July 25, 2007
News: Lightstate get bought by Buy.at
So the news I promised I'd be posting about in my last Blog post.
buy.at, the UK’s largest independent affiliate marketing network, has acquired online lead generation provider Lightstate in order to access its market leading technology and experienced management team and expand buy.at’s offering to both its clients and affiliates.
The last 12 months have been pretty hectic with building this business upto become a market leader, and it's nice to get some recognition when you get bought out by a Big player.
I would however like to say that I only deserve a part of the credit, the real hard work was done by my team, especially JP Jones (Technology) and Riz Wasti (Finance), these 2 guys both left their secure jobs to come and participate in my master plan, and have worked day and night ever since then.
One lesson I have learnt on this project, It's all about the PEOPLE and Execution, Ideas are a plenty, but it's the people and the execution that actually matter.
Anyway back to work now, and I hope to blog once in a while on here.
http://www.buy.at/aboutus/news.php?ID=3757
Posted by shak at 10:25 AM | Comments (2)
July 17, 2007
What happened to this Blog
OK so it's ages since I last posted here, but as always I have some good excuses :)
a, I moved back to London last summer (2006)
b, Been busy running a new business which has gone from a simple idea to a multi million $ turnover business in less than 12 months.
c, I just came back from a weekend in Shanghai hence I thought I should post as a few people asked me about Chinawhite.
Anyway do keep an eye on the blog over the next few days as I will be announcing something pretty big :)
Posted by shak at 9:04 PM | Comments (2)
June 20, 2006
why does NO One accept responsibility ?
Been a hectic 6 weeks since coming back to London setting up operations and having our container stuck at the Port for 7 days awaiting inspection by customs whilst being charged a daily rate for this pleasure.
That aside, everything finally arrived, and our team had a 12 stage quality control process they wanted to go through, even after the factories in China do their own version.
So basically we had 2 suppliers, and the end result was this:
a, Supplier A had a 2% failure rate, much better than expected, and they were very minor issues which can be solved easily by us here.
b, Supplier B had basically a 100% failure rate, every item we bought is NOT sellable, without going into specifics, just imagine that you are buying a casing for a mobile phone, consisting of 2 parts which attached together form 1 unit, in this case part a and part b are different sizes, and NO body bothered checking this in China, although quality control on individual items was done perfectly, common sense was amiss and no one made sure the 2 pieces were the same size.
I emailed both suppliers with my findings, and below is a snapshot of their replies:
a, We think your staff must have damaged the 1& of goods which you say are faulty as we never have problems with other customers, please tell your staff to be careful as they have obviously damaged the goods.
b, We personally inspected every item, maybe we can send you replacements if it helps.
Now maybe I am missiong something very obvious here, that whenever I am in the worng, I am the first guy to put my hands up and "sorry, my fault", however it seems that my 2 suppliers don't work like this.
I had read in many many books about such stories, but this was 1st hand experience, in somebody not wanting to lose Face and accept responsibility. The most baffling thing is that I praised supplier A for having such a low failure rate, and still they come back with a counter email.
Oh well, supposed it's all part of the learning curve when dealing with China eh ;)
Posted by shak at 6:34 PM | Comments (3)
March 6, 2006
Cuctomer Service
Who says Customer Service is non-existant in China ?
probably guys like Me and every other foreigner who has experienced some level of CS in their life, even if it's the word SORRY when they get things wrong, or PLEASE when asking for something.
However this Weekend all that changed.
I got back home Saturday Night / Sunday Morning at around 2.30am and decided that since body clock was still on UK time, that maybe I should surf the web and look for some apartments since our lease is up for renewal in a few weeks.
So I spend about 30 minutes on Craigslist Shanghai and ShanghaiExpat looking at classified ads, a few took my fancy but 1 company kept having nice properties shown along with correct English spelling and descriptions. I decide at 3am to submit a query form with my needs (3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms etc) and hit the submit button.
At 3.15am my cellphone rings with a not known Shanghai number, so I am thinking it must either be A) a friend who is so drunk that he has lost his money or his mind OR B) a member of the opposite sex wondering where I am ?
To my shock it's the Real Estate agent from the company who I had just submitted my query to for an apartment.
Folks, this is 3.15am on a Sunday Morning that the guy calls me, so after a few strong explicit lyrics from me, his defense is "We are a true 24 hour service company".
Now strange things happen here everyday, but even the most hardened expats and crazy Chinese can't believe this could take place.
Only in China eh !
Posted by shak at 10:39 PM | Comments (2)
January 17, 2006
All Change round here
So 2006 has started and everybody is back to work judging ny the long hours I see folks logged on their MSN and Gtalk accounts.
As for me, I have decided to get OUT of the www/online business for 2006 and do some other stuff for the next 12 months.
Considering ONLINE is all I have done since Feb 2000 it seems a bit weird moving away from this industry.
However having spent a total of around 5 months in 2005 in China looking at a number of opportunities for myself and others along with having met 100s of people in this industry in China has led me to make this decision based on the fact that IN MY OPINION the opportunities currently in China simply aren't there right now.
What I see around me is a lot of "Smoke and Mirrors" activity taking place, and I think sooner or later somebody is going to get their fingers burnt, and frankly speaking, I'd rather watch from the sidelines than be putting the fire out.
A lot of western companies are pumping big dollar to be a name in China like they are back home without actually understanding any concept of what the web is about in China, below is an example:
A very large USA based hosting company's head of China has spent a total of 6 days here, and had NO idea about any of the following: Chinese Firewall, Business License for doing business here, Currency control and how online payment works, her only criteria was that she was a semi-hot Asian chick who spoke worse Mandarin than me.
This is just a simple example of the kinda stuff you see here on a daily basis and it's growing day by day.
Without sounding harsh, The INTERNET is closed for business in China unless you happen to be Chinese or have very strong business relationships here.
(hence why the YAHOO and AliBaba deal in my opinion is the perfect scenario, as Yahoo made the aboslute right decision based on current market conditions)
Now I am sure things are moving at a rapid pace, but for the sort of stuff I have been doing over the last 5 years, there really isn't anything worth writing home about.
I could spend all day here writing about This That and the other, but I wont waste your time.
Considering I came here to be a "Man on The Ground in China", that's what I internet to do for the rest of 2006, and below is what/where I am at present.
Mandarin Lessons daily with the new teacher are making all the difference, and I can now hold a basic conversation which is making life so much easier, Language here is the key as it makes ALL the difference from simple daily tasks to dealing with Laoban's (bosses) at big companies, anyone who comes to China and doesn't want to learn Mandarin should be sent straight home.
I am gonna keep watching the Internet stuff here from the sideline, and as I hang out with quite a few of the Chinese VC and Web crowd, this should still allow me to have a grasp on where things are headed.
Still gonna be a "Man on the Ground", just in a different area, and current projects I am working on include:
Sourcing Highest quality Poker Chips for a leading European Online Poker store (Have already managed to cut their purchase cost by 35% and they were actually buying from China before).
Sourcing Corporate Gifts on behalf of 1 of Scandinavia's largest Corporate Gift Suppliers, hey are currently buying 1 container a month and want to increase this by 300%
Setting up a JV with some friends back home to export highest quality Display equipment from China for resale in Europe.
Helping a very large European VITAMIN manufacturer with production facilities find new partners in the West who want to launch their own brand of Products using the same OEM products that major Health Food chains are using.
China is made for guys like me, even though I say it myself, you have to see your opportunity and then go with it, doing the above is giving me a whole new insight into business is actually done in China, rather than the BULLxxxx taking place in VC meetings in Shanghai.
So I hope I can end 2006 with the following:
Good Spoken Mandarin
Monthly paypacket from a number of projects currently incvolved in.
Much better understanding of Business and mentality of the Chinese.
As for the blog, changes round here aswell, getting up at 5am and going to visit factories leaves very little free time, however I will update as and when I can, but NO more JUST Alibab or Baidu stories :)
And if you are interested in sourcing anything from China, feel free to give me a shout, however let me clarify that I only take on about 1 in 10 projects that I am pitched, as most people don't honestly what they want from China and I have NO desire to be their low paid research assistant.
Actually I think I have a good system now, whereby I charge a minimum daily amount for the research into the project, and then this is refundable on first order, this eliminates the timewasters and tyre kickers out there. my email as always is shakil.khan AT gmail.com should you need to make contact.
I will be back in UK from 26th Jan > End of FEB, so may see some of you there.
adios amigos
Posted by shak at 5:39 AM | Comments (6)
December 22, 2005
A year without 'Made in China'
Came across this on Danwei
We hit the first rut in the road when I discovered our son's toes pressing against the ends of his tennis shoes. I wore myself out hunting for new ones. After two weeks I broke down and spent $60 on sneakers from Italy. I felt sick over the money; it seemed decadent for a pair of children's shoes. I got used to the feeling. Weeks later I shelled out $60 for Texas-made shoes for our toddler daughter.
Nice experiment and well worth reading the whole article. funny thing is that in China a lot of the well to do Chinese feel the same way, especially when it comes to Luxury Goods.
Posted by shak at 3:34 PM | Comments (3)
December 7, 2005
Business Cards
10 days and about 20 meetings and a total of 28 or so new folks I had never met before, and my Business Card collection has increased by about 4.
If this was China, It'd be at least 28 but probably more like 56, as no doubt the waiter, cab driver and cleaner would want to share their business card with me.
And some strange looks when I was giving my card in Chinese fashion ...
Posted by shak at 3:59 AM | Comments (2)
December 2, 2005
Mike Grehan blogs about his trip to Shanghai
the world famous search expert and author Mike Grehan was in town a few weeks ago for AdTech Shanghai, and has finally managed to get it down for the masses to read.
Fortunately, I had printed the details of the hotel from the web site. So I had a picture of the hotel along with the name written in Chinese below the logo. So I get the thumbs up from the driver. And off he lurches... I've never felt G force in a car before! I was pinned to the back seat of a car driven by a man seemingly on a death wish. Nothing can prepare you for the total and absolute impatience of a Shanghai cab driver. Any speed in any lane, with hand firmly keeping the car horn pressed down!
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
The End
It's fab reading and gives you serious insight into China from a first time visitor, must read over coffee time in my opinion.
Posted by shak at 2:14 PM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2005
RED is the new BLACK
Me being up with the latest fashions and trends (not).
I would like to publicly say that in my opinion Red is the new Black, and take that further by saying that a brand such as Shanghai Tang will within 5 years be up there with the best of the best and NOT far off from brands such as Louis Vuitton, GUCCI, Prada and the like.
Mark my uneducated words ...
Posted by shak at 4:10 PM | Comments (1)
November 11, 2005
AdTech Shanghai Tip Sheet
Adtech Shanghai takes place (15th/16th and 17th November)
Sitting here and thinking of ways to kill my maid, I thought I should do something useful instead such as a little tip sheet for the folks flying into Shanghai and the Peoples Republic of China for the first time...
Arrival at Airport:
Make Sure you have a VISA (quite obvious) but many people forget they need a Visa to enter China.
Go to the ATM in customs clearance hall (basically the 1st machine you see) and get your Chinese Currency (RMB) as the machines outside in Arrivals and Departures have very long queues (always).
Have the name of you Hotel in Chinese ready to give to the Taxi driver, He/She will NOT speak English, not even if you speak real slow like (H I L T O N - H O T E L), alternatively dial the Hotel and when they answer ask them to explain to the Taxi driver where he needs to go.
Getting Around:
Always have a business card for your hotel to show Taxi drivers, always always always ...
Only your Chinese currency is any good here (they do not accept $ or £ or any other money)
Keep away from dodgy looking guys offering "DVD, Rolex and Massageeeee".
Places/Things you should try and see (ask Concierge for help)
Shanghai Museum
Shanghai Urban Planning Museum
Jinmao Tower Observation point on 88th floor (i think)
Shanghai Old Town
Xintiandi
French Concession Area
Maglev (bullet train)
Bund Pedestrian Tunnel (best done whilst high on LSD)
Fabric Market
XiangYang Market (fake items galore)
Starbucks
Things to remember:
Carry lots and lots of Business Cards at all times.
China is quite safe, but use common sense at all times (if it sounds too god to be true, it usually is)
Register for www.chinahelpline.com it may save you many headaches.
Don't talk about politics with the locals please.
Do NOT use SMS from you international cellphone to send a message to a local phone, it simply won't work, always do voice calls, repeat do NOT use SMS in China, very unreliable for international > local.
Entertainment/Nightlife:
Face Bar in Ruijin Park (bar)
881 South Beauty (restaurant and bar)
Shintori (Japapnese food)
Azul (Spanish Tapas)
Sachas (bar where lots of foreigners hang out)
People 7 (kick axx bar next to Shintori)
MINT (Nightclub playing House music)
Bar Rouge (Best club in Shanghai)
Dragon Club (after hours club for when you leave MINT or Bar Rouge)
Element Fresh (best healthy lunch)
Check Smart Shanghai website listed below for latest in Food, Drink and Dancing, it's the ultimate guide to Shanghai.
Useful websites:
www.shanghaiexpat.com
www.shanghaiist.com
www.smartshanghai.com
www.chinahelpline.com
www.chinasnippets.com
www.chinabloglist.org
www.wangjianshuo.com
--------------------
Hope the above is of some use, I'll keep comments open in case anyone wants to share some knowledge or you have any specific questions re Shanghai and Adtech
UPDATE:
Do NOT tip anyone, yes my American cousins, TIP NObody please.
Buffet Lunch at the Yi Cafe @ Shangri-La in Pudong takes a lot of beating in my opinion, especially as you can sample from 10 different kitchens all for 198 rmb per person.
For advice on places NOT listed above, feel free to pass a 100 rmb note in my hand followed by a wink and I'll be glad to help out with any information you need ;)
UPDATE 2:
If you do get lost, bear the following in mind "Your hotel is 3-4 minutes away from the following: Telecom Tower, Shangri-La and Jinmao Tower", by getting to any of these places you will nearly be home safe and sound.
Shanghai Tang is a must for a gift for a loved one, they have a number of branches in Shanghai, but the closest is inside the Shangri-La Hotel.
Posted by shak at 7:52 AM | Comments (9)
November 9, 2005
Book Review: One Billion Customers
Nearly 3 weeks after attending the book signing of One Billion Customers by James McGregor, I have finally completed the book cover to cover.
The book is a MUST read for anyone even remotely considering doing business in China, everything from Governments to Gangsters, Cover up's to Corruption and Shanghai to Stock Prices is covered in the book.
There are many books on the market today talking about doing business in China, and I suppose they all have a unique angle, this one however goes a lot further to give a clear picture of how China is where it's at in 2005 for foreigners looking to make a $ or two here.
Go get it I say.
One Billion Customers
Amazon Book Page
Posted by shak at 12:47 PM
November 7, 2005
A day out visiting Factories ouside Shanghai
So what's a guy involved in the online marketing space doing visiting factories 2 hours away in what you could large villages with very little communication or web access.
The answer is simple, "why not"
As a foreigner in China for business reasons, I see NO reason why I should limit my learning of chinese culture, business and industry strictly to the Online sector.
So last week at 8am My self and 2 friends in a hired car with driver for the day headed out to visit 4 factories where they make a certain product/s for an industry which is booming back in the west.
It was a very interesting and informative day, and visiting "Chinese factories" is an amazing experience, Health and Saefty guidelines are outta the window, staff get around $100 a month for 12 hour / 6 day working weeks, and the bosses get drive round in Porsche Cayennes and Range Rovers.
Some of the scenes kinda hinted at what I assume UK factories must have been like 30/40 years ago bfore manufacturing took a back seat or started getting outsourced to foreign lands with cheap labour and no union issues.
What was quite interesting is summarised below:
a, the prices quoted in the factories for the respective products were at least 50% off the prices we had been quoted about 8 weeks ago when we first started researching this industry via sources at trade show exhibitions.
b, there was NO way we as foreigners we would have even found that these factories existed or been able to make appointments in the first place without our OWN chinese guy who is a friend from back in the UK, and getting to these remote villages etc took a lot of hard work with directions such "turn right at the big tree, where the old lady used to sell Fish in the mornings etc etc", so Joe Public who comes to Shanghai for a trade show will never make it out this far unless he has very very good contacts who want him tio make money.
c, we had been meeting some so called factory owners in Shanghai and had even been to their workshops, only to discover they were in fact trading companies using these factories and just acting as a front man/woman and adding their 20/30% mark up for the privilige of speaking a tiny bit of EngRish and a nicer office.
d, contrary to popular belief and what I call "China syndrome", every thing does NOT cost $1 or £1, and price varies on the quality you want, everythins is available in "High, Medium and Low" quality.
e, Chinese companies could even make more money, attract more western clients and maybe become cheaper if they implemented western methods such as better inventory control, work flow systems, English speaking secretaries etc etc
f, the confrence room had a washroom attached, however it had 2 squat down toilets side by side with NO partition, and this still puzzles me as to their purpose ...
and that was my day out visiting factories...
Posted by shak at 12:51 PM
November 4, 2005
Targeted Taxi Advertising
Sitting in a Taxi on the Elevated Highway of Shanghai yesterday afternoon and looking at the LCD screen in the headrest in front of me blasting Chinese advertisements got me thinking...
"Imagine if these ads could be targeted to just Foreigners (laowais), it would be the perfect tool to promote a product or service to the 1/2 million or so Foreigners living here, perfectly targeted and no waste of inventory if your product/service was generic such as a restaurant or legal service etc etc"
Over the next 15 minutes I got very excited about this as I have been thinking about a project for the foreigners in Shanghai, and this would be the PERFECT way to market the product, make my millions and go retire, and as I was keen to get moving on this ASAP I decided to call Aidan Sullivan, CEO of i-level Media Group www.i-levelmedia.com a company who are leaders in this kind of digital media advertising...
Me = Aidan, I have this idea and wanted to run it past you, can I target ads in the taxis you control to Foreigners, non chinese aka white people (no racism intended)
Aidan = You want to target ads to JUST foreigners ?
Me = Yes, simple, when a foreigner gets in the Taxi the driver just flicks a switch and the ad is targeted at the Western/Foreign person.
Aidan = Feasible, yes but highly unlikely that you could persuade the taxi drivers to do so in China or elsewhere.
Me = Oh ok, not as easy as I thought then, so what ya reckon, we a few
months/years away from this ?
Aidan = Interactivity will be the first step whereby the ADU (Advertising Display Unit) can recognize inputs from the passenger by means of input prompts and then analyzing the findings to generate advertising/content based on those findings. This will allow targeting down to a group level. Interactivity is possible now by means of touch screen technology and other user interfaces however it is yet to be economically viable in China yet but we are only a few years away.
At the end of the day it will all be determined by simple economics ie when the revenue can cover the cost associated with the addition of the added functions.
So with this in mind I phone another contact of mine in Beijing and run the idea past him, and his answer (in bold for impact and level of decibels through my cellphone"
"In a country of 1.3 billion customers, why are you even thinking about limiting your whole business model to just 500,000 ( 0.0005% ) of the population?"
I am sure there is a lesson in the above, but as I am sure you can imagine Living in China and thinking like you are back in UK and USA just dont work. I am not sure where I am going with this post, but thought I'd share it anyhow
Posted by shak at 12:07 PM
November 2, 2005
"Space Ibiza / Shanghai" real or fake ?
Weekend gone saw the grand opening of "Space Disco Shanghai" on the back of the legendary "Space Ibiza" which is regarded as 1 of the top 10 clubs in the world (I just made that figure up, but it reads good).
So at 3am after having visited 7 other clubs, I finally decided to go take a look for research purposes, and here is what I have to report:
Venue is Huge, but very far from Downtown Shanghai, a 30 minute cab ride is the quickest way to get there.
Interesting crowd of local chinese getting jigEEE with it, foreigners pretending they are in Ibiza, and Chinese Businessmen types smoking cigars and wondering what the hell is this.
Personally speaking I doubt this club will be a success, as its not promoted well, and way too distant for most folks to travel to.
One very important thing that I do want to mention:
Is this actually a RIPoff from the Club in Ibiza or the real deal ?
the way it has been promoted makes it look like the spanish are involved, however part of me thinks that some local chinese ended up in Ibiza and thought, this looks good, let's rip it.
Apologies if I have got it wrong, and I'd be keen to hear views from others, because if my theory is correct, then you gotta love this place :)
Space Shanghai
Smart Shanghai Review
Space Ibiza Website
I see no mention of the Shanghai club on their main site and have emailed them asking for clarification.
Posted by shak at 10:48 AM | Comments (1)
October 21, 2005
One Billion Customers
I have just got home from the launch of "One Billion Customers: Lessons From the Front Lines of Doing Business in China" by James McGregor.
Very much look forward to start reading the book, which has been described as a MUST read for anyone even remotely thinking of doing business in China.
James has served as a key adviser to both the U.S. and Chinese governments. The Wall Street Journal's China bureau chief, the chief executive of Dow Jones' China business operations during much of the roaring 1990s, and a venture-capital investor during China's dotcom boom, McGregor has negotiated every avenue of the labyrinth that is business in China. He is also a former chairman and a decade-long governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in China. McGregor is currently a China business investor, adviser, and entrepreneur. He also serves as Senior China Advisor to Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide.
James shared some great stories and answered some very interesting questions, if the event is anything to go by, then the book will be a very good read indeed.
Posted by shak at 12:10 AM
October 18, 2005
China Builds Its Dreams, and Some Fear a Bubble
Just got pinged this article by the New York Times, good reading if you want to get a snapshot of whats going in China at the moment, especially in the Housing market:
"There's no doubt what is happening in parts of China is on a scale we've never seen before," said Richard Burdett, professor of architecture and urbanism at the London School of Economics. "But more importantly, it's the fastest pace of development in the past 50 or 100 years."
Posted by shak at 6:45 PM
October 14, 2005
Shanghai Drive Thru
The guys over at Shanghaiist have a piece on Shanghais 1st Drive thru restaurant, and Chinas second.
FYI, Pizza Hut and KFC kick AXX in China compared to McDonalds or Burger King. Pizza Hut is actually regarded as a luxury food establishment and has long lines waiting to go in, and it takes a long time to finish the meal, NOT fast food stuff.
And finally, most Chinese when asked "who invented Pizza" say "Pizza Hut"
Posted by shak at 1:10 PM
October 13, 2005
China's Rich List
China's tycoons have been publicity shy since several were jailed when former Premier Zhu Rongji "unleashed the tax authorities" after noticing the 2001 rich list, according to Forbes Magazine, which formerly published Hoogewerf's study. China's Communist Party, concerned by a growing wave of unrest, made narrowing the gap between the rich and poor a key theme of its annual meeting this week.
Natasha Times Article
China Daily Article
Hurun
Posted by shak at 9:17 AM
Doing Business with the Pirates
Entertainment companies worldwide worry about a generation of consumers accustomed to free downloadable music, but they worry most about China a potential market of 1.3 billion people, many of them used to playing by Napster rules and selling bootleg copies to the rest of the world. Last year, 95 percent of the film discs sold in China were pirated copies, as were 85 percent of music recordings, according to the International Intellectual Property Alliance, a coalition of U.S. industry groups
Posted by shak at 9:06 AM
October 6, 2005
3 of the top 5 tech IPOs were Chinese
The third quarter saw the most venture-backed IPOs of the entire year and the biggest winners were high-tech companies. Most notable? Three of the top five tech offerings were Chinese companies going public on U.S. exchanges.
Hat Tip: China Net Investor
Posted by shak at 7:52 AM
October 2, 2005
Viacom spreads it's wings to China
Bus advertising is very popular in China from what I have seen, especially for NEW brands/companies targeting China, in the UK I must have developed Bus Blindness but in China it sure stands out.
Buying Magic Media gives Viacom Outdoor a foothold in a city with 15 million residents that will host the 2008 Summer Olympics, the company said.
Viacom Outdoor will be tapping one of the fastest-growing advertising markets. Ad sales in China will surge 35 percent this year, compared with a 5.7 percent rise for the U.S.,
Posted by shak at 4:14 PM
October 1, 2005
Adtech London
The 1st Adtech London since the late 90s is now over, so here is some info which I thought I'd share.
and apologies for not updating blog as often during the last week, conference combined with parties etc left very little time for blogging.
Adtech London was rocking, managed to attend many sessions and speak to lots of exhibitors and attendees, everyone seemed very impressed with the turn out and event as a whole.
The best session for me was where they discussed Pay Per Call, done rightly, this will HUGEEEE, however I think MIVA's limelight may be shortlived as soon as Yahoo/Google start doing this properly, just like PPC, it's all about REACH and thats where the big G and Y win every time.
Lots of interest in China by UK and US companies, so hopefully some work for me to do when I get back to China, the most common things I am being asked for are:
a, helping Western ad/search agencies find a suitable partner in China to handle their clients Chinese marketing needs (easier said then done)
b, research/data on the state of play in the Chinese Internet market.
Had some great nights out in some fabulous restuarants and also had a night at Tantra in Kingly Street, very cool club indeed, but I still say it's nowhere in the league of some of Shanghais clubs, and the bill was ehhhhmmmmm quite expensive at £1250 for 10 people (although the folks with me did have a party to remember), Mr CZ came an inch away from going topless again.
Must also say that I really felt how expensive London can be at times, something I have never noticed before, Icing on the cake was the hotel wanting to charge £15 for a continental breakfast which consisted of very little, the Cafe across the road was £2 for the same thing (and NO, it was not a 5* place, but rather a bad 3*)
all in all a good week indeed.
I even managed to gatecrash Pubcon London for a few hours.
Posted by shak at 9:46 AM
September 27, 2005
Happy Birthday Google
Google turns 7 today
Google opened its doors in September 1998, and we’ve been pursuing one mission ever since: to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. For our seventh birthday, we are giving you a newly expanded web search index that is 1,000 times the size of our original index.
Happy Birthday Google
Posted by shak at 5:25 PM
September 23, 2005
Expert on China
So I have been here just over 3 weeks and got referred to as an "Expert" on China ...
The TRUTH is this:
There is NO such thing as an expert on China, just different levels of IGNORANCE.
I just happen to be slightly less ignorant than most, that's all, so please no more expert commentary requests, I can just about manage to order a cup of tea!
Posted by shak at 12:00 PM
Condoms are named after Bill and Monica
It just gets funnier day by day here:
A rubber company in China has begun marketing condoms under the brand names Clinton and Lewinsky, apparently seeking to exploit the White House affair that led to the impeachment of America's 42nd president.
Posted by shak at 12:11 AM
September 21, 2005
Starbucks at Great Wall of China
You just knew it had to happen one day right!
The Starbucks shop at Badaling is the culmination of a campaign dating back to 1999. Starbucks says China, traditionally a nation of tea drinkers, is one of its fastest growing markets and will eventually be one of its largest outside of the US, where it has 6,000 shops. It currently has 40 stores in China.
Press Release (Very interesting reading imo)
Posted by shak at 4:16 PM
September 19, 2005
Connecting with China
Panlogic from London have an excellent report well worth reading regarding China.
Rather than give businesses a list of mind-boggling figures, the report hones in on the main opportunities provided by the Chinese market by first researching it and then showing where the major opportunities lie across all business sectors.
William Makower , the founder of Panlogic is also a speaker at Adtech Shanghai in November.
Posted by shak at 8:21 AM
September 17, 2005
Why the world must watch out for India and China
I came across this a few days ago on China Net Investor and thought I'd share with the masses:
China and India. Rarely has the economic ascent of two still relatively poor nations been watched with such a mixture of awe, opportunism, and trepidation.
Well worth a read. When I was deciding on China or India, I decided to choose China as I already speak the Indian language and kinda know the culture pretty well and felt that if I WAS going to make the move, then might aswell go for the deep end.
Posted by shak at 6:29 PM
September 15, 2005
FREE download of Chinese equivelant of MS Office
Problems aside, this is the the beginning of a trend that is going to make people in Seattle and Mountain View nervous. Just as the West Coast is getting used to the competition from India, cut-rate Chinese software, hand-coded in Beijing and Hangzhou, is going to present another challenge.
Interesting post by Jeremy over at Danwei regarding Software from China.
and as a side note, Danwei is a must read, so I highly recommend you bookmark it.
Posted by shak at 11:19 AM
September 14, 2005
2005 CEIBS Investors' Forum
CEIBS Investors' Forum is a platform for entrepreneurs and investors to exchange ideas and discuss cooperation opportunities. Successful entrepreneurs and senior investors will talk about how Venture Capital (VCs) could help enterprises. The topics will include: how to form the best management team; how to attract VCs; how to cater the business development to the market change; what is the potential market to start new business, etc.
So I thought I'd attend this event, and I hope to give feedback on what it was like, if you are going, do come and say HI, I'll be the guy with a centre crease in his jeans.
Posted by shak at 12:07 AM
September 12, 2005
Alibaba looking at London for European HQ
Interfax are reporting that China's #1 Internet darling is looking at London for their European Headquarters, maybe Alibaba, Kelkoo, Overture and Yahoo can all play one big happy family in London.
"When a company sets up its headquarters, it must look at where its customers are," Ma said. "We have a lot customers in the U.K"
Posted by shak at 11:35 PM
Disneyland opens in Hong Kong
For all you Mickey Mouse fans ...
The Times article
Hong Kong Disneyland website
Posted by shak at 1:15 AM
September 9, 2005
Credit Cards and China
One of the biggest hurdles for ecommerce growth in China is the low number of Credit Cards in circulation, this is also 1 of the most common questions I get asked by westerners when talking about "the web" in China.
So over my 50 RMB set lunch today, I read a great article on a report by McKinsey & Co titled "Banks struggle to profit from plastic"
The number of credit cards in China surged to 120 million at the middle of this year from 3 million two years earlier.
Posted by shak at 2:46 PM
September 5, 2005
Is the Honeymoon Over for VW in China ?
When I first came to China 6 months ago, I was amazed that Volkswagen (VW) cars were everywhere, this article is a great piece of how it may all be going wrong.
"Of all the early comers to China, Volkswagen (VW) remains the most committed to the China market, never wavering in pursuing its China strategy,"
China International Business Article
Posted by shak at 9:25 PM