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YC China and Qi Lu

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#291

Post by seanmcdirmid »

baybal2 wrote: post #290
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China has startups, they are definitely many high in quality, but they aren’t really world class in terms of talent used (almost completely Chinese) and markets targeted (ditto). China will have trouble getting its tech companies to compete abroad when they have closed off their own market so much. Likewise, until China embraces immigration rather than emigration, talent is unlikely to flock to China in any significa…

>Likewise, until China embraces immigration rather than emigration, talent is unlikely to flock to China in any significant numbers. Isn't it the case already? In our company, the preference to host an overseas talent always goes to China's office for simplicity of immigration process. Secondary to that, I have to admit, is the significantly reduced chance of hostile talent poaching. What was the reason you left Chin…

1. There are almost as many foreigners in Tokyo as there is in China.

2. Most of us left because of the really really bad pollution. You can’t have kids breathing that.

3. I was based in Beijing, not Shanghai.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#292

Post by o0-0o »

pnathan wrote: post #283

This is a recognition that the Chinese world is a rising superpower, both in innovation and in politics. Reminds me to study Mandarin! I wish them all the best, and I hope that the interactions with the great qualities of YC produces an excellent step forward for China and its technologists.

China is 3000 years years old and still considered an emerging market. Why do you think that is?

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#293

Post by gdsdfe »

nojvek wrote: post #277
gdsdfe wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not what I am saying ... It's silly to think that 'investors' will ignore such a giant opportunity just because there's human rights issues. It's just naive!

Yes but this is not just some random investor. This taints the brand that is YC. The statement they are making is “we don’t care about oppressive governments and ethics. As long as we’re churning out billion dollar unicorns, we’ll invest in anything”. I have a lot of respect for China, I also know China may be the most likely to use AI against their citizens to suppress them. Do YC funded companies really want to ena…

Yeah this is YC as you're saying ... They're not gonna be left behind. Hurting their brand might be a risk that they can mitigate but not investing in China is not going to bring it democracy.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#294

Post by cycrutchfield »

curiousDog wrote: post #16
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #10

Ah, this is the same Qi Lu who was basically responsible for the creation of Bing, then got Office and AI in a reorg, and then somehow got pushed out by Satya and went on to be CTO of Baidu for awhile. The YCR connection makes sense, since he has a lot of experience in AI where much of YCR is now at, but it will be interesting to see how he will interact with Bret Victor's group. Are they going to start a YC-like inc…

Bing really is a pile of garbage though (perhaps a little better these days but no where near as good as Google). I'm surprised he wasn't fired sooner. Was he friends with Ballmer?

This is completely ignorant, given the massive advantages that Google has. To be fair, on the backend ranking algorithm side of things Bing and MSR did a lot of very innovative work. Google just has a massive, insurmountable data advantage that any newcomer cannot overcome.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#295

Post by ForrestN »

justicezyx wrote: post #256
ForrestN wrote: post #133

It’s troubling that this statement is so overtly unserious. Has YC and its surrounding culture become so insulated that they cannot see the obviously self-defeating through-line in this statement? “Our mission at YC is to enable more innovation than any other company in the world, and to ensure that the benefits of that are fairly spread throughout humanity.” Do you really think it’s possible to ensure that the benef…

There are majority of society and economic activity that are neutral to policitics. Why cannot YC improve invocation by focusing on those areas?! If your dad said harsh words to you, are you going to claim that you are made inferior to normal citizen or you are working with a repressive parent?

Every successful business deal done in concert with a given dictator entrenches that dictator's power. Some other commenter demonstrated the technique elsewhere in this discussion: "but the dictators have lifted so many Chinese people out of poverty!"

Through this deal, YC is taking an active position in support of the Chinese dictatorship and is helping them increase their grip on power.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#296

Post by bgee »

o0-0o wrote: post #292
pnathan wrote: post #283

This is a recognition that the Chinese world is a rising superpower, both in innovation and in politics. Reminds me to study Mandarin! I wish them all the best, and I hope that the interactions with the great qualities of YC produces an excellent step forward for China and its technologists.

China is 3000 years years old and still considered an emerging market. Why do you think that is?

> China is 3000 years years old and still considered an emerging market.

It depends on how you define "China", "3000 years years[sic] old", "still" and "emerging". China has been a "developed market" a few times throughout its history. The modern China (ROC and PRC) lagging behind the Western world in part is due to industrialization in Europe.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#297

Post by qiqing »

telltruth wrote: post #88
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mandarin isn't strictly necessary to live in China. Plenty of my laowai colleagues only knew a few words and got along just fine in a tier one Beijing, which admittedly is a bit behind Shanghai and Shenzhen. The only thing that really drove us out was the pollution (a huge problem in Beijing that is supposedly finally getting better). Given the US visa policy, as bad as it is, still attracts far more many foreigners…

> Mandarin isn't strictly necessary to live in China Basic question: what do you do in China for browsing, emails and maps? I suppose Google doesn't work there and all the local services would be in Mandarin, no? When I travel I use Google search, emails, maps extensively but I have no clue what would I do in China. Also FB and Twitter also likely won't be accessible. So how do I even keep touch with folks outside Ch…

Get a SIM card from Project Fi (by Google), which auto-VPN's for you, and you can use everything (FB, Twitter, etc.) you're used to using. Bring a Chromebook and use your phone to provide Internet for your Chromebook.

Install Didi so you can hail a ride. Install WeChat and some of the mini apps so that you can order Starbucks without waiting in line. Since you probably don't have a Chinese bank account, find a local (possibly even a hotel concierge) who is willing to take cash from you and send you some RMB into your WeChat account so you can pay vendors, including restaurant bills, train tickets, farmer's markets, and the guy on the street corner selling oranges.

Pretty straight forward.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#299

Post by carapace »

justicezyx wrote: post #256
ForrestN wrote: post #133

It’s troubling that this statement is so overtly unserious. Has YC and its surrounding culture become so insulated that they cannot see the obviously self-defeating through-line in this statement? “Our mission at YC is to enable more innovation than any other company in the world, and to ensure that the benefits of that are fairly spread throughout humanity.” Do you really think it’s possible to ensure that the benef…

There are majority of society and economic activity that are neutral to policitics. Why cannot YC improve invocation by focusing on those areas?! If your dad said harsh words to you, are you going to claim that you are made inferior to normal citizen or you are working with a repressive parent?

> There are majority of society and economic activity that are neutral to policitics.

You may believe that but the communists do not.

Re: YC China and Qi Lu

#300

Post by bgee »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #73
echevil wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. There’re tons of Chinese startups already with or without YC. Would US startups be required to register as Chinese companies if they receive Chinese VC money?

The US is open to arbitrary FDI so it doesn't matter. China's laws are more...complicated. For example, you can't give stock options to non-Chinese employees if your company is Chinese and not already listed, see https://www.chinalawblog.com/2018/03/china-scam-week-part-4-... . I'm not aware of any foreign funded startups in China currently. I mean, there must be some small players with private foreign funding, but i…

Most big tech companies (Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba) in China has received foreign funding when they were "startups". See VIE Structure [0] (in Chinese).

[0]: https://www.zhihu.com/question/19634851/answer/13095653

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