What’s on in China? Ten Swiss startups explore the Middle Kingdom with the venture leaders program.
29.09.2014
For Swiss startups, China is a key market to explore, with growing opportunities and exciting market prospects. Inspired by 13 years of success with the venture leaders USA program, venturelab decided to expand its offer and give new market opportunities to the most innovative Swiss startups, from September 2 to 12, 2014. Check out the adventures of the venture leaders China during their 10-days market exploration and business development journey in Beijing and Shanghai.
 Expert sessions in Beijing
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 The team jumping at the Great Wall
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 The team infront of the skyline from Beijing
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 Shanghai: the next New York?
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The ten-days program brought our Swiss national startup team to Beijing and Shanghai for a variety of activities including coaching, networking, pitching and business development. For most of them, it was their first time in China.
After a great welcome from swissnex China in Beijing with special venture leaders’ cupcakes and the first Chinese business cards ever for our participants, the startup team had an early start on the second day of their Chinese journey. On their agenda: TusPark (Beijing) the largest university science park in the world with more than 600 startups. TusPark is an important platform for promoting innovation in this part of the world. It has an excellent reputation in China as well as in the global science park industry. There, the Swiss team dived into market perspectives and entry strategies, with great insights from Cyrill Eltschinger, a multi-cultural entrepreneur educated in Switzerland and in the United States. Cyrill Eltschinger has an experience of over 20 years working in the Chinese market. At lunch, the venture leaders China had the opportunity to network with TuSPark-based entrepreneurs. After an open afternoon dedicated to individual business development, everyone joined together at Tech Temple. Formerly an old factory, Tech Temple is now Beijing's largest co-working space. The welcome for the venture leaders couldn’t be better there: a poster with the Swiss startup team covered the full entry wall. Pitching, networking and a lot of fun during dinner, with many more insights about the Chinese market, made the evening program quite a successful one.
The 3rd day in Beijing was fully dedicated to experts’ sessions and one-to-one discussions. The first workshop was held by Nicolas Musy, who has 20 years’ experience in trade, investment, management, strategy and living in China. He has an in-depth understanding of China’s market, culture, development and economic strategies in the global economy. He came back on several aspects of understanding and penetrating the Chinese market. It took place at the Binggo café, an extraordinary place at the Zhong Guan Cun technology hub, the first and largest techno hub in China (over 20’000 tech companies). It was followed by a full afternoon with David Kay in the amazing setup of Yuanfen Flow. David is a 20 years' resident of Beijing. After his tenure as Microsoft's Anti-piracy Czar, he decided to create a space where art and technology could come together: Yuanfen Flow. The day was concluded by a fantastic reception at the Swiss Embassy, with a very appreciated and spirited introduction by the Ambassador Jean-Jacques de Dardel, followed by the Swiss startup team pitching in front of an audience of more than 100 VIP’s. On Saturday, the crew visited the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, before moving to Shanghai on Sunday, for another exciting and intense week.
Good morning, Shanghai
Some say it will be the next New York: Shanghai. For the venture leaders, the next step of the journey was a full day on business in China held at swissnex Shanghai, often described as the “Chinese New York”. There, the Swiss startup team had the opportunity to focus on business at several meetings with industry and business representatives and at workshops about the multiple perspectives of developing business, fund-raising, company incorporation, culture, macro-economy and market opportunities in China. The continuous flow of information was a great source of expertise and experience for the participants. They learned about the right attitude to have towards this highly competitive and quickly changing market.
The experts’ session at the HERO Center, the location of the Chinaccelerator, the first mentorship-driven seed-funding program in China, provided them with the opportunity to work in industry specific groups and interact with ten coaches from corresponding sectors. These sessions took them to the next level of business acceleration as they triggered several follow-up meetings. Every evening in Shanghai was the opportunity for a pitching session starting at the Hero Center with Chinese startups. The pitching sessions represented great opportunities to exchange with local up-and-coming companies. They were followed by a great reception at the Swiss consulate with VIP guests. Finally, the Global Pitchfest Championship was held after the first Lift conference in China on September 10th. There, our Swiss entrepreneurs competed with their Chinese counterparts in front of a friendly audience of more than 250 people. The finale was followed by a great networking reception, where the venture leaders China could create and strengthen numerous business ties.
"First Swiss-class experience in China"
On September 13th, all our venture leaders safely landed from their Chinese trip. They all had exciting news and stories to share with their respective teams and the overall startup community in Switzerland. “The venture leaders program in China is a real eye-opener. First Swiss-class experience in China", commented Salvador, CEO of Irewind: A good summary of the general impression of the participants. Looking forward, Pascal Marmier, swissnex Shanghai Director, also commented the "Chinese adventure”: “We’re looking forward to welcoming more startup entrepreneurs with risk tolerance, quick-learning capability and an open-minded vision, and having them learn and leverage how to make the best of this fast growing region in 2015”. Jordi Montserrat, venturelab managing Director, gave the final word: “We are very proud to have given our venture leaders the opportunity to dive into the Chinese market and to better understand its potential - and rules. We are very much looking forward to following them as they continue to develop their products and services internationally. Thanks to swissnex China for their warm welcome: we’re looking forward to hitting the Chinese ground for the second time next year!”.
After a great welcome from swissnex China in Beijing with special venture leaders’ cupcakes and the first Chinese business cards ever for our participants, the startup team had an early start on the second day of their Chinese journey. On their agenda: TusPark (Beijing) the largest university science park in the world with more than 600 startups. TusPark is an important platform for promoting innovation in this part of the world. It has an excellent reputation in China as well as in the global science park industry. There, the Swiss team dived into market perspectives and entry strategies, with great insights from Cyrill Eltschinger, a multi-cultural entrepreneur educated in Switzerland and in the United States. Cyrill Eltschinger has an experience of over 20 years working in the Chinese market. At lunch, the venture leaders China had the opportunity to network with TuSPark-based entrepreneurs. After an open afternoon dedicated to individual business development, everyone joined together at Tech Temple. Formerly an old factory, Tech Temple is now Beijing's largest co-working space. The welcome for the venture leaders couldn’t be better there: a poster with the Swiss startup team covered the full entry wall. Pitching, networking and a lot of fun during dinner, with many more insights about the Chinese market, made the evening program quite a successful one.
The 3rd day in Beijing was fully dedicated to experts’ sessions and one-to-one discussions. The first workshop was held by Nicolas Musy, who has 20 years’ experience in trade, investment, management, strategy and living in China. He has an in-depth understanding of China’s market, culture, development and economic strategies in the global economy. He came back on several aspects of understanding and penetrating the Chinese market. It took place at the Binggo café, an extraordinary place at the Zhong Guan Cun technology hub, the first and largest techno hub in China (over 20’000 tech companies). It was followed by a full afternoon with David Kay in the amazing setup of Yuanfen Flow. David is a 20 years' resident of Beijing. After his tenure as Microsoft's Anti-piracy Czar, he decided to create a space where art and technology could come together: Yuanfen Flow. The day was concluded by a fantastic reception at the Swiss Embassy, with a very appreciated and spirited introduction by the Ambassador Jean-Jacques de Dardel, followed by the Swiss startup team pitching in front of an audience of more than 100 VIP’s. On Saturday, the crew visited the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, before moving to Shanghai on Sunday, for another exciting and intense week.
Good morning, Shanghai
Some say it will be the next New York: Shanghai. For the venture leaders, the next step of the journey was a full day on business in China held at swissnex Shanghai, often described as the “Chinese New York”. There, the Swiss startup team had the opportunity to focus on business at several meetings with industry and business representatives and at workshops about the multiple perspectives of developing business, fund-raising, company incorporation, culture, macro-economy and market opportunities in China. The continuous flow of information was a great source of expertise and experience for the participants. They learned about the right attitude to have towards this highly competitive and quickly changing market.
The experts’ session at the HERO Center, the location of the Chinaccelerator, the first mentorship-driven seed-funding program in China, provided them with the opportunity to work in industry specific groups and interact with ten coaches from corresponding sectors. These sessions took them to the next level of business acceleration as they triggered several follow-up meetings. Every evening in Shanghai was the opportunity for a pitching session starting at the Hero Center with Chinese startups. The pitching sessions represented great opportunities to exchange with local up-and-coming companies. They were followed by a great reception at the Swiss consulate with VIP guests. Finally, the Global Pitchfest Championship was held after the first Lift conference in China on September 10th. There, our Swiss entrepreneurs competed with their Chinese counterparts in front of a friendly audience of more than 250 people. The finale was followed by a great networking reception, where the venture leaders China could create and strengthen numerous business ties.
"First Swiss-class experience in China"
On September 13th, all our venture leaders safely landed from their Chinese trip. They all had exciting news and stories to share with their respective teams and the overall startup community in Switzerland. “The venture leaders program in China is a real eye-opener. First Swiss-class experience in China", commented Salvador, CEO of Irewind: A good summary of the general impression of the participants. Looking forward, Pascal Marmier, swissnex Shanghai Director, also commented the "Chinese adventure”: “We’re looking forward to welcoming more startup entrepreneurs with risk tolerance, quick-learning capability and an open-minded vision, and having them learn and leverage how to make the best of this fast growing region in 2015”. Jordi Montserrat, venturelab managing Director, gave the final word: “We are very proud to have given our venture leaders the opportunity to dive into the Chinese market and to better understand its potential - and rules. We are very much looking forward to following them as they continue to develop their products and services internationally. Thanks to swissnex China for their warm welcome: we’re looking forward to hitting the Chinese ground for the second time next year!”.