Bill Tai
Co-Founder at ACTAI Ventures
Bill Tai is founding chairman of ACTAI Ventures, a venture capital firm he co-founded with Amanda Terry that invests alongside a global community of entrepreneurs. Trained as a chip designer, he began his career at LSI Logic before an MBA at Harvard and early work with TSMC. Tai has backed start-ups since 1991, was the first investor in Zoom, and an early backer of Canva, Wish and Dapper Labs; 23 of his portfolio companies have listed publicly. He has also helped connect Silicon Valley capital to Australian ventures including Canva, SafetyCulture and Blackbird Ventures.
In their own words
From Bill Tai highlights the key similarities and differences between Silicon Valley and Australia · The History of the Australian Startup Ecosystem - Interview SeriesIf you get a bad market and a great team and infinite money, you'll lose money every time.
Career
- Now Co-Founder · ACTAI Ventures
- Earlier Personal investment vehicle · KiteVC
- Earlier Partner (deep tech investing) · Charles River Ventures (CRV)
- Earlier · Scale-up Founder & CEO · iAsiaWorks
- From 1987 Helped establish the company (employee badge #1) · TSMC
- Earlier Electrical engineer · LSI Logic
Sources: forbes.com.au
Key moments
Jump straight to the part of Bill Tai highlights the key similarities and differences between Silicon Valley and Australia you want.
- 0:31 Meet Bill Tai
- 0:45 Bill's Experience with Zoom
- 1:26 Bill's First Exposure to the Startup World
- 2:38 Comparisons Between Silicon Valley and Australia
- 3:28 Government Policies and Startup Ecosystem
- 4:02 The Importance of Equity for Employees
- 5:21 Bill's Journey to Australia
- 7:57 The Birth of the Startup Competition
- 10:25 Meeting Melanie Perkins
- 11:54 Formation of the OSAP Awards
Connections
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