David Chao: A businessman with a passion

The year was 1995, and the time was 5:46 am.

Just as commuters in Japan were starting their journey into work, an earthquake struck Kobe. In the 20 seconds or so that the temblor shook the city of 10 million on Tuesday, Jan 17, more than 5,000 people were killed and 36,000 injured.

The quake also destroyed the home of David Chao's parents in the city in south-central Japan where he was born to a mother from Shanghai and a father from Northeast China.

"Many of our family friends were killed and I went back to Japan to help my parents coming out of a shelter. The usual one-hour bus ride from the airport to my home took 20 hours, and the situation was devastating," recalls Chao. ``At that moment I realized life was so fragile, we could die any moment and a person should really do what he wants to do and follow his heart. So I quit my job and immediately started my own business.''

Today, that business — DCM, a venture capital investment firm based in Menlo Park, California — manages more than $2.5 billion and since 1999 has invested in over 200 companies across China, Japan and the US.

The company's most known IPOs are Fortinet, Clearwire, Kabu.com, 51job, 58.com, Renren, Dangdang, and Vipshop, the last of which went public in 2012 with a market cap then of $600 million and now more than $7.1 billion.

Chao attributes his success to his cross-culture background, having partners very involved in China, close ties with local partners, and good chemistry between team members at DCM, where he is co-founder and general partner.

Beyond focusing on his business, Chao's passion has been public service, specifically helping Chinese professionals in Silicon Valley as well as China, and Chinese students who study in the United States.

Chao was elected as president of Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association (HYSTA) in 2014, one of the largest engineering associations in North America with more than 7,500 members.

Camera: Qidong Zhang

Video: Bonnie Wong

Supervising Producer: Calvin Zhou, Zhang Yuwei

Senior Producer: Larry Lee, Wang Linyan