
Pinduoduo
Acquired
The Rise of Pinduoduo in Chinese E-Commerce
This chapter examines Pinduoduo's rise in the Chinese e-commerce landscape, focusing on its unique appeal to a previously overlooked consumer segment. It highlights the company's valuation growth amid increased online retail activity spurred by the global pandemic, comparing it to established competitors like Alibaba and JD.
We kick off Season 7 with a bang: Pinduoduo, the incredible five year-old Chinese mashup of "Costco and Disneyland" (as self-described in their IPO prospectus) which recently became the fastest company ever to pass $100B market capitalization. What makes PDD so special, and how were they able to enter a market that everyone considered "already won" and disrupt massive entrenched competitors Alibaba and JD.com? This story is chock-full of lessons that apply not only to China tech, but to high-growth company building and investing everywhere.
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Links:
- Photo of 26 year-old Colin at lunch with Warren Buffett: https://thelowdown.momentum.asia/cv-of-pinduoduos-founder/
- PDD users on mini-programs vs other Chinese e-commerce players: https://miro.medium.com/max/1080/0*39fpSP_JqhDaPhQ2.png
Carve Outs
- How to Make a Spaceship https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Spaceship-Renegades-Spaceflight/dp/1594206724
- Creativity, Inc. https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Overcoming-Unseen-Inspiration/dp/0812993012/
Sources:
- http://investor.pinduoduo.com/static-files/468b2c9f-9112-410d-84b3-2b22e07c7ee0
- http://investor.pinduoduo.com/static-files/5539839d-0a1c-4d40-9bb7-bdb490e2370c
- https://analyse.asia/2018/08/09/episode-260-pinduoduo-their-upcoming-ipo-in-china-with-matthew-brennan/
- https://analyse.asia/2020/06/28/pinduoduo-on-social-ecommerce-agriculture-with-xinyi-lim/
- https://blog.ycombinator.com/pinduoduo-and-the-rise-of-social-e-commerce
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinduoduo#cite_note-8
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- https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/26/the-incredible-rise-of-pinduoduo/
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