Tower founder Xie: Silicon Valley Entrepreneurship leads global network security

Ken Xie, 1.95-meter, Xie the focus wherever he goes, and maintains a few heights of the Silicon Valley Chinese circle. NetScreen, a cyber-security firm founded by friends, sold $4.1 billion to industry giant Juniper in 2004, and is still the highest valuation of Chinese overseas start-up companies.

The Fortinet (Flying Tower), which he founded, has innovated the hardware security protection products of UTM (United Gateway), created the leading company of the network security market, and successfully listed in the most serious period of the financial crisis in 2009, and became a bright spot of the Silicon Valley technology circle at that time.

But the Silicon Valley Chinese circle most dazzling star is quite approachable, the face always hangs the honest smile, the voice is deep and low. Due to the huge height drop, in order to avoid the pressure on the other side, Xie sit down and always intend to bow down, narrowing the height gap with the interlocutor.

Xie's entrepreneurial story began in Tsinghua Garden, here is his home forever. Before the age of 27, Xie's life had been related to Tsinghua University. As the son of Tsinghua teacher, Shi Qingshen in Tsinghua Garden, long in Tsinghua Garden, from elementary school to Master's, he hardly ever left here. Xie's parents all work in Tsinghua, so he and his brother named Xie and Xie.

With the innate advantages of sports talent, Xie in Beijing's late-summer sports school practiced volleyball for 8 years, almost become professional volleyball players. Due to the influence of parents, Xie to the sports career began to study wholeheartedly. A wide range of interested Xie showed a strong passion for technology, and it was his greatest pleasure to dismantle the radio and tinker with the radio.

Xie is a leader since childhood, the road to study is exceptionally smooth. In 1981, he enrolled in the radio major at Tsinghua University and turned his interest into a professional and lifelong pursuit. Senior, he by virtue of "flight Information Tracking System" won the Science and Technology Innovation Award, and walked the department to graduate, in 1989 received a master's degree in Tsinghua.

Dream of Stanford

1990, 27-Year-old Xie farewell to Tsinghua and Beijing, across the Pacific to the United States, began his dream trip. According to his parents, Xie wanted to have a Ph. D. In the United States before returning to teach. But he didn't think his dream would be so wonderful.

After a 92 visit to Stanford University in Silicon Valley, Xie 211.html "> felt a clear vision. The Silicon Valley is the Global Innovation Center, grasps the technology profession the heartbeat pulse. And the open atmosphere of Stanford University encourages students to start a business and to pursue their high-tech dreams.

During his 5 years at Stanford, Xie almost worked as a student while earning money to start a business. And at that time, many Chinese students in the restaurant after the departure of the Xie, the mind is always working for technology companies, in addition to the rich income, but also accumulated a lot of valuable knowledge for the future to lay a solid foundation for entrepreneurship.

Tsinghua and Stanford are Xie's two alma mater. If Tsinghua is his family and home, Stanford is his temple. He applied to Stanford for a start-up and ended up giving up his ph. D. In order to start a business. In Xie's words, Stanford has had the most crucial impact on his life.

In the early 90, Xie saw a hidden opportunity in the emerging cyber-security market, and his three startups were focused on the field. At Stanford, he and several friends started a company called Stanford Infosystem, which installed the firewall software they designed for Silicon Valley technology companies and provided consulting services.

Xie's first venture was almost stones. They do not know how to pull investment, also do not know how to manage the division of labor, but with their own youth and technology in almost no yellow skin Silicon Valley scientific and technological sector to fight, so entrepreneurial failure is also understandable. But when it comes to first-time entrepreneurship failure, Xie some honest smile, said, "Although the end of no results, but this venture to earn money to buy a house."