Podcast highlights:

14:58 You are investing a lot in China while many of your colleagues in the San Francisco area do not. How does this usually work? -- Each investor has a different style in terms how they want to attract companies. It tends to be easier if you're vertically focused on a particular market, for example blockchain. If you are a founder, it's necessary to find the people who are vertically focused on the products or markets you are interested in. You should know when you reach out who you want to be contacting regarding potential investments.

24:24 Turning now to the topic of blockchain, what is your vision of the future of blockchain? -- Multiple parts to this answer. Excited because it represents a change in how we think about the ownership of data. From a technology side, it's changed how people think about a lot of relationships. Obviously distributed ledger technology is not new, but what is new is the idea of tokenization. It helps creators and investors get the capital and resources they need right from the start. China and the Chinese government have been very supportive of blockchain as a technology. What they haven't been supportive of is all the cryptocurrency exchanges and initial coin offerings (ICOs). China is just a huge market that basically any company focused on establishing themselves there will have enough to attract investment.

44:25 Let's talk about women for a bit. How did it feel to be a female developer working in this space? -- First of all, we should encourage everyone, not just women to have a basic understanding of coding. This is going to be a building block for so many things in the future. Even if you don't end up being the person writing the code, you will be able to have meaningful conversations with people who do. In China, have met so many great women CEOs and investors. The important thing is to know what you're talking about. It's not about being a woman, it's about being good at what you do.

Podcast notes:

NOTE: This podcast contains explicit language

00:05 Welcome Edith Yeung, Partner at 500 Startups, to Ashley Talks with host Ashley Galina Dudarenok.

00:40 Tell us about your journey. How have you ended up in San Francisco Bay investing in so many global startups? -- Born and raised in Hong Kong. Came to the US at age 16 as an exchange student. Stayed with an American family in the Midwest. Have been in the US for over 20 years and started career as a developer building risk-management systems. Started own entrepreneur group in San Francisco using Meetup, which turned into a sort of media conference business. Through this met a partner from mainland China who developed Dolphin Browser on Android. This experience led to wanting to do more with investments and startups, and so here we are.

07:14 What are the biggest differences between managing an investment fund versus just investing by yourself? -- As an angel investor, the thinking was why not invest some of your own money to help a company get off the ground. When managing a fund, however, the entire thought process is how do we maximize the return for our investors. As a fund manager, it's necessary to have true conviction your decisions will make a return.

14:58 You are investing a lot in China while many of your colleagues in the San Francisco area do not. How does this usually work? -- Each investor has a different style in terms how they want to attract companies. It tends to be easier if you're vertically focused on a particular market, for example blockchain. If you are a founder, it's necessary to find the people who are vertically focused on the products or markets you are interested in. You should know when you reach out who you want to be contacting regarding potential investments.

18:38 What are the companies you've invested in that you've liked the most or been most impressed with?

Podcast highlights:

01:05 Vincent Djen, Co-founder of FashionEx Shanghai, shares more about his company, further explaining how it helps startups in the fashion industry grow by giving them insights and methodologies to avoid mistakes which helps them build solid business plan

19:50 Vincent shares how important research is before entering the Chinese market in terms fashion, further explaining how looking at the analytics of taobao and Tmall aids a startup analyse and compare how they rank in the fashion industry for China

30:50 Vincent elaborates more about his journey, sharing how he manages the RnD for his family bushiness and also manages his FashionEx by working more towards the business development side

Podcast highlights:

02:55 Nishta describes Miranda Tan, CEO and Founder of Robin8, as an amazing role model for working woman as Miranda explains how she manages her role as an entrepreneur, a Mother and a wife, further sharing tips to be a successful working woman

11:30 Miranda shares what an ICO, Initial coin offering, is and how it is a new way for companies raise money based on a white paper further explaining the process of ICO and how her company was able to raise funds using ICO within 6 weeks

33:35 Miranda shares more about her company, Robin8, further explaining about blockchain, which is a database and how it is hard to fake an information on it

Podcast highlights:

01:05 Vincent Djen, Cofounder of FashionEx Shanghai, shares more about his company, further explaining how it helps startups in the fashion industry grow by giving them insights and methodologies to avoid mistakes which helps them build solid business plan

19:50 Vincent shares how important research is before entering the Chinese market in terms fashion, further explaining how looking at the analytics of taobao and Tmall aids a startup analyse and compare how they rank in the fashion industry for China

30:50 Vincent elaborates more about his journey, sharing how he manages the RnD for his family bushiness and also manages his FashionEx by working more towards the business development side

Podcast highlights:

09:30 Mr. Malik advises the social enterprises to have the idea that is commercially viable because they do have moral responsibility towards the people who work for them. They should also know how they are going to show their social enterprises' value because an investor would not only look at the individual, stories, how they are going to make money but also most important is how they are going to spend the money.

26:40 Mohd Affendy talks about his first time raising funds and about his approach in realising the high demand for Sewing in Singapore. He also shares with us about Teag being the leading social enterprise in making their beneficiaries who are un-trained women with problems to be seamstresses. To build the skills they have also secured an exclusive right to conduct sewing training by one of the leading training centres in Singapore.

37:56 Elke Pascoe shares with us about her goals for the next two years from now. They are hoping to be out in the shelves selling their products and nourishing the babies and toddlers in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Middle East. They aim to produce the best and most natural formula in the market so that every child who uses the product is going to thrive because of it.

Podcast highlights:

11:15 If you look around Asia, what is the most exciting market you see going forward? -- Just because of it's scale, China is the place. There is no comparison to what China is doing in terms of the amount of resources being poured into innovation in China now. India is starting to rise. Indonesia is massive; but it is lacking in some of the basic infrastructure that make technical systems thrive. It's a massive problem to figure out how to offer services in a market and ecosystem that is completely different.

32:15 How do you choose the right companies to work with? -- In the end we don't know if we've chosen the right companies. Maybe there are some we've missed along the way. We tend to look for very classic things. Does the startup have the right team? Do they have the skills to build with? Are they coachable? What is their market potential? What is their technology potential? Then we look at their prototype. This tells us a lot about whether the team is capable.

54:13 For people listening who might be going through their own dark hour of doubt, what advice can you offer them? -- Keep your eyes open. Try to stay engaged and apply yourself. Don't just get interested in something and not do anything. You don't know where things might lead you. Don't worry too much about your status and just keep pursuing your interests. Ask for advice and don't be afraid to reach out. Also, help others help you. It's really important for founders to be visible and to be recognized as experts in their field. So be part of the public conversation.

Podcast notes:

00:05 Welcome Benjamin Joffe, General Partner at HAX, to Ashley Talks with host Ashley Galina Dudarenok.

01:00 You've done so much in Asia, but you are not Asian yourself. Tell us your story. -- It all started in college with a minor in Japanese and strategy. Ended up doing some work in Tokyo and became interested in Korea and China so decided to stay around in the region. Liked each place during time spent there. In terms of places would want to visit again, of course Japan and Hong Kong, and yes there are lots of other places. What's interesting is that Hong Kong is not very startup friendly due to high costs and lack of talent right now.

03:30 How did you end up going into business? Were you a businessman all the time? -- Don't come from a family of entrepreneurs. While in Japan, met many different entrepreneurs and became fascinated with them and their stories. Eventually decided to follow a similar path, and since 2003 haven't had to look for a job. Started doing consulting before being approached by the founder of HAX. Went to Shenzhen and was impressed by the startup environment there. In terms of hardware, Shenzhen is arguably the most amazing place in the world. What's really special there is not all the startups are Chinese companies, and at HAX we work to bring startups from around the world to Shenzhen.

10:15 You say Shenzhen is just one of the places driving China forward. What are some of the other places? -- Of course there is Beijing, which is the center of telecoms and for internet. The money is there, the talent is there, and the power is there, which is really important in China as you know. Shanghai is good in marketing and online commerce.

11:15 If you look around Asia, what is the most exciting market you see going forward? -- Just because of it's scale, China is the place. There is no comparison to what China is doing in terms of the amount of resources being poured into innovation in China now. India is starting to rise. Indonesia is massive; but it is lacking in some of the basic infrastructure that make technical systems thrive. It's a massive problem to figure out how to offer services in a market and ecosystem that is completely different.

16:40 If you compare the Chinese and American tech ecosystems, what would you say?

Podcast highlights:

11:15 If you look around Asia, what is the most exciting market you see going forward? -- Just because of it's scale, China is the place. There is no comparison to what China is doing in terms of the amount of resources being poured into innovation in China now. India is starting to rise. Indonesia is massive; but it is lacking in some of the basic infrastructure that make technical systems thrive. It's a massive problem to figure out how to offer services in a market and ecosystem that is completely different.

32:15 How do you choose the right companies to work with? -- In the end we don't know if we've chosen the right companies. Maybe there are some we've missed along the way. We tend to look for very classic things. Does the startup have the right team? Do they have the skills to build with? Are they coachable? What is their market potential? What is their technology potential? Then we look at their prototype. This tells us a lot about whether the team is capable.

54:13 For people listening who might be going through their own dark hour of doubt, what advice can you offer them? -- Keep your eyes open. Try to stay engaged and apply yourself. Don't just get interested in something and not do anything. You don't know where things might lead you. Don't worry too much about your status and just keep pursuing your interests. Ask for advice and don't be afraid to reach out. Also, help others help you. It's really important for founders to be visible and to be recognized as experts in their field. So be part of the public conversation.

Podcast notes:

00:05 Welcome Benjamin Joffe, General Partner at HAX, to Ashley Talks with host Ashley Galina Dudarenok.

01:00 You've done so much in Asia, but you are not Asian yourself. Tell us your story. -- It all started in college with a minor in Japanese and strategy. Ended up doing some work in Tokyo and became interested in Korea and China so decided to stay around in the region. Liked each place during time spent there. In terms of places would want to visit again, of course Japan and Hong Kong, and yes there are lots of other places. What's interesting is that Hong Kong is not very startup friendly due to high costs and lack of talent right now.

03:30 How did you end up going into business? Were you a businessman all the time? -- Don't come from a family of entrepreneurs. While in Japan, met many different entrepreneurs and became fascinated with them and their stories. Eventually decided to follow a similar path, and since 2003 haven't had to look for a job. Started doing consulting before being approached by the founder of HAX. Went to Shenzhen and was impressed by the startup environment there. In terms of hardware, Shenzhen is arguably the most amazing place in the world. What's really special there is not all the startups are Chinese companies, and at HAX we work to bring startups from around the world to Shenzhen.

10:15 You say Shenzhen is just one of the places driving China forward. What are some of the other places? -- Of course there is Beijing, which is the center of telecoms and for internet. The money is there, the talent is there, and the power is there, which is really important in China as you know. Shanghai is good in marketing and online commerce.

11:15 If you look around Asia, what is the most exciting market you see going forward? -- Just because of it's scale, China is the place. There is no comparison to what China is doing in terms of the amount of resources being poured into innovation in China now. India is starting to rise. Indonesia is massive; but it is lacking in some of the basic infrastructure that make technical systems thrive. It's a massive problem to figure out how to offer services in a market and ecosystem that is completely different.

16:40 If you compare the Chinese and American tech ecosystems, what would you say?

Podcast highlights:

00:43 Simon Kemp, Founder & CEO Kepios, shares how he was stunned with a statistics shared by Graham of how China, despite not being featured in the FIfa world cup, sold more tickets to its citizens than England

20:00 SImon explains how music has evolved over the years, sharing examples from his younger days as to how limited the music options were compared to the current times where one can easily access apps like spotify to listen to different kinds of music from various cultures across the globe

53:33 Simon shares how Asia and its culture inspired him to build his businesses here, further explaining the impact travelling has made by exposing him to different cultures and influences, activating the ability to be innovative as well

Podcast highlights:

04:45 What has Jan seen happen with the "community" in China specific to Startup Grind which grew from 3 or 4 chapters to 25? How did he develop that community?

10:00 Where does Jan see the Shenzhen community today? What does he see happening in that community around startups and entrepreneurship? What's the pulse?

26:45 Where is China going? With the venture markets and startups taking off, where is this situation going?

Podcast notes:

00:05 Welcome Jan Smejkal aka Your China Guy to Cross Border Kyle with host Kyle Ellicott

01:25 What is Jan aka Your China Guy up to?

02:45 Jan works with Startup Grind. How many chapters does it have now?

04:45 What has Jan seen happen with the "community" in China specific to Startup Grind which grew from 3 or 4 chapters to 25? How did he develop that community?

10:00 Where does Jan see the Shenzhen community today? What does he see happening in that community around startups and entrepreneurship? What's the pulse?

15:45 A quick sidestory of Kyle in Shenzhen

24:25 How did Jan come up with the name Your China Guy?

26:45 Where is China going? With the venture markets and startups taking off, where is this situation going?

31:10 Kyle advises you should give China a chance

38:00 The number of people traveling in and out of San Francisco alone globally is huge but there's a lot more activity happening in China

40:25 Jan's top 3 pieces of advice for first timers landing in China

45:45 Jan's favourite travel hack

47:00 Who is Jan's favourite China unicorn?

48:00 Where can someone find more about Startup Grind in China? Go to startupgrind.com/

50:50 Find Jan on twitter.com/yourchinaguy or contact him through email at [email protected]

Podcast highlights:

17:40 Nikhilesh Goel shares with us what is it really like in the journey of a startup. The biggest takeaway from his experience is- if you can handle the constant ups and downs which happen every day and still come out smiling it then this is for you. You either do something new or do it better.

34:16 Azmul Haque stresses on the importance to keep an eye on the business model as it is growing and also on the changing regulations. Especially if the startup is dealing with consumers, large corporates or small players they need to make sure they are compliant with the law may it be commercial contracts or pure play regulation.

58:18 Ned Phillips summarised the entire show by sharing an interesting perspective for the founders- before the launch of a startup work out why you are doing it because if you are building it to sell it you have to do it the right way otherwise in 5 years time you will find yourself with a company that you can't sell.