Asia Startup Pulse

很多创始人认为IPO是退出的唯一选择。今天，我们邀请了Shanghaivest的联合创始人Bruno Bensaid，他也是中国加速的导师，活跃于中国创业生态圈内很多年。在这期播客中，他分享了他对于提前退出以及被企业风投收购的见解。他认为，“All options should be on the table from very early on”。

Shanghaivest 帮助很多海内外公司制定和实施投资、扩张、融资以及退出策略。

感谢主播Oscar Ramos，嘉宾Bruno Bensaid，主办方中国加速以及赞助方P2联合创业办公社。

Many founders believe an IPO is the only option for an exit. Today, we sit down with Bruno Bensaid, co-founder of Shanghaivest, mentor at Chinaccelerator, and long-term player in China’s startup ecosystem to share his insights on early exits and acquisitions by corporate bodies. Here’s a short quote: “All options should be on the table from very early on”.

Shanghaivest helps build and execute investment, expansion, fundraising and exit strategies for companies in China and Overseas.

Show Notes:

01:10 Introduce Bruno

01:52 How Bruno made transitions from engineering to business

03:48 Is go public the only ultimate goal?

8:19 All options should be on the table from the very early on

10:40 How’s the acquisition market in China and how it involves

11:55 More transactions in gaming and healthcare industry

12:33 What are those Chinese buyers? What acquisitions are they looking for?

17:35 Local corporate VCs are more active than Google - they have a large range of investment possibilities

19:13 The early exit doesn’t mean that founders get less return. Do you see early exit is good for founders in China?

22:30 You need to think about your exit early. Check out the article: “Why founders need to prepare for exits”https://medium.com/sosv-accelerator-vc/why-founders-need-to-prepare-for-exits-97766d865410

25:01 Example of App Annie

29:03 Why does it make sense to consider an early acquisition in China and what’s the criteria for corporates to decide on acquisition

36:06 Contact Bruno

Many thanks to our host Oscar Ramos, guest Bruno Bensaid, editor David and Geep, organizer Chinaccelerator and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com

- 收听这期播客，有机会免费参加Slush Shanghai 2018！

Slush is one of the fastest growing events and communities for startups globally, bringing together both local and international companies to help inspire and support youth to pursue their dreams of entrepreneurship.  

Today, we welcome Chen Wang, the person who helped the event break into the Chinese market, starting with Beijing in 2015. With Slush Shanghai coming up next month (September 7 to 8), Chen talks to us about the challenges of entrepreneurship, including maintaining good relationships with the government, protecting intellectual property and other essential tips to prospering in China. 

Listen to the end for a special surprise for our dedicated listeners, on behalf of Slush China!

Show Notes:

1:30 Introduce Chen

2:23 What’s so special about Slush

6:15 Finding support and security in Finland

8:40 Global Community in Shanghai

11:05 The Chinese roots of Slush

13:03 The importance of government relations in China

15:31 Advice to organizations coming to China

18:58 Intellectual property concerns

19:51 The Chinese presence at Slush

24:25 Contact Info

Feel free to leave a comment and start a conversation with us! If you have an ideal guest whom you would like to listen to, please let us know and we'll do our best to realize it!

Many thanks to our host Oscar Ramos, guest Chen Wang, editor David and Geep, organizer Chinaccelerator and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website!

Fintech has come a long way in China, from barely being recognized to one of the fastest growing markets in the region. As the world’s leader in Fintech technology, China is a breeding ground for Internet finance companies, and accordingly, investment in the industry. With millions of users and an ever-growing number of fintech unicorns, the future of Internet finance looks exceedingly bright in China.

Today, we present another special episode recorded live at RISE Conference 2018, where Oscar Ramos sat down with venture capitalist and fintech investor Wei Hopeman. After beginning her career in financial services and investment banking, Wei co-founded Arbor Ventures in 2013, the first VC fund specialized in fintech in the Asian ecosystem. She talks to us about the growth of fintech, the benefits of corporate VCs, and how founders and corporate VCs can improve their interactions with each other, as well as many other topics.

Many thanks to RISE Conference 2018 for gathering global elites in Hong Kong and supporting China Startup Pulse to present good quality content for our listeners.

Show notes: 

1:02 Intro 

1:40 How Wei got into financial services 

5:20 Going into investment banking 

7:04 The growth of fintech in Asia 

9:06 The lack of infrastructure in financial services 

11:52 Launching fintech in China 

14:52 Benefits of corporate VCs 

16:42 Key questions a founder should ask corporate VCs
18:05 Key difference between types of VCs 

20:36 Educating corporates in working with startups 

22:51 Women in VC 

29:51 The future of Arbor Ventures

As always, thanks to our host Oscar Ramos, guest Wei Hopeman, editor David and Geep, organizer Chinaccelerator and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website at chinaccelerator.com.

On this day 2 years ago, China’s ride-hailing industry experienced a major turning point - Didi purchased Uber’s China operations and Uber took a 20% stake in Didi. So far Uber has expanded in more than 449 cities and 66 countries. Today, many companies are still trying to elbow into this crowded industry.

In this episode, we are lucky to have Sam Gellman as our guest, the first international Uber employee that took care of the company’s expansion in Asia and China. Sam shared his past experience in redesigning Uber’s playbook to adjust to China’s unique ecosystem, channels for communication and user acquisition. Despite knowing only a bit of Chinese, Sam was assigned to create a Chinese name for Uber. Fortunately, the Chinese name 优步 turned out to be one of the most well-received foreign company names. As the person who worked on market localization for Uber, Sam also shared how they took the company from nothing to a massive exit within 3 years.

Also check out Uber CEO and Co-Founder Travis Kalanick's statement on the merger: https://www.uber.com/newsroom/uber-china-didi/

Many thanks to RISE Conference 2018 for gathering global elites in Hong Kong and supporting China Startup Pulse to present good quality content for our listeners.

Show notes: 

Intro 1:44 

Coming to Hong Kong with Goldman Sachs 2:40 

Scaling Uber to Europe 8:30 

The most surprising part of launching in Asia 

10:08 Choosing a Chinese name for Uber 12:35 

The key lesson learned from Uber 17:31 

Having a global footprint while still improving your product 23:31 

What’s keeping Sam busy 25:30

As always, thanks to our host Oscar Ramos, guest Sam Gellman, editor David and Geep, organizer Chinaccelerator and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website at chinaccelerator.com!

What do investors look for in startups? This week, we have invited Jörn Helms, Senior Advisor at the Bank of Taizhou and Country Director for China with Portier Technologies. Portier is a smartphone platform for luxury hotels allowing guests to access the internet as well as order hotel services thereby increasing hotel revenues. With an extensive background in small business landing (as the former VP of Bank of Taizhou) and angel investing, Jörn is experienced with both large companies and small startups entering China.

From his first days in Taizhou, when he had to re-learn Chinese because of the local dialect, to his time as a mentor for Chinaccelerator, Jörn has personally crossed borders and found success in a new environment. Hear what he has to say about succeeding in the China startup scene from the perspective of an investor!

Know more about Bank of Taizhou: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-11-15/military-drills-help-china-s-best-bank-toughen-up-its-staff

Show Notes: 

Jörn’s background 1:44 

Banking Career in China 3:16 

The principal of “see and touch” 12:39 

Being a mentor 15:29 

Breaking the China barrier as a foreign investor 21:03 

Lightning round questions 23:20

Feel free to leave a comment and start a conversation with us! If you have an ideal guest whom you would like to listen to, please let us know and we'll do our best to realize it.

Many thanks to our host Ryan Shuken, guest Jörn Helms, editor David and Geep, organizer Chinaccelerator and sponsor People Squared. 

www.chinaccelerator.com

China is obsessed with data. But how can you access it, and leverage it to your benefit? Kenneth Cheung shines a light on how you should be using data to market yourself or your company, and shares with us the “golden rule of WeChat marketing”. From initially acquiring data to actually learning how to use it properly, Kenneth walks this integral process while talking about his work in consulting on brand management and KOL influencer marketing in China. He also talks about the power of mini-apps, the first principals of market, and much, much more! If you want to market your brand on WeChat to its maximum potential, this is a can’t-miss episode.

Show Notes 

1:42 Introduction 

3:02 Describing China’s business ecosystem 

5:11 China’s obsession with data 

7:45 The process of doing a data search 

11:00 Getting around closed systems 

14:00 WeChat as a future platform for e-commerce 

18:27 The power of mini apps 

22:50 A crash course on KOLs 

27:18 Lightning round questions

Feel free to leave a comment and start a conversation with us! If you have an ideal guest whom you would like to listen to, please let us know and we'll do our best to realize it.

Many thanks to our host Ryan Shuken, guest Kenneth Cheung, editor David and Jeff, organizer Chinaccelerator and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website at chinaccelerator.com!