cover of episode Ep. 23: (Mandarin) Weibo co-founder Indigo on China's startup scene, NFTs, life in Japan/Vancouver

Ep. 23: (Mandarin) Weibo co-founder Indigo on China's startup scene, NFTs, life in Japan/Vancouver

2022/12/13
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Indigo: 我从2009年开始在新浪微博工作,之后从事天使投资和项目孵化,投资了中国最大的线下艺术品交易平台等项目。我也参与了电商直播领域,并对Web3,特别是NFT领域进行了深入研究。我目前定居在温哥华,并开设了关于Web3和投资的在线课程。我对中国创业环境的演变、天使投资的经验、NFT的应用以及华人移民目的地国家的观察进行了总结。 中国互联网发展经历了从无线互联网的爆发到移动互联网的成熟,再到内容创业和电商直播的兴起等阶段。早期创业热情高涨,涌现出一批头部互联网公司。2015年后,移动互联网市场格局基本形成,内容创业和电商直播成为新的增长点。电商领域,直播带货模式在中国非常流行,这与中国独特的市场环境和消费习惯有关。 关于天使投资,我的策略是专注于个人关系网络,关注创始人本身,并选择有潜力的赛道。我投资的项目,例如李佳琪所在的公司和艺术品交易平台,都与我之前的经历和人脉有关。 NFT方面,我认为NFT有三个主要应用方向:数字收藏品、创作者版税和灵魂绑定代币。NFT的未来发展充满潜力,但仍需时间被主流社会接受。 关于华人移民,我比较熟悉加拿大温哥华和日本。温哥华的教育水平高,环境宜居,华人社区成熟;日本则更适合财务自由的人士,移民政策相对宽松。选择移民目的地需要考虑多方面因素,包括语言环境、生活便利程度、税收政策等。 Richard Yan: 作为主持人,Richard Yan主要负责引导访谈,提出问题,并对Indigo的观点进行补充和引导。他与Indigo讨论了中国创业环境的变迁,以及中国年轻人对创业的看法,并就中国互联网行业的发展趋势、资本市场变化、以及海外移民等话题进行了深入探讨。

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This chapter covers Indigo’s career path, starting from his role as a founding team member of Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter, to his current ventures in angel investing, project incubation, and Web3. It also highlights his educational initiatives in Web3 and investment.
  • Indigo was a founding team member of Sina Weibo.
  • He transitioned to angel investing and project incubation.
  • His investments include China's largest offline art trading platform.
  • He's actively involved in Web3, particularly NFTs.
  • He creates educational content on Web3 and investing.

Shownotes Transcript

Indigo was co-founder of Sina Weibo, or China’s Twitter. After Weibo, he started doing angel investments and incubating new projects. One of his main investments included the largest off-line art selling platform in China. Recently he got into the world of web3 and NFT. He writes a blog about frontier tech, and teaches online courses on stock investments in these areas. He is based in Vancouver.

I spoke to him about China’s startup environment since 2009, his takeaways from doing angel investments, his views on web3 especially NFTs, and his observations of target countries of Chinese immigration.

02:24 Indigo's work at Weibo, post-Weibo investments, and classes on Web3 & investing

08:35 Phases of development of China's internet sector

11:08 Streaming commerce

17:14 Exit of venture capital from China

19:06 How young people in China today are evaluating a career in entrepreneurship

22:12 Out-migration from China: Evaluating Singapore, Japan, Vancouver

29:28 Indigo’s advice for making angel investments: sourcing via personal connections, working on a platform full of entrepreneurs

32:23 Why streaming commerce is popular in China and not in the US

35:39 Three uses for NFTs: digital collectibles, creator royalty, soulbound tokens

46:08 Indigo’s life vision includes continually getting involved in businesses with young people