[Immigrant Entrepreneur EP2]: Path to an immigrant startup leader

• He started his first job at Control Data as a support engineer in mainframes, where he learned the term “debug”.
• He moved to Tan Computers, It was one of the early successful Kleiner Perkins startups, and it was his first exposure and taste of how you could make money through stock options.
• He transitioned to a software company, Informix, from support to product marketing, where he eventually advanced to VP of product marketing, experiencing acquisitions and the challenges of a publicly held company.
• He then Joined Legato, a software-only company, overseeing technical support, product marketing, and engineering. He participated in Legato's IPO after a couple of months and was exposed to all kinds of roadshows and due diligence.
• He moved to another software startup funded by well-known VCs (Sutter Hill Ventures, Greylock, Trinity Ventures). Then facing the dot com era rollercoaster, including failed IPO attempts. He didn’t make much money because of the lock period :(.
• He worked at Velocity 11, a hardware and software company in biopharma, eventually acquired by Agilent.
• He took a 12-year hiatus from work to raise children after a family member got sick. He started to rethink his life and take a rest from professional work.
• He re-entered the workforce on a completely different path:
• As head of products for a startup, focusing on professional services and strategy for school leaders. Also serves on the Hillsborough School Board and volunteers in the community, showcasing a diverse range of experiences and commitments.

Why is timing the biggest factor in PMF (Product Market Fit?)

What Gilbert has learned in Virage (joined in 1990 doing streaming media) is that:

Gilbert:

You can change the team, you can change the technology, you can change your product, and you can change your distribution channel to fix the problem. The thing that can't be fixed. It addresses the product market fit. I feel that ultimately the thing you cannot change is where the market is.

Virage holds audio indexing which could extract metadata from video streams, along with speech-to-text. But this was from 1998 to 2000 when video streams were not mainstream yet (YouTube came out in 2005 and was bought by Google a year later).

The reason why the market was not ready for us was because infrastructure wasn't there. The pipes weren't fast enough, weren't thick enough, and so that's for the business side. For the consumer side, there are not enough cable modems in the home. So those were two big factors.

So that's what I learned. You can't change the market. Those infrastructure and other factors, if you can't change them, then it doesn't work.

How to find your B2B customers?

How to earn customer trust

Gilbert:

Be honest and direct to your client, and solve the problem you thought was critical to the customer’s business.

When at Virage, I told the VP of our client, CNN, that this was not gonna work because of tech dependency on another streaming platform. The VP said: you're the first vendor to say that to us. There were bigger companies than us who were involved in the project, but we're the first people to say, we don't think it'll work.

I then had a meeting with 19 VPs from CNN and provided them with a new solution with more research. I put a software engineer involved to help integrate our products with theirs. And so the next year, we did customer integration stuff for CNN. In the end, they were willing to be a reference customer for Virage and this contributed to our successful IPO.

When I was in Tan Computer and had Bank of America as our client, BoA was facing a database unavailable situation because of software failure. What I learned from that, is that if my customer is ever in a spot where there's no undo button, I will not let the customer go into production. So when talking with CNN in Virage, I kept this in mind.

If you want to sell into an enterprise, you have to think about what that means and think about how your software, your services, how your support, all that stuff runs so that you can be successful with that customer and all the time manage the expectations. Because that's what builds credibility.

How to acquire the first customer: find your champion in your client

• Typically the most successful White House or pilot customers are those who have a lot of pain. For which they're willing to take some risk.
• Find the inside person, who's willing to be a champion. Who's willing to take some risk, and put some personal, relational capital into it. That person realizes what the opportunity is for the organization.
• Find the decision maker in your client’s organization who is willing to take this risk for innovation.
• Find the project/pain point that could be solved by your technology. You have to find a project because you have to find some way to let the client fund it. CNN was basically going to start doing streaming, instead of beta tapes. So that was their pain point which could be solved by the technology we provided.
• Build a relationship with your clients over time, on a personal level. It takes time to earn the trust of the business clients as an engineering leader without domain knowledge.

How to scale your product and team when the company is scaling?

Gilbert:

Scale the product:

There are a couple of inflection points in your product team when scaling your product.

1. Get one release out and move your product forward
2. How to add new features against the roadmap with more customer requests coming in
3. How to increase the quality

You have to balance all of these.

Scale the team:

Scaling the team was a bit of a rollercoaster. At the robotics company, we hit a snag integrating other folks' tech into our system. Lead times were stretching longer than a Monday morning meeting. So, I had to shoot straight with the CEO: we needed to outsource, pronto. Found this outfit in China through our VC buddies, and despite some nerves, we took the plunge.

One of our guys, who could talk the talk in Mandarin, turned out to be the secret sauce. He wasn't exactly the loudest in the room, but man, did he get the job done. Ended up moving from the back of the pack to leading the charge. Sometimes, turning a bug into a feature is all about tapping into hidden talents.

How to find success as a minority in an executive team?

Gilbert:

• Navigating cultural differences can be a real head-scratcher, like a fish not realizing it's in water. Gert Hofstede's studies shed light on this, breaking down concepts like power distance and individualism versus collectivism. Each culture brings its own flavor to the table, and even within Asia, there's a whole spectrum of approaches. Power dynamics also play a huge role, from hard power like giving out bonuses to the softer influence you wield on cross-functional teams. Leadership, according to John Maxwell, boils down to influence, not just authority.
• When it comes to management or leadership, it's not just about being the big boss; it's about how you influence others, whether you've got the official title or not. Trusting your gut is crucial, especially when you don't have all the data. Sometimes, you must ask the right questions to get things moving and bring out diverse viewpoints.
• Speaking of diversity, it's not just about where you're from, but how you think. Extroverts, introverts, data lovers, and intuition junkies all bring something unique to the table. Creating an environment where everyone feels safe to share their ideas leads to better products and decisions. So, understanding cultural nuances, embracing diverse perspectives, and asking the tough questions are all part of the recipe for success, whether you're leading a team or part of one.

What do you think about the technology cycle and how founders live with it?

Gilbert:

When it comes to selling to big enterprises, a couple of dimensions to keep in mind:

• First off, these big players have certain standards they expect, like reliability and scalability. Now, you might not know the ins and outs of each enterprise, but you can bet they all want these basics covered. So, when you're building your product, make sure these boxes are ticked. It's not rocket science; it's just good business sense.
• Now, onto the next dimension - understanding the technology adoption curve. You've got your innovators, your early adopters, and so on. The key here is to ask yourself: Are the features you're building going to appeal to everyone or just the early birds? You have to be strategic about it.
• Now, onto the timing game and ride with the wave. Remember when we were streaming pioneers, but YouTube swooped in and stole the show? Yeah, that's a tough one. See, sometimes you're ahead of the tech curve, but the market isn’t ready yet. It's like trying to surf a wave that hasn't formed yet.

And here's the kicker: sometimes, it's not about the tech catching up to you; it's about you catching up to the market. Take YouTube versus our old crew, Virage. The tech infrastructure was evolving, and they were riding that wave. We missed the mark, focusing too much on B2B when the real action was in B2C. Lesson learned.

But here's the thing about B2B versus B2C: B2B might be rock-solid, but scaling can be a headache. B2C? Well, that's a whole other ball game. Understanding your users, their quirks, their preferences - that's the name of the game here. It's like trying to hit a moving target. Tricky, but doable.

So, when it comes down to it, success isn’t just about picking the right approach or having the infrastructure ready. It's about riding the wave, knowing when to pivot, and being nimble enough to catch the next big thing. So, keep your eyes on the horizon, folks, and stay ready to ride the wave when it comes.

How do you become a good leader and recruit people?

Gilbert:

Alright, let me break it down for you.

• It's all about playing to the strengths of the people already on board. I'm not about sweeping changes; I'm about getting to know every person, understanding their backgrounds, career goals, and what makes them tick. It's all about listening first, folks.
• I'm all about setting my team up for success - both for the company and themselves. That means tailoring projects to their interests, motivations, and challenges. It's a win-win. If they're motivated, they're more likely to excel, and that's what I'm all about - fostering a positive cycle of growth.
• But here's the kicker: I'm not just about the technical stuff; I'm about making sure everyone's on the same page. That's where my partnership with the CTO comes in. I keep the trains running on time while they handle the big ideas. And here's a little tip for you: the CTO can check code out, but they can't check it in. Why? Because we need accountability, folks. Each piece of code needs an owner, plain and simple.

So, to wrap it all up, it's about knowing yourself, learning from others, and paying it forward. And when it comes to hiring, remember: hire slow, fire fast. Trust me, it's all about keeping that startup spirit alive and kicking.

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