Perspective 1:

A Singapore Startup in China: From Newcomer to Big League Player in Four Years

Speaker:

Jiang Mingliang
Co-founder & COO, ANV
NUS Computing Class of 1999

Synopsis:

A Japanese, a Korean and a Singaporean embarked on an entrepreneurial journey in China in early 2006. They started with very little resources -- no more than what they have been equipped with from university plus a little over an average of seven years of working experience each. Through a series of strategisation, fund-raising, mergers and acquisitions, and careful executions, the three foreign men have grown their little startup into one of China's largest private TV shopping companies by the end of 2009. The holding group they founded -- Asia Network Ventures(ANV) -- spans these media/retail sectors: TV Shopping, Logistics, Marketing and TV Content distribution. ANV's combined turnover last year exceeded RMB 300 million.

Co-founder and COO of ANV, Jiang Mingliang, will talk about the lessons he learnt from doing business in an emerging market like China. He will also talk about the pitfalls to avoid and share some sound guidelines he and his partners have employed in their startup.

Perspective 2:

PPLive: From Campus Start-up to China Online Video Market Leader

Speaker:

Bill Yao
Founder & President, PPlive

Synopsis:

The online video market in China has seen rapid growth in recent years, and is expected to be worth some 20 billion US dollars in the next three years. PPLive, a well-known internet TV services provider in China, is the largest online video interactive entertainment media platform in the country, serving 180 million users and providing a coverage that extends to Chinese communities worldwide. A pioneer in this fast-growing industry, PPLive has maintained its lead by serving up cutting-edge experiences with its high quality and copyright protected full-length video contents in sports, film, drama and television. Its services cover PC, connected TV and mobile TV platform.

Powering PPLive is a world-class peer-to-peer (P2P) streaming technology created by PPLive founder Bill Yao when he was a university student six years ago. In this talk, Bill will discuss the growth trend of China’s digital media market, and share his experience in technology and business model innovation. He is keen to talk to young people, with the hope of inspiring them to pursue their dreams of starting their own business.

Perspective 3:

Why Focus, Cost Consciousness and Simplicity are the Foundations of Startups

Speaker:

WANG Jian Shuo
CEO, Baixing.com

Synopsis:

Five years ago, the online classified advertisement market in China might be considered a sea awash with thousands of players, from grass-root entrepreneurs and high-profile startups backed by venture capital to big companies. Since then, Baixing has established its leading position in a market that has few competitors left. Interestingly, compared to other existing players each with some 1000 employees and offices in various cities, Baixing boasts a small team of about 20 employees located in a small office in Shanghai Jiaotong University. Baixing virtually made no marketing push, but yet has established a presence in over 340 cities in China. With hundreds of thousands of new listings put online every day, and about tens of millions of page views per day, Baixing looks poised to dominate the online classified market. Baixing's CEO Wang Jian Shuo will share the story of how to make it big by being smaller, and how to broaden one’s business scope to cover housing, jobs, second-hand products, services and more. He will share the story of how simplicity has made it possible for a team of 20 people to run a website with active listing covering 340 cities.

Perspective 4:

The Making of a Business SNS in China

Speaker:

Lerry Zou
Founder & CEO, Wealink.com

Synopsis:

Wealink.com was set up in 2004 as one of the first Business SNS companies in China. Over the past six years, Lerry Zou and his team has built Wealink into China's Linkedin, the largest Business SNS service in this new market. Wealink has become a powerful tool in helping people develop business relationships. Fresh college graduates, in particular, have relied on the service to kick-start their careers. That track record has prompted venture media Red Herring to count Wealink among the top 100 private businesses in Asia.

Lerry Zou, Founder and CEO of Wealink, will speak on his experiences in building a successful Web 2.0 startup. From his Wealink perspective, he will answer a range of pertinent questions, including: How to identify the user requirements? How to design the product and rapidly improve on it? How to carry out marketing with limited resources?

Panel Discussion:

Future Opportunities and Challenges in China’s Internet and Media Market

Jiang Mingliang, Lerry Zou, Wang Jian Shuo, Bill Yao and John Wu