When ZaraCom Technologies Inc., took the grand prize=97and $25,000=97in
the Smith School=92s third annual China Business Plan Competition, it
was the end of a long and arduous journey. Their win, which was
announced on Sept. 10, 2007 at TsingHua Innovation Plaza in Beijing,
was the culmination of the yearlong competition that began with more
than 200 strong competitors.
ZaraCom=92s software uses artificial intelligence to help wireless
carriers optimize their wireless networks, the huge infrastructure
that makes mobile phones possible. ZaraCom software can potentially
save wireless carriers billions of dollars by reducing the need for
some of the highly specialized and enormously expensive equipment the
networks use.
ZaraCom was established in 2002 by Jeffrey Chang, a doctoral student
and researcher who was interested in network optimization and was
planning to put his software on a Web site for free download. Lisa
Chan, a co-worker, convinced him to try to develop a marketable
product instead.
ZaraCom co-developed a prototype of its software with KDDI, a large
wireless carrier in Japan, and then spun itself off as a separate
company. They were referred to the China Business Plan competition by
Tien Wong, an entrepreneur-in-residence with the Smith School=92s
Dingman Center for Entrepreneur****p and CEO of Opus8.
=93I was quite nervous because the other participants were all very
outstanding. We didn=92t really expect to win. I think two out of the
five finalist companies were already break-even, so their performance
was excellent. I do think we had a good business model, and the
judges
were looking for that,=94 says Chan. =93We tried to simplify the language
and not focus on the technology, which turned out to be a winning
strategy.=94
What=92s the next big step for ZaraCom? Right now they are working with
China Mobile to plan a wireless network that can handle the influx of
visitors the country expects for the 2008 Bejing Olympics. The
company
has an ongoing relation****p with the Dingman Center, which is
providing them with advice on fundraising and business development.
They are also poised to make the most of the momentum from their
competition win.
=93After we won first place we got more angel investors in Singa****e,
China, Japan, Taiwan, and the United States,=94 says Chan. =93The
competition helped us gain the funding we needed to continue to build
our company, penetrate the worldwide market more aggressively and
continue to develop new technology.=94
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