(FORTUNE Small Business) – Ta-lin Hsu

COMPANY H&Q Asia Pacific TITLE Chairman and founder AGE 59 GOAL To fund startups aimed at the Asian market WEBSITE www.HQAP.com

BONA FIDES Manages $1.8 billion investment fund based in Palo Alto.

PROTEGES Silicon Valley-based ISP Gric Communications, which went public in 1999, and hard-drive-component manufacturer Headway Holdings, which was acquired by TDK last year.

INVESTMENT APPROACH Leverages international contacts for globally minded startups with sights set on Asia.

TURN-ONS Having co-founded Asian-American networking groups in the Valley, Hsu favors fostering companies founded by Asian Americans.

TURNOFFS Disrespect. "I hope people don't think we're dumb money. In the past, some thought Asian investors just wanted to get into venture capital. But we manage the smartest money in the world."

FACTOIDS Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley; spent 12 years at IBM. Chinese-born Ta-lin Hsu moved to Taiwan in 1949 and to the U.S. in 1965. "I'm a global villager."