Bill Tam

President, BCTIA

I am originally form Hong Kong, I moved to Vancouver when I was very young. Canada, I think, for many people from China, offers a lot of opportunities to raise a family. Canada has great educational system, health benefits and services, and some fantastic educational opportunities. So, I had the opportunity of study at McGill University, did my Bachelor of Electrical Engineering there, and also received a Master of Business Administration from Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario.

" Yes, I think the things we often provide to entrepreneurs in our Centre4Growth program is the opinion what we will do around supporting the growth of companies. We have supported over 400 companies over last few years, and these companies have grown quite substantially well in that time period, because the resources of mentorship and coaching we provided. "- Bill Tam

《Caifu Magazine》: Thank you for your time and participation, Mr. Tam. Over the past several years, you have been actively involved in growth initiatives with a successful history of building and launching new businesses in the software, e-commerce, Internet, and telecommunications sectors. Please tell me about yourself first.

Bill Tam: I am originally form Hong Kong, I moved to Vancouver when I was very young. Canada, I think, for many people from China, offers a lot of opportunities to raise a family. Canada has great educational system, health benefits and services, and some fantastic educational opportunities. So, I had the opportunity of study at McGill University, did my Bachelor of Electrical Engineering there, and also received a Master of Business Administration from Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario.
I subsequently worked in the telecommunication sector for Bell Canada. Also, Rogers. I was always on the new product area. So, within those large companies, I always have a desire to become more entrepreneurial at work. And a few years after that, I found an opportunity to go to work at a startup company. A startup company that was building telecommunication networks across the country. I joined with 11 people’s company, called MetroNet, and we grew that from 11 people to 1300 people, and we grew substantially the size of the organization. We went to public and automatically did emerge with AT&T in 1999. That value of the company was at about 3 billion dollars, of course, with pretty heavy time in the late 1990s in North America. After that, I had chance to do some investing as a venture capitalist. Myself is a partner invested in a number of technology companies in Western Canada. That’s how I found myself to Vancouver. Now, I have been here for ten years, did another startup company between then and now, it’s called EQO Communications. That startup company actually did have quite a number of customers in China.

We built, essentially the first mobile application for Skype. We’ve developed a service that removes the barriers of high cost or hassle to international mobile calling, helping people stay connected around the world using the application on their mobile phones. But unfortunately, when the economic downturn happened in 2008, we were unsuccessful raising our financing. As a consequence, we ended it up selling the company to variety different companies in Vancouver. However, that became an opportunity to me to do some coaching and support for companies here in BCTIA. They were starting a program called Centre4Growth. This program is all about having mentors and coaches who have ran companies to help the next generation’s companies to achieve success. There was something that I was quite lie on the philology on it. Over the years, I had the opportunity to take over the leadership of the organization and that’s where I have been for the last three years. It’s really a great platform to try to have an impact on the health and well-being of the technology community here in BC.

《Caifu Magazine》: How would you character the state of BC's High-Tech industry?

Bill Tam: Since the dark days of 2008, I think it affected most geographies except, of course, in China where was very prosperous through that downturn. But certainly here in BC, what we saw was many companies now have really grown since that time. Technology industry has never been stronger in BC. The last two years, particularly we can see the raise of number of companies that are started and made some significant progresses as global players. Company, such as Westport Innovation, which is a well-known big company for its natural gas engines in China. So, we have a quite strong of clean sector that has come over the last number years. Of course, many of those companies realize the big potential and find many opportunities in the Chinese market. Particularly because the area is around climate change, environmental awareness are things on top of the minds that are increasingly in China. So everything from companies likes Westport that has grown quite significantly. Companies in the information communications technology space, like Hootsuite, Visual Critical, they’ve done quite well in North America. Not really Chinese present yet, but, you know, perhaps someday there will be some cooperation that can be done there.

《Caifu Magazine》: In your decade long experience, why is it that BC and the Tech industry go together so well?

Bill Tam: That’s a very great question. I think most of what have grown up in the technology industry in BC is actually resorted supporting from the resource industries. So there are some direct correlations there. If you go back in time to the origin of tech-industry, which is probably in the late 1960s or late 1970s, a lot of works have been done. The early work was actually for mapping data, for forest industry and the mining industry. If we take a look at some of the earlier accounting system, ACCPAC was one of the original sorts of software product that was built for accounting. It is now part of SAGE, which is a very large accounting software provider. But that was developed and support of the needs of forest industry requirement surrounding accounting practices. So there are some direct connection points there. At the same time, we see the outcropping of technologies that people are interested in doing something that is knowledge based involved. I think being in BC, we naturally have pretty positions to sort of environmental stewardship, clean technology things. People find themselves in the position where they prefer in many cases to work on. You know, clean technology, information technology, things like that. Because it just is very characteristic of BC.

《Caifu Magazine》: What do you think why BC remains one of the world's most attractive locations for technology talent and businesses?

Bill Tam: BC, I think, because it’s origins as a real pioneering province. We never had a significant industrial based to start with. So, what we have is sort of natural access, of course, the resources that we find available to us, but also the human resource that we find available to us. The spirit of entrepreneurship has always been very strong abandoned here in BC. It is said, that strength of entrepreneurship actually led to rise so many technology companies over the years. There are 9000 technology companies in BC that employ over 90,000 skilled professionals today. We have more people that work in startup companies in BC than anywhere else in the country. I think it is a testament to the wiliness of people to take risks and try to do something on their own. It is a spirit that I am sure shared by many that living in China who are for the first time having an opportunity to make their own fortunes to build something substantial on their own. So I think in that regard, we share lots of same philosophies.

《Caifu Magazine》: If you are allowed to use one word to describe the trend of BC’s High-Tech industry, what is it? Hot?

Bill Tam: Try to think about it, a word has more symbols than hot. But there is no question that Vancouver and BC are definitely hot places for technology right now. I think the real opportunity for us is really abandoned. Because we have got a lot of characters of necessary to really grow a substantial skill. We have got the best universities and post-secondary institutions. I think we have got also natural connection point with China and Asian markets. There are lots of opportunities for market access. As we can look at some of the challenges that we published a report with the collaboration with KPMG last week, we certainly are looking for fully capitalizing these companies with venture capital or risk capital to help and support their growth, and looking for what we used to build sustainable partnerships and attract more talent in order to for helping these companies to grow.

《Caifu Magazine》: In the past few years, many big international companies, such as Microsoft, Facebook, set their offices in Vancouver. But based on my observation, there is no Chinese big company to do so. Why?

Bill Tam: Thank you, Bobo. That’s a very good question. In some respects, I think it’s probably a function of the relative size of Vancouver market as a destination point. I would ask a question, do these Chinese companies have operations in North America today? Most logical places for companies consider building operations in San Francisco or New York, especially they are coming from China. But what the find is that, it make sense that establish another operation and the next operation is generally where Vancouver is very competitive. From the standpoint of having pools of talent and businesses environment for them to actually build another location if they will. So I think it is a first crossover into North America, generally speaking, look at Los Angeles first, but then Vancouver ranks very high on the next list.

《Caifu Magazine》: Please give us an outlook. What's the future of BC's High-Tech? Do you think Vancouver will become the next Silicon Valley?

Bill Tam: Well, actually we have been trying to change the language around what Vancouver is, because it is quite distinct from Silicon Valley. Over the years, I spent a lot of time in Silicon Valley and nearly moved there. The fact is Silicon Valley is no Vancouver. There is no question that Silicon Valley is the epitome of a tech ecosystem with entrepreneurs, startups, venture capital and chutzpah all rolled into a 200 square mile patch of largely uninhabitable landscape. But Vancouver is just unique as its own way and it is so much more than Silicon Valley, I think. It is one of the best places to live in the world and it is the hottest place to draw more entrepreneurs per capita than anywhere else in Canada. Many global tech companies like Sony Imageworks, Amazon, Microsoft, SAP, Schneider Electric, Intel and Electronic Arts have all made Vancouver home.

I think we stand poised to more than double the size of the industry over the next 10 years. If we trace it back from 1993, technology industry in BC was only 4 billion dollars in size. Now, it is 23 billon in size and is growing roughly about 7% a year. I think our opportunities are growing much faster than that and I think we need some help from other markets in order to achieve that growth. Export is a big part and can drive the growth. I think we can get 50 billion. The 50 billion within reach possibly by the terms of 2020. So, that is really the goal that we have set out is that if we can double the size of the industry in the time frame, then we will achieve certainly potential that we have seen before.

《Caifu Magazine》: Do you think enough is being done by the BC government to promote High-Tech?

Bill Tam: It is an opportunity that requires the participation of many stakeholders. Government is just one of them. The government certainly is very support of some of the policies that are in place. Like the angel tax program, for investors who invest in early stage technology companies as angel investors, they can get a 30% refundable tax credits on their investments. If it is built into their RSP, obviously not impact on their tax credits is more significant. So that helps to create a number of startup companies. Also, the policies around supporting the research development program that federal government set up, which is called scientific research experimental development program, has also benefit for many companies. And they have many initiatives arranging from the life science area, Michael Smith Foundation and so on, they are doing some very specific funding research to help look at the outcomes in particular ways. BC has always be the real leader in those areas to the things they done to try to help and support the growth of the company in the information technology side. Going forward, I think it is a whole new ball game. Once we pass a certain level, what we are looking for is probably embracing of the challenges that we still face in this industry and are involved around solving the issues of accessing the venture capital.

《Caifu Magazine》: What's the role of BCTIA? Can you give us a briefly introduce of this organization?

Bill Tam: Sure. The BC Technology Industry Association (BCTIA) has for 20 years been a champion of the technology industry in BC. It is a not-for-profit organization that officially incorporated in 1993 and supports the development, growth, and advancement of technology companies located in BC. Our missions, as you can find it on our website, are accelerate-driving business growth to create a tech powerhouse in BC and a global beacon of innovation for Canada, Community-strengthen BC’s tech ecosystem through initiatives that build collaboration, partnerships, and relationships, and Connect-building companies through connections that matter: mentors, customers, partners, and investors.

BC has long cultivated a vibrant technology industry with a proud history of innovation, outstanding talent and market leaders across the major sectors of information technology, wireless, digital media, clean tech and life sciences. So, I think Vancouver is the best place to grow a tech company, and that really means that our work effort is focused on seriously helping companies grow and succeed. BCTIA enjoys a unique position in having fostered strong relationships with the technology community, supporting organizations and government partners to promote and strengthen the industry as a whole in BC.

《Caifu Magazine》: What advice would you give aspiring entrepreneurs, especially those who are still in school and trying to figure out how to attract investment?

Bill Tam: Yes, I think the things we often provide to entrepreneurs in our Centre4Growth program is the opinion what we will do around supporting the growth of companies. We have supported over 400 companies over last few years, and these companies have grown quite substantially well in that time period, because the resources of mentorship and coaching we provided. When we deal with the entrepreneurs, what we often talk about is getting the foundation right, figuring out where are the market’s opportunities where they can apply their knowledge and technologies. Ultimately, it is also to build the culture norms to help them understand that it is not a straight line in terms of having businesses grow and there are lots of “bombs” along the way. Through it all, it is about having the right passion and commitment to what they are doing. Also, there are a lot can be learnt in schools through peer exchange by sharing related stories. So as relate to students who are looking at entrepreneurship and seeking opportunities in technology area, our advices are often try to emerge yourself in the environment and in the community where these companies exist, go to those sorts of events and venues where you can actually interact with lots of folks. If you can’t, maybe you can go to work at one of these companies for a while, and you will really get a good taste of what it means to do that. If you wish to pursue that, you will have all the connections necessary to succeed.