Today I went to this event called “East meets West” where a lot of fancy companies from the East basically came to partner with start-ups in the West. Without knowing that this was one of the purposes, I went to check it out as I wanted to educate myself more about technology. And the moderator asked the panelists to describe the relationship between start-ups and big companies.
Samsung Elec. VP: If you describe us as a groom, we are scared that after we decide to get married to the bride (a start-up) that the bride will run away from us after she took all the dowry money.
I almost LOLed.
Translink CEO: I would compare it to interracial dating. It requires the same two principles. First, you have to be patient to learn each other’s culture and what not. Second, you need to manage your expectations. If you set your expectations that don’t match with others, this dating will be unlikely to lead to marriage.
I thought that was the most bizarre analogy I’ve heard. It’s true…but it wasn’t so easy to put that into the context of mergers & acquisitions. After the panel, there was a session of networking. One lesson I learned? Gotta order my business card. It was pretty awkward accepting people’s business cards and not being able to give mine. And to be honest, I was so out of place…as a legal assistant haha. But I did get to meet a lot of Chinese investment bankers. There was this one man who recently retired from IBM and is now a professor in China. When he started speaking in Chinese with me, I busted out one of the few Chinese phrases that I know: “Wo shi Hanguoren.” (I’m Korean). Then he said “Dui bu qi” (Sorry) and then he turned around looking shocked and asked me how I can speak Chinese.
Anyway my feet are now swollen from wearing a pretty pair of shoes that don’t quite fit me well. And I guess I’m a bit tired from meeting strangers. But it was fun. I realized how much we learn by meeting random people.
