SM: Seeing where it has been, where is innovation in China going? DC: In the cellular space they did it right by relying on open technologies, and innovation will continue there. They did not have anything native, so they had to rely on Motorola and Nokia, as well as an OS like Symbian.
SM: India has remained the IT back office. The best product company out of India is Zoho, which did $60 million last year as a fully bootstrapped company. That seems to be the best India has done in terms of product and innovation. DC: We were the seed and first investors in Sling Media, which
SM: I am intrigued that I have not heard you speak about bootstrapped entrepreneurship in China. It has been a very strong outsourcing destination for the manufacturing industry for several decades. There must have been a solid bootstrapped entrepreneurship ecosystem during that period, right? DC: In China there is a whole other world of traditional
SM: What percentage of your deals are China or Asia deals? DC: Today it’s 40% to 45%.
SM: What was your next step after deciding that you could not stand on the railroad tracks any longer? DC: I immediately resigned from McKinsey and started a company called Japan Communications Inc with three other co-founders. It is the first and largest mobile virtual network operator in Japan.
David Chao is the co-founder and general partner of DCM. He has been active in the information technology industry since the 1980s. At DCM, he guides portfolio companies in formulating corporate and product marketing strategies, developing strong management teams and implementing domestic and international partnerships. SM: Let’s start by talking about your background. What experiences
SM: What is your plan, at this point, for the continued evolution of SolarCity? LR: To continue educating the way we have been doing, and to innovate in expansion areas so that we can bring clean power to more homeowners in more locations. We want to bring as much clean solar power to as many
SM: Is there a bottleneck for the scaling of solar power adoption in the US or the world? LR: In the US there absolutely is. The biggest is financing. Back in 2008 you could establish one $300 million fund and get multiple projects done through that. Those days have come and gone.