Cyril Chiang-Master Web Marketer

In 1989, when Cyril Chiang had just received his doctorate in solid-state chemistry from Northwestern University in the USA, he was offered a job at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratories near Chicago, participating in a research program on neutron diffraction. This ebullient fresh-baked PhD took the job's challenges in his stride, and enjoyed life there to the full.

About that time, research results on high-temperature superconductors published by Dr. Paul Chu and others set off a worldwide storm of interest in superconducting materials.

In Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Department of Industrial Technology, whose main mission is to support the development of industrial applications for new technologies, set up a major R&D program at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to develop products making practical use of high-temperature superconductors. The island's leading electrical wiring and cable manufacturers were the industrial partners for technical cooperation under the program.

This large-scale project required a large number of experts in solid-state technology, so the ITRI embarked on a recruitment drive in the US. After considering the implications for his career and professional development, Cyril Chiang chose to return to Taiwan to join the program. He worked on the development of powder forms of high-temperature superconducting materials at the ITRI's Materials Research Laboratories.

However, despite worldwide interest, work on high-temperature superconductors failed to produce the hoped-for development of breakthrough industrial applications, mainly because it proved impossible to raise the materials' operating temperature far enough.

Off the boil

Acknowledging this failure, in 1990 the ITRI adjusted the orientation of its work.

In view of Taiwan's limited resources, the institute decided to give top priority to using its accumulated technologies to provide services which would be useful to Taiwanese industry. Thus Cyril Chiang's career took a different turn, as he began researching applications for flat panel display and battery technologies.

At that time the ITRI was facing the challenge of transforming its role from one of simply carrying out programs at the behest of the government to one of also providing services to private industry.

The biggest change was the need for greater transparency and accountability in its dealings with the government agencies to which it reported (mainly the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Legislative Yuan). In other words, it would have to state clearly the "indirect benefits" stemming from its execution of government programs, and the "direct benefits" gained from projects carried out for industry.

"Indirect benefits" include the number of technology investment projects the institute has promoted or the value of industrial production created by a certain technology, while "direct benefit" refers to how much additional operating revenue has been generated for individual enterprises.

For scientists shut away in their laboratories doing forward-looking research, this was tantamount to being made "cannon fodder" in the merciless battles of a fiercely competitive market.

During this period of reorganization, Cyril Chiang and the laboratory he was running achieved consistently good results by boldly addressing industry's needs and actively seeking commissions from industrial partners. This success sowed the seeds of Chiang's later decision to set up a "knowledge-based" business of his own.

In at the deep end

During his time at the ITRI, Cyril Chiang gained a better understanding of what makes Taiwan's small and medium-sized enterprises tick. Since they tend to engage in contract processing and manufacturing, which earn quick returns, they are usually more interested in finding ways to reduce costs than in research and development.

"Perhaps they only need bicycle technology, but you want to give them Con-corde technology. But they wouldn't know how to sell Concorde anyway!" says Cyril Chiang with some frustration.

This inevitably gives researchers engaged in the development of leading-edge technologies the feeling that their light is being left hidden under a bushel.

Finding it hard to adjust to this situation, many ITRI staff-Cyril Chiang included-have chosen to go elsewhere. Chiang's first opportunity to work in private industry came from a major ITRI project.

In 1996, then-Vice-Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Shih-chien signed a memorandum on technical cooperation between the ROC and the US telecommunications research company Bellcore (now Telcordia Technologies). One of the technologies identified for transfer was new-generation polymer lithium-ion rechargeable battery technology for mobile phone and notebook computer applications.

Because Bellcore insisted on collaborating with an industrial partner, execution of the entire program was entrusted to Cyril Chiang, with the goal of setting up a new company.

Eventually, by the good offices of former ITRI president Dr. Otto Lin, Synergy Scien-tech Corporation was established with investment from Chung-Shing Textile Group. The new company set up a pilot plant in the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park. Synergy was the first organization in Taiwan to enter the field of lithium-ion batteries, developing products for both cellphones and computers. Cyril Chiang remained a vice-president at Synergy until completion of the pilot plant.

Entering the business world presented Chiang with many difficult challenges, but it also prepared him for starting his own firm, for he acquired a network of contacts and his knowledge of markets and ability to assess risk gradually matured. In mid-1999 Chiang left Synergy to set up Pacific Icon, Inc. He also began applying for patents, and jointly with North American investors started another company, Mobilogy, in Silicon Valley, to use his patented technology to develop power supplies for portable communications devices.

Online matchmaker

Pacific Icon's flagship website, www.BizPoster.com, tries to bring together start-up entrepreneurs and investors via the Internet.

"Even in an age of information overload, many venture capitalists are unable to find good projects to invest in, and many entrepreneurs with good ideas don't have the necessary contacts to find willing investors!" says Cyril Chiang. His main purpose in setting up an Internet company was to use the Web as a tool to bring together budding entrepreneurs and would-be investors by providing information, know-how and oppor-tunities, in the hope that his company can become a regional investment organization for high-tech startups.

At present, BizPoster.com serves the ethnic Chinese high-tech community in areas including Silicon Valley, Taiwan, Hong Kong and key development areas in mainland China. In the four short months since the site was set up, over 600 business proposals in fields as diverse as biotechnology and telecommunications have been posted on the site, mostly for technology-led startups requiring an investment of US$1-3 million. Over 200 potential investors are also registered at BizPoster, so its prospects look good. Of course, the site has quite a number of competitors working on similar lines.

"Generally speaking, the barriers to entry for Internet companies are very low, and a company's business model can easily be copied or improved on by later entrants," says Chiang. He stresses that it is therefore essential that as well as offering online services, an Internet company should also develop offline brand recognition and acceptance. Only then can it avoid "money-burning" competition and build a future for itself.

Publishing a book to publicize his ideas and working the lecture circuit are one aspect of this offline marketing. As well as speaking at Taiwan's National Taiwan, National Tsing Hua and National Chiao Tung Universities and the Science-Based Industrial Park, Chiang has also presented lectures at various universities in Beijing and Shanghai. "Many exciting business proposals are coming out of the mainland-we can't afford to ignore them," he says.

As for the information that prospective entrepreneurs should include in business proposals, Chiang says they should not waste time writing a formal business plan. Instead, they should concentrate on the items investors are really interested in. It was to promote this concept that he wrote You Don't Need a Business Plan.

20 minutes, no BS

The book, based on Chiang's experience of negotiating with investors when setting up his own companies, tells entrepreneurs how to satisfy investors' "right to know" in a timely fashion.

In the book, Chiang suggests that start-up entrepreneurs should obey certain ground rules in their dealings with investors. For instance: "Create the impression that you're not short of money (and don't wait until you are short of money to look for investors)"; "One page for the executive summary, 20 pages for the business plan, and a 20-minute presentation with no bullshit, concentrating entirely on the basics"; "Contact several investors at once, not one by one. If you only get support from one, the conditions will certainly not be the best"; "Don't talk to middle and lower managers of investment organiza-tions. They only have the power to turn you down, not to make strategic decisions"; "Don't reveal who else you are talking to-if investors are really interested, they will put together a consortium themselves"; etc.

With this book, Chiang hopes to chart out the path already traveled by many people before, so as to give those coming after them the chance to make fewer of the same mistakes.

He also believes that BizPoster can give entrepreneurs and investors a new experience in their dealings with each other. After the first phase of online virtual "match-making," the second phase of Chiang's plan for the site is to give interested investors and entrepreneurs the opportunity to have "real-world" contacts, by staging BizPoster presentations in key cities. "Members who have already made contact online, and gained an initial understanding of each other, will meet in a club-like atmosphere," says Chiang. When the people with the ideas and those with the money come together, some of those relationships are sure to click.

According to Chiang, the most important thing in establishing a Web brand is "individuality." It looks as if by publishing his ideas in You Don't Need a Business Plan, Chiang has already made a highly individualistic first step. Budding entrepreneurs might do worse than to give BizPoster a try, to see if it can help them realize their business dreams!