Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel in China [video]

Re:Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel in China [video] by seiji on Saturday August 22, 2015 @07:23PM (#10104173)

paraphrased: "If you hear someone describe their startup with trendy buzzwords (big data, SaaS, social, mobile, cloud), you should think fraud and run away. The fact you're using trendy buzzwords is an indication you aren't differentiated. You're a buzzword, so many other people are doing the exact same thing. Why are you special? Stop coping others."

If China were to start routinely cranking out highly valuable startups, you know reporters would call them Dragoncorns or Unidragons or something.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel in China [video] by rdl on Sunday August 23, 2015 @04:48AM (#10105052)

Well, there are a lot of highly valuable tech companies coming out of China. They're just not doing new things (0-1), but copying (mostly US) companies, often making them better.

Baidu, Alibaba, WeChat, Qihoo360, etc.

Although, tbh, Alibaba is pretty unique, and a lot of the video companies in China were dramatically different from stuff I've seen elsewhere. I think "China just copies" is overblown.

The China cheap-hw-production ecosystem is kind of a novel thing just by virtue of scale, too.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel in China [video] by Garthex on Sunday August 23, 2015 @05:04AM (#10105070)

I was under the impression that WeChat falls under the 0-1 at this point.[0] Although to be fair, marketplaces have existed for centuries. I suppose sometimes it's hard to tell where the line is. They're certainly innovating though.

[0] http://a16z.com/2015/08/06/wechat-china-mobile-first/

[ Parent | on HN ]