Case study: Kingston Technology’s founder
His name is John Tu, co-founder and CEO of Kingston Technology which is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products in Fountain Valley, Callif …. He is Chinese. The reason why our group selects Tu to discuss is that he is in his 70 ages but still dynamic and youthful. He gives us energy and motivation to become a successful entrepreneur as him.
John Tu was born in China, grew up in Taiwan, and studied electrical engineering in Germany before immigrating to Southern California. There Tu met David Sun, and the two began selling computer memory back in the 1980s. Eventually they sold their first company for $6 million, and started another organization, Kingston Technologies. In 1996, he and Sun sold 80% of Kingston to Softbank for $1.5 billion, and in 1999 they repurchased those shares for $450 million. During 2007-2008 recessions, the company still successfully remained thanks to emerging markets like Brazil, India, China and Russia. Last report has shown that annual revenue of the company in 2010 was $6.5 billion. Kingston is now known as the largest private computer memory company in the United States, he and Sun still do their work from cubicles in the center of the sales floor.
His success is a result of his earnest endeavors in this whole life. He possesses numerous good characteristics convenient for becoming a success entrepreneur.
Firstly, he is a risk-taking person who is willing to face many challenges in his life. He started to living abroad without his parent right after his high school. Before in this moment, it is a really big challenge for a young person to live in the new place without parents. But he did it. He wanted to study electrical engineering, because of this he decided to work for ship building factory, worked as a cheap labor and he had to tough it out.
When he could not make his savings with a gift shop, he shifted to another type of business to become a landlord, which required a huge financial resource and a big challenge to remain. But he could earn some money.
The Black Monday happened in 1987, and he lost all the money he had. But they believed that “Crisis is a favourable turn”. Together, they built the company back up step by step, until they became the top independent memory company. John said, “The day the market crashed was the beginning of our American Dream. Had we not lost everything I guarantee you that there may not be a Kingston Technology.”
(In 1987, David Sun made a bet with his partner, John Tu, that their start-up company would survive for a year. If he won the wager, Sun would get a Jaguar. After 3 years, Tu handed Sun the keys to a new car. Kingston Technology Corp. had made it without a penny of venture capital. In 1989 its sales of add-on components for personal computers exceeded $140 million. "It was a foolish bet," Tu, president, said recently. "I didn't think we were going to last six months.”)
Secondly, he has a high capacity of adaptability and strong resistance. He moved from China to many other places in the world, Shanghai, Taiwan, Germany and USA. These countries have different cultural and living styles, but he can adapt very well in these new domiciles, conquer the language barrier. Even when he met many difficulties when his life conditions are not really comfortable, he still can cope with this. "Once you leave Chinese culture," says Tu, "you have to make it or you can never go back?".
He is also really intelligent, creative. When he met David Sun, he then thought about the idea of making memory modules compatible with DEC’s machine which charge less and then can make profit for company.
As an entrepreneur, he has shown a sense of responsibility. Until 1996, the company got many successful with a value of $1.8 billion. After talking with SoftBank’s founder, Masayoshi Sun, he decided to sell the company for 80% and gave bonuses to their 450 employees. This action also shock the other US companies,