I have worked on cross-border deals with Chinese firms over the past few years. (I work in finance, but not VC). I’ve seen the growth and impact of Chinese firm

I have worked on cross-border deals with Chinese firms over the past few years. (I work in finance, but not VC). I’ve seen the growth and impact of Chinese firms entering US capital markets, public equity markets, PE buyout deals and real estate. I think it will be very interesting to see how it plays out in VC... VC is really nothing like any other type of investing. It doesn’t have the same quite established valuation and due diligence processes as other types of investing. And successful VC investing has so many non-quantifiable ingredients to the process: VCs connections and reputations, how they evaluate a team, unique sector insights, intuition, etc… And that’s after one gets past any language barriers. [1] I see the mixed comments on here. Clearly, there are good and bad actors in China. And the caution and prudence the article brings up should be taken very seriously. But the fact is there are legit, honest, good firms in China that are worth partnering with and/or having as investors. More so, ignoring the chance to have a great investor and partner in China is ignoring the reality of the global economy that will more or less exist for probably the rest of your lifetime. China has the largest GDP of any country in the world (US is #3 if you count the EU). Times have changed. We all need to get together and figure it out. This has gotten long, might as well add a couple more: [2] The article also mentions the importance of understanding culture differences and avoiding possible miscommunications. This is hard to emphasize but crucial to do before real meetings start happening. [3] When initiating meetings with potential Chinese investors, if you can hire (temporarily or permanently?) someone who speaks, read and writes Chinese and English fluently this is a game-changer and I think it’s worth the cost. Someone born to Chinese parents but who grew up in America for example. [4] There are macro-level, systemic and regulatory-type risks for US firms working with Chinese firms and vice versa. Companies really must discount these risks in their business plan. The US and Chinese governments seem to always be negotiating, about every topic, and so in some periods there are positive developments and in others this reverses. Blocking of specific deal is a risk but market wide roadblocks can be immediate and severe. Have a plan B should this stuff happen. [5] Deals with Chinese investors are not only about making good returns like with US VCs. There may be other motives. Too many to list. It depends. [6] The comment mentioning Elon Musk has a point: There is no more bankable IP. It’s gone, the few exceptions are irrelevant. Companies can’t keep anything secret, especially not IP. You probably can’t afford to protect the IP in court if you had to. Don't let this stop you from working with China. Best to build around this reality. [7] Study the Facebook and Google and Uber stories how well or poorly they did in China to see how complex this can get for a big growing company.