Can you talk a bit more about government resources?

I want to hear about several things

what government subsidy is available there,

not just capital but also policies, and also

want to hear your sharing about finding investors in the Mainland.

My situation is comparatively special because my product is something

called hard core technology (It’s called B2B)

or even at the back of B2B – in other words it’s

infrastructure, it’s backup. It’s not something sexy

It’s very disadvantaged in competition

because it’s difficult to impress the judges and therefore …

Are you saying because there are

a lot of startup competition events

there are also a lot in the Mainland?

(Yes.) You just mentioned that this type of B2B, but also

something that work in the back stage …

(Core ones. If problems arise after use, it’s all finished.)

In competition, (In competition, it’s seriously disadvantaged).

Because these projects can always get a lot of exposure, even monetary prizes.

But you just said this one is not too suitable for competition.

In fact, it’s not actually the case.

In Hong Kong’s competition, no big prize won.

In China, it’s really by chance and coincidence, if you

met up with some knowledgeable judges, that’s super

Like in 2015, we won a championship

in a Shenzhen startup competition.

The reason was a judge had knowledge in the area.

The judge who knew led the others and they understood that the

product was not a fluke, then we gained that chance

But if it happened in Hong Kong, it’s very difficult.

Because Hong Kong is relatively more conservative.

Even if you said what you are holding

is the elixir, they won’t take it.

In other words, in dealing with startups, the Mainland is a bit more

knowledgeable and more courageous

to handle some more innovative things.

Correct. Just mentioned about getting funding.

Getting funding and competition are

in fact quite similar in some respects

Because they both use investors as judges to assess your products

whether there are any development potentials

(Competition judges are usually angel investors.)

Yes. It’s not the case in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong will find experts.

Experts’ angles could possibly be different.

Could this be because angel investors understand risks

that startups are facing and what’s more

their preference is in innovation.

But if it’s professionals as judges, it’s

inevitable that they … they are conservative

(In addition they are the professionals in that area, they might not be on your side.).

What’s more, it’s not in alignment.

Yes, particularly my profession is not found in Hong Kong.

They already felt that they were very happy … today,

it’s difficult to find an IT manager as a judge …

In Hong Kong, it’s comparatively difficult.

But you mentioned in the Mainland the first thing is funding.

Funding – they call it ‘Talent Scheme’.

That talent scheme, in fact, is in all places

The best is that they fight against each other

they compete for achievement and fame

This is talking about various provinces

and cities having schemes of similar kind.

But there exists intense competition.

All of them are competing against one another.

This is why they are snatching up talents.

Therefore, there are a lot of opportunities for overseas Chinese.

Chinese around the world can go back to the Mainland to begin their startups.

As long as you are a talent. Previously they sided with doctorates

or your titles, titles like the ‘Thousand Talents Plan’.

But today, they focus more on industrial experience,

three, five or ten years’ working experience.

You are older, they still treat you as talents.

The definition of talent is a bit broader.

Yes, the definition of talent is getting broader,

not just titles as before. Let’s say if you are a

domain expert, you have one or two PhDs to

help you to do R&D (That’s even better.), yes,

the mix is even better. They basically assess assetized.

whether your project is one that can be assetized

Like my focus is very simple and it

is: why does DR have so many problems?

It is because drills are only done once a year.

Why can’t it be done on a daily basis like building patrols?

A drill on a daily basis, then it will be safe.

(This is your innovative part.)

Yes. After they listened to what I said, they agreed.

Planes are safe because they are checked daily

If checked only once a year, planes will have a lot of accidents.

It’s a simple theory. They felt, yes, we in China should have people …

Apart from competition, if one is

really looking for investors, what Mainland

experience that you could share with everyone?

In fact, I have met several who wanted to invest

but my circumstances were a bit special.

I had gone out to try …. E.g., I had gone to talk to Langchao

(It meant you had contacted many well-known companies in the Mainland and investors.)

Yes … not investors, they are partners.

Like JOS in Hong Kong, in Mainland I need

partner companies that are on par to put my products there.

But in the Mainland, big companies like

Langchao if they find your solution a good fit,

it’s like the merger I had before, they

feel education is not done by you.

Even if there is a very big client to come and help you

they still feel that Alex you do it on your own!

You felt that as you had to educate the users,

did you feel that this in fact was

a blue ocean strategy? It’s very new, you had

to get into a new market?

Perhaps share my … at the beginning I was like you … these two years

I have been very assiduous in learning

how to tackle blue ocean. I put my product in

the market, did one promotion called ‘用災之城’,

everyone will have to do backup!

(You to educate the market.) Correct, but discovered that it’s really demanding.

(Yes, this is the drawback of blue ocean.

Because the market really has no knowledge about this

you have to do both education and promotion at the same time.)

I can’t be like ‘Didi’ etc., that can give money

to the end users. Because B2C is easy.

Because reward can be seen and is measurable.

But B2B can’t. B2B has a lot … also a very important point is culture.

The Mainland culture and Hong Kong culture are completely different.

I once … I talked to the danwei. [department unit]

You gave me so much money, why not use my products.

He said, no way, two organizations, two departments.

That is the funding was

from one department, but the one (Purchasing.)

using your service was another department.

(Yes…) Therefore, can’t decide. Yes, and the

culture of this department is not one that is

familiar to Hong Kong people. Therefore, going

back to the Mainland, this year I found a big breakthrough.

A while ago, you asked how investors think

In fact, some investors gave me money.

E.g., we have obtained government funding, I have already taken eight million.

And, if you invest tens of millions into me but

I can’t find a breakthrough, it’s an arduous and thankless task

and what do I do with your money?

Therefore, I rejected several investors at the beginning.

Instead you rejected some investors?

Yes, because we couldn’t think of a

way to tackle the market. The market in the Mainland is tough.

At last, we thought of having

a partner as in Hong Kong. Nonetheless, partners

over there are different. We’d tried SOEs

[state-owned enterprises]. Indeed, to SOEs,

it doesn’t really matter whether you work or not.

Once they meet their targets, they stop.

They, therefore, won’t push either.

Afterwards, we found another non-SOE … can be considered as an SOE.

It’s Langchao. They are very aggressive.

But they said education was not their job.

At the start of this year, we had a breakthrough,

managed to find a competitor

(That’s interesting. You have instead found a competitor!)

Yes. Because a competitor needs

to educate the market. It wants to capture the

whole market but it doesn’t have this technology.

Therefore, I thought there was a match.

(But it was originally a competitor and finally it becomes your collaborative partner.) Yes

(Put in any investment?) Yes, invested.

His investment is worth it. (That means your initial

competitor finally becomes your investor.) Right.

The key is I hope we have the same mission,

even if I have to suffer losses. Because to me,

I want to change the world. Just like ‘Didi’,

to make you use it I could even give it to you free of charge.

But, other tech researcher

friends may not be like this.

(Therefore, your idea is to move the world first, to change

it before considering returns.) Therefore, we

make it very clear. The whole of China is open

to you, you give me 10% as a loyalty (sic)

and that would be fine. Our work can be done in whatever way.

In fact, this idea is very good.

To co-operate with others to make a bigger cake

When the cake is made big, then I shall

have a share of it. The return in fact is

possibly even bigger. To you, the return is even bigger.

When he really succeeds, he knows

that you will not leave and he will not let you leave.

Therefore, I always think don’t ask for too much,

especially branding. In the Mainland,

branding is not that useful.

(Therefore, you need to enlarge the market …) No brands

(Work with the competitor to expand the market together.)

even big enough to acquire my share,

and even my company in Hong Kong.

(You can do that too. He could be your

exit partner, like he could buy …)

Therefore, there is a lot

of room in the Mainland. Just as you mentioned,

the Mainland market is really enormous, it

could be like Dell acquiring EMC,

the market could drive your technology to such an extent

that he has to acquire you. (So this is China’s

edge. Because the market is enormous, it’s

definitely an edge.) Exactly. Exactly.

That’s why I mentioned there are a lot of investors.

You only need to enter the competitions and if

you have good projects, a lot of people will talk to you.

(You could meet a lot of people through competitions.)

Previously, like the B2C was extremely popular, I had seen many who

immediately snatched your business cards and

invited you to discuss. Recently, this has

changed and even don’t …

(This type is now out of fashion.)

Now, they want B2B.

Because B2B never ends, it has a value to be here.

(Is it because investors are becoming mature and

they pursue something more pragmatic?)

Yes, that’s true. Today you won’t see them investing

in projects that have nothing …

That means it’s no longer ideas that

sound good but not very pragmatic

Because you said yours are very practical.

Initially no one wanted to hear them

They wanted to hear something that were

more interesting, more innovative.

(That’s right. That’s right.) Now they would consider the more pragmatic ones.

Therefore, we have relatively more room,

particularly when I co-operate with a competitor.

That competitor was in a weak position.

Not that weak, in fact. He was in growth stage.

Because the market was too big,

it gave him a reason to steal a bigger

share, to create a bigger cake, I could then

work on my technology whole-heartedly, to invent

more products. They did all sales and marketing.

Until later, we came back to Hong Kong to

expand into the One Belt One Road markets.

This explains why Mainland is a very good reference

… The most important point is if Mainland uses

it a lot, your product will naturally rise.

Previously, people said China copied others’ products

That might be the case in the earlier years. (Okay.) You saw these …

(It’s true in the early years, there were a lot of

these products …) Shanzhai, ‘A’ goods, it’s true

that there were a lot of this kind of goods.

But today you see they have this ‘hardware

innovation base’. Like planes, everything.

They come to Hong Kong to tell us we only need to

work on the software, and there is no need ….

Dr Alex Li, CEO & Founder of BizCONLINE

Entrepreneurship

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