Government Subsidies Struggle to Produce Great Startups: Exceptional Companies Are Not Born in Review Committees

[Family passage omitted] Here is how I see it. Taiwan’s public budgeting is governed by a very comprehensive—and complicated—set of rules and procedures. Whether the outcome is good or bad is one thing. Officials are often more concerned with whether the process is rigorous and whether it contains any flaw that could be criticized. Civil servants generally protect themselves first, particularly where money, budgets, and subsidies are involved. Procedural flaws can expose them to substantial legal risk. As a result, even officials who want to help develop Taiwan’s startup environment remain constrained by the entire system and its procedures. Taiwan also has budget, accounting, and audit bodies supervising the process. These are inherent limitations of public officials and public budgets. I also believe something else: great startups will not emerge if everything follows prescribed processes, rules, and systems. Confining startups within a rigorous and fair review system produces only ordinary companies. There is essentially no room for startup unicorns in that picture. I think Taiwan’s government can establish an environment and mechanisms that encourage startups, but should not intervene too much. Let markets and the private economy develop freely. A startup unicorn built through subsidies is not necessarily internationally competitive. I hesitate to bring up Gogoro, but consider how much the Taiwanese government has invested in it directly and indirectly, including subsidies for consumers buying electric vehicles, support for building battery-swapping stations, and direct investment. Excessive subsidies cannot create a globally competitive company. A startup that wants to become a unicorn should, from the outset, avoid being confined by Taiwan’s institutional framework or expecting too much government nurturing and financial support. It should face international markets directly and persuade domestic and overseas investors. Let’s keep working at it together! ---- I believe exceptional companies will never emerge from review procedures, committee meetings, and consensus, much less from systems, rules, and subsidies. In their early stages, at least half the people who see them will wonder, ‘What are you doing? Does this have a future?’ They grow, become stronger, and prove themselves amid that uncertainty. Startup luminary Paul Graham’s first reaction to Airbnb was along the lines of: ‘Have you three young people lost your minds? Why would anyone want to stay in a stranger’s home or let strangers stay in their own?’ Yet Airbnb was ultimately accepted not because of the idea—at least one-third of YC companies change direction during the accelerator program—but because Graham admired the three young founders’ resilience through the hardships of entrepreneurship. He was moved by their indomitable spirit. I also often say that you should not expect everyone to like or agree with your startup idea. Find people you admire. Then, along the way, prove the doubters wrong and gradually bring them onto your side. Moving from most people doubting you to many people recognizing and adopting what you offer—that is the entrepreneurial journey.