One of the biggest challenges for any investor (regardless of the stage/type of investment they target) and founders alike is hiring great talent. In early stage investing the team may be the single criteria upon which an investment decision is based (considering how many times when that’s all there is to go by) and even in later/growth stages, while the founding team has been historically crucial, bringing someone new in to help “get the company to the next level” can be the difference between investing or not.
This is a good example of how differences in culture can have an impact on how managing a startup varies from one location to the next. Personally, I think HK is in a good position as far as potential outlook on how to get things done, but I also that the issue of being open and collaborative needs to change here if startups as a group will be successful.