Forbes Midas List: China Counts
What'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.
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Doing Business in China Series
On the Frontlines
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.
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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.
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