Page 136 - How China Is Winning the Tech Race

tioning Lingtu from licensing technology to cell phone and PDA manufacturers
to doing paid consumer subscriptions and services. One sure-fire premium
service is cell phones with built in software for real-time navigation. “Cell
phones with built-in GPS will become standard just as camera phones are now
the norm,” he predicts.
Meanwhile, Tang diplomatically tells me that he likes his new strategic
role because he can “now focus on the crystal ball. By being in charge of
business development, I also can work more closely with our important
partners.” As proof, he points to a recently made deal with a Beijing radio
station to offer real-time traffic information to cab drivers.
Back in 2002, Lingtu’s young cofounders—all in their late twenties or
early thirties—also dealt with top managerial issues. They brought in the
seasoned manager Li Zhongliang, age 52, from the state-owned China Con-
struction Bank, gave him a sizable equity stake in Lingtu, and made him
chairman. “Here’s this young management team. They bring in a gray-haired
guy and give him the biggest stake in the company of any individual,” recalls
Tse. He adds that it’s one of the key reasons Gobi made a bet on Lingtu back
in 2003. “We were really impressed by their acknowledging that they needed
to bring in more talent,” he says.
Indeed, Li pulled off a near miracle for Lingtu. During the height of the
SARS virus outbreak in mid-2003, he drove 12 hours from Beijing to
Shanghai to meet with Tse and his partner, Harvard grad Thomas Tsao. The
two partners were holed up in
Shanghai, afraid to travel but eager
to do a deal with Lingtu. The re-
“Here’s this young management team. They lentless Li negotiated with the Gobi
bring in a gray-haired guy and give him the partners for 11 hours. Meanwhile,
biggest stake in the company of any as SARS was fading toward the end
individual.” of the year, Gobi finished raising a

Lawrence Tse, $50 million fund to invest in
general partner, Gobi Partners emerging Mainland tech com-
panies. A few months after his trek,
Li got a $3 million check from
Gobi, the first of the venture firm’s
nine investments in China. 10 The team compares Li’s journey to Chairman
Mao’s historic Long March from the southeast to the northwest of China

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