Kai Lukoff

January 10th, 2012

Why Cool Startups Are Losers In China

Chinese demographics

Here’s Hongyi Zhou’s advice to Chinese entrepreneurs: “Don’t try to be cool.” Zhou is CEO of Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU), whose company’s core is the definition of uncool: anti-virus software. Yet Qihoo has 370 million monthly active users and a very cool $1.9 billion dollar valuation.

If you want to build a big company in China, don’t build for your iPhone-toting friends, the Chinese tech blogs… → Read More

December 27th, 2011

A Geek’s Guide to China’s Silicon Valley

China map

Twenty years ago, Zhongguancun was but farming fields and small houses, far from the city center of Beijing. The ‘cun’ at the end of Zhongguancun literally means ‘village’. As with much else in China, the change has come lightening fast.

Today, Zhongguancun is China’s closest equivalent to Silicon Valley. It’s host to electronics super malls, research centers, publicly-listed tech giants, and… → Read More