Hsu Heng Wen

1908 (Jiansu Province, China) - July 27, 2010 (Taiwan)

I miss you Wai Gong.

Week 7 - Websites, branding, incorporation

It seems that a lot of people around here in China are in some stage of starting a business.  A business could be anything from an idea to an ongoing, revenue-generating company.  It's therefore easy to continue "working on an idea" for a long long time.  Of course easier if you have another source of income :)  I didn't want to be like that and wanted to stay on a project timeline.  Part of that was because of my own anal nature but also because I always kind of blew off people who used a business idea as an excuse to be a bum.  Also, my business partner would only be around for 2 months and I needed to make sure that he was putting in as much as he could, which would only happen if I was driving and working harder.

So, we have had a rough project plan with some milestones, but mainly just continuing to move the ball.  Then about 2 weeks ago, I saw a notice for the annual Shanghai Expatriate (Expat) Fair.  Here's the description:

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The Expat Show Shanghai is the biggest gathering of the foreign community with over 12,000 visitors set to attend. The show was created to serve as a platform for over 200 exhibitors to promote their services and products to make the lives of expatriates living in Shanghai easier, not only that but the show is host to many activities such as 'Live Performances', 'Mom and Babies Fair' and a 'Private Kindergarten' to allow for an enjoyable day for all the family. Already in its 4th edition, the 'The Expat Show Shanghai' is further expanding with the inclusion of the 'Cuisine Festival' which will bring over 60 exhibitors from the culinary world, it will bring prestigious restaurants, chocolate and wine tasting as well as the chance to cook with some of the best chefs in France. This year's edition is not to be missed, so make sure you attend!

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The mark was on the wall.  It seemed a little bit daunting.  We have no partners.  We lack clarity on our offerings.  We haven't tested on customers.  We have a company name but no branding, logo, or website.  We are not incorporated.  Hey, let's do it anyways.

So, now that's the pressure.  Working pretty hard now.  We have one intern, who is a finance PhD student at Jiaotong University and my business partner working part-time.  He has a very similar job to what I used to have -- Director of Strategy and Business Development for a global firm.  He's really good at networking and is an idea guy, but tends to shy away from actual hands on operations -- working with vendors, doing customer interviews, hunting down supplies, creating marketing content.  My dad is in town for a month and also is helping.  With a background in botany and as a former science teacher, he's a natural to help with questions around mold, water quality, etc, so I've given him a list of 4 things to focus on.  He tends to get distracted easily, so hopefully, he can stay on target.

So, am knocking down the different requirements needed before launch one at a time.  Yesterday was website and logo.  I went to meet with a French-Chinese design company here in Shanghai yesterday.  They were quite thorough and professional in walking me through the website creation process.  My contact suggested a few page designs and will provide a full quote to me later today.  Interestingly, he suggested that I move my hosting from GoDaddy.com in the US to a Hong Kong based server to improve search engine optimization.  The thought is that most expats in China use google and google currently redirects through HK and HK-based websites get a higher score than those based in other companies.  

Last night, I also took my brother's (and another friend's) advice to "crowd source".  Instead of trying to design our own logo (impossible since I'm not creative) or go to a design company, you essentially post a reward and a community of designers submits ideas.  For $200 ($270 with fees), you can get  20-50 ideas.  It's a great way to get a wide variety of ideas.  So I went to 99designs.com and posted a description of the company, our target market, and some of my preliminary ideas and the reverse auction will go for a week.  That, in turn, will drive the website.  You can also do this for website, but I think since our website is pretty simple, I may just go with a single local company that I can iterate with.  Interestingly, when I brought up crowd-sourcing to the design firm I met with, I expected them to scoff at it or talk about how bad the quality would be.  The guy did not.  He sort of thought about it, said that he could not go as low as the design price at the bottom tier ($495), but that they wouldn't be that far off.  Music to my ears!

Ok, onto trying to get a vendor slot at the fair now...

My three week US tour

So, I've been in the US for the past week or so, going from city to city seeing friends and family, meeting with potential business partners, and still spending a few hours each day plugging away at the business prep. I am hoping that by mid-September, when school has just started, we will be ready for a "soft opening", meaning that we will have preliminary marketing materials ready, website up, business named, and partners in place and tested. We'll start with friends and family in Shanghai at cost.

This trip, I will be in the following places:

NH - Sarah's folks and brother and sis-in-law and their ultra cute kid Ozzy. Man, NH is beautiful!

Boston - Spent a scorching July 4th with Sarah B and her family up in their place on the water on the North shore. Two kids are doing great and I am amazed how much the little one, Eliza, can talk. Then couple days with my uncle and aunt in Lincoln. Last few days will be staying with my buddy John and his wife in downtown. Was hoping to go diving (even brought some of my gear), but my dive buddy Bill suddenly got busy with work and I'll probably stay dry (sad no lobster diving this time around). Instead, the old dive gang (Bill, John, and Don) will go shooting at the range and then grab dinner. Got to see college buddy Joe before he moves down to NJ. I'm also here for my friend Paul's wedding (after 8 years of engagement!) and did karaoke last night with him and some friends.

Work wise, Sarah and I went to check out the house, moved stuff out of the attic and basement to go up to NH, and cleaned up around the property. After 7 months on the market, we are ready to drop the price if that's what's needed to sell. Selling it for less than we bought it 8 years ago is a bitter pill to swallow, but it's just too painful a process managing from overseas and the longer it sits vacant, the more likely the house will continue to have things happen to it. Bright spot is that our neighbor, the 22yr old punk and part-time pot dealer, has bought a house in Roxbury and will be moving out. FINALLY.

I also visited a well-established environmental company started by a Harvard professor. I was referred to the Harvard professor through a recent grad I met in Shanghai. The company is doing pretty much what we're looking to do, though they are light years ahead. After meeting with two of their folks for about 2 hrs, we agreed that there was a potential partnership or some way of working together. I came back with some ideas and the next step is for us to provide them a concrete business plan, resumes and some references. It's new ground for me and a little bit scary, but also exciting.

New York: Will be taking the Chinatown bus to spend a few days with Isaac and Jaime. Might try and see one or two other old friends.

San Francisco: Last stop on the US tour. Will spend 5 days with brother Loren and finally get to hang out with his darling daughter, possibly the cutest 2 year old in the world. I'll also stay with cousin Lyz, although I'll see her in less than a month in Indonesia. And, will hang out with college roommate Anton. He's one of our regular college pack that does an annual roadtrip. But this year looks like the trip may be in jeopardy, so it will be good that I've been able to see all of them on this trip.

Grandpa's ups and down's

I haven't updated on Wai Gong recently. After leaving Yangzhou (he was there for 6 weeks), he was in good shape -- potentially a slight lung infection, but he was alert and fever had broken. We were primarily moving him to Taiwan for better hospice care and physical therapy.

He was escorted there by two uncles. From that point on, I had to rely on email updates and the occasional phone call to Taiwan. Things started going downhill about 3 weeks ago. The stories about the elderly having a major surgery or stay in the hospital and never leaving seemed to be coming true. The lung infection developed into a type of pneumonia, and the difficulty in breathing led to pain and sort of a half-asleep, half-waking state. He also developed edema, a stomach ulcer, and even a fracture was identified in his neck. Doctors decided to move him to the ICU.

The whole family (mother's generation) managed to get out to Taiwan to be with him in case it was time for him to go. Displaying his typical spirit however, he refused to go so easily, and has sort of bounced back. The latest is another uptick for the better:

"This is a milestone day for yeye; doctor removed the breathing tube this afternoon without any problem. He had a couple days of "practice" before this. When I saw yeye at 2, and again at 7, he was breathing normally with oxygen mask and the O2 sat was 98%. Doctor said he is doing fine and if everything goes well he will move yeye out of ICU to regular floor on Monday.

He had the dialysis yesterday late in the day. This morning doctor told us that 5 kg of fluid was removed from his body, and the chest x-ray showed much improvement. Based on that the doctor made his decision for removing the tube. Except for his left hand, he does not show much sign of edema. His left hand (paralyzed from the stroke?) still is pretty swolllen and the skin is shiny. I will ask the doctor in the morning if there is anything can be done since dialysis apparently did not work on the left hand.

Yeye is still very weak, but he would open his eyes (barely) when we tell him who we are. He can not talk yet. At one point tonight, he gestured with his hand and we thought he wanted to write. We put a pen in his hand but he was too weak to even hold the pen. Nurse wants us to continue to work with him moving his joints, which is what Isaac and I did every time we visited him.

Tomorrow I will leave yeye and head back to US. I am hesitating telling him that in fear that he might react badly. Since there will be at least one family member at his bed side for the next couple weeks, I may decide not to tell him that I am leaving. If he asks (hope), whoever is with him can just tell him that chung ping had to go back home to take care of Billie."

A lot of people pulling for him, but we've also come to the conclusion that we just want the pain and suffering to be minimized and don't want to push our desire for him to go on onto him if it involves more trauma. In the past, he's indicated many times his desire to go. It's in divine hands now.