
And This is Why China is Every Internet Company’s Dream - markbao
http://mashable.com/2008/07/25/china-internet-users/
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Chocobean
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.

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cglee
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.

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Chocobean
cglee, re lack of understand, high-level complaining/frustration and pretty
much your entire post, I couldn't agree with you more.

The point I was trying to make was that the article author is only echoing the
idea that's been around for decades, that China is a land of opportunity,
without bringing any new insights into _why_ internet startups will do well.
Just stating the potential isn't interesting, informative or insightful any
more than proclaiming that "the internet is the future of business"

I guess I sounded a little erh, racist when I called them stingy: I guess I
meant more along the lines of "frugal" and "cunning". Frugal: compare a
Linen's n' Things to a chinese houseware store. You don't find NEAR as many
useless kitchen knickknacks. Cunning: if i can duplicate your idea with a low-
tech solution, I won't pay for your idea.(5-sizes melon baller set?! Multi-
purpose automatic measuring devices for dry, powdered, wet, sticky foods? it's
called a SPOON. singular.)

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cglee
Maybe perceptions of Chinese American immigrants taint your attitude towards
Chinese people. Most immigrants have to be frugal because they're poor. Most
immigrants have to be cunning because they're at a severe social disadvantage.
It's being an immigrant, not Chinese, that's the difference (interestingly,
this is also why a lot of Americans think Chinese people on the whole are
really good at math).

I find that Chinese people run the gamut on frugality and cunningness. You'll
probably find more cunning people in the business world, for sure, but not
necessarily more frugal.

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charlesju
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?

~~~
deathbyzen
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.

~~~
cglee
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?".

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

