08.20.09
Was I crazy to leave a big company?
It has been almost 2 years since I left HP. Most of my family thought I was crazy to leave such as highly paid yet COZY job, especially when I was only months away from my 2nd new born baby. I left behind a large option pool priced at $20s when HP stock was flying high at $50/share. Even when I saw my auntie in Shanghai 1 month ago, she was still asking me why. Thinking back, I am glad that I took a leap of faith and started on my own. I guess entrepreneurship is not for everyone, that’s why not a lot of people enjoy taking that risk. It is one of the most rewarding journeys in my life. It feels absolutely thrilling yet lonely at the same time. It is fun and adventurous. Most of all, when things get accomplished, I know I made a difference.
Boundary Free now covers 2 business dimensions:
1) We own and operate a network of web sites that currently attract around half a million visitors per month and growing fast. I am happy that not only the sites are designed, developed and operated by yours truly with a programming language I never touched before (PHP), we spent almost zero on marketing and promotion. This is probably the dirtiest startup I have involved in my life that is truly bootstrapped from zero with no funding and no resources. Not because we can’t spend, but we chose not to because I want to see whether it is possible to be a poor entrepreneur at this day and age and make it. I won’t go through that process again, but it does build characters 
We still have a long way to go, but so far so good.
2) We act as co-investor, advisor and partner to venture capitalists and help their companies with strategy, business development and implementation. We concentrate on helping companies expand into China and help Asian companies expand in the region and into the US. We work closely with Cybernaut Capital Management, a large China focused fund started by Min Zhu who was the founder of Webex, a good friend and one of a few people I truly respect, on Education and Clean Tech. We also work with Baring Equity Asia, a $1.5B fund on cloud computing and IT technologies. I am also an advisor to a cross border fund called China Century Fund. The only exception was with Cisco, a company that I am still very fond of. I was fortunate enough to work with a group of great people and helped Cisco design its China 3.0 education strategy that includes training, certification, and publishing. The world is getting smaller, education is one of the best ways to give back and help people who are less fortunate.
It is an incredible journey that gives me time to think, build and test my own boundary. The reason the company name is boundary free is that I believe human spirit, capability and what we can accomplish are truly boundary free. If our minds are open to new opportunities and we are willing to give 100% of ourselves to the goal, I think everyone of us would be able to break the boundary set by the society and become “boundary free”.
