Digitally China

This episode of Digitally China is about Brian Wong, his experiences from being part of the early days of Alibaba but at the same time also a story about how it was to first-hand be part of how China grew from almost nothing to the largest internet market in the world.  The location is a hotel in San Francisco, the year is 1999. The internet hype is in its peak. United States at this moment have over 100 million internet users, 10 times more than the much larger country in the East, China. While his friends are leaving school to join the company that seems to be the next big thing, Google, Brian is instead meeting a fairly unknown entrepreneur at that time with the first name Jack who enthusiastically is talking about his company, Alibaba. As many of his friends on the west coast of the US, he believes that technology will change the world. But instead of staying in his hometown and the Middle Kingdom of innovation, Palo Alto, he moves to Hangzhou to work with e-commerce in country that barely have internet users. In this episode we’re listening in on Brian’s story, reflecting on the learnings from the growth of the Chinese technology sector, what we can learn from it and how it will impact the rest of the world.Guests:· Brian Wong, VP at AlibabaHosts: Tom Xiong & Eva XiaoProducer: Jacob Lovén & Katarina AnderssonDigitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

In the latest Digitally China we’re looking back on history. Meituan-Dianping is China’s clear market leader within group buying, offline discovery and online-offline services today. But it wasn’t that clear a few years back. In fact, the opposite was true, with the American giant Groupon entering China backed by a powerful partner in Tencent. In a hyper-competitive environment, there were suddenly thousands of group-buying services all fighting for the position that Meituan has today.For a sense of what that time was like, we interviewed Tim He, who was a senior executive of Gaopeng, the Chinese subsidiary of Groupon when they entered the market. Tim, who took a break from Harvard to go back to China to take on the daunting task of trying to win in such an enormous, sprawling market, takes us through some of the incredible stories from that exciting period.As a seasoned investor at one of Europe’s most renowned venture firms, Kinnevik, Tim also reflects on learnings from the Chinese technology sector as well as the success factors behind today's “super apps” of China.Topics covered in this episodeHow Groupon entered the Chinese marketThe group-buying industryHow to operate in a market with thousands of competitorsWhat lessons can you learn from China that are applicable for Western markets?The success factors behind super app companies such as Meituan-Dianping, Alipay and moreGuests:· Tim He, investor at Kinnevik and previous senior executive of Gaopeng, the Chinese Groupon.Host: Tom XiongProducer: Jacob Lovén & Katarina AnderssonDigitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

The business of selling clicks and fake accounts is the scourge of social media today, where anyone from wannabe influencers to political saboteurs can purchase likes, followers, and even comments.In China, the issue is so severe that nearly a third of the country’s internet traffic last year was rated “abnormal”, according to third-party advertising data monitor Miaozhen Systems.And though Chinese social media platforms from WeChat to Weibo to RED have repeatedly cracked down on fake and bot accounts, the shady business behind the “like” economy is alive and well.In this episode of Digitally China, we’ll explore the factors that drive the creation and selling of fake engagement metrics in China, the impact, and the process and cost of actually buying them.Episode outline:Reasons motivating people to purchase fake engagementHow to buy followers and price comparison between platformsWhy platforms can’t get rid of the fake engagement businessImpact of fake metrics on brands and the saturation of Chinese social media platforms

In the latest episode of Digitally China, Tom is joined by Jill Tang, co-founder of Ladies Who Tech, an influential Chinese organization focusing on entrepreneurship and gender diversity in China. As someone who works in the unique cross-section of tech, diversity, multinational companies, and market-entry in China, Jill shares her observations and thoughts on how multinational companies can be more gender inclusive in China, and how China's younger and more international workforce is changing work culture in the country.Topics covered in this episode:- Ladies Who Tech & gender diversity at companies in China- Entrepreneurship, different types of entrepreneurs and startups- What multinational companies in China do well and can be better at- Market-entry for foreign brands to the complex Chinese marketGuests:· Jill Tang, co-founder Ladies Who TechHost: Tom XiongProducer: Jacob LovénDigitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

Companies around the world are latching onto social commerce, but in China, where mobile payments are ubiquitous and consumers are extra wary of fake goods, the integration between social media and online shopping has been especially fast. That doesn’t mean it’s a silver bullet for brands though -- or even the multi-billion dollar internet celebrity industry, where influencers are tasked with advertising products without appearing too commercial.In this episode of Digitally China, we’ll discuss Xiaohongshu or RED, which is often compared to Instagram and Pinterest. The fast-growing app, which is popular among young, female urbanites in China, has over 85 million monthly active users and is valued at $3 billion following a $300 million funding round last year led by e-commerce heavyweight Alibaba.But the e-commerce side of RED is still behind more price-conscious competitors like Pinduoduo — and the app hit its latest roadblock earlier this week, when it was pulled from Chinese app stores.We’ll cover some of the challenges the app is facing as it tries to grow its e-commerce business – monetizing its vibrant user community -- and manage the thousands of influencers on its platform.  Episode summary:· Xiaohongshu backstory and introduction· Xiaohongshu vs. competitors· Xiaohongshu’s content quality problem· Success cases of brands working with influencers· Cosmetics: an industry where Chinese brands have really optimized social media and ecommerceGuests:· Elijah Whaley, chief marketing officer at Parklu, an influencer marketing tech firm in China· Huo Qiu, a fashion and cosmetics influencer with over 1 million followers on Weibo and about 30,000 followers on XiaohongshuHosts: Eva Xiao and Tom XiongProducer: Jacob LovénDigitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

In China’s fast-growing tech industry, it’s easy to focus on exciting new products and businesses while overlooking one of the most important elements of any company: the talent.Inthis episode, we look at how the recruiting process at Chinese tech firms does -- and doesn’t -- differ from that of multinational firms, and how China's new wave of tech professionals view their career options.EpisodeOutline:Incentives/disincentives for working at multinational firms vs. Chinese internet companiesThe importance of 996 or working overtimeProbation and the concept of “hire fast, fire fast”Unstructured vs. standardized hiring practicesChina’s gender discrimination problemGuests:Vincent Wang, a senior associate at executive recruiting firm Atkins & AssociatesBen Jiang, who runs the India bureau of Krasia, an Asia-focused tech media platform A Zhen, a product manager and team leader for front-end development at a Shanghai-based internet companyHosts: Eva Xiao and Tom XiongProducer: Jacob LovénDigitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

Corporate offerings such as secondary listings and IPO’s from Chinese tech companies are accelerating. This year alone we have seen 161 such events, which is already 72% of entire last year. Why do Chinese tech companies turn to public markets to raise capital? Why are the Hong Kong stock exchange increasingly popular? And how does the domestic Chinese stock market fit in all this for tech companies? In the latest episode of Digitally China we are interviewing the co-host of China Tech Investor podcast James Hull to get an understanding of the latest trends and what all of this means for Chinese technology companies. Topics covered during this episode:The rush to IPO from tech companies around the worldDifferences between Hong Kong and US public marketsThe future of domestic public listings in China Hosts: Eva Xiao and Tom XiongGuest: James Hull, founder of HullX and co-host of China Tech Investor podcastProducer: Jacob LovénDigitally China is a subjective but independent depiction of the tech scene in China. Audio clips used in the podcast have not been distorted nor taken out of context and are included for commentary and educational purposes and thus shall be considered “Fair Use”. Digitally China is powered by RADII (www.radiichina.com), an independent media platform exploring China from all angles.

(The previous publication was not the full version due to a technical bug. This is an upload of the full episode - sorry for that!)Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is one of China’s largest success stories in tech.No other domestic tech firm has been able to grow its business overseas around the world and beat the competition the way the Shenzhen-based company has, despite keeping a relatively low profile.But over the past six months, Huawei has found itself increasingly in the limelight and under public scrutiny. After the arrest of one of its top executives in December and an escalating trade war, the Chinese telecoms company has become a symbol for both China’s technological rise and ambition -- and the threat that poses to Western countries like the US.To take a closer look at the company -- at a more human-scale -- we decided to dive into the people and unique ‘wolf’ culture of Huawei, from its dark history of employee suicides to inspiring “war” stories, where company staff brave earthquakes and civil war to serve clients.So what makes the company tick? How does it produce both die-hard loyalists and Huawei-haters? In this episode, we explore the following topics:Huawei’s management system and how it worksFounder Ren Zhengfei’s influence on HuaweiMilitaristic Huawei slogans and sayingsCompany training and “boot camp”The trade-offs of a “wolf” cultureHost: Tom Xiong and Eva XiaoProducer: Jacob LovénGuest: Shen Rui, an ex-Huawei employee who worked there 2011-2015