Building A Billion-Dollar Solar Company: Canadian Solar CEO Shawn Qu (Part 3)

Sramana: Where did you set up your factory and manufacturing operations? Shawn Qu: I set that up in China. When I received the purchase order, I looked at several locations, including Canada and the United States. I elected to use China.

Building A Billion-Dollar Solar Company: Canadian Solar CEO Shawn Qu (Part 2)

Sramana: What was your vision for the product or service of Canadian Solar when you started the company? Shawn Qu: At that time we had two products. The first product was a solar charger which we designed for Volkswagen. They wanted a small solar charger to go with the Jetta cars.

Building A Billion-Dollar Solar Company: Canadian Solar CEO Shawn Qu (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.  Dr. Shawn (Xiaohua) Qu is the founder, chairman, president and CEO of Canadian Solar. Prior to founding Canadian Solar in 2001, he worked at Matrix and Photowatt International as a research scientist, and director of silicon procurement, director of solar products, strategic planning and business development,

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Surviving The Dotcom Crash And Building A Sustainable Business: LivePerson CEO Rob LoCascio (Part 7)

Sramana: In terms of product roadmap, there are a lot of trends playing in your marketplace. In which direction is your sweet spot? Rob LoCascio: Bringing real time intelligence to customer interaction. That is what we are very good at. When you engage a consumer on a website today, most sites treat every consumer equally.

Surviving The Dotcom Crash And Building A Sustainable Business: LivePerson CEO Rob LoCascio (Part 6)

Sramana: What do you think of the crowdsourcing trend? Rob LoCascio: Crowdsourcing has a lot of different applications. I think that it is something different and is based on the next phase of the Internet, data. People bringing their data together will change the way the Internet goes forward.

Surviving The Dotcom Crash And Building A Sustainable Business: LivePerson CEO Rob LoCascio (Part 5)

Sramana: What has your pricing model evolved to today? Rob LoCascio: We have three product lines. We have a small business, mid-market, and an enterprise product that are sold by the seat on a monthly basis. Small businesses pay anywhere from $99 to $1,500 a month. Mid-market businesses pay anywhere from $149 to $6,000 a month. Enterprise customers pay

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Surviving The Dotcom Crash And Building A Sustainable Business: LivePerson CEO Rob LoCascio (Part 3)

Sramana: How much were your early small business customers paying for your product? Rob LoCascio: At that time they were paying that much, somewhere between $100 and $200 a month. We had the idea back then that it would be best to receive a monthly fee rather than a one-time software fee. That is something

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Surviving The Dotcom Crash And Building A Sustainable Business: LivePerson CEO Rob LoCascio (Part 2)

Sramana: At that point what was your thesis about LivePerson? What vision did you have of the concept? Rob LoCascio: There was not a thesis. The Internet was just starting. In 1995, I noticed businesses on the Internet, but there were no people.