Episodes
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Richard (Rich) Turrin is the international best-selling author of “Cashless - China’s Digital Currency Revolution” and “Innovation Lab Excellence.” He is an Onalytica Top 100 Fintech Influencer and an award-winning executive previously heading fintech teams at IBM following a twenty-year career in investment banking. Living in Shanghai for the last decade, Rich experienced China going cashless first-hand. Hear about:
What is the Chinese digital yuan, and why it is different from cryptocurrencies;
What are the different levels of anonymity the digital yuan offers;
Will the Chinese digital yuan help break the duopoly of the Alibaba and WeChat mobile payments in China;
How will the Chinese digital yuan impact the world;
Rich's personal experience using the digital yuan in Shanghai;
How does PBOC enable the digital yuan to be used without internet access?
Find Rich on LinkedIn, Twitter, and check out his book Cashless on apple books, Amazon, and any other digital bookstores across the planet.
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Episode 84 of Tech Buzz China features co-host Rui Ma in conversation with Gary Liu, CEO of the South China Morning Post on the hottest five trends shaping the China internet industry in 2021: tightening regulations, bumpy roads for IPOs, overseas expansion plans, shifting demographics, and growing private domain traffic. SCMP is a leading news media company that has reported on China and Asia for more than a century with global impact.
Also, Tech Buzz China is growing! We have a Livecast series of interviews with entrepreneurs and investors in China tech — TBC Livecast. It's mostly recorded live in front of our new paid community Tech Buzz China Insider. For TBC Insiders, we have an active Discord server, a forum, and regular members-only events. If you're really into China tech, join us starting with the quiz.
In addition, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel, tweet at us at @techbuzzchina, and write to us at [email protected]. As always, our transcripts are available on our website, as well as at pandaily.
Thank you to our teams at SupChina and Pandaily, and especially to Bryce Ye, and Kaiser Kuo. If you enjoy our work, please leave us an iTunes review! They do matter and we appreciate it so much!
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Andy Tian is the founder of Asia innovations group, a company that has a suite of live social apps, e.g. Uplive, Lamour, SupreFans with more than 410 million registered users located in over 150 countries and regions worldwide.
Andy has strong opinions about what's the best way to take the most interesting things he has seen in China and throughout Asia, and export them to the rest of the world. Hear about:
How China's uniquely firewalled off environment created a different ecosystem, thus resulted in different revenue models of social apps in China;
What is Operation aka Yunying (运营) in China, and how it works differently in western countries;
The twin trends of globalization & localization in social apps;
Why Andy implemented multi-regional operations from the start;
What he believes are the unique catalysts for the explosion of livestreaming eCommerce in China, and why it hasn't taken off just yet in the U.S. or anywhere else.
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Richard is the co-founder of Grandview Capital, a VC fund focused on investing in Chinese entrepreneurs who do business outside of China (AKA go overseas or "chuhai" in Chinese). He's based in Silicon Valley and his co-founder is in China. Hear Richard explain:
Why he started to look at Chinese entrepreneurs who are attacking overseas markets back in 2015;
How the nature of the manufacturing & technology industry makes it easier for these companies to globalize;
How he believes in applying the "time machine" paradigm to his investments
How it's no longer about copying but localizing
Why Chinese companies favor Southeast Asia and Latin American markets
What he's investing in these days.
Find Richard on LinkedIn!
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Ray Hu is the founder of Blue Lake Capital, an early stage VC fund in China with about $700mm under management. Blue Lake specializes in SaaS investments. Hear Ray explain:
The current state of Chinese SaaS, enabling factors and requirements for success
Case study: Jushuitan (JST), an ecommerce SaaS and their sales strategy
Enterprises' willingness to pay and other differences in the Chinese market
Internationalizing
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Albus Yu works for China Growth Capital, a venture capital fund that manages about 1.4 billion dollars. He specializes in consumer internet, consumer brands, and services investment. Hear Albus explain:
The reason that he had started to invest in consumer internet and e-commerce marketplaces;
What the growth of DTC brands in China looks like these days;
The differences that the DTC brands are growing between the US versus in China right now, and Why it is a better opportunity from both the consumer side and supply & manufacturing side; and he gave the Chinese "Lululemon" as an example;
The reason that Albus recommend brands to start off online and build offline presence as well;
He perceives the potential for some Chinese new brands to expand internationally as positive.
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Recorded March 9, 2021.
Ron Cao has spent 20 years as a venture capitalist in China. He first went there during the 90s when semiconductor investing was a thing, but then found himself investing in consumer internet startups such as ByteDance and Pinduoduo because that sector yielded the greatest return, and is now finding himself investing in semiconductors again. We talk about the impact of the pandemic, if deeptech investing is really taking off, investing in returnees, blockchain, antitrust, & SPACs!
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Recorded Thursday 2/10/21.
Kevin, now at Github, is the founder of interconnected.blog, a bilingual newsletter on the intersections of tech, business, money, geopolitics, and US-Asia relations.
We go over:
What is Agora? It's a platform as a service company.
The origin story of Tony Zhao the CEO who was previously at WebEx & then CTO at YY, where he achieved substantial success.
Agora's technology & business model, which is developer facing and self service and usage based
What happens when there are more Chinese companies like Agora building infrastructure technologies? Does innovation have to be something super different / sexy or can it also be arising out of battle-tested scaling-up technologies, like Agora? And finally, Agora's latest acquisition, another Chinese company called Easymob. -
Jordan Berke spent fifteen years transforming the world's largest retailer into a truly digital organization by leading strategic alliances with JinDong and Tencent. He's now the founder of Tomorrow Retail, a consulting company. Hear about:
How does Walmart China outstrip the US in four major categories?
What are retailers in the U.S. focusing on right now?
How do retailers turn their business into a platform?
What are the differences in the China and U.S. business ecosystems?
What myths persist in the industry?
And finally, what's the future outlook?
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Early on in VC, Boyu Hu was at DCM China and worked on the Kuaishou deal. Now he has his own fund XVC, managing $600mm, focusing on consumer internet. I asked what's changed in the last ten years and: Why's he continuing to invest in consumer internet? Is rural China where it's at? Are the big platforms more important? Are the big funds more important? How's he adjusting his strategy? Our conversation was recorded Feb. 24, 2021 over Clubhouse app and Zoom.
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Recorded live Feb. 10, 2021.
Q&A with Jack Yujie Yang who led the growth of Mobike, China's leading bikesharing company (acquired by Meituan for $2.7Bn in 2018) as VP of Growth & Product. He grew the company from 4 to over 200 cities, ~500k to over 30 million trips per day. He then joined MissFresh, one of China's grocery delivery unicorns ($3Bn+ valuation) as Chief Growth Officer. He is now working on his own e-commerce startup. We talk about:
Growth in the US vs. China
Specific growth tactics used at Mobike and MissFresh, such as red packets, WeChat mini programs, WeChat group chats, etc.
Not all of these tactics can work in the US, why?
Aside from favorable macroeconomics, some weaknesses Jack perceives in the Chinese market.
Difference in (work) culture, equity incentives at Chinese startups
Why Jack is working on e-commerce as his next opportunity
Can mini programs be used effectively to test out new ideas?
How do you find cofounders and employees?
How do you hire, what do you look for?
Influencer fatigue -- how are Chinese platforms combating this, if at all?
Lots of great things about China speed, but what are the drawbacks?
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Recorded Feb. 5, 2021.
On this livecast, we chat with seasoned investor Ed Tsai on the business of cybersecurity in China. Here are the main points:
Ed's self introduction of how he ended up in China and some background on his most recent employer, QiAnXin, the largest pureplay cybersecurity company in China, a $15Bn market cap company that is at about 5,000 employees.
Overview of the sector & history of the regulations that have really accelerated the industry. Hint: now that you can personally get fined or go to jail for having lax security software, executives and governments are buying quality solutions and willing to pay the price.
Consequences of the US-China decoupling and its effects on Chinese cybersecurity businesses.
Ed thinks the entire space falls roughly into 4 categories and gives the representative players for each.
Differences between US, China and Israeli companies in cybersecurity.
Are we going to see foreign companies enter China successfully? What about Chinese companies going abroad? China seems to have a cost advantage.
We end with some innovations Ed observes in the Chinese cybersecurity ecosystem but also overall business environment in China. Some of these things are out of necessity, such as training up talent.
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One of Tech Buzz China’s partners is leading alternative data firm BigOne Lab, who is one of the best sources on detailed operational data for large Chinese tech companies. In Tech Buzz's quarterly update, BigOne's head of research, Robert Wu, joined Rui for a live webinar going over everything interesting among the big China ecommerce players, which are now Alibaba, JD, Meituan, Pinduoduo, Douyin, and Kuaishou.
We begin with the latest in community group buying, the group-buying next-day pickup business model that is sweeping over China. We go over market shares, warehousing efficiencies, and best-selling items and explain what that means in terms of strategy across the big players. We also talk about how much progress the Douyin and Kuaishou platforms have made in ecommerce, but point out their weaknesses vis-a-vis Alibaba, who is still the towering giant in the space. We touch upon what GMV breakdowns look like across the platforms, and finally end up with some interesting observations you might not have expected regarding creator engagement in Douyin and Bilibili.
If you are new to these companies, we highly suggest checking out episodes 28, 55, 57, and 80 on ByteDance, Kuaishou, Bilibili, and community group buying, respectively.
Although we edited the audio to make it easy to follow along, such events in the future are best experienced live, as much of the data is presented visually! To sign up for future events like this, please go to www.techbuzzchina.com.
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Episode 81 of Tech Buzz China continues our series of audio experiments, and features co-host Rui Ma in conversation with Wharton professor Karl Ulrich on his latest book, Winning in China. The book was co-authored with Wharton Global Fellow Lele Sang, and presents eight carefully researched case studies of successes and failures, from Amazon to Sequoia Capital.
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In episode 80 of Tech Buzz China, Rui and Ying talk about community group buying 社区团购 shèqū tuángòu, or CGB, which is the hottest thing in China tech right now. In addition to startups raising crazy funds — one just raised $700 million — the internet giants have all gone in with guns blazing, and investors are bullish.
Listen and follow along with us as we explore what exactly CGB is, and what makes it so special — and controversial. Listeners will also hear from one of our favorite China tech writers, Lillian Li of the Chinese Characteristics newsletter, who just wrote two issues on this topic.
Yup, Rui is still researching and writing on ByteDance for her ebook. You can get updates on it and our other work by subscribing to her newsletter, at techbuzzchina.com. Be sure to also check out the Tech Buzz China YouTube channel, which has some video-only content. Our transcripts are available on our website, as well as at pandaily.com and supchina.com.
If you enjoy our work, please do let us know by leaving us an iTunes review (drop us a note saying you did, and we’ll send you an Extra Buzz newsletter subscription), and by tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina. We also read your emails, at [email protected] and [email protected].
Thank you to our teams at SupChina and Pandaily, and especially Caiwei Chen, Kaiser Kuo, and Jason MacRonald.
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In Episode 79 of Tech Buzz China, Rui and Ying talk about a company that aspires to be “China’s L’Oréal” for the digital age: Yatsen Group, owner of smash hit cosmetics app Perfect Diary (完美日记) among other brands. Though we at Tech Buzz have never directly covered the company, we have mentioned it, including in Episode 70 with Lauren Hallanan; as well during last week’s Q3 Market Trends call (link available through Dec. 9) with BigOne Lab’s Mengyao Ren. Yatsen recently listed on the NYSE, and it’s got a nearly $12 billion market cap.
Listen and follow along with us as we explore Yatsen’s founding story, their evolving strategy, reasons for their success, and the role of clever marketing. We’ll also talk about how the company’s various tactics speak to the evolution of China’s content ecommerce ecosystem. Finally, listeners will hear from Mark Tanner, the founder and Managing Director of Shanghai-based marketing and research firm China Skinny.
Yup, Rui is still researching and writing on ByteDance for her ebook. You can get updates on it and to our other work by subscribing to her newsletter, at techbuzzchina.com. Be sure to also check out the Tech Buzz China YouTube channel, which has some video-only content. Our transcripts are available on our website, as well as at pandaily.com and supchina.com.
If you enjoy our work, please do let us know by leaving us an iTunes review (drop us a note saying you did, and we’ll send you an Extra Buzz newsletter subscription), and by tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina. We also read your emails, at [email protected] and [email protected].
Thank you to our teams at SupChina and Pandaily, and especially Caiwei Chen, Kaiser Kuo, and Jason MacRonald.
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Episode 78 of Tech Buzz China features our co-host Rui Ma in conversation with Yán Xiāo 肖妍 on the timely topic of China’s proposed national digital currency. Yan is a San Francisco–based project lead at the World Economic Forum with substantial experience in fintech, having worked as senior legal counsel at Ant Group. She is also a lawyer by training and holds both American and Chinese legal licenses. Her current work focuses on digital payments and cross-border payments. Yan’s opinions on this episode are her own thoughts, and do not reflect those of the Forum in any way.
Rui was an early observer of the cryptocurrency space, and has witnessed the rise of bitcoin and other technologies unfold concurrently in the U.S. and China. Listen to their conversation to find out: What does Yan think about the prospects for China’s proposed digital currency, which is typically called digital yuan or digital RMB? How are these prospects affected by the existing payments and digital landscape in China? What are the key features of digital RMB? What technologies form its backbone? What are other countries doing, and what is the global landscape for this type of national initiative?
Yup, Rui is still researching and writing on ByteDance for her ebook. You’ll want to get front-row updates on it and to her other work by subscribing to our newsletter, at techbuzzchina.com. You’ll also want to check out the Tech Buzz China YouTube channel, and can view all of our past transcripts on our website, as well as at pandaily.com and supchina.com.
If you enjoy our work, please do let us know by leaving us an iTunes review (drop us a note saying you did, and we’ll send you an Extra Buzz newsletter subscription), and by tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina. We also read your emails, at [email protected] and [email protected].
Thank you to our producers, Caiwei Chen and Kaiser Kuo, as well as to Jason MacRonald at SupChina.
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In episode 77 of Tech Buzz China, co-hosts Rui Ma and Ying Lu tackle a topic that has become the next big thing in China ecommerce: C2M, or consumer to manufacturer. Although the acronym itself is not new, the term has been redefined within the past two years, driven by the choices of a handful of key founders and companies. Listen to learn about why Rui and Ying think this new iteration is at once innovative and transformational, why both factories and brands stand to benefit, and what this all means for the future of manufacturing and commerce -- in China and globally.
Rui is still researching and writing on ByteDance for her ebook. You’ll want to get front-row updates on it and to her other work by subscribing to our newsletter, at techbuzzchina.com.
We have finished uploading all of our past episodes onto the new Tech Buzz China YouTube channel and putting them together into playlists by sector — check them out! As always, our past transcripts are viewable on our website, as well as at pandaily.com and supchina.com.
If you enjoy our work, please do let us know by leaving us an iTunes review (drop us a note saying you did, and we’ll send you an Extra Buzz newsletter subscription), and by tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina. We also read your emails, at [email protected] and [email protected].
Thank you to our ever-talented producers, Caiwei Chen and Kaiser Kuo, as well as to Jason MacRonald at SupChina.
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In episode 76 of Tech Buzz China, co-hosts Rui Ma and Ying Lu take advantage of the recent Lufax IPO filing (Chinese name: 陆金所 lùjīnsuǒ) to talk about the P2P lending industry in China, which has been an oft-requested topic! We get into China’s (lack of) regulation of the nontraditional form of financing, drivers behind the industry’s quick boom and bust, and some of the reasons Lufax is one of the few, and biggest, survivors.
We have started uploading all of our past episodes onto the new Tech Buzz China YouTube channel and putting them together into playlists by sector — check it out. You’ll soon be able to find this and other relevant episodes under the “fintech” category.
Yes, Rui is still researching and writing on ByteDance, for publication as an ebook! You’ll want to get front-row updates on it by subscribing to our newsletter, at techbuzzchina.com. As always, our past transcripts and other content are also viewable at pandaily.com and supchina.com.
If you enjoy our work, please do let us know by leaving us an iTunes review (drop us a note saying you did, and we’ll send you an Extra Buzz newsletter subscription), and by tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina. We also read your emails, at [email protected] and [email protected]. Thank you to our growing community for your always valuable feedback!
Thank you to our ever-talented producers, Caiwei Chen and Kaiser Kuo, as well as to Jason MacRonald at SupChina.
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In episode 75 of Tech Buzz China, co-hosts Rui Ma and Ying Lu talk about China ecommerce SaaS (software as a service), which currently primarily refers to WeChat ecommerce as it takes place through mini programs. Listen to learn about major players Youzan and Weimob, the difference between public and private traffic, and what Alibaba’s and Tencent’s future strategies might be given their actions up to this point. How accurate are the various players’ much-sought comparisons to Shopify, and how closely do the companies truly compare with that platform in their journeys to becoming China’s dominant ecommerce solution provider?
Yes, Rui is still writing her e-book on ByteDance! You’ll want to get updates on it by subscribing to our newsletter, at techbuzzchina.com. As always, past transcripts and other content are also viewable at pandaily.com and supchina.com.
If you enjoy our work, please do let us know by leaving us an iTunes review (drop us a note saying you did, and we’ll send you an Extra Buzz newsletter subscription!), and by tweeting at us at @techbuzzchina. We also read your emails, at [email protected] and [email protected]. Thank you to our growing community for your always valuable feedback!
And thanks to our ever-talented producers, Caiwei Chen and Kaiser Kuo, as well as to SupChina’s Production Associate Jason MacRonald.
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