Swimming with Asian Sharks - Business Secrets from the Pacific Rim

Ph.D. Sharks

That day we were back in Hong Kong for a fresh set of meetings with Mr. Cunning and this guy Mr. Wong. Mr. Cunning is a very big shark; at first I thought he was a bigger shark than Mr. Wong, but after some time, I realized that he was not.  The meeting with Mr. Cunning and Mr. Wong was about e-commerce.  They wanted me to be in a partnership with them, something like a 50/50, as I was the expert in the field.  My immediate thought was that 50/50 partnerships don't work.  If a project doesn't have a leader, the project is not going to happen. The meeting progressed, and they were hinting strongly that I should partner with them and take the lead.  At this point, I'd been to a few of these business meetings, and I knew they were just trying to take advantage of my leadership and enthusiasm. I just stopped them and basically said, “I know what I can do. I know I can make this thing a reality, so the question is what do I need you guys for?” I didn’t put it in such blunt terms, but essentially that was what I said. I said, “If you guys want to take a part of this, I will be leading the project with 51%.” Apparently, Mr. Wong was not very impressed by this, saying that we all bring our parts to the table and it would make sense to give shares based on that experience. I wouldn't have any of it; I sensed a bunch of sharks, and a bunch of talkers, not doers. I killed that initiative; we ended up not doing that e-commerce in Hong Kong because I didn't see anyone worth partnering with. Also, I began to be able to identify sharks looking for a cheap dinner, and started to say no to these types of meetings.