Fionn Wright

Coach, Speaker & Universifier

Author: revsdev

Is it Still Possible for Foreigners to Win in the China Tech Industry? (one hilarious story tells us how!)

Title Episode 1: Baopals Creating a Niche Among Chinese E-Commerce Giants and rise above China tech industry with an images of Jay Thornhill, Tyler McNew and Charlie Erickson

Not only has China come back online, but many of its tech giants have actually been fuelled by the Coronavirus as people have gotten more used to using online services during lockdown. Alibaba, whose B2C E-commerce Platform Taobao was essentially born out of the 2003 SARS epidemic, hasn’t done as well as tech companies that are more digitalized like Tencent (for gaming and WeChat) or Bytedance (Douyin & TikTok short video apps) during COVID, but regardless has found ways to survive. Sales grew 22% in the three months to 31 March, despite virus-related restrictions, and sales in the firm’s cloud computing division jumped 58%. Certainly Alibaba has been hit hard by COVID in other business areas, particularly those dependent on the physical rather than digital economy, but now that business is back in China, on the longer-term trajectory this matters little. In Alibaba’s quarterly earning press release, Daniel Zhang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group, says, “Alibaba achieved the historic milestone of US$1 trillion in GMV across our digital economy this fiscal year. Our overall business continued to experience strong growth, with a total annual active consumer base of 960 million globally, despite concluding the fiscal year with a quarter impacted by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The company also predicted that sales for its next fiscal year could increase more than 25% from 2020. Alibaba is aggressively pushing to expand right now, with their strategic goals for the next five years, consistent with their mission “to make it easy to do business anywhere”: These five-year goals are guide posts that will help Alibaba achieve its vision for 2036 to: The Alibaba e-commerce ecosystem in China is rivalled by no other, and as China builds out its Belt and Road Initiative connecting Europe and Asia as well as Africa together, Alibaba will likely be playing a significant role in the flow of goods. Those interested in leveraging the Chinese E-commerce boom as it goes global can get a head start by finding ways to integrate into the post-COVID Chinese E-commerce Ecosystem. For an example of a company that has created it’s own niche in the highly competitive Chinese E-commerce Market — meet Baopals. Episode 1: Baopals Creating a Niche Among Chinese E-Commerce Giants In this episode, I visit Baopals to talk to the founders, Jay Thornhill, Tyler McNew and Charlie Erickson, who have taken on the task of creating a Taobao for foreigners. With over 50,000 expats registered, over 3 million products sold with a value of 170 million RMB and over 1 billion products available, they have done what nobody thought could be done, this episode is by far the funniest I’ve interviewed so far, enjoy! (Click here to watch/listen) “We had no guanxi or connections, no permission, no relationship and no money so essentially we just had to build and we kind of gambled on the fact that what we were building would not only be a good platform but also that Alibaba, arguably the most powerful company in China, one of the most powerful companies in the world, would be ok with it, which eventually we found out that they are, and that was really cool, that was a big relief.” — Jay Thornhill, Baopals _________ I’ve been interviewing “China Hands” on their personal stories to learn how they have managed to play their hands right in the China market. I have chosen ten of those interviews for this article which are relevant to supporting you in this COVID context. You can click on the images below to find a link to the interview on Youtube, or for those in China on Bilibilithe Chinese video platform, as well as a link to podcast if you prefer audio. Welcome to Season 2 of the Your China Dream Video Interview Series – enjoy! If you liked the article remember to follow me on LinkedIn and if you liked the interviews remember to subscribe on Youtube or Bilibili. _________ Now is the perfect time to do coaching, because this crisis, if it hasn’t already, is going to challenge you in ways you have never been challenged. Personally, I’ve gone from having one coach and a therapist last year to currently having 4 coaches and 2 therapists to support me in different areas so I can operate at my potential in this challenging period. Coaching is a proven effective way to support a leader to develop to deal with the challenges that present themselves. These days I focus on coaching entrepreneurs and their leadership teams, or executives who are looking to strike out on their own and become entrepreneurs. In rare cases when there is a strong value fit, I do consulting or play an advisory role for organizations to support them deal with adapting to the complexity of the modern world by leveraging the China market, digitizing their offerings or finding new ways of operating. As one of my clients says about working with me, “he’ll not only bring out your best, he makes your best better.” Reach out to me on LinkedIn to discuss or add me on WeChat: fionnwright

Can We Leverage China’s Comeback to Ride Out the Worst Recession in 90 Years? Strategies from 12 China Hands

Leverage China's Comeback - Climate change

Bad news first. This is worse than 2008, “much worse” according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which called it “A Crisis Like No Other, An Uncertain Recovery” in the World Economic Outlook Update released in June 2020. This is not just a global recession like in 2008, but more like the Great Depression that happened in 1930, explains Ray Dalio, arguably the world’s most successful investor. His comments are echoed by the IMF’s projections for global growth, which shows that for the first time since the Great Depression advanced economies, emerging markets and developing economies are all in recession. The vast majority of countries’ economies will shrink in 2020 with a global projection of -4.9%, and advanced economies are projected at -8%. Income per capita is expected to shrink in over 170 countries. Now for some good news. China is in many ways is already getting back on track after the economy shrinking by 6.8% in the first quarter compared to same period last year. While there is no doubt it will take a serious hit in 2020, from 6.1% last year to a projected 1.0% this year, that would make it only country on the list to still have positive growth in 2020. If IMF projections turn out to be accurate for 2021, China will have the strongest economy in the world in at 8.2%. In the shorter term (6-12 months), we are all likely to be challenged, in the longer term (1-3 years) things can be better than they ever have been, for some. This article builds upon on the premise “what doesn’t break you makes you stronger” in my previous article entitled ‘Could the Coronavirus make China Stronger than Ever? 10 Trends that Indicate it Will’ which has been shared over 1000 times with over 100,000 views on LinkedIn, has been sent around the internet from Facebook to WhatsApp groups to multiple WeChat accounts reposting it, and has been translated it into Chinese and French, and led to an interview on CGTN. The basic idea of the article is that while China’s economy will undoubtedly be hit hard at the beginning of this year, with some industries hit harder than others, China has the strongest macro-economic mechanisms in the world for preventing a severe economic slowdown. Now China has already returned to business and has contained the virus. The outbreak is but a small blip on China’s long-term development radar, and one that could actually accelerate China on its path towards becoming a fully developed nation by 2050 — China 2.0. Those individuals, companies and countries that hope to fare well over the next few years would be wise to leverage China’s comeback. So why does that matter to us as individuals and businesses? This article shares ten potential ways we can navigate our way through the next year, leveraging China to come out stronger that ever before. None of the below are quick fixes, all will take investment of time, energy and probably money. Right now is a time to take a moment (and ideally longer) to think very seriously about the direction you have been going and if that is still the best direction for you during and post COVID. The world has changed, the economy has changed, politics have changed, businesses have changed, so if we stay the same, many of the ways we have done things are likely to become irrelevant soon if they aren’t already, and that’s a good thing, because it will force us to change too. Now is the time to reinvent yourself and your business, to question everything, to go back to base principles, to identify and operate by your core values. The world will not be stable any time soon, but you can be. What can we do as Individuals and Businesses? I’ve been interviewing “China Hands” on their personal stories to learn how they have managed to play their hands right in the China market. I have chosen ten of those interviews for this article which are relevant to supporting you in this COVID context. You can click on the images below to find a link to the interview on Youtube, or for those in China on Bilibili the Chinese video platform, as well as a link to podcast if you prefer audio. Welcome to Season 2 of the Your China Dream Video Interview Series – enjoy! Strategy 1 – Build Bridges to China (by helping Chinese companies expand) Not only has China come back online, but many of its tech giants have actually been fuelled by the Coronavirus as people have gotten more used to using online services during lockdown. Alibaba, whose B2C E-commerce Platform Taobao was essentially born out of the 2003 SARS epidemic, hasn’t done as well as tech companies that are more digitalized like Tencent (for gaming and WeChat) or Bytedance (Douyin & TikTok short video apps) during COVID, but regardless has found ways to survive. Sales grew 22% in the three months to 31 March, despite virus-related restrictions, and sales in the firm’s cloud computing division jumped 58%. Certainly Alibaba has been hit hard by COVID in other business areas, particularly those dependent on the physical rather than digital economy, but now that business is back in China, on the longer term trajectory this matters little. In Alibaba’s quarterly earning press release, Daniel Zhang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba Group, says, “Alibaba achieved the historic milestone of US$1 trillion in GMV across our digital economy this fiscal year. Our overall business continued to experience strong growth, with a total annual active consumer base of 960 million globally, despite concluding the fiscal year with a quarter impacted by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The company also predicted that sales for its next fiscal year could increase more than 25% from 2020. Alibaba is aggressively pushing to expand right now, with their strategic goals for the next five years, consistent with their mission “to make it easy to do business anywhere”: These five-year goals are guide posts that will help Alibaba achieve its vision for 2036 to: The Alibaba e-commerce ecosystem

How can start-ups in China get back on their feet? (13 Tips for Entrepreneurs)

Start-ups - Hold om chinaprenuers

Original article by LadiesWhoTech Author Kelsey Cheng or read the article in Chinese The coronavirus outbreak has shaken up China’s investing industry, forcing start-ups to cut wages, lay off workers and put deals on hold to make it through the cash crunch. Now that China is getting back to business, the rest of the world struggles to deal with the virus, facing an existential crisis. So while it seems China may have won the major health battle against the virus, the economic war against the virus is far from over. Data released by the Naon people in China lostional Bureau of Statistics indicated roughly five millit their jobs amid the outbreak in January and February. Fundraising by Chinese start-ups slumped nearly 60 per cent to US$1.79 billion and a six-year low of 168 deals so far this year, from US$4.18 billion in 440 transactions in the same period in 2019, according to data by Preqin quoted by South China Morning Post. The volatile sector was already suffering from a “capital winter”, as start-up founders face a funding shortage amid a slowing economy and the end of a venture capital boom. Not all hope is lost: Gearing up for a stronger comeback Thankfully, experts and start-ups founders who have walked the walk tell Ladies Who Tech that it’s not the end of the world. Shanghai-based entrepreneurial coach Fionn Wright believes that it’s very much possible for start-ups in China to come back stronger following this “black swan” event – but they’ve got to be smart about it. “In China, a strong comeback is likely as the business ecosystems recover over the next few months. This is a time when start-ups need to be creative to be able to retain employees, find new ways of making money and potentially even develop entirely new products or services. Business as usual is not going to cut it. What got you here, won’t get you through the crisis,” Wright told Ladies Who Tech. Shanghai-based entrepreneurial coach Fionn Wright Taking current trends outside of China into consideration, Wright believes businesses that are reliant on import/export are in for uncertain times and may want to find ways to leverage China’s relative internal stability to develop new supply chains or target customers at least temporarily. He urged start-ups to stop trying to figure out when things will get back to the way they were and accept that this is the new norm. “Start taking action to adapt to it. The winners of tomorrow are those who can see their long-term vision clearly at this moment and can use the new situation as a way to accelerate towards their long-term vision,” he said. Case studies: How FashionEx and RealWear thrived Amelie Mongrain is the co-founder of FashionEx, a Shanghai-based start-up which offers accelerator programs, relevant toolkits and industry expert support to fashion entrepreneurs and their businesses. Needless to say, her company was dealt a blow by the coronavirus – supply chains came to a halt and her team was unable to fulfill her normal sales and delivery. But being in the fashion and textile industry for more than 20 years, Mongrain was able to think outside of the box. And sure enough, new opportunities came knocking. “We shifted our focus. We took time to revisit our annual goals and worked on a new strategy. The situation we were in triggered our creativity and prompted us to build our brand and promote ourselves differently, and the goal was not money. It gave us a chance to re-imagine and reboot our business. At the same time, we wanted to help with battling the outbreak and we looked for what was needed at the time,” she told Ladies Who Tech. Changing her mindset and the direction of her export business lead to the creation of KandyMask, a stylish medical-grade anti-pollution mask that protects a person from smog, haze, allergens and airborne contaminants. The plan was originally to distribute the product in foreign markets, but Mongrain decided to sell them in China directly, which benefitted thousands of people who were struggling to get their hands-on protective wear at the time. At the same time, her menswear supplier underwent a repositioning of its business model and received a certificate to produce protective suits for hospital and clinic staff. Mongrain immediately jumped on board and helped facilitate the process, rushing supply to regions that needed help. “Most importantly, I started to give a lot more TLC (tender loving care) to our clients,” Mongrain reflected. “I did live chats with them and went through virtual product development sessions with them. We bonded and showed that we cared, and talked about how we can be part of their business development at a deeper level.” “Through this crisis, new roads opened up and stronger relationships were forged,” she said. “In times like these, I believe we all have the potential to rise to the occasion and achieve something that we never thought was possible. But if you give up now, you will fail for sure.” The biggest takeaway from this experience, Mongrain said, is realizing the power of community and empowerment to one another, and witnessing how the experience was built into the team’s culture. RealWear ChinaSimilarly, Vancouver-based augmented-reality headset maker RealWear also experienced a lucky break in China amid the virus outbreak, which created an unexpected demand for the devices in the health care sector. Through a partnership with Tencent, RealWear was able to immediately supply the headsets to frontline medical professionals, according to The Columbian. Thanks to the voice-driven software being compatible with protective gears, doctors have been able to conduct hands-free communication and transmit live feeds while out in the field. In the long run, it has opened up a potential new customer vertical for the start-up. “This is a compelling example of how tech companies can work together to fight coronavirus,” CEO of RealWear China Bo Li said in a LinkedIn post. “Startup companies like ours can also play a high-impact role in this crisis by empowering people with purpose-built technology.” Tips to help start-ups emerge successful So, what can

How Can Start-ups in China Get Back on Their Feet?

Laptop, coffee, cellphone, ballpen and paper in the table

The coronavirus outbreak has been shaking up China’s investing industry, forcing start-ups to cut wages, lay off workers and put deals on hold to make it through the cash crunch. Now that the virus has spread beyond China’s borders and infected hundreds of thousands in more than 155 countries, the world faces an existential crisis…

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