On March 5th, two alumni from Tsinghua University talked about their experiences on starting successful companies in China through the VC Process.   

Lecture1: Starting, financing and selling an Internet startup

Lecturer: Xing Wang (founder of www.xiaonei.com)

Xing is a 2001 graduate of Tsinghua University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He then went on the PhD program at the University of Delaware , but left in 2004 to return to Beijing and start a general social networking website. In late 2005, he refocused this website for the college market and launched Xiaonei.com in December 2005. Today, Xiaonei.com is one of the most successful social networking websites in China and within 1 year of launching Xiaonei.com, Xing successfully sold the company to Mop.com in October 2006.

Lecture2: The state of the VC industry

Lecturer: Gavin Ni (founder of Zero2IPO.com )

Gavin is the Founder, CEO and President of Zero2IPO. In five years, he has built up Zero2IPO into the most influential and active venture capital research and advisory institution, as well as the most extensive venture capitalist and entrepreneur network in China .  Gavin was once the President of Tsinghua Entrepreneurs Club (TEC) in 1998-1999 and founder and chief organizer of Tsinghua Business Plan Competition. He also served as the Editor-in-chief of China Technology Magazine in late 1999. Gavin was the active promoter of new economy, entrepreneurship and venture capital in China and has written and translated several books including "Digital Commerce" published by China Plan Press in 1998, an entrepreneurship Primer on Tsinghua Campus published by China Reform Press, "Venture Capital Tide" which was published by Guangming Daily Press in 1999, "Road to success" which was also published by Guangming Daily Press in 2000. Gavin was also invited to speak at many venture capital and hi-tech related events in Silicon Valley, Boston , Taipei , Hong Kong, Beijing , Shanghai , Shenzhen and other cities. Gavin graduated from Tsinghua University with a Master of Mechanical Engineering in 1999 and studied Finance as a Ph.D candidate in School of Economics and Management in Tsinghua University in 2000-2001.

Tsinghua University and the Venture Capital Industry

Outside the main gates of Tsinghua University is the Tsinghua Science Park, which is the Chinese home to both large tech companies such as Microsoft and Google, to smaller companies ranging from software companies to those in the renewable energy sector.  Known as the best science park in China (and located in Zhongguancun - China's Silicon Valley), International MBA students at Tsinghua University are not only in a position to interact with businesses in the Tsinghua Science Park, they are also starting to take full advantage of the possible career prospects, such as internships or even partnering with Chinese in a start up.  With the rise in foreign investors and venture capitalists who visit the Tsinghua Science Park on a daily basis, Chinese startups with international teams are becoming increasingly popular.