The promotion of startup is one of the important policies in many countries. To attract international startups and recruit talents, the government of Taiwan loosened regulations, promoted the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and established the Startup Terrace Linkou. They are all important measures for attracting international startups. However, when talking about startups, the entrepreneurial energy is not as strong as that of the markets in Silicon Valley, Israel and other Southeast Asia countries, where the governments also offered a lot of supports. In 2017, Louis Consulting established the STARTBOARD accelerator, playing the role of private diplomacy to support startups.
In recent years, the government has vigorously promoted the New Southbound Policy to establish industrial supply chain with countries in Southeast Asia. The Southeast Asian market is a battlefield in Asia that cannot be ignored. The average age of the people in Southeast Asia is low and the demographic potential is high. There are more than 600 million people in Southeast Asia alone, accounting for more than 8% of the global population. When startups and talents continue to come to Taiwan, how to establish a friendly entrepreneurial environment and assist startups in entering the market of Taiwan is quite important.
Louis Consulting is a domestic legal consulting company with long history. It has been established in Taiwan for 20 years, providing mainly corporate legal consultation services. To attract innovative startups and talents around the world, the government of Taiwan relaxed the entry barrier for entrepreneurial visas 5 years ago, allowing talents to come to Taiwan. Aiming for the potential business opportunities, Louis Consulting in 2017 established STARTBOARD and stationed in the Startup Terrace Linkou, providing one-stop services that help foreigners and startups from Southeast Asia settle in Taiwan.
The services provided by STARTBOARD include company establishment application and registration, entrepreneur visas for foreigners, bank account opening, investment review meeting document preparation and application, patent and trademark applications, legal consultation, helping connect with government resources, angel investors and strategic partner match-making, etc.
The Intention to Start a Business is Simple, Helping Foreign Friends to Start a Career in Taiwan
Zhi-Fu Lin started his business with a simple intention; he just wanted to help his friends from Southeast Asia and India to start a career in Taiwan. Due to language and cultural differences, many foreigners are not easy to find resources and start a business in Taiwan. Therefore, STARTBOARD not only offers basic services such as visa application, it also helps startups connect with corporate resources. Zhi-Fu Lin believes that if we "take good care of the foreigners who come to Taiwan, they will also treat us the same when we visit their countries". Such belief of Zhi-Fu Lin has won him the reputation of non-governmental diplomat in the industry.
Zhi-Fu Lin has both law and science background. After graduation, he has served as a project manager in Global Brands Management Association, as well as several law firms and patent offices, allowing him to meet with the management of many private organizations and politicians, and helping him to accumulate diverse professional capabilities. After establishing STARTBOARD, PwC Taiwan, KPMG Taiwan, Deloitte Taiwan, Wistron, and Global Brands Management Association, which had cooperated with Zhi-Fu Lin in the past, have come from near and far to become important partners and practitioners of STARTBOARD, offering assistance to startups.
Currently STARTBOARD provides services to nearly 30 startups and also help promote Taiwanese culture. The word-of-mouth and market experience accumulated over the years have made STARTBOARD the first accelerator to consider when the startups from Southeast Asian countries plan to start a business in Taiwan. Moreover, when startups are looking for overseas talents, STARTBOARD is the accelerator that will first come to their mind. This made STARTBOARD an important connector for talents in Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries.
Zhi-Fu Lin said that more than 90% of the startups served by STARTBOARD have received investment from entrepreneurs. While helping international talents to successfully start businesses in Taiwan, we are also helping Taiwanese brands and enterprises find new business models and opportunities to enter the markets in the countries of the New Southbound Policy. Zhi-Fu Lin worked hard to build the relationship with the local embassy, the industries and the government, establishing a good interaction. These connections have become the advantages for startups to explore in the countries of the New Southbound Policy.
STARTBOARD entered Thailand last year and established a Thailand office to provide one-stop service for startups. In addition, it also holds a large entrepreneurship exchange expo with Depa Thailand every year. For other places like the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and India, local partner accelerators are available to help startups settle in the countries of the New Southbound Policy. Zhi-Fu Lin said that only by taking good care of the talents from the Southeast Asian countries and their families who come to Taiwan can a friendly mutual exchange be achieved.
A successful ecosystem requires the combination of many different factors. STARTBOARD focuses on startups from the Southeast Asian countries, and patiently offers support, consultation and assistance. We will continue to accompany startups in various stages of their development from 0-10 and strive to use the brand to tell the story. While serving the startups from the Southeast Asian countries, we also bring Taiwan's outstanding startups to the world!
As a startup accelerator and based on the long-term observation of the market, Zhi-Fu Lin found that many industries in Taiwan can cooperate with the industries in the Southeast Asian countries to enter the world markets together. In order to develop a new economy, Taiwan needs to embrace innovation and requires more talents with vision to join in, bringing more vitality to the startup circle in Taiwan.