Make the WORLD
FUN and CREATIVE
160,000,000 installs around the world!
WHO LOVES PICCOLLAGE?
Greeting cards
TALK TO USERS
To increase retention,
improve activation rate.
It's easier to activate
interested users
than to find new ones.
Improve monetization
through A/B testing
Company
Incorporated as Delaware C Corporation
operating in State of California
with a Taiwan branch company
Launched PicCollage app in 2011
Raised $2.7 million in seed funding in 2011-2012
from Silicon Valley.
24 full time employees, 10 interns (mostly in Taipei)
Operating profitably with over $2M in annual revenue
Hack Day
Retreat
Team
Team
Taiwan: strengths
Good infrastructure (MRT, Internet)
Quality of living (health insurance, safety, pleasant,
Quality of living (health insurance, safety, pleasant,
cleaner air than China)
Strong engineering talent (especially in hardware and firmware)
Strong engineering talent (especially in hardware and firmware)
Strong hardware supply chain (ODMs, suppliers)
Taiwan - "The Heart of Asia"
Not part of China - political, social, internet freedoms
Taiwan: weaknesses
Difficulty to find experienced designers,
product managers, software managers.
Immature ecosystem (for software startups),
relative lack of funding
relative lack of funding
Small domestic market
Difficult to enter China market (despite shared language)
Less dynamic, more hierarchical (compared to Silicon Valley)
Difficult to enter China market (despite shared language)
Less dynamic, more hierarchical (compared to Silicon Valley)
Tips for making it work
#1. Facilitate remote work
Google Hangout, Slack, Trello
#2. Need to overcommunicate
#3. Create an International Team
==> Travel / Housing / Visas
Los Angeles Mountain View
#4. Magnify your presence
