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What kind of problems do foreign websites/online service providers (typically/formally) face when trying to penetrate China?

I am currently talking to a bunch of people involved with start-ups (outside of China), many of which would of course like to get a piece of the giant Chinese cake. Of course, the news has long been out: The authoritarian regime and its agencies can cause a lot of trouble for service providers of any size. So far, I discovered these major issues that separate China from other (mostly democratic) countries:

  1. Unpredictable content bans or content filters
  2. Unpredictable banning of entire or partial web-based presence
  3. Probably need Chinese payment service provider and other Chinese partners
  4. Copy-cats
  5. Your China ambitions can quickly draw fire on you in the West, as Yahoo!, LinkedIn and Facebook already know.

I am hoping to hear of an actual success story where a small company was able to work it all out and actually make some real money in China? Googling for small businesses that made it big in China only yields a lot of hot air, and no actual cases.

Answer 1836

China has huge untapped potential and the growth of the tech industry in China is getting ever faster, however the Chinese federal government is very strict and prefers to regulate and oversee services, especially ones related to the internet.

They have the Great Firewall, and are not afraid to block sites, remember they blocked GitHub once. The Chinese are very proud of their culture, and the government tries to make sure their strong moral values are upholded.
The Chinese have unique cultural sensitivities that should be catered too. However, this leads to lots of censorship, and as a result they lose out on a truly free internet.

There won’t many success stories, although some have gotten close. Take example Uber, which is not a small company now, but it used to be, based in Shanghai and Beijing, they are all ready to expand into more cities in China. Although the government attempts to regulate them, they still have managed to get by making a decent amount of money.

I wish I could have a personal story, but I have never had the opportunity to found a startup in China. Good luck! Nothing’s impossible. A good amount of Chinese are now trying to found their own startups as well. Only a few foreign tech companies have ever made tons of money, but the amount of small-to medium enterprises is getting bigger and bigger, and they also have several VC companies that invest a lot of money.

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