LAS VEGAS -- A Silicon Valley startup is looking for people with the wrong stuff.
Neovo is a Santa Clara, California, subsidiary of Associated Industries of Taiwan, which makes containers for ocean liners. It wants to diversify and participate in the booming US tech market.
The parent company decided that to survive in the high-risk startup market, it needed a management team that has tasted the agony of defeat. So it has been recruiting people with previous experience at having crashed and burned.
"If you hit a home run the first time out, you don't learn that much," said sales manager Michael Wong.
Wong is the only US employee at the moment, but the company is actively looking for people with tainted resumes. "It is an inside joke at the company that we only hire people who have failed," Wong said.
Wong worked for Total, a PC company that died because computers had "become a commodity market."
Neovo doesn't have a detailed strategy yet - it only has some rough-hewn LCD panel prototypes to show off at Comdex -- but it does have the luxury of a sole backer with tons of cash.
"We have a big sugar daddy" said Wong.
To draw attention to the booth, the board of directors of Associated Industries lent out one of his 40 rare Roll Royces, a striking yellow and black 1932 Phantom II limousine.
"It shows that we have class and are serious, and are not just for show, like a Lamborghini or Porsche."
