Visiting Hollywood

Amy is on the trip visiting Hollywood. It is very impressive to see how passionate people here work on their production. Intellectual Property rights should be well protected everywhere, including China.

Studios here are very amazing, such as Sony Entertainment and Walt Disney. With over one hundred year history, Hollywood is not only a brand, but also a resource of creativity. It is from the creativity that global audience gain. There are a lot of models that China could learn from, and there are a lot of things China could do to tell about Chinese culture to the world. Hopefully we will have our center of Chinese creative business later.

Winter is coming?

When everyone outside China is enthusiastic on the opportunities in China, some candid Chinese enterpreneurs said they are preparing for the winter's coming. Here are some quotes from the 6th China Enterpreneur Summit held in Beijing on December 8(in Chinese).

Ma Yun, the president of online B2B portal Alibaba.com, who just raised $1.5 billion from its IPO, said:

"The reason why Alibaba is preparing for a listing is to prepare for the winter. In 1999 and 2000, the Internet suddenly turned into winter when everyone was still talking on its exciting future; the same is happening now while something is going wrong with so many concept of web 2.0 or 3.0. So I want an IPO now to be ready for the winter".

Liu Chuanzhi, the president of Lenovo Group, whose private equity fund got over 8 times return in the past three years, said:

"We are doing a quick research on our industry investment now. We are not afraid of the coming winter, and we will do what we should do in the winter. The most important thing is what will happenin the winter and what we could improve to adjust the winter."


I don't really care when Wall Street Journal and Financial Times say winter, because it is always the media's job to give critical view. But if the "winter" comment is from two of the most respective and successful enterprenuers in China, I give a lot of credit on this. It is a good thing that they are still rational, and working on what they are due to do, instead of what they are imagined to do.

Li Ka-shing bought facebook?

Every move of Li Ka-shing is news. so did this one. Wall Street Journal reported that the Hong Kong billionaire has acquired 0.4 percent in facebook for $60 million, following a $240 million investment by Microsoft in October. Financial Times reported that Li is going to buy the shares through Li Ka Shing Foundation, his charity vehicle. FT commented "Buying a stake in Facebook through the foundation, rather than one of his companies – such as Hutchison Whampoa, Mr Li’s global conglomerate, or Tom Group, Hutch’s internet and media unit – suggests that for the time being he intends only to salt his Facebook shares away."

Li's Tom Online, a media company based in China, may benefit from this move in China's growing social-networking website. We see News Corp's Myspace already got a high-exposed market access to China, a threatening move for Tom Online. Now Tom Online's alliance with facebook will create a nose-to-nose competition in China. At least, facebook hasn't got a Chinese version.

But the point is only a few, if none, of the U.S. Internet companies could be very successful in China, including Google, Yahoo and Ebay. The user habit is very different, the reason for those foreign firms to get a local partner. Facebook will not be an exceptional. Alliance with Tom is a smart move, but still needs effort to beat thousands of "Chinese facebook" which already started years ago.

Product is the key

What's the most important criteria to be a CEO?
The answer given by Paul Otellini is "be a product person". His argument is that a good CEO has to be very familiar with the products from every perspective because product is the key to the company's success.

Talking about leadership, we always think about various factors, such as personality and communications skills. But the most important factor is the company's success. It's not rare to see some jerk CEO whose company is making a good profit.

Yesterday's big news Edward Zander, the CEO of Motorola, was forced to quit because of the company's worst-than-expected performance. Zander had been with Motorola for four years, while he saw the successful sale of smash-hit Razr cell phone. Now with the decreasing sale of Razr and no successors, the firm has been facing pressure from Wall Street investors.

So being a good leader may not be hard. Trying to be a good sales person first.

How many online friends could you have?

Wall Street Journal has an interesting article this Friday on the online social network. The column The Numbers Guy citied the research work from an Oxford professor, Robin Dunbar, saying there is a natural limit to a friendship circle, 150 as a ceiling on our personal contacts. But the research is based on the real-life experience. So will online social networking sites help users to burst the numbers? The column said there is possibility since humans have developed this technology to surpass their physical limits on speed, strength and the ability to process information.

I have a little doubt on this. If the research is true, it means we could only maintain 150 friends even if we only live in a small town, while friends could meet and talk everyday. Now even with the new technology, the friend circle will only be like the one in the small town. Those friends are the ones your mind could keep in touch in a frequent basis.

Speaking of this, it depends on how we could define on the friend circle. Will someone who you only met once be called friends? or the ones we could speak everything? If it is the first choice, then our friend circle is definitely enlarged by the Internet. Count my facebook, I got 40 contacts; count my MSN, I got over 200 contacts. But I don't consider all of them friends. So maybe I am still within the 150 circle.

90-second pitch

Pitch to venture capital is a hard one, especially in a short time like 90 seconds. Today, in the 4th Annual Entrepreneur Bootcamp held by Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association, the biggest Chinese VC association in Silicon Valley, ten teams did use 90 seconds to pitch their business idea to get selected by four venture capital firms. They covered industries including health care, online advertisting, gaming platform, custom-made suit and etc. 90 seconds are really short, and it is more based on the presentation skills to win over the others. But this is the valley, and you have to differentiate others in a short time.

Speaking as a whole, the ideas from those teams are very practical, such as ERP software for small manufacturers. Maybe I am too optimistic. but I really want to see some big ideas, at least some big dream to do something to change the world, such as Bill Gates' "making everyone have a PC", or Google's "download the whole web". Without thinking big, I don't think a small start-up could last long. Only dreaming of being bought by a big company is not enough.

Spin out or not, that's a question

We've seen a lot of newspaper setting up their websites to upload the content. I had some discussion last week with classmates on if the websites should be spinned off from the newspaper.

I argued that it should be spinned off if the newspaper didn't consider the online business as a long-term plan. Management of the newspaper are always forced to consider the profitability of the online business before the investment. To me, that doesn't make sense. Competitors of those websites, Google, Yahoo or small start-ups, are all funded by venture capitalists targeting at a break-even of at least five years. How could a newspaper website targeting at a one-year profitability compared the other websites targeting at a five-year break-even? That doesn't make sense.

Newspapers still want to leverage their existing resources. However, that's not very true. There are three different dimensions. First, the content is very different between the online version and print one. Online verson focuses more on its quantity, while print one should be more selective because of the space limitation. The second different thing is the advertisement. Advertisers have certain appetite on print and online business. Big ones still prefer print media because of the brand, while smaller advertisers prefer online ads due to budget concern. The third dimension is the content supply. Print media has all its content produced by reporters and editors, while online media should rely more on the grassroot journalism, allowing freelancers and readers to contribute more.

So to me, leveraging the newspaper's resource to set up a online brand is not very attractive. Online readers are too spoiled to be loyal to one brand. That's why Google and Yahoo News are more popular. Online readers need more news portals or news filters, instead of a newspaper brand. So spining off the online business from a newspaper, and developed it creatively, is one of the options to be able to stay in media business.

Of course, my point is debatable.

Time Warner's new CEO

Media has been in chaos these days. Profit, revenue, pressure from Wall Street. It's such a good time to be in the media career since there is chance to find big opportunity. Jeff Bewkes is named to be CEO of Time Warner Inc., the world's largest media company, replacing Richard Parsons on Jan 1 next year.
The annoucement came one day before the earnings is reported tomorrow.
A common question among the high growth industry is if they should make as much acquisition as possible. It will be a pity to lose the opportunity to buy, but it will also be a pity when the acquistion doesn't bring any value. Time Warner still suffers from its AOL operation, while Ebay got trouble in generating value from Skype. So be cautious when making acquisition.

How developing a facebook application could make money?

I have met a lot of enthusiasts in Silicon Valley these days. and seems they are all interested in one topic: developing facebook application. A guy I met yesterday in a conference is the one who developed X-Me, and SuperWall(if you are a facebook fun, you know what I am talking about). Hope you also remember that my story on Stanford's new facebook developing course. I couldn't help wondering why those people are so crazy on this. Facebook will never pay them, the users will never pay them, too. and how could they make money?

The answer is advertisement. If you pay attention, there will be a little advertising banner in some facebook application. Those are the sources for revenue. Just overheard some company already made millions of dollars on this. Gosh, this business is crazy.

Impression by HP

I remember I first learned HP during the job just after graduating from the college. HP has been the system provider for my company, and the HP salesmen all looks very professional. To me, HP is the image of a man in the suit everyday, looking serious and professional.

However, I've learned the other side of HP these days. HP is sponsoring a case competition on its gaiming unit, a very innovative business enjoying high growth in the high-performing PC business. It's amazing by talking to the head of the gaming unitto see how innovative the unit is, and how advanced technology HP labs have now.

Brand is hard to set up sometimes, but for a big company, brand is sometimes a burden for the new business. For companines such as HP who experience high growth in the past ten years, how to find a new profit resource is very difficult, both internal and external.

What are the current thoughts of VC in Silicon Valley?

Silicon Valley is a place with all types of idea. Entrepreneurs think actively every day and so do the venture capitalists. Warren Packard, a Stanford MBA graduate, said in a forum on Saturday that he is looking beyond the VC industry into 2017. What will happen in ten years? He used a biology model, Biovisions, to tell his vision. (video could be reached here) Biovisions shows how the cell evolves itself via partnering, spliting, searching and diversifying. It's hard to connect VC with the inner life of cell. But I couldn't help thinking the relationship between the society and the cell. Isn't that we are also doing the same things as the cell?

Could monopoly live in a new era?

Before I met the SVP from Fox Media, the company only sounded like Fox News to me. But that's not true. Fox Media covers far more than Fox News. Fox Media has broadcasting branch, producing popular TV series such as Simpsons and 24. It also has sports channel reporting on NFL and MLB. It also has news/business branch, Film&Entertainment, Interactive media, Fox Mobile, Publishing, Dow Jones, and so on. Such a big group, I would say, covering from TV, radio, print, publishing to the Internet/Mobile.

I always wonder if a big media monopoly could produce any synergy between its different channels. People may argue it will be more content-efficiency, but my concern is the internal competition. If you could watch "24" online, (clearly and smoothly), will you still watch TV. If you could read the latest news on your mobile, will you read it again on the website? Readers are changing their appetite fast. Could a monopoly catch up with their speed? an open question.

DreamWorks, dream work?

Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the most successful figures in the animation industry and the CEO of DreamWorks Animation SKG, said this in his presentation today, after showing his latest Bee movie.

"We are just trying to get close to what people believe in, instead of being realistic".

The producer of the popular movie Shrek, is calm with the sense of humor. His vision towards the movie industry, especially the animation sector, will still lead the world in the possible ten years.

"I believe in the movie theatre experience, along with the improved home experience", said the CEO. "The quality 3D experience" has a big future.

Listening to the icon in the entertainment industry is an enjoyful experience. His spirit towards the industry is very impressive.

"I always believe in me, and I hate saying no to others and vice versa". He said.

In the competitive entertainment industry, people have to be confidence, enterprenuerial, and pushing, just like this guy.

Maybe not only just in entertainment.

The bee said in the movie: "We are just bees, and honey is the only thing we got"

New media , old media, always a conflict between each other

A piece from Financial Times last week reported on News Corp's charges towards Google's not spending much more effort at preventing illgally copy video on Youtube. The interview with Peter Chernin, president of News Corp, said the Murdoch-controlled group is trying to promote its online space, Myspace, to be the world's largest social networking website, but sadly, has seen the market share taken by Facebook, though he said the Myspace is still better "in terms of measures such as time spent by users on the site and page views".

New Corp. is one of the active pioneers in the online space, from its appetite towards Internet start-up these years. However, I would say there will be always internal conflicts among all traditional media, and News Corp. is included as well. Investing in new media business, is more like grabbing market share from their exisiting business model on old media(printing, TV, radio), while old media people are reluctant to accept it. One case we discussed these days is on the electric cars, which were expected to be a new profit resource for car companies. However, producing electric cars itself means more than a new business, but the competitor to the old business. Even people know it is the future in the mind, it is hard to accept for them to move to the new direction themselves. So electric cars are killed by their inventors because of that conflict.

In such a media chaos now, new start-ups without no financial burden have more opportunites. Google, Yahoo, and Facebook all have better opportunities since they don't have to balance the revenue between old business and new business. So they are more creative with more time spending on generating ideas instead of trade-offs.

This is the opportunies for all enterprenuers.

bad things of new technology

I am not quite tech-gadget type. But I got a lot of new gadgets such as a IBM X41 tablet. It was the most advanced type when I bought it. However, I found there were only few matching accessories for this type, such as a compatiable dock. I bought a USB-connected DVD-RW(not IBM-branded) instead, and thought everything should be fine.

However, it turned out I have to have a dock to reinstall my operating system, instead of putting the restoring CD into the DVD player. So now I couldn't do anything myself. I could only send my laptop(which I couldn't live without one day) to IBM, and wait for at least a week to have them install for me.

I am quite a DIY(do-it-yourself) person. and I guess all the consumer producers should like me since I don't quite often use customer service. However, I would like to receive all the information and updates related with my products if there's any. For example, it will attract my attention if IBM/Lenove sent me updated dock information for my X41 tablet later. I may have probably bought it. Or I could just receive the info on how to set up a operating system without a dock.

Currently, people complaining how profit margin is so low in certain industries, such as computer sector. On the other hand, i would argue that companies paid a lot of attention to cut costs, rather than developing brand and consumer loyalty. As a result, they have seen less and less revenue, and finally failed in the market.

Especially for new technology, consumers want to try new things all the time, when they feel safe to buy. Now I feel very uncomfortable in buying every brand new products from IBM, since I learnt from my own experience that the deal like that will bring a lot of inconvenient to yourself. So better wait.

We have been talking about the successful business strategy these days. One thing we talked most is the customer-oriented service. Unfortunately, only a few of companies could achieve it and sustain it. Sometimes, it is easily to be said than to be done.

Blackberry vs iPhone

It's cool to buy an iphone in U.S., but I chose to be practical. A Blackberry pearl only costs less than US$100, while its email function is already enough for me. Several friends chose iPhone because of its stylish look. However, I believe blackberry has more operating experience than Apply on this area. (let me wait for another five years to buy the new-generation iphone after Apply gains more experience)

Speaking of blackberry's professional service, I would say one thing. I got annoyed one day after finding the web browser disappreared from my cellphone. I called the customer service twice, and tried every thing I could to solve it.(remember, I was once in the computer engineering major). But nothing works. So after the short discussion with the customer service tele person, I was connected to a techinical enginner based in east coast. It's already 7pm in my time zone, which means it's over 10pm in his time zone. He is very patient, and seems very confident on how to solve the problem. We have been talking on the phone for over one hour on how to set up new software(most of the time the line was holding during the setting up period). And the problem was solved finally. It is really interesting to see Blackberry has real enginneers to support individual users. More importantly, the service seems works 24 hours.

It reminds me of China's cell phone market. The service quality is hardly assured, while most of the companies only compete on the price. That strategy will not last longer, I firmly believe. The service is what people depend on, and the reason I chose blackberry.

Facebook course offered in Stanford

Believe it or not?? Stanford does have such a new course now, and sounds very interesting.

China's VoIP deal

FierceIP reported a piece on the VoIP deal between a Indiana firm and two Chinese companies. It will be interesting to see its future, and how the big telecom elephants are going to respond to this...

A telecom service and equipment firm based in Indianapolis has cut a deal to sell its VoIP service in China. InteleCom Solutions said it signed a letter of intent with two Chinese companies for sales and distribution.

Panda International and Shanghai NIU Telecom agreed to market InteleCom service and equipment in China. Together, the two Chinese telecoms comprise 372 million landlines, 508 mobile users and 170 Internet subscribers, InteleCom's chairman, John Roberts said. All 1.1 billion are potential VoIP customers, he said. (One research firm pegged the Chinese VoIP market at 144 million paying users in four years. China, in turn, is expected to turn out 35 million VoIP phones this year.)

InteleCom previously cut an equipment distribution deal with Sakal Group, the largest privately owned retail chain in Israel. That deal put 21,000 InteleCom VoIP phones in Sakal's 80 retail stores and 800 wholesale points-of-sale. InteleCom clearly has a plan for world VoIP domination through the clever use of alliances.

too risky to invest in China's digital TV stock

China Digital TV Holding is planning a listing in New York Stock Exchange. It's not a big company, from my research, though the name sounds big. I would say it's risky to invest in China's digital TV market now, especially in a digital TV card maker like China Digital TV, since the policy of standard and regulation hasn't really confirmed yet and it could be changed anytime. Even China Digital admits this in its SEC filing, saying that "its business will suffer if we do not respond effectively to technological or commercial changes in our industry."I believe the company wants to catch up as the first digital-concept stock in NYSE, but I would say better to be a little conserved before everything becomes less obscure.

P.S. I am moving to California now. I start to think if I should chang to another blog or change the blog name to Amy_in a crazy california or Crazy Amy in california. Let me know your good ideas.

Google and AP, good move

Google succeeded in bringing four news agnecies, AP, AFP, U.K. news agency the Press Association, and the Canandian press, as online partners. If you pay attention, you could find Google already categorized the content from four partners to links such as the ap.google.com, afp.google.com and ukpress.google.com. You couldn't open this link directly, but have to through the deeper links such as this AFP piece. I bet there is the commercial agreement to share the revenue, but it is a good way for those agencies to live and expand their audience pool. For people crticize Google's possible-violation of copyright protection, I would say they should find a way to develop along with the technology advance, instead of trying to kill the new tech in its infant age. As you may know, Russia was a typical loser during the Cold War when it forbidden people using phones. Not it takes time to catch up.