Silicon Dragon Newsletter 
February 2009
In This Issue
VCs on the move
Forbes list-China counts
Doing Business in China
Tech talk in Canada
Who's on the move
Lip-Bu Tan
   
Lip-Bu Tan of Walden International is
 the new CEO at Cadence Design Systems.
 
Fan Zhang has resigned from Sequoia Capital China.
 
Joel Kellman is retiring from Granite Global Ventures.  

Tony Sun is retiring from Venrock.  
 
Who's next?
 
  
Watch video  interviews with Chinese entrepreneurs
 and their investors.
 

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Quick Links
 
 
 Buy Silicon Dragon
 
Read Reviews
 
Forbes Midas List: China Counts  
John DoerrWhat's interesting about the Forbes ranking of venture capitalists is the number of venture partners who rank tops even though their firms are having troubles in China. John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers places first on the top 100 list. See Forbes.  But the firm's China practice is riding a wave of partner defections since he announced the firm's China expansion at a press conference in Beijing during April 2007. Three partners have left KPCB China: Joe Zhou to form his own fund, David Su to join Matrix Partners and most recently, Ian Goh. That leaves Tina Ju, the highly capable venture partner, as the glue of the China operation. KPCB's China team While she has had notable success with Chinese search engine Baidu and e-commerce site Alibaba, those were deals she invested in at her predecessor venture firms before teaming up with KPCB in April 2007. It's early days and the market has toughened, but KPCB China doesn't have a winner among its portfolio yet.
Not to pick on Kleiner. Sequoia Capital scores with four partners on the list, but that standing doesn't reflect the firm's turbulent time in China. Fan Zhang, a co-founder of the China shop, recently resigned. That came after his co-founder, Neil Shen, was sued by the Carlyle Group for "stealing" a deal from them. See Silicon Dragon blog post.
Now comes Bessemer Venture Partners. The firm has six partners on the list, yet Bessemer just gave up in China. 
See Bessemer closes in China.  
Forbes could use more China perspective next year.
Doing Business in China Series
On the Frontlines
Tina Ju & Sumir Chadha 
Co-hosts Emily Chang and James Chang 
If you're looking for a guide to doing business in China, let me recommend this DVD series narrated by the Atlantic's James Fallows with analysis by the New York Times' Joe Nocera. Writing about the series, Fallows praised it for showing the inside of China--people, places, factories. See See Fallows review.
The project was spearheaded by video journalist Bob Shapiro, who with his crew worked years to get some 150 interviews with government officials, factory workers, tech entrepreneurs and more.
The series, called "On the Frontlines: Doing Business in China," contains five DVDs and an information-packed CD-ROM. See Frontlines site for more info. For the trailers, click documentary images.
Silicon Dragon is featured in this DVD series.  
 
LOCAL AUTHOR DOES CHINA
Paul Brent w Author Canada TV tech talk
Host Paul Brent with author 
Ottawa's CTV station recently highlighted Silicon Dragon in a tech program hosted by Paul Brent. Brent packaged an exceptionally good clip that summarized the book's perspective on how China is moving from a manufacturer to an innovator. See CTV interview by clicking on link.
The interview was taped prior to a talk that Silicon Dragon author Rebecca A. Fannin (me!) gave at a local meeting of The Indus Entrepreneurs.  It was on the eve of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, but Canadian entrepreneurs and investors showed up by the dozens for the China tech talk.
Next up is Toronto for more book talks--Feb. 12-13. Thanks goes to the Canada China Business Council.
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