1. Chemical/Material Startups in the US R.C. Liang CEO & Founder, Trillion Science Mountain View, CA Co-founder & Ex-President, CTO & Vice Chairman, SiPix Group Fremont, CA

2. From CRT to Flexible Displays & Format Flexible ePaper ~100 years ago ~30 years ago ? ? ~1000 years ago

3. Roll-able Microcup EPDs (SiPix)

4. R.C. Liang Current CEO & President, Trillion Science, Mountain View, CA Director & Adjunct Professor, Scientific Advisory Board, Center for the Photochemical Sciences, Bowling Green State Univ., Ohio. Advisor, SiPix Group, Fremont, CA Past  President, Vice Chairman, CTO & Cofounder, SiPix Imaging, Fremont, CA (1999-2005)  Executive Advisor, Electronic Materials, BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany ` (2005)  Research Fellow and Program Director, Polaroid Corp., MA (1990-1999)  Research Fellow and Group Manager, Mead Imaging, OH (1986-1990)  Research Assistant Professor, Imaging Inst., Polytechnic Univ., NY (1985- 1986) More than 120 US Patents & Applications.

5. Advantages of Chemical/Material Suppliers for the Electronic Industry Insignificant capital investment compared with TFT and semiconductor foundry Once well recognized by the technical world as the enabling technology/product: Very attractive profit margin Very low operational expenses Very low expense for product promotion High entrance barrier for new comers

6. Worldwide FPD Market - Most key materials/components are controlled by Japanese and US companies.

7. Cost Structure of a 40” LCD TV The material cost accounts for 75% of the total manufacturing cost. ---Information Display, 22(2), p 12 (2006)--- Great opportunities for Chemicals/Material Scientists & Engineers

8. Issues for Chemical/Material Startups General Issues: Huge upfront capital expenses: equipment for analytical, QA/QC, characterization, product & process development, pilot plant…etc. Huge environmental expenses: Hood, waste (gas, water, solid) handling, safety equipment…etc Long product development cycle time : 5-10 years (>3-5 years) Difficult to raise funding For Electronic applications (Semiconductors & Displays)  Long product qualification time (1-2 years)  Short product life time (could be <1 year)  The product is often an insignificant cost factor in the final device (could be <1%, mostly <5%)  Very high entrance barrier to nail down the 1st customer  Hidden competition from (potential) customer’s vertical integration

9. From Technical/Business Ideas to Startup - Business/Marketing strategy -Tech/Product roadmap - IP strategy - Staffing/Budget plan - P/L (profit/loss) plan - Share distribution plan Technical Proposal Prior art analysis Feasibility Studies On paper Business Plan Scenario analysis Marketing analysis Competitive- ness analysis Startup - Recruiting - Implementation 1 st run Market Driven? Tech Driven? 2 nd run 3 rd run Fund raising meetings & presentations Angel Fund Idea

10. The Fate of a Startup Startup Leading Technology Company Taken over by... Liquidation by investors Google, Broadcom, Qualcom Biogen, Amgen…etc