3 ms·

And This is Why China is Every Internet Company’s Dream

8 points by markbao 18y ago

charlesju 18y ago
What do you guys think are some ways to infiltrate this market? I think that a lot of existing models here might work there with just a simple clone. Perhaps Twitter?
- r7000 18y ago
  Twitter? http://fanfou.com http://fanfou.com http://zuosa.com http://zuosa.com http://jiwai.de http://jiwai.de
- deathbyzen 18y ago
  I think the first step is not to look at the market and say "What US company can we build in China? Chinese MySpace, Chinese Facebook? Chinese Twitter?" Chances are they've been done. As the market in China grows, developers are going to have to ask themselves what is unique to the Chinese culture that is in need of a technological solution.
  - Chocobean 18y ago
    "what is unique to the Chinese culture..." not really in need of a technological solution (???) but here's a few differences off the top of my head: -most people grew up as single childs -most people are atheists -most people have never been outside of the country -gambling is illegal in china
  - cglee 18y ago
    Imagine a couple of young ambitious Chinese hackers, sitting around asking themselves "what's unique about American culture that is in need of a technological solution?".
- cconstantine 18y ago
  The article uses advertising as an example, but I'm not sure advertising is a good way to start a market. The value in advertising is in it's ability to get people who see it to spend money somewhere else. Until there are things on the internet that are worth end-users spending money on, I don't foresee advertising being all that valuable... unless you want to create an advertising framework and sell that. How did the American internet market grow? I'd bet that the Chinese internet market will grow following similar trends. Start with sites that offer tangible benefits for Chinese people. Something people would be willing to spend money on directly. I'm thinking things like online shopping, gambling, porn, event tickets, communications (phone, email), banking etc... Of course someone with knowledge about Chinese culture and what they find important would be able to come up with a better list :) Of course... all those things that built the American internet market now have established companies who want to tap into this new market.
  - Chocobean 18y ago
    gambling, and porn sound totally illegal in China. ie: you can do it, but not like, "legitimately" or obviously There is a very well written story about a company that made a LOT of money doing gambling website in the "guise" of an MMORPG: http://www.danwei.org/electronic_games/gambling_your_life_away_in_zt.php http://www.danwei.org/electronic_games/gambling_your_life_aw... he company had successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and its third-quarter operating income was 405.2 million yuan, with a profit of 290.2 million. This represented an astonishing 164% and 152% climb over the same period the previous year. The company had a book value of 6.8 billion RMB. It's genius: use real-life sales people to approach gamers in net-cafes, sell them something that simultaneously grants psychological pleasure and will save them time. Then slowly leverage the basic human need for approval and acceptance, stoke their pride, and watch the money roll in. This works especially well in China because in a land of so many people, "individuality" and "personal worth in uniqueness" is worth a lot of gold.
    - cconstantine 18y ago
      Yeah, I agree. I was simply trying to think of the things that helped build the American internet market.
Chocobean 18y ago
The article basically summarizes into this: "Even though the Chinese government has heavy control over [the internet], if you factor in the population growth of 1.3 billion people, there is a lot of potential there." The article only has one point: China has lots of people. The author's basic understanding of how internet companies work is the following: 1) Operate in a place with a large number of people 2) ??? 3) PROFIT I would LOVE to read an article that discusses strategies for successfully penetrating a market where there is heavy government censorship, corruption, and tonnes of bureaucracy. Tell me how some companies deal with the fact that most of the 1.3 billion are poor, and the fact that the rich are even stingier than the poor. Tell me how to run a business in a land with no respect for intellectual property, where many of your hired hands are capable and willing to memorize your business/machine's idea/database/blueprints, and sell it to your competitor for pennies. Tell me how you could do it when so many businesses have failed, and you have written something of worth.
- cglee 18y ago
  You make a good point, but you're missing the main point: China's internet users aren't destitute and they're growing, along with a growing middle class. Lots of farmers are very poor; they're not your market. If you've ever been to a high end mall in China, you'll know people like to spend money (I'm not sure where you got the stingy idea from). There are lots and lots of very successful software and web startups in China. Most are not foreign owned because most foreigners have difficulty navigating the political/business climate here (I guess it's the same reason why most startups in the States aren't foreign owned either). I hear a lot of high-level complaining about the Chinese <fill in the blank>, but if you are really motivated, you can overcome those barriers. I don't think that's specific to China. The real problem, I think, is lack of understanding. All people hear about are great opportunities in China, but are frustrated when there's no prescribed formula for attaining such opportunities. This is analogous to a non technical person reading up about all the web startups and trying to take advantage, then complaining about this or that when he doesn't understand how to go about doing a web startup. The solution is simple: dig deeper and immerse yourself in understanding the Chinese market.
  - 18y ago
rw 18y ago
More interesting topic would be: how to do business in China and not be evil.

8 points by markbao 18y ago

What do you guys think are some ways to infiltrate this market? I think that a lot of existing models here might work there with just a simple clone. Perhaps Twitter?

r7000 18y ago
Twitter? http://fanfou.com http://fanfou.com http://zuosa.com http://zuosa.com http://jiwai.de http://jiwai.de
deathbyzen 18y ago
I think the first step is not to look at the market and say "What US company can we build in China? Chinese MySpace, Chinese Facebook? Chinese Twitter?" Chances are they've been done. As the market in China grows, developers are going to have to ask themselves what is unique to the Chinese culture that is in need of a technological solution.
- Chocobean 18y ago
  "what is unique to the Chinese culture..." not really in need of a technological solution (???) but here's a few differences off the top of my head: -most people grew up as single childs -most people are atheists -most people have never been outside of the country -gambling is illegal in china
- cglee 18y ago
  Imagine a couple of young ambitious Chinese hackers, sitting around asking themselves "what's unique about American culture that is in need of a technological solution?".
cconstantine 18y ago
The article uses advertising as an example, but I'm not sure advertising is a good way to start a market. The value in advertising is in it's ability to get people who see it to spend money somewhere else. Until there are things on the internet that are worth end-users spending money on, I don't foresee advertising being all that valuable... unless you want to create an advertising framework and sell that. How did the American internet market grow? I'd bet that the Chinese internet market will grow following similar trends. Start with sites that offer tangible benefits for Chinese people. Something people would be willing to spend money on directly. I'm thinking things like online shopping, gambling, porn, event tickets, communications (phone, email), banking etc... Of course someone with knowledge about Chinese culture and what they find important would be able to come up with a better list :) Of course... all those things that built the American internet market now have established companies who want to tap into this new market.
- Chocobean 18y ago
  gambling, and porn sound totally illegal in China. ie: you can do it, but not like, "legitimately" or obviously There is a very well written story about a company that made a LOT of money doing gambling website in the "guise" of an MMORPG: http://www.danwei.org/electronic_games/gambling_your_life_away_in_zt.php http://www.danwei.org/electronic_games/gambling_your_life_aw... he company had successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and its third-quarter operating income was 405.2 million yuan, with a profit of 290.2 million. This represented an astonishing 164% and 152% climb over the same period the previous year. The company had a book value of 6.8 billion RMB. It's genius: use real-life sales people to approach gamers in net-cafes, sell them something that simultaneously grants psychological pleasure and will save them time. Then slowly leverage the basic human need for approval and acceptance, stoke their pride, and watch the money roll in. This works especially well in China because in a land of so many people, "individuality" and "personal worth in uniqueness" is worth a lot of gold.
  - cconstantine 18y ago
    Yeah, I agree. I was simply trying to think of the things that helped build the American internet market.

Chocobean 18y ago

The article basically summarizes into this: "Even though the Chinese government has heavy control over [the internet], if you factor in the population growth of 1.3 billion people, there is a lot of potential there." The article only has one point: China has lots of people. The author's basic understanding of how internet companies work is the following: 1) Operate in a place with a large number of people 2) ??? 3) PROFIT I would LOVE to read an article that discusses strategies for successfully penetrating a market where there is heavy government censorship, corruption, and tonnes of bureaucracy. Tell me how some companies deal with the fact that most of the 1.3 billion are poor, and the fact that the rich are even stingier than the poor. Tell me how to run a business in a land with no respect for intellectual property, where many of your hired hands are capable and willing to memorize your business/machine's idea/database/blueprints, and sell it to your competitor for pennies. Tell me how you could do it when so many businesses have failed, and you have written something of worth.

cglee 18y ago
You make a good point, but you're missing the main point: China's internet users aren't destitute and they're growing, along with a growing middle class. Lots of farmers are very poor; they're not your market. If you've ever been to a high end mall in China, you'll know people like to spend money (I'm not sure where you got the stingy idea from). There are lots and lots of very successful software and web startups in China. Most are not foreign owned because most foreigners have difficulty navigating the political/business climate here (I guess it's the same reason why most startups in the States aren't foreign owned either). I hear a lot of high-level complaining about the Chinese <fill in the blank>, but if you are really motivated, you can overcome those barriers. I don't think that's specific to China. The real problem, I think, is lack of understanding. All people hear about are great opportunities in China, but are frustrated when there's no prescribed formula for attaining such opportunities. This is analogous to a non technical person reading up about all the web startups and trying to take advantage, then complaining about this or that when he doesn't understand how to go about doing a web startup. The solution is simple: dig deeper and immerse yourself in understanding the Chinese market.
- 18y ago

rw 18y ago

More interesting topic would be: how to do business in China and not be evil.