now starting innovate, argues William Bao Bean, former analyst at Deutsche Bank and now partner at Softbank China and India Holdings.
Why?
1- Ecosystem - For the first time China now has the large crop of bloggers, VCs and entrepreneurs necessary for business creation.
2- Foreign VCs - Silicon Valley VCs have now actually started setting up shop in China, something they have not done in any other country. William cited as an example his own fund, which is the third Softbank-backed fund in China.
3- In China, less is more - A good idea in Silicon Valley will attract several hundred thousand dollars in angel investment, while a Chinese equivalent will attract one quarter that. The good news: “You can get a lot further on US$50,000 in China than you can with US$200,000 in the US,” William said. A US$30,000 per month burn rate in China is equivalent to a US$300,000 burn rate in Silicon Valley.
To support his argument William cites a company that he recently joined, iTalki, as an example of a Chinese company innovating on a global scale. iTalki is a language exchange site with a global user base that supports more than 100 possible languages. While it does copy some good ideas from other sites, William claims iTalki is the world’s leading language exchange of its kind.
William’s conclusion: “You will soon see an awful lot more digital garages in China.”
What do you think? Do you agree?
Inma Martinez: 7 tips for tech entrepreneurs
Had a great day hanging out with entrepreneur Inma Martinez this Sunday. In addition to being one of the few people I know with a favorite pet dinosaur, Inma founded and CEO-ed a number of tech start-ups, often in relation with 3i. Time magazine named her one of the top people in European technology and she is currently business development strategist at Associated Northcliffe Digital.
Inma offered 7 tips for entrepreneurs:
1- Hold no meeting longer than 30 minutes.
2- Insist that everyone think through solutions to their problems that can either get a “yes” or “no”.
3- When dealing with younger employees, make them clones of yourself, following the model of a Michelin chef. Give them the recipe so that they know how you like your omelette and can make it over and over again. It will make them comfortable in know what you expect. Once they know how to make that one omelette, they will start improving on the omelette in ways you could never have expected.
4- Start work at 8am, so that you get things done before everyone arrives.
5- Switch off (mobile phone OFF) at 7pm to learn a language or pursue interests outside work.
6- Stay friends with everyone, including investors who drop you. Life can take strange turns.
7- Embrace change, since it always brings opportunity.
Inma just reacted to this blog posting to add the following:
From my days teaching high school in NYC and Spain I am most keen on the “Tao of the How”
You teach students how to resolve a math problem, how to dissect a Shakespeare play, how to train for track and field competitions… at school, it’s all about the How of Life.
Why should work be different?
Employees and teams get great release from pressure when their leader explains not just what they want done, but how:
They do not need to fret and stress hoping that their guess matches your expectations, so they concentrate totally on execution.
As a leader I care HOW people go about their tasks or else we run into trouble: Insider trading, overworking and staying in the office late.
For me, if someone has to do work too late, etc in order to deliver something for me, there is something awfully wrong.
By teaching the How of Work you are teaching Best Practice which is the best skill one can learn in the work place.
I hope people react to this and offer their own tips and comments on mine!
Debate is so enriching!!!
Business Pitch: How to profit from Taiwan’s digital TV deficit
Having left journalism to take up business development with one of Asia’s more successful serial entrepreneurs, I’m always on the lookout for new business opportunities.
This idea strikes me as quite complex to accomplish alone, but too compelling to drop.
For that reason, I wrote it up and now share the idea here online in the hopes of feedback or - who knows - potential partners. What do you think?
Executive Summary:
Taiwan companies export most of the world’s large flatscreen televisions, but Taiwanese buy relatively few.
Why? Taiwan television is bad. Really bad.
Hampered by regulations, cable companies in Taiwan have no incentive to invest in compelling content or develop new distribution models.
Stuck in the 1990s, Taiwan suffers one of the world’s biggest digital TV deficits.
Taiwan’s digital TV deficit is so great that it may actually offer a business opportunity.
For my full idea, please read below the fold.
(more…)
Alexis Bonte: eRepublik reverses gaming entry strategy
Alexis Bonte, who today announced a 550,000 euro angel investor round of funding for eRepublik, has a unique reversed-entry strategy for his online strategy game.
Players in eRepublik collaborate to develop their own countries. Described as a Massive Online Social Strategy Game, all citizens (active users) are real people who interact with each other as politicians, entrepreneurs, soldiers and journalists to establish organizations, companies and affect politics. Time is accelerated, with one year online year passing for each real world week.
Over time, the political map of eRepublik resembles less and less the real world. Sweden, Spain, Indonesia, Romania and Italy are nowadays the first five powers. One unrealistic development: France invaded another country (Though it was only Switzerland).
Although still only in private beta, 19,000 users from 43 countries log on for an average of 15 minutes each day to play.
What is the reverse strategy of the game’s business model?
Alexis and his team decided to build the game WITHOUT a graphic interface until the concept has been proven. Rather than take the classic approach for a new game - invest millions upfront before launching - Alexis and his team decided to take a beta approach and build on a proven concept. (See eRepublik video here)
This round of investment - intended to finance the public version of the site - goes towards proving the strength of this novel approach.
Congratulations, Alexis!
Online gamers might be amused by this posting I did on World of Warcraft invades Hello Kitty
Inma Martinez
Inma Martinez founded and CEO-ed a number of tech start-ups, often in relation with 3i. Time magazine named her one of the top people in European technology and she is currently business development strategist at Associated Northcliffe Digital.
Where best for tech entrepreneurs: Europe US or Asia?
Three veteran tech entrepreneurs with global experience - Martin Varsavsky, Loic Le Meur and Joi Ito - discuss with me whether it is better to start a tech company in the US, Europe or Asia.
All three have strong links to Silicon Valley, but only Loic is currently launching a company there.
Loic moved from Paris to San Francisco last year to launch Seesmic, a community for video conversation. San Francisco has been treating Loic well and from his level of enthusiasm it does not sound like he will be moving back to Europe anytime soon.
“You can succeed in Europe, but only locally,” Loic said. “You are more likely to have a global hit if you are based in San Francisco.” A European website must be translated into 22 languages in order to reach the same potential audience as an American website in English.
A further advantage of the US, Loic added, is the network effect. “In San Francisco everyone is just one block away and you can meet them for coffee.”
Martin, whose latest company is Fon, insists that Europe has one great inherent advantage due to lifestyle: “I do my work and then when I go home, I am here in Europe.”
The issue of US vs Europe is one that Martin has considered deeply and has now concluded that it comes down to an issue of lifestyle. “You really have to make a lifestyle choice to see where you set up.”
While the US might have a larger market, Martin said the exchange rate of what he calls the “peso-dollar” means that American companies are making much of their money in Europe.
Japan offers a fairly large and affluent homogenous market, but Joi Ito still tends to invest in the US and Europe.
A key difference of dynamic is that companies can more easily go public in Europe, while US companies look to be acquired. This changes the dynamic under which they are operated.
Technorati Tags: menorcatechtalk2008, menorca, Loic Le Meur, Martin Varsavsky, Varsavsky, Joi Ito, Joi, seesmic, fon, digital garage, techtalk
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