D Network

Follow D Network
Share on
Copy link to clipboard

D Network is a community dedicated to educating, empowering and connecting the next generation of entrepreneurs and venture builders with global ambitions, brought to you by JC Xu and Jan Smejkal (AKA YourChinaGuy). We are coming to you from Shenzhen, China and every 2 weeks we interview top executives, entrepreneurs and investors who have been building and scaling businesses in China and beyond. As entrepreneurs and investors ourselves, we are on a mission to uncover and share first-hand insights from those behind some of the most respected business growth stories, innovations as well as failures, including those of our own.

Jan Smejkal & JC Xu


    • May 20, 2021 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 47m AVG DURATION
    • 26 EPISODES


    Search for episodes from D Network with a specific topic:

    Latest episodes from D Network

    #26 Peter H. Diamandis - Solving the World's Biggest Problems Creates the World's Biggest Business Opportunities

    Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2021 34:48


    Recently named by Fortune as one of the “World's 50 Greatest Leaders,” Peter H. Diamandis is the founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, which leads the world in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions. He is also the executive founder of Singularity University, a graduate-level Silicon Valley institution that counsels the world's leaders on exponentially growing technologies. As an entrepreneur, Diamandis has started over 20 companies in the areas of longevity, space, venture capital and education. He is co-founder of BOLD Capital Partners, a venture fund with $250M investing in exponential technologies, co-founder and Vice Chairman of Celularity, Inc., a cellular therapeutics company, co-founder of Fountain Life, an innovative, fully-integrated platform delivering best-in-class predictive, preventative, personalized and data-driven health, and co-founder & Vice Chairman of COVAXX, a COVID-19 antibody and vaccine company. Diamandis is a New York Times Bestselling author of three books: Abundance – The Future Is Better Than You Think, BOLD – How to Go Big, Create Wealth & Impact the World and The Future is Faster Than You Think.

    #25 Jack Yang - Decoding China Hyper Growth Stories with Former VP of Growth of Mobike and MissFresh

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 21, 2021 49:02


    Jack Yang is the Former Chief Growth Officer of MissFresh - a leading fresh grocery e-commerce platform in China, Former VP of Product/Growth of Mobike - Chinese bike-sharing startup that was acquired by Meituan for more than $3B and Former Product Manager of Uber and Facebook. Jack is currently working on a new startup and you can learn more about that in this episode of D Network podcast.

    #24 Mia Deng - Discussing the Future of Crypto, DeFi and NFTs with Partner of Dragonfly Capital

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2021 40:40


    Mia Deng is a Partner at Dragonfly Capital, a global crypto-asset venture fund. Their first fund was $100M, and recently closed second fund has $225M of AUM. Dragonfly Capital is backed by firms like Sequoia Capital. Previously Mia was a Founding Member and the Head of Business Development at Amber Group, a leading crypto finance platform and also Product Manager at Mobike, which was later sold to Meituan for more than $3B. Dragonfly Capital website: https://www.dcp.capital/

    #23 Cody Hu - Story of SupBro, The World's Largest Sneaker Care Company In The Making (Chinese Audio)

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2021 46:45


    Cody Hu is the founder of SupBro. SupBro is a Shenzhen-based sneaker care company. With only 11 employees, they're currently no. 1 in this industry in China and have collaborated with brands like Nike, Willson, Lining, Coca-Cola and stars like DJ Khaled and Ray Allen. SupBro is now getting ready to go global. SupBro was established in 2016 and since then has sold more than 2 million products. The company is on its way to become world's largest sneaker care brand. SupBro是目前发展最快的高端球鞋护理品牌,本公司建立于2016年6月,4年间在全球已经销售超200万个产品,每年参加球鞋及潮流展高达40场左右,年服务超过300万个球鞋爱好者。团队共同的梦想是做出最好的产品,通过大量和粉丝线上线下密切的交流和互动来获得客户的热爱,并且在这个过程中棒球球鞋热爱者解决一切关于如何护理球鞋的难题,据预测2022年Supbro将会成为全球最大的球鞋护理品牌公司。 Website: https://supbrousa.com/ Cody's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cody_supbro

    #22 Brian Wong - Bridging China and The World Through Entrepreneurship & Storytelling with Alibaba's Employee No. 52

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 18, 2021 45:27


    Brian is an internet executive with over 20 years of management experience in e-commerce and digital media in Greater China, Asia, the United States, and Europe. Brian serves as the Founder and Chairman of RADII, an independent digital media platform dedicated to telling stories from the centre of China's youth culture. Prior to this, Brian was the Vice President of the Alibaba Group. During his sixteen-year tenure with the firm, Brian served as the Special Assistant to the Chairman for international affairs, the Executive Director of the Alibaba Global Leadership Academy (AGLA), and led Alibaba's global sales, marketing, and business development operations across the globe. Brian earned his Bachelor's degree from Swarthmore College, a Master's certificate from the Johns Hopkins University – Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies, and his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Brian was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2015. He is a China Aspen Fellow, and a member of the Committee of 100. More about RADII: Visit RADII at https://radiichina.com/ and http://radii.co/ Follow RADII on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RadiiChina Follow RADII on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radii.china/ Join RADII's mailing list: https://bit.ly/3pZsDhF

    #21 Michael Wu - Exploring the Future of Bitcoin and Crypto Finance 2.0 with the Co-Founder & CEO of Amber Group

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2021 44:49


    Michael Wu is the Co-founder and CEO of Amber Group. Michael graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College. He was also a visiting scholar at Oxford University in the PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) program. Upon graduating in 2013, Michael returned to Asia to work as a macro trader with Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong and later joined a $500M+ hedge fund as a portfolio manager. At the end of 2017, Michael went on to pursue his startup idea full-time and founded Amber Group with five other partners from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Bloomberg. Amber Group started as a traditional quantitative trading firm and in three years and now has grown into one of the world's leading crypto finance service providers, operating 24/7 with a presence in Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, and Vancouver. In 2019, the company raised $28 million in a Series A funding led by Paradigm and Pantera, with participation from Polychain Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Blockchain.com, Fenbushi Capital, and Coinbase Ventures. In the same year, Michael Wu made Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Learn more about Amber: https://www.ambergroup.io/

    #20 Cindy Wang - China Marketing Masterclass with Chief Growth Officer of Weltmeister & Former Uber Head of Marketing

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 16, 2021 44:11


    Cindy Wang is the Chief Growth Officer of Weltmeister (威马汽车), a Chinese electric car (EV) brand. Weltmeister investors include Chinese technology companies Baidu and Tencent. Prior to joining Weltmeister, Cindy was CMO of Uxin Group (China's largest online used car transaction platform) where she was in charge of the major marketing campaign with Leonardo DiCaprio and Head of Marketing of Uber China where she led growth practice and marketing strategy. Cindy graduated from Yale University and has worked in Asia, Europe, Middle East and North America. https://www.wm-motor.com/en/

    #19 Dario La Torre - Will The Next Wave Of E-Commerce Growth Come From Africa?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2020 44:08


    Dario La Torre is the Chief Commercial Officer of JUMIA Global. He has been leading the international growth of major international marketplaces like ZALORA (Global Fashion Group) and JUMIA Group, the number 1 e-commerce group in Africa. Dario has been based in Asia since 2012 and in China since 2017. He holds a Master of Science degree in International Business from Fudan University in Shanghai. Dario is extremely passionate about global sourcing and cross-border e-commerce Website: https://www.jumia.com.ng/jumia-global/ Jumia Group is a company which operates a range of online marketplaces. The company was founded by Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec in 2013. Its headquarters are currently in the Yaba area of Lagos, Nigeria. The company initially started out as the Rocket Internet Company. However, the rapid growth of the company allowed it to secure strategic investors, including CDC, Goldman Sachs, Orange, MTN and the Millicom group.

    #18 Jen Loong - Lessons Learned From Launching Leading Lifestyle Brands Into China

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2020 49:11


    Jen Loong is a venture builder in Asia passionate about supporting founders to reach hyper-growth and social impact. Over her career, Jen started helping to bring lululemon and TOMS to China, and grew Alipay to US and Europe. She also founded her content startup WanderSnap, with creative services offered across SEA. She joined HYPE Asia as a Managing Director for the Greater China region, where she worked with portfolio founders in Carousell, Bakebe and Eatigo to expand into new regions. She is currently the Head of Portfolio Management at C Ventures, New World Development Group's investments arm. Jen's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenloong/ C Ventures is a venture capital firm bridging the West and the East, curating a global cultural ecosystem targeting the Millennials and the Z Generation, with a focus on disruptive businesses in technology, lifestyle and media. C Ventures's website: https://www.c-venturesfund.com/en/

    #17 Alexander Petersen - Building and Scaling Asia's Leading Bottled Cocktail Brand From China

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2020 52:27


    Alexander Petersen is the Co-founder and CEO of LAIBA Beverages, Asia's leading bottled cocktail brand. The company has humble beginnings, starting in a small apartment – now, a short three years later, employing over 30 members of staff across 5 countries, with offices in Shanghai, Bangkok and London. Having secured millions of dollars in funding, LAIBA Beverages has gone on to partner with multiple hotels, airlines and cruise line companies worldwide, with their e-commerce platforms selling cocktails all across Asia, with Europe launching soon. Website: http://laibabeverages.com/ Alex has lived in China for over 7 years and was previously the Managing Director for a Danish IT company. Alex was also the President for the Danish Young Professionals in China and was named the Danish Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year 2020. Recently, together with Peddlers Gin Company, LAIBA won the Visionary Award at the DRiNK Awards, the industry's most prestigious award ceremony, for their Bar in a Bottle project which was released in February when Covid was hitting the bar industry in China the hardest. Earlier this year Alex also graduated from the local MBA, taught in Chinese, at Shanghai Jiaotong University. EO Shanghai: https://www.eonetwork.org/shanghai

    #16 Sunny Lu - How to Make Blockchain More Accessible with the Co-Founder of VeChain, Blockchain Unicorn with Most Entreprise Use Cases

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 16, 2020 31:08


    Sunny Lu is the Co-Founder and CEO of VeChain. Launched in 2015, VeChain connects blockchain technology to the real world by providing a comprehensive governance structure, a robust economic model, and IoT integration. VeChain is the pioneer of real-world applications using public blockchain technology, with international operations in Singapore, Luxembourg, Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris, Hong Kong, and San Francisco. Together with their strategic partners PwC and DNV GL, VeChain has established cooperative relations with many leading enterprises in different industries, including Walmart China, BMW, BYD Auto, Haier, H&M, LVMH, D.I.G, ENN, Shanghai Gas, AWS, PICC, ASI etc. Website: www.vechain.com ; www.vechain.org Sunny has over 17 years of management experience with a solid technical background. He created and implemented large scale IT and information security projects. His most recent role prior to co-founding VeChain, was the CIO for Louis Vuitton China (part of LVMH Group). Sunny was educated at Shanghai JiaoTong University and studied Electronics and Communication Engineering. Follow Sunny on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sunshinelu24

    #15 Larry Li - The Future of Talent Acquisition and Major Differences in Building a SaaS Company in China

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2020 35:52


    Larry Li is the CEO of Bello. Larry has more than 10 years of HR and management experience. Previously he served as Manager at Michael Page Group and Deputy Director at Robert Walters, a London-listed professional recruitment group. Founded in 2016, Bello is an AI-based platform empowering enterprises to streamline their talent acquisition and HR management processes. Company website: www.belloai.com We discussed the future of talent acquisition, problems and limitations HR managers and companies face, the difference between SaaS in China and overseas and much more!

    #14 Kevin Shimota - Inside WeChat's Innovation Culture & How It Became the World's First SuperApp

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 13, 2020 59:52


    Kevin Shimota is a leading expert on digital technology in China. With nearly a decade experience in China, he most notably worked as Global Marketing and Partnerships Manager for WeChat (Tencent) for 4 years. He has consulted many of the world's top global companies on the China market-entry strategies, and spoken at major events, and is currently publishing a book on China's tech ecosystem. Kevin has an MBA from CEIBS and a bachelors from the University of Washington in Seattle. He previously worked at Boeing in Seattle as global supply chain manager.

    #13 Xiaodong Guan - China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trends with Former Head of Cainiao Global, Logistics Arm of Alibaba

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2020 24:49


    Xiaodong Guan is former Head of Cainiao Global, which is part of Cainiao Networks, the logistics arm of Alibaba, and former Senior Member of Alibaba Group Globalization Leadership Committee. He oversaw the strategy and global network development of Cainiao and led the investment projects of Liege Airport E-Commerce Hub, Hong Kong Airport E-Commerce Gateway and more. In addition, he was also Member of Board of Directors at SingPost owned Quantium Solutions, Cainiao Malaysia, Cainiao Hong Kong, etc. Prior to Alibaba and Cainiao, he worked at DHL's Supply Chain Division as Vice President of Transport and Retail. Alibaba Group Holding Limited, also known as Alibaba Group and as Alibaba.com, is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in e-commerce, retail, Internet, and technology. Founded on 4 April 1999, in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, the company provides consumer-to-consumer (C2C), business-to-consumer (B2C), and business-to-business (B2B) sales services via web portals, as well as electronic payment services, shopping search engines and cloud computing services. It owns and operates a diverse portfolio of companies around the world in numerous business sectors. On 19 September 2014, Alibaba's initial public offering (IPO) raised US$25 billion, giving the company a market value of US$231 billion and, by far, then the largest IPO in world history. Cainao Network is Alibaba's logistics data platform operator.

    #12 David Yeung - Pioneering and Scaling the Plant-Based Movement in China and Asia while Building OmniPork, Asia's Foodtech Powerhouse

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 11, 2020 54:42


    David Yeung is the Founder & CEO of Green Monday Group, a multi-faceted social venture with the mission to take on the world's most pressing crises of climate change, food insecurity and public health. With the global sustainability movement initiated by Green Monday Foundation, the revolutionary food technology innovation in OmniFoods and OmniPork, the market-transforming plant-based retail, dining and distribution network in Green Common, and the impact investment arm in Green Monday Ventures, Mr. Yeung has pioneered a one-of-a-kind integrated platform that engages and empowers millions of people, along with public and private sectors, towards green awareness, action and economy. His work earns him the award of “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” by the World Economic Forum and Schwab Foundation. Other honors and recognitions include “Roddenberry Prize”, “Cathay ChangeMakers 2020”, “Company of the Year 2019” by PETA Asia, “Ten Outstanding Young Persons Hong Kong” and “50 Most Innovative Companies” by Fast Company. As a noted environmentalist and entrepreneur, Mr. Yeung has spoken at the World Economic Forum, Milken Institute Summit, TEDx, as well as financial and academic institutions such as UBS and UCLA. Green Monday Group has an overall mission to “Make Change Happen, Make Green Common” since its establishment in 2012. It is achieved by promoting plant-based eating and environmental protection through its multifaceted social venture model, in hopes of tackling climate change, global food in security and promoting public health. Green Monday Foundation, Green Monday Holdings and Green Monday Ventures are the three main branches of Green Monday Group. Since the company's establishment, Green Monday Foundation has strived to promote the once-a-week plant-based meal philosophy that has now spread to over 30 countries. Green Monday Holdings' business includes Green Common and OmniFoods. Green Common is the world's first plant-based concept store to create a revolutionary food and lifestyle experience by introducing some of the most advanced global foodtech innovations. Its sales network has spread to over 10 countries and regions. OmniFoods has an established food science team based in Canada that developed OmniPork, OmniPork Luncheon and OmniPork Strip. These three food 2.0 ingredients are leading the development of the global foodtech industry and the future of food. Green Monday Ventures is the impact investment arm aimed at accelerating the growth of mission-aligned entrepreneurs and startups globally. David Yeung, the founder of Green Monday Group, was awarded “2018 Social Entrepreneur of the Year” by the World Economic Forum and Schwab Foundation.  Website: https://greenmonday.org/en/ OmniFoods, a foodtech company, is a member of Green Monday Holdings. Established in April 2018, its mission is to innovate food that will treat the planet right, treat animals right and treat us right. Their established food scientist team in Canada innovates food 2.0 based on Asian eating culture and cooking habits while ensuring that the ingredients are cruelty-free, cholesterol-free, antibiotic-free and hormone-free. The launch of OmniPork, the first product of OmniFoods, has attracted international attention. In just two years, it has launched in several global markets and has become a popular plant-based ingredient. In May2020, OmniFoods launched OmniPork Luncheon and OmniPork Strip, leading a new wave in the foodtech trend. OmniFoods also has a Healthy Flash-Frozen Ready-to-Eat Meal series, that provide a range of healthy and nutritious ready-to-eat food. Website: https://omnipork.co/

    #11 Martin Li - Former Uber China Launcher on Building GOAT China, Investing and Helping High-Growth Companies Expand to Asia

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 21, 2020 48:39


    Martin Li is currently a Partner at Hype, a venture builder that invests and operates growth stage businesses in Asia with offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Hype works with companies like GOAT, Carousell and Snapask. Hype was founded by former Uber, Airbnb and WeWork launchers/executives and has worked with over 20 companies over the last 3 years. Find out more: https://hypeasia.co/ Previously, Martin was an early member of Uber's founding team in China. He helped launch many of the early China markets for Uber as well as managed multiple business units between 2013 and 2016. At the start of his career, he worked in Private Equity at Adamas Asset Management, where he focused on distressed investments across APAC. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Finance and International Management from Boston University.

    #10 Robin Zhang - Empowering China to Design with Canva, 6 Billion Dollar Startup from Australia

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 14, 2020 62:27


    Robin Zhang is the CEO of Canva China. Previously, Robin was the founding team member of LinkedIn China with prior experience at Apple and Bain & Company. Canva is a leading online design platform that allows users to create social media graphics, presentations, posters and other visual content. Canva was founded in Australia, 2013. Over the last 7 years, Canva has grown exponentially, amassing over 30 million active users across 190 different countries. Canva is one of the fastest growing unicorn companies with $6 billion valuation. Canva is a mission-driven company. Our mission is to empower everyone to design anything, publish anywhere, with every ingredient, in every language and on any device. Canva entered China on August 15, 2018 and launched Chinese products (www.canva.cn) available both on web and mobile. In past two years, Canva China has integrated tens of millions of images, Chinese and English fonts, templates and illustrations in our Chinese platform, available on web and mobile. Canva China has three products including Canva for free, Canva for Business and Canva for Enterprise. Canva for Business makes professional design incredible easy to everyone who has no design skills. By using Canva for Business, our users can create diversified designs from posters, social media graphics, e-commerce banners, presentations to infographics, Gantt charts and etc. All designs created through paid Canva for Business can be used for all channels, without any copyright concern. Canva for Enterprise allows large organizations to collaborate on design and brand management through online workspace. It greatly increases the efficiency and decrease the costs of the enterprise. Canva Chins is rewarded the “Technology Innovation Brand of the Year” by 2020 China Advertising Marketing Award. Canva China has developed many important strategic partners, including business partners like VCG and Hanyi Fonts; marketing partners like Fortune China, products partners like Huawei Honor, Feishu (Lark), Aiqiyi, Ximalaya and etc. Canva China's mission is in line with the global mission. Our culture is based on 6 core values: set crazy big goals and make them happen; make complex things simple; pursue excellence; empower others; be a good human; be a force for good. Canva China cares a lot about being a force for good, we provide our paid Canva for Business for free to Non-profit organizations.

    #9 Yue Sun - Codemao's Journey to 35 Million Users and Post-Covid Online Education Trends in China and Beyond

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2020 39:41


    Yue Sun is an entrepreneur who dropped out from the Aalto University in Finland to start Codemao in 2015. Codemao is the most influential online coding education brand for children and teenagers in China. To date, Codemao has raised more than 150 million dollars from investors such as Hillhouse Capital. Codemao saw an incredible growth during the COVID-19 pandemic and the retention numbers remain high even now. We discuss how Codemao grew from a simple MVP to around 35 million users today (and counting), the company's global ambitions and the vision to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs and builders. Codemao's website: http://www.codemao.com/ The education companies mentioned in the episode: https://www.xueersi.com/ (学而思) https://www.yuanfudao.com/ (猿辅导)

    #8 Folke Engholm - Scaling Businesses and Brands in China and SEA by Leveraging Micro Influencers and Key Opinion Consumers (KOCs)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 28, 2020 60:06


    Folke Engholm is a Swedish serial entrepreneur, currently based in Shenzhen, China. While studying his master's degree in international business at Bond University, Australia, Folke earned a scholarship to attend his last semester at China's Tsinghua University in Beijing. He successfully introduced a contemporary lifestyle brand (d.brand) into the US market and helped Daniel Wellington with their Asian entry. In 2015 he founded Viral Access in Shenzhen, which today is known as Asia's leading Micro-KOL/Key Opinion Consumer (KOC) company driven heavily by big data and AI. Viral Access has a team of over 120 staff, working together with over 12 million Micro-influencers in China and Southeast Asia and running campaigns for brands such as Spotify, Mercedes Benz, UFC and Blizzard. Viral Access is adding thousands of Micro-influencers per month to its network. Viral Access's Website: http://viralaccess.asia/

    #7 Fritz Demopoulos - Finding the Right Co-Founders and Building Qunar, One of the Largest Online Travel Agencies in China

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2020 50:10


    Fritz Demopoulos is the Founding Partner of Queen's Road Capital. Fritz has been an entrepreneur and investor within the media and internet industries for over 10 years. He co-founded Qunar, China's largest travel internet company; and Shawei, China's largest sports internet company. Fritz also had senior positions at Netease and The News Corporation. In the interview we discuss his entrepreneurial journey, how Fritz looks for and filters ideas and business opportunities, the process of finding the right co-founders, his lessons learned from building Qunar in China and much more. Queen's Road Capital: https://www.queensroadcapital.com/

    #6 Chao Zhang - Building and Localizing Airbnb China Operations and Brand

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2020 64:41


    Chao Zhang is a feminist, a writer, and an entrepreneur. She co-founded Lean In China 6 years ago and has been dedicated to female empowerment ever since. She is a published author and a popular blogger on women issues in China. Her first book, "We Need To Talk", was published in 2013 and reached millions of young Chinese people. From management consultant at Hay Group, to the first local employee at Airbnb China, to Group Director at a leading global branding agency Labbrand, Chao has a decade of experience in helping global brands and tech start-ups succeed creatively and commercially in China's digital age. Her past work has won top awards, including Spikes Asia, Cannes Lions (shortlisted), and NYFA. Her business acumen and contributions to social impact led to her nomination as "Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia" and "Beijing's Perfect 10" - ten individuals who will define the next decade in Beijing, as well as many interviews from publications and institutions such as China National Radio and the BBC. Chao's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cloverzhang/ Lean In China: www.leaninchina.com.cn Labbrand: http://www.labbrand.com/shanghai

    #5 Jaeson Ma - Building Triller, TikTok's Top Competitor, and Realizing Potential of Asian Superheroes

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 7, 2020 65:33


    Jaeson Ma is a media executive, artist, and serial entrepreneur. He is a co-owner of popular social music video app Triller, co-founded premium production studio Stampede Ventures, digital music label 88rising, and east-west brand strategy & investment firm East West Ventures. Jaeson is a Senior Advisor to Tencent Music Entertainment & KKBox fund KKFarm and a Network Partner for consumer tech fund GoodWater Capital. He is also a senior advisor to private equity funds advised by Courage Capital Management, LLC that invests in catalogs of music rights. Jaeson is considered one of the leading financiers to companies, institutions, and individuals investing in Asian media, entertainment, & tech. His investments include Triller, Musical.ly (now TikTok), Grab, Slock.it, Brain, Oursong, Proxima Media, Kind Heaven, & MAUM. Jaeson's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaesonma/ Jaeson's Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaesonma Jaeson's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaesonma/ East West Ventures is an entertainment and lifestyle fund, focusing on celebrity backed enterprises. Website: www.ewventures.co Triller is an entertainment platform built for creators. A social video community where you can show the world who you are by capturing flawless videos and sharing them in seconds Website: https://www.triller.co/ Stampede is a premium content company focused on creating the next generation of blockbuster franchises for the world. Website: http://stampedeventures.com/ 88rising is an American mass media company and digital music platform. Website: https://88rising.com/

    #4 Anthony Chen - Building and Scaling First Software-Focused Freight Forwarder

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 30, 2020 51:29


    Anthony Chen was the first full-time employee at Flexport. He helped build many of their internal processes and tooling as well as design their customer experience. He also led their expansion into Asia in 2016 starting with their Greater China offices. Prior to Flexport, Anthony spent some time as a venture capitalist and investment banker, but his love has always been more entrepreneurial. Anthony recently left Flexport and is looking forward to starting his next endeavor. Anthony's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chenac/ Anthony's Twitter: https://twitter.com/accrossd/ Flexport is a software-focused freight forwarding and customs brokerage company that helps businesses transport their goods to their point of sale. It is currently valued at more than $3 billion after a $1 billion funding round led by SoftBank's Vision Fund with existing investors Founders Fund, DST Global, SF Express and others also participating. Its freight service includes an online dashboard for businesses to easily understand, purchase, manage, and track the services required for global trade. Flexport's mission is to fix the user experience in global trade and bring the world free trade through technology. The company was founded in 2013 and is based in San Francisco, California. Flexport's website: https://www.flexport.com/

    #3 Lucy Liu - Building a Unicorn Cross-Border Payments Company

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 22, 2020 42:06


    Lucy Liu is Co-founder and President of Airwallex. She is responsible for the company's branding and operations and has been involved with the company since its early days. Before establishing Airwallex, she was an investment consultant in CICC (China International Capital Corporation) and also served as a board director of Hong Stone Investment Development Limited, a Hong Kong based investment company. With her outstanding entrepreneurial achievements, Lucy has won a series of awards including 2020 EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women Asia-Pacific, 2019 SmartCompany “30 Under 30”, 2018 Fintech Australia Female Leader of the Year, and 2017 Forbes “30 Young Entrepreneurs in Asia”. Lucy's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/awxlucy/ Airwallex's website: http://airwallex.com/ Airwallex is a technology company that revolutionises the way businesses operate globally. Businesses use Airwallex as their end-to-end global financial services platform. Whether it's making or receiving payments from customers, domestically or internationally, Airwallex saves businesses time and money by offering real-time, reliable and cost-effective financial solutions. Founded in 2015, Airwallex has since grown to over 400 employees across ten offices around the world. Airwallex has raised over US$360 million in venture capital funding, supported by top-tier investors including Tencent, Sequoia Capital China, DST Global, Hillhouse Capital, Horizons Ventures, ANZi Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Mastercard and Salesforce Ventures. In March 2019, Airwallex was valued over US$1 billion after its Series C financing, and became one of the fintech unicorns in APAC. The company was also named one of the world's top 50 fintechs in KPMG's 2019 and 2018 Fintech100 lists.

    #2 Nathan Resnick - Sourcing and Manufacturing in China at Your Fingertips

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 16, 2020 42:41


    Nathan Resnick is the CEO of Sourcify, the fastest growing sourcing platform backed by YCombinator that helps hundreds of companies manufacture products around the world. In the past, Nathan has brought dozens of products to market, ran three e-commerce companies (sold one), and been a part of projects on Kickstarter raising over seven figures. He writes for media outlets like Entrepreneur, The Next Web and Business.com, just to name a few. Nathan also frequently appears on television networks like CNBC and CNN to comment on the China-US trade war, tariffs, COVID-19 and other current affairs that have a huge impact on global sourcing and manufacturing. Nathan also used to live in China and speaks Mandarin fluently. When he's not in a factory or selling software, he can be found mountain biking, sailing, skiing, fishing, or hiking. Nathan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanresnick/ Nathan's Twitter: https://twitter.com/naterez94 Nathan's company: https://www.sourcify.com/ Product Sourcing School: https://www.sourcify.com/programs/ Companies Nathan mentioned in our conversation: https://italic.com/ - Luxury without labels https://cutsclothing.com/ - Fashion https://www.freightos.com/ - Freight forwarding https://www.flexport.com/ - Freight forwarding https://www.v-trust.com/ - Quality control in China https://www.qima.com/ - Quality control in Asia

    #1 Jordan Berke - Digitalizing Walmart in China and the Future of Retail

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2020 48:53


    Jordan Berke led e-commerce activities for Walmart in China for almost ten years, based out of Shenzhen, China. He helped to negotiate Walmart's $4bn investment in JD and led implementation of the strategic alliance formed post-investment, oversaw $400m investment and partnership with Dada/JD Daojia, China's largest crowdsourced delivery platform / #2 largest online grocery platform (behind Meituan), and built Walmart's one-hour fresh delivery business that now serves 50m customers annually across 180 cities. This business became key driver of Walmart's growth in China and benchmark for company's global e-commerce development. After he left Walmart, Jordan started Tomorrow Retail, a strategic consultancy that enables global retailers and brands to accelerate their digital transformation, with specific focus on e-commerce channel strategy, in-store digitization and customer data management. In our conversation we discussed Jordan's China experience, what made Walmart unique in terms of business strategy as well as company culture, and how should companies around the world approach learning from Chinese tech giants such as Tencent, Alibaba, and others. Jordan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-berke-tomorrow/ Jordan's company: Tomorrow Retail Consulting / https://tomorrowretail.com/

    Claim D Network

    In order to claim this podcast we'll send an email to with a verification link. Simply click the link and you will be able to edit tags, request a refresh, and other features to take control of your podcast page!

    Claim Cancel