China's own Steve Jobs set to lead voice technology sector(2)

Liu plays down the fact he shares his birthday with the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs, but stressed that he too wanted to play an integral role in the next wave of market demand and innovation.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

However, iFLYTEK road to success was beset with twists and turns.

In 1999 when Liu was in his second year of a doctorate degree at USTC, he founded Anhui USTC iFLYTEK Co. LTD. with five other students and a dozen young men, all of whom were under 30 years old.

The R&D, marketing and other departments squeezed in an old three-room apartment that measured less than 100 square meters. But even from these humble beginnings, they dreamed of establishing a company to rival Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs.

"We put so much effort into our startup, usually working till 3 or 4 a.m., and then having to head to class at 8 a.m. We were sleep deprived but we were never tired. We could not have achieved anything without the support of our university for students wanting to set up businesses," Liu said in a recent exclusive interview.

"When we first started the company, we did not leave the apartment for a whole week because we were battling a technical problem that needed solving before the deadline. We worked, ate fast food and slept on the floor for the whole week," recalled Wu Xiaoru, a founding member of the company and iFLYTEK senior vice president.

The year 1999 was difficult for iFLYTEK, as the company was running out of operational budget and had to borrow money just to cover its employees' salaries.

"By the end of 1999, before we secured our first round of about 30 million yuan in domestic venture capital investment, we were really struggling. The only thing that kept us going was our own confidence in our products," Liu recalled.

The year 2000 witnessed a change of fortune. Liu and his partners decided to shift iFLYTEK to a customer-oriented company and curtail their tasks.

"We had never done a feasibility report for projects. After this meeting, we began to do so, which meant we could use our energy more efficiently," Wu recalled.

The products of iFLYTEK gained global recognition and investment from renowned companies including Lenovo and Fosun Group soon flowed in.