风险资本在硅谷高科技术发展中的作用

1、 顾屏山总经理德勤会计师事务所华商服务集团在过去的20年中,顾屏山先生协助许多亚洲的技术公司与当地的公司建立联盟,同时帮助亚洲的公司在美国寻求合作伙伴。他为客户在建立地区机构时提供战略性建议并帮助他们与不同文化背景的客户进行交流和谈判。顾先生于1985年创建中美合资东风汤姆森(Aeolus Thomson Co. Ltd.并任董事会成员。现在,顾先生是新成立的中日美合资公司东风富士汤姆森(Dongfeng Fuji Thomson的顾问以及一支专注于亚洲的风险基金中经合(WI Harper Group的董事会顾问。在成立国际战略联盟和美亚中国贸易顾问(Bear Stearns China Tr

2、ade Advisors之前,顾先生担任大通银行大通太平洋贸易顾问(Chase Pacific Trade Advisors of Chase Manhattan Bank的副总裁和副总经理。顾屏山先生在麻省理工化学工程系获得理学学士学位和硕士学位,并获得Stevens理工学院的博士学位,同时获得Santa Clara 大学工商管理硕士学位。其技术专长是聚合材料科学。他是亚美制造商协会(Asian American Manufacturers Association的前任主席并担任由该协会主办在硅谷举行的几届关于亚洲金融和联盟研讨会的主席。顾博士多次在各个公众论坛上发表关于美国企业怎样在亚洲成

3、功的演讲。他在Pacific News Service上发表过有关亚洲问题的文章。顾先生是“百人会”杰出美籍华人组成的美国机构的成员,并在2002年5月圣约瑟举行的百人会研讨会上担任主席。 George KooDirectorChinese Services Group,Deloitte & ToucheFor the last 20 years, George has been helping technology companies form strategic alliances with local entities in Asia, as well as helping As

4、ian companies find partners in the U.S. He advises clients on strategic issues preparatory to establishing a local presence and assists in cross-cultural communications and negotiations. He had been a board member of Aeolus Thomson Co. Ltd., a Sino-American joint venture he helped formed in 1985 and

5、 now an advisor to newly formed Dongfeng Fuji Thomson, a rare Sino-Japanese-American JV. He also serves as advisory board member of WI Harper Group, a venture fund that focuses on Asia. Prior to founding International Strategic Alliances and Bear Stearns China Trade Advisors, he was Vice President a

6、nd co-director of Chase Pacific Trade Advisors of Chase Manhattan Bank. 风险资本在硅谷高科技术发展中的作用顾屏山(George Koo德勤(Deloitte & Touche中国业务部主管百人委员会(著名美籍华人组成的美国机构会员在不到二十年的时间里,“硅谷”就已成为一个实际的地名,而这个地方已被全世界公认为不断出现商业性高科技突破的中心。硅谷座落于旧金山的南边,是英特尔公司(Intel、太阳微系统公司(Sun Microsystems、思科系统公司(Cisco Systems、甲骨文公司(Oracle、应用材料公

7、司(Applied Materials和基因工程技术公司(Genentech等一些高科技巨头的诞生地这些公司都是各自领域的佼佼者。正是因为半导体创业公司在此迅速发展成为大公司和设备与材料供应商通过支持这一产业而在此不断发展,人们才创造出了“硅谷”这一词语。如果没有风险资本,硅谷就不可能作为全球高科技资本出现。风险资本运作,也就是为获得高额回报而对新创建的公司进行风险投资,也已成为得到广泛认可的专业手段。在对苹果计算机公司(Apple Computer、思科和雅虎(Yahoo 等公司的投资回报超过了原投资额的数千倍之后,风险投资才得到认可。在风险资本的运作方面,世界上其他任何地方都没有比硅谷成功

8、。近些年来,仅占美国人口2%左右的硅谷,已吸引了美国所有风险投资的40%。在2002年所达到的高峰期,美国有600多亿美元的投资是投给私人拥有的新公司。因此,要研究风险资本与高科技发展的关系,硅谷是再合适不过的地方了。要想知道如何在其他地方利用风险资本来取得同样的结果,首先就要了解硅谷的情况。 风险资本是如何运作的?对私营公司进行前期投资以获得高额回报这一想法,并非源自加利福尼亚州,而是源自纽约和波士顿等传统的东海岸金融中心。对苹果公司、英特尔及其他一些公司前期投资获得成功后,这些金融机构才决定在旧金山建立分支机构,后来又组建了新的风险资本合作机构,同时一些机构也紧随其后,原先的一些合作者在分

9、道扬镳后又组建了新公司。在成功的基础上还能取得成功,当风险投资公司号称每年平均回报达到25%至35%的情况下,另一些基金也开始进行这类投资,同时又组建了另一些集团来管理投入的资本和基金。管理着上亿美元的风险投资公司如今已为不足为奇。对初创的私营公司投入风险资本,是指望获得暴利,而这类公司有的是刚刚上市,有的则是与另一家公司合并,收购的公司为获取股权也出手不凡。要切记的是,风险投资取决于能使投资变现的明确方式。大部分高科技创业公司都失败了,五家公司中就有四家是如此,而投资也被一笔勾销了。然而,成功的风险投资家至少能使一笔投资获得的回报超过其他损失的总和。由于这类投资具有风险性,因此风险投资家很少

10、对虽然盈利但发展缓慢的企业投资。这类企业要经过很长时间才能上市,而且不能获得很大的潜在回报。风险投资家要寻找的公司是那些有很大投资回报潜力的公司。在硅谷,这种潜力往往是指“直线上升”的预订收入流。与快餐连锁店相比,从事高科技成果开发的公司更有可能会出现“直线上升”的现象。正因为如此,风险投资的对象都是正在研究高科技术成果的公司。虽然风险投资关注高科技产业是为了获得高额的投资回报,但这并不能解释硅谷为何能吸引比例这么高的风险资本。要搞清这一问题,还必须分析硅谷的文化及其他特点。硅谷的文化与基础结构 即使在美国,硅谷在许多方面也是独一无二的。任何地方也没有像硅谷这么多元化。来自世界各地的人都可以在

11、硅谷都有发展的空间,是怡人的气候和人们的多元化背景吸引了他们。在高科技方面,多元化是至关重要的,因为多元化自然而然就确保了人们可以各种不同的方式去思考,去研究问题,从而出现多种解决方案。只有采用这种方式,最佳解决方案才能博采众长、在商战中出奇制胜。在某种程度上,高科技的创新就好比达尔文所说的物种生存。也就是说,快要灭绝的濒危物种只有很有限的基因库,而强健的物种则有很广阔和多样的基因库。在如今的硅谷,30%以上的公司是由来自中国、台湾和印度的移民创建或管理的。最出色和最聪明的人才之所以被硅谷,不仅仅是因为这个地方具有包容性当然已基本上不存在因肤色和其他差异的明显歧视。另一个原因就,硅谷的创业者很

12、容易就能找到其他志同道合者进行合作,然后再带着商业计划和建议书去找风险投资家。在硅谷,风险投资家不会因某个创业者来自一个失败的创业公司而拒绝给他投资。由于大部分创业公司都会失败,因此即使前一次创业失败,投资者也相信创业者会吸取宝贵的经验。这种对失败的容忍,对鼓励创业者冒险创办公司起到了重要作用。其重要意义是怎么强调也不过分的。在硅谷,“失败没关系”。其他任何地方都没有这么开明的态度。随着硅谷高科技企业的成功和风险资本的发展,其经济基本结构也在发展并成为环境的组成部分。支持高科技公司所需的基础结构包括律师事务所和会计师事务所。这些事务所可以帮助企业建立合法的架构并按证券交易所的规定进行组建,同时

13、制定出既适用于创始人也适用于高科技公司雇员的合适的股权奖励计划。律师事务所和会计师事务所还帮助风险投资公司确定投资方式,及时掌握投资收益和损失情况。总体基础结构的其他部分包括旨在满足高科技术公司市场营销及传讯需求的公关公司和广告公司。投资银行业帮助公司在股票市场进行新股首发和增发,并提出兼并方面的建议。 同时还成立了为高科技公司服务的专业化商业银行和租赁公司,比较传统的银行之所以不敢涉足这一领域,是因为这些银行不了解高科技公司的性质,而且这么高的失败率也让它们感到害怕。另外还出现了一个自称为“技术自由作家”的行当。这类作家与高科技公司签订服务合同,帮助公司撰写用户手册、技术说明书和大量文件,帮

14、助公司向公众宣传它们研究出来的成果。人力资本公司则协助高科技公司确定员工雇用政策,帮助寻找和招聘掌握所需技能的人才。获得成功的创业者往往从现任的管理部门退下来,出任风险投资公司和其他创业公司的咨询师和顾问。外包的趋势之所以能在硅谷愈演愈烈,大概是因为新创建的公司资源有限,迫切需要来自外部的帮助。例如,苹果计算机公司的大部分模块都是由独立的产品设计服务机构设计,再由合同厂商生产的。在硅谷,专业协会比比皆是,这是硅谷基础结构的重要组成部分,但却往往被人们忽视。这些按行业或共同利益组建的协会定期召开会议。从表面上看,这类会议都是演讲者就共同关注的主题向会员发表演讲。而重要的是,这类聚会为专业人士定期

15、见面、结成友谊提供了机会,同时也为结成网络、交流思想及看法、分析能否在未来共同创建新的创业公司提供了机会。邱吉尔俱乐部就经常举办有关高科技发展的研讨会,而且常常吸引四、五千名听众。AAMA 是硅谷最早成立的亚裔美国人组织,它每月一次的宴会有一、二百人参加。AAMA以前的全称是亚裔美国厂商协会,但由于在硅谷的作用不太,最近名称已改为亚裔美国人多技术协会。华源(Hua Yuan科技协会和中国信息网络协会等一些新近成立的组织,周末也经常组织活动,而且每次活动都能吸引上千名年轻的中国专业人士参加。印第安企业家协会(Indus Entrepreneurs是一个网络性组织,其成员是来自南亚移民来的专业人士

16、。它不仅举办会议,而且还被公认为许多由印度人和巴基斯坦人创建并获得成功的高科技企业的摇篮。在硅谷还有其他许多网络性组织和协议,由于篇幅所 限,在此就不一一列举了。很重要的一点是,硅谷的成功取决于人们可以融合在一起并能进行思想交流的环境。总之,硅谷的成功首先在于开放的环境,掌握技术并立志成功的人才在这里都受到欢迎。风险资本在此投资,就是因为这里是充满创业激情的地方。这种投资所获得的可观回报又培育了大量辅助性行业,从而使硅谷成为目前的高科技资本聚集之一。外国投资者经常要问的一个问题是:“要鼓励建立其他硅谷,政府应当做些什么呢?”硅谷的绝大部分居民脱口而出的一句话是:“尽可能少做。”政府在硅谷的作用

17、大部分硅谷的创业者认为政府的阻碍作用要大于帮助作用。比例,作为一方的风险投资家和创业者和作为另一方的美国证券交易委员会目前正在进行一场激烈的争论。美国证券交易委员会想强迫所有的公司把股票期权都算作实际支出。硅谷的公司则认为,股票期权对在新公司工作的员工来说是重要的激励手段,在公司能否成功仍有疑问的情况下股票期权是难以准确定值的。如果各公司被迫把股票期权算作支出,那么让人担忧的问题是股票期权将不再是激励员工的首选方法。目前,工程师和其他一些人员之所以加入新公司,积极地进行创新,并拿着较低工资,每天工作很长时间,就是因为他们还有动力,认为自己所在的公司会成功,而且能以股票期权的方式致富。另外,硅谷

18、的公司对联邦政府的出口管制政策也大为不满。这些公司认为,这些政策是不合理和武断的,并且会直接影响到它们的竞争力,正如半导体生产国际公司(SMIC的发言人最近指出的,SMIC如果从欧洲供应商那里购买设备,预计两个星期后就可以交货,如果从日本购买,两个月后也能交货,而如果从美国购买,交货时间就无法确定,可能要用六个月或更长的时间,其中大部分时间是用于获得必不可少的政府审批。 不过,美国联邦政府至少可以在保证高科技企业持续发展的两个重要方面发挥关键性的作用。而最重要的就是公布有关股票市场的明确和透明的规定。除了确定规则和规定适用于所有的公司之外,政府就不要再干预。一家公司是否能在股票市场公开上市发行

19、只由市场行情来决定。当市场处于强势并有许多投资者参与时,由于公众对新股的需求量大,就连一些较差的公司也能上市。当市场处于弱势时,即使再好的公司上市也会遇到困难。对风险投资家来说,让市场决定他们所投资的公司何时能上市是至关重要的。在风险投资家投资之后,他们希望在三至五年内变现,而变现的最佳方式就使所投资的公司在股票市场挂牌上市。风险投资家密切关注着股票市场,不断把股票市场的行情与所投资的公司的价值进行比较。他们定期与投资银行高级职员商谈,以确定所投资的公司首次公开发行新股的最佳时机。联邦政府还可以发挥的另一个重要作用是为不在风险投资家考虑范围之内的研究与开发工作提供资金。这些研发工作往往是基础性

20、的研究,不一定能出成果,而且短期内也不能在实际上应用。人们马上就能想到的最佳例子就是,国家卫生研究院给予各大学研究实验室划拨的研究经费,结果这些实验室在基因工程领域取得突破性进展。后来,许多公司利用风险资本和其他资金来源,通过下游的开发,把实验室获得的成果转化为成功的商品。正是因为旧金山斯坦福大学和加州大学医学院实验室的发现,基因工程技术公司和Chiron公司才能成立,而如今旧金山海湾地区成为了美国生物技术公司最集中的地方。没有政府的支持,现代医药和疗法是不可能取得进步的。政府在国际和空间探测方面投入资金,也使一些私营企业在商业上获得了成功。国际互联网和电子器件及材料方面的进步,也可以直接归因

21、于联邦政府最初提供的资金。我们可以简单归纳一下政府的作用。政府的主要责任是为股票市场营造一个公平、公开和受监管的环境,而这对维持投资者的信心和确保让风险投资家变现的畅通渠道是至关重要的。专业性的风 险投资家如果认为没有可以使投资变现的方式,那么在这种环境下他就无法进行运作。第二,由政府提供经费对取得基础技术进步也是至关重要的。中央政府一定要认识到,这种风险和技术进步可以促进具有商业意义的创新。风险投资的过程在硅谷,风险投资的过程已逐步演变成为一个标准化的程序。一些公司专门从事首期资金的投资,而这个阶段的风险是最大的,但潜在回报也是最高的,因为与后期大笔投资相比,此时投资的金额就股权而言是比较少

22、的。另一些公司喜欢参与后期的融资;还有一些公司则只是在公司上市前投资。从总体上讲,风险投资家从来没有把自己看作是被动的投资者,而都是声称以主动投资者的身份使自己投资获得成功。他们使公司增值的做法是:担任所投资公司董事会的董事,出任何管理团队的顾问,帮助招聘所需的经理人,向其他公司介绍所投资的公司以组成联盟,并向金融界(华尔街介绍该公司。并不是所有风险投资公司都采取这种做法。创业者想使公司成为始终高于行业平均回报率的蓝筹股公司,而不仅仅是为了挣钱和与公司建立联系。有著名的风险投资公司作为投资者,就意味着公司及其业务目标得到了认可和确认。风险投资家极为重视获得投资的人的个性并没有什么可奇怪的。风险

23、投资家需要知道创业者团队是否有诚信,是否能和睦相处,是否能与投资者合作。他们最怕的是投资给一个缺少诚信的团队,这些的团队在获得资金后会终止与投资者的联系,不让风险投资者参与公司的管理。在硅谷,尽职调查过程是十分严格的。在通常情况下,风险投资家在进行了广泛的调查并确定有意投资某公司,将提出一份列出交易条件的条款说明书。在尽职调查过程中,这种条款说明书一般须经创业者指定的代表认可。现在甚至出现了专门从事尽职调查的专业服务公司。许多风险投资家采取的典型做法是,在审议的一百份业务建议书和计划书中,只有十家被请来进 行面谈,最后提出的条款说明书则只有二、三份,而最后也只有这几家公司能获得实际的投资。硅谷

24、的风险投资家虽然重视技术,但很少被技术所迷惑。对于“旨在解决问题的解决方案”,他们是不投资的。他们所寻求和要搞清的是创业者拟生产的产品是否有市场。换言之,商业的潜力要比发明的新颖性更重要。他们爱说的一句话是:如果他们必须选择“A”和“B”,那么他们会先选择做市场销的A团队,然后再选择进行研发的B团队,而不会倒过来。虽然风险资本在把硅谷变为高科技资本的过程中发挥着重要作用,但只有25%左右的创业公司得到了专项风险投资基金。其他的创业公司都是白手起家,或靠家人和朋友的资金进行创业。我没有看到这两类创业公司生存率的比较数字,但并不是所有获得专项资金的公司都可以生存下来,没有获得专项资金的企业也会发展

25、成为大公司。后者最著名的例证就是惠普公司(Hewlett-Packard。该公司是很早以前由两个创始人创建的,当时还没有硅谷,也没有风险投资。思科公司则是由夫妻二人创建的,虽然没有风险投资,但在很长一段时间里也一直在发展。结束语通过最终的分析可以看出,高科技的发展取决于有技术和有活力的人才和可以自由交流思想的开放环境。有绝妙想法的创业者吸引专项投资的可能性比较大。管理极为完善的公司和最幸运的公司最有可能通过严格的筛选,成为对投资界有吸引力的投资对象或成为被收购的对象。成功投资纪录极佳的风险投资家,在为投资新公司筹集新资金是不会遇到什么问题的。由于他们取得了成功,因此他们的名声较好,比较有经验的

26、企业家也愿意向他们介绍自己好的想法。其交易质量提高后,可能会使他们的投资获得更大的利润。有经验的企业家和成功的风险投资家都会有这种快速发展的周期,而决定其命运的则是市场的力量。 有时人们要问的另一个问题是:“如何才能把硅谷著名的风险投资公司吸引到像中国这样的地方来进行运作?”回答是:“有很大的难度。”风险投资家是要插手的投资者。它们要靠近所投资的公司,要能帮助所投资的公司取得成功。对大多数风险投资家来说,中国太遥远,是一个它们不了解、也不能发挥增值作用的地方,但也有个别风险投资家除外。这些例外的人士熟悉太平洋两岸情况,了解两边的环境,可以帮助所投资的公司弥补差异,并通过跨国联盟赢得优势。这些人

27、在两边进行精明的投资,巧妙地让一边的公司与另一边的公司进行合作。中国发展高科技企业的前景是光明的,因为中国人才济济,充满创业的激情。一旦能明确变现的方式,越来越多的专业风险投资者就会带着资金到中国投资。就等着这个雪球从山上滚下来吧! Role of Venture Capital in the Development of HighTechnology in Silicon ValleyBy George KooDirector of Chinese Services Group of Deloitte & ToucheA member of the Committee of 100,

28、 an U.S. organization of prominentChinese AmericansIn less than 2 decades, “Silicon Valley” became the name of a real place, a place that won worldwide recognition as ground zero where commercial breakthroughs in high technology occurred regularly. Silicon Valley, located south of San Francisco beca

29、me the birthplace of such high tech giants as Intel, Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, Oracle, Applied Materials and Genentechall leaders in their field. The proliferation of semiconductor start-ups that grew into major companies and equipment and material suppliers that grew by supporting this indus

30、try led to the coining of the term, “Silicon Valley.”The emergence of Silicon Valley as the worlds hig h tech capital would not have been possible without the use of venture capital. Indeed, venture capitalism, i.e., risky investments in emerging young companies for the purpose of earning high retur

31、ns, also became a widely recognized professional discipline. This recognition came after its spectacular investments in such companies as Apple Computer, Cisco, and Yahoo returned thousands of times original invested amount. No other place in the world has been more successful in the use of venture

32、capital than Silicon Valley. In recent years, Silicon Valley with only about 2% of the U.S. population has attracted as much as 40% of all the venture capital invested in the U.S. During the height reached in 2000, over $60 billion were invested in the U.S. in privately held young companies. Therefo

33、re, no place is better suited to study the relationship of venture capital to development of high technology companies than Silicon Valley. Understanding Silicon Valley is essential to understanding how venture capital can be utilized elsewhere to achieve comparable outcome.How does venture capital

34、work?The idea of making early investments in privately held companies for a chance to earn high rate of return did not originate in California but in the traditional east coast financial centers such as New York and Boston. The success of their early investments in Apple, Intel and some others led t

35、o decisions to establish branch offices in the San Francisco area which in turn led to the formation of new venture capital partnerships as others follow and as some of original partners split off to form new firms. Success breeds success and as venture capital firms boast of average annual returns

36、of 25 to 35%, more funds become available to make these investments and more groups are formed to manage the invested capital and funds. It is not unusual today for established venture capital firms to manage one billion dollars or more.Venture capital is invested in early stage, privately held comp

37、anies in hopes of gaining a windfall profit when such company becomes publicly listed or is merged with another company whereby the acquiring company pays handsomely for their equity stake. It is very important to keep in mind that venture capital investments depend on clear-cut route to being able

38、to liquidate their investments. Most high tech start-ups, as many as 4 out of 5, fail and the investment is written off. However, a successful venture capitalist will manage to make at least one investment that brings a return to more than make up for the losses. Because of the risky nature of these

39、 investments, venture capitalists rarely make investments in profitable but slow growing businesses. Such businesses take a long time to go public and do not offer a big enough potential return. Rather, venture capitalists look for companies with the potential of outstanding return on investment. In

40、 Silicon Valley, this potential is often referred to as having an anticipated revenue stream of a hockey stick. Companies engaged in developing high tech breakthroughs are more likely to experience the hockey stick phenomenon than say a chain of fast food restaurants. This is why venture capital goe

41、s to where high tech breakthroughs are being made.While the need to make huge return on investments explains the attraction of venture capital to the high tech industries, it does not explain why Silicon Valley can attract such a disproportionate share of the venture capital. To understand that, it

42、is necessary to examine the culture and other characteristics of Silicon Valley.The Silicon Valley culture and infrastructureIn many ways, Silicon Valley is unique even within the U.S. No other place is as diverse as Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley has room for people from all over the world and they

43、 all come, attracted by the pleasant weather and the diversity of people. Diversity is crucial in high technology because diversity automatically ensures many different ways of thinking and looking at problems leading to a host of solutions. Only in this manner can the best solution be synthesized o

44、ut of contending ideas and emerge as the commercial winner. In a way, high tech innovation is similar to Darwinian survival of the species. Namely, endangered species bordering on extinction suffer from narrow gene pools while healthy species enjoy wide and diverse gene pools. In Silicon Valley toda

45、y, as one indication of its inclusive diversity, over 30% of the companies are founded or managed by immigrants from China, Taiwan and India.The best and brightest are attracted to Silicon Valley not only because of the inclusive nature of this place-certainly overt discrimination because of someone

46、s skin color and other differentiation has largely disappeared. The other reason is that entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley can readily find others of like mind to band together and approach venture capital investors with business plans and proposals. In Silicon Valley, venture capitalists do not refus

47、e to invest on someone just because the particular entrepreneur comes from a failed venture. Since most ventures do fail, the investor gives the entrepreneur credit for having gained valuable experience even if the previous venture failed. This tolerance for failure is crucial in encouraging entrepr

48、eneurs to take risks and start companies. The importance cannot be over emphasized. In Silicon Valley, “it is OK to fail.” No other place has quite the same open-minded attitude.With the success of high tech industries and the growth of venture capital in Silicon Valley, the economic infrastructure

49、also expanded and became part of the environment. Infrastructure needed to support high tech companies include law firms and accounting firms to help them form proper legal structure and organized to meet Securities Exchange regulations with proper stock ownership incentive programs for not just the

50、 founders but also for employees joining the high tech enterprise. The legal and accounting firms also help the venture capital firms structure their investments and keep track of their gains and losses. Other parts of the total infrastructure include public relations and advertising firms that serv

51、e the marketing and communication needs of high tech companies. Investment banks help the companies with initial public offering and follow-on secondary offerings in the equity market and propose mergers. Specialized commercial banks and leasing firms were established just to serve the high tech com

52、panies that more traditional banks dare not touch because the latter did not understand the nature of high tech companies and were frightened by its high mortality rate.An entire profession emerged that called themselves “free lance technical writers.” These writers contract their services to high t

53、ech companies to help them write users manuals, technical brochures and a host of documents to help the companies convey what they have developed to the public. Human capital firms helped high tech companies set employee hiring policies and help locate and recruit people with the needed skill sets.

54、Successful entrepreneurs often retired from active management and became consultants and advisors to venture capital firms and to other start-ups. Arguably the trend to outsourcing gained impetus from Silicon Valley because young start-ups have limited resources and most in need of outside assistanc

55、e. Most models of Apple Computer, for instance, were designed by independent product design services and made by contract manufacturers.Frequently overlooked but a vital part of the Silicon Valley infrastructure is the widespread presence of professional associations. These associations organized al

56、ong industries or common interests meet regularly. Ostensibly, these meetings feature speakers and topics of general interest to its membership. Equally important, these gatherings offer opportunities for professionals to meet regularly with each other and form friendships, to network and exchange i

57、deas and resumes and to assess the potential of each as a future co-founder of the next new start-up enterprise. The Churchill Club meets frequently hosting panel discussions on high tech development and regularly draws an audience of 4-500. AAMA, the oldest Asian American organization in Silicon Va

58、lley, draws 1-200 in their monthly dinner meeting. AAMA used to be known as Asian American Manufacturers Association but since not much was being made in Silicon Valley nowadays, the name was recently changed to Asian American Multi-Technology Association. Younger organizations such as Hua Yuan Scie

59、nce & Technology Association and China Information Networks Association tend to organize their events on weekends and can draw over 1000 young Chinese professional to their events. The Indus Entrepreneurs was organized as network for immigrant professionals from South Asia and widely recognized for not just their conferences but as a breeding ground for many successful high tech enterprises founded by Indians and Pakistanis. Th