The One Percent Project- Entrepreneurship, Leadership & Resilience Episode 1: Robert Hao- Building and Scaling in China
The One Percent Project are conversations that will help you understand how some of the smartest minds build, scale and implement new ideas and ventures.
About Robert:
My very first guest on The One Percent Project is my ex-colleague, Robert Hao, Co-Founder & COO, HYPE Asia. HYPE is a venture builder that helps startups demystify, unlock, and succeed in Asia. Presently, Robert is heading the expansion of Goat into China. Goat is the world's largest sneakers marketplace.
In 2012, he helped form the Asia landing team to expand Airbnb into the APAC region. From 2013-2017, Robert relocated to Beijing to start Airbnb China business, where he led Business Operations & Strategy and Host Community Operations and grew the China team to two hundred strong.
Our Conversation:
In this conversation with Robert, we speak about the Chinese tech ecosystem evolution and the frameworks to succeed in China.
- Airbnb growth in China the initial trends and indicators
- Chinese Vs Western consumers how their consumption and spending patterns differ
- What made Goat decide to enter China
- How TikTok became a global sensation
- How a late entrant Chinese tech startup Meituan Dianping emerged as a super-app while competing against the Chinese tech giants: Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu
- Chinese technology trends in the next 10 years
Quick Fire Questions:
- Favorite Book/ Blog:
The Name of the Wind
- Hardest Thing about your job:
Effective communication
- What Do I Know Now That I Didn’t Know When I Started:
Startups really need to get back to basics and build their foundation around monetization and profitability instead of only focusing solely on the hockey-stick growth story.
- A Recent Startup that has got your attention:
Thras.io