Can a Mark Zuckerberg emerge from Asia? - William Bao Bean

William Bao Bean

Can Asia produce its own Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook? "No," noted the reporter of E27 from a speech Chinaccelerator director William Bao Bean gave at the Echelon Asia Summit 2016. Unfortunately, the reporter did not wait for the second part of the speech, and William explains why Google and Facebook changed the playing field at Facebook.

E27:

The second day of Echelon Asia Summit 2016 began with a shocking statement by William Bao Bean at the CREATE stage. “What I’m afraid of is that we won’t have any Mark Zuckerberg from Asia,” the MOX MD and SOSV Partner stated. 

“If you look at recent million dollar funds raised lately, all of them are going to ads, transferred to Google and Facebook,” he further elaborated. 

This happens because in mobile-first markets like China, user acquisition and retention are very different from that of the US and Europe. 

“The problem with China is that there is very little virality. If you’re a game developer in the US, you need at least 500,000 users [and then you can get] your product out there,” he said. 

“We see the China market as walled gardens. The route to acquire users is closed and you have to pay. It’s easy to start up today, but as a VC, all my money goes to marketing, and it’s silly,” he explained.

More at E27.

But here is what went wrong in the article, according to William:

William Bao Bean is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Are you looking for more speakers on innovation at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.

Earlier this year William Bao Bean discussed the unique way China´s internet giant Tencent is operating.

 

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