Globalization is a constant issue in the era of mobile interconnection

"Globalisation" is a constant issue in the era of mobile interconnection, where overseas developers covet the Chinese market and Chinese developers have a plan to go out. At the 2014GMIC conference this afternoon, several entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley shared their vision of the latest trends in Silicon Valley and the opportunities and challenges for Chinese start-ups to enter Silicon Valley. The founders were Flipboard CTO Eric Feng, Dropbox Mobile co-director Christine Moon, Hook Mobile CEO Terry Hsiao and Mixbook CEO Andrew Laffoon. Let's listen to what they've been talking about.

Moderator: Based on your work experience in Silicon Valley, what do you think are the new entrepreneurial trends in Silicon Valley these years?

Terry: In the past year or two, the development of soft and hard combination and wearable equipment is definitely a trend. Smart cars, smart homes have a lot of room for imagination. You can see from the mergers and acquisitions of big American companies, such as Google's acquisition of the Nest,facebook acquisition of Oculus VR.

Eric: I agree with Terry that hardware is really a hot trend, and that Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are also famous for fast chasing hot trends. However, I think when we follow the new trend, we should realize that the development of the mobile field is still in a very early stage, especially in China. Choose wearable equipment, smart cars and other fields as a starting point for entrepreneurship, the risk is not low.

Let me give you a set of data, a more intuitive description of the development of the mobile field: First, there are about 1.5 billion smartphones around the world, but there are 5 million functional mobile phones, how to transfer this part of the mobile phone users to the smartphone? There is a gap that needs to be crossed. Second, mobile advertising accounts for only 15% of digital advertising worldwide, while digital advertising accounts for only 1/4 of total global advertising. In this sense, the digital products still have a lot of development space, the entire mobile end of the opportunity and the potential is also very large, Silicon Valley will certainly be the next direction of development in the mobile end.

In addition, efficient data transmission reduces the cost of publishing information, entrepreneurs can be in the content of the delivery channel to do a lot of innovation, can dig a large space. Mobile Internet era is the era of cooperation, entrepreneurs can work with excellent content providers to help them to send content through new channels, to cover more users. The release and dissemination of information is worthy of our attention, and in this regard we have seen a lot of viable business models.

Andrew: I think the development of tablet computers will also be one of the trends. With more and more users using tablet computers, last year there were probably tens of millions of tablet users, and tablets were new, and many content and apps had not been optimized. In addition, multi-screen fusion is also a trend, television, flat, mobile phones can be technically seamless docking.

Christine: Cloud data storage is a big trend. Now that the hardware is fragmented, everyone usually has multiple terminals, but they want to be able to access their data no matter which device they use. In the future, USB storage will become a cloud, local disk storage will become a history, cloud storage is the trend.

Moderator: Why does Silicon Valley become a paradise for entrepreneurs? Where does that land have resources and qualities that are not available elsewhere? Where will the next Silicon Valley come from?

Terry: In my opinion, Silicon Valley brings together people from all fields and encourages innovation, and Silicon Valley is also a capital gathering place. In Silicon Valley, it's easy for investors to make a direct survey, you can make a phone call to the people in the Silicon Valley to see what kind of person the entrepreneur is, that is, in Silicon Valley, the period of investment and financing can be greatly shortened, the company can shorten the extension cycle, so the company can maintain high-speed growth. In Silicon Valley, some startups are quite low-key and pragmatic, such as Snapchat and WhatsApp not hanging their company logos outside the office building.

One interesting thing is that we have recently discovered that New York has the potential to become a second Silicon Valley, partly because big companies on Wall Street were laid off because of the debt crisis during the 08-09 financial crisis, forcing many good entrepreneurs to build New York's entrepreneurial circle.

In addition, in Silicon Valley, some startups are very low-key and pragmatic, such as Snapchat and WhatsApp outside the office are not hanging their company logo.

Christine: The advantage of Silicon Valley is that its ideology lies in the way that Silicon Valley entrepreneurs think, including tolerance for failure, which is conducive to tempering talent.

Andrew: Silicon Valley is a mixed place, it develops fast, sometimes it develops too fast, the products that are developed are the products that we can accept in the next 5-10 years, and the basic function is not done well.

Silicon Valley will continue to precipitate its ability to innovate as a place of pilgrimage, but it also has a very good entrepreneurial environment in places like Finland and Chile, where they will focus on areas overlooked by Silicon Valley. Finland, for example, is the center of a game creation, where talented entrepreneurs have a cost of about One-third of the American game.

Eric: What's different about Silicon Valley is that it brings together a bunch of adventurous people. I believe we all understand that entrepreneurship is a lonely journey. You're outside of Silicon Valley, and if you tell people you're an entrepreneur, will be questioned by others, they will see you as a heterogeneous, strange why you do not enter a large company, take a high salary white-collar life; but in Silicon Valley, everyone is running a start-up company, you will feel a lot of like-minded people, loneliness is relatively much less, Loneliness is often the biggest obstacle to your entrepreneurial path. A friend said to me: "If you want to go fast, go yourself, if you want to go far, then you need to travel with others." "If you want to be a company that lasts, it's better for someone to go with you." Silicon Valley is the combination of such a group of people.

Moderator: What are the challenges that Chinese companies are facing to do business in Silicon Valley?

Andrew: There is a lot of commonality in the challenges facing a company entering overseas markets. Chinese companies into Silicon Valley, on the one hand, from an investment point of view, you do not have any operation in the Silicon Valley, you rely on what to get VC favor, this is the first challenge, on the other hand, from the perspective of the team, you in business operations to overcome the cultural differences between China and America, this is the second challenge

I give two suggestions: first, when you enter the overseas market, you can hire a few consultants at an inexpensive price, in terms of networking, you need to establish a good relationship with local VC, ask investors to visit your company, and introduce them to your company's culture and business; second, to build a global team, In particular, your company's management staff to be as diverse as possible cultural background, if you enter overseas, it is best to have a local team, to attract local talent.

Terry: I think the biggest challenge is management. The problem is not only for Chinese entrepreneurial teams, but also for entrepreneurial teams in countries such as Japan and Latin America to cropper. Because of cultural differences, Chinese people do things differently from Americans, on the one hand, you need to understand the local management, such as the communication between the team members, and so on, on the other hand, you need to decide whether your local team in Silicon Valley is to be carried out by the country's personnel, or to the Silicon Valley managers to take responsibility.

Eric: I'd like to say that if you want to succeed in the overseas market, you must understand the local market and users, otherwise the whole product promotion will fail, I think this is the biggest challenge.

Moderator: If China's app developers want to expand their business and want to globalize, what advice would you offer?

Eric: We do product development, often mention a concept-"the lowest possible product" (minimal viable products), that is, your first online products to meet some of the most basic requirements can be followed by the collection, analysis of user feedback to continue to innovate products.

However, I now feel that the concept of the MVP may not be correct, now the application development of the faster and faster, people only focus on speed does not gain advantage. Your new line of products can not blindly pursue the development speed, should give users a very good first impression, so that your products at least meet their minimum expectations, so you first take out the face of consumer products should be "minimum satisfaction products" (minimal delightful product).

Andrew: I made two suggestions. To do "competitor analysis" horizontally, find your product's selling points and advantages, in the product homogeneity serious areas, you need to tell users what your app has unique value, give users a no other similar app use your app reason; second, in marketing, to spend more effort This includes social media strategies, public relations strategies and many other aspects.