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An update on YC China

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: An update on YC China

#321

Post by tanilama »

raywu wrote: post #87
jessewmc wrote: post #11

Strange optics not to mention the elephant in the room. I could see them hitting some roadblocks and wanting to try again to get into China, but that would be a reasonable thing to come out and say. It also would be reasonable to come out and say they've changed their minds due to political climate or some other risks. Instead its... the new guy is busy?

Why do you think it's political climate that changed YC's mind? With or without political climate being an issue, doing business in China is different and relies on of relationship building that takes a long time to nurture. It might just be hard!

Trade War/Tech export control.

Also recent developments of TikTok's business in US is also a red alert. If indeed the regulation extends to capital markets, then YC's US investors will put themselves against greater uncertainty of guarding their investments.

If the Corp US are smart and watching, they need to reduce/spin off/get rid of their Chinese ties as soon as possible, because they might have to endure long term consequences if the conflict in between two countries get worse.

Re: An update on YC China

#322

Post by unityByFreedom »

archibaldJ wrote: post #314
unityByFreedom wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anyway I'm fascinated by all the comments here, none of which discussed the cultural and sociopolitical differences between that of the west and that of China To be fair, you don't describe any particular difference yourself in the following paragraph. You say these cultural differences can't be defined and simultaneously expect us to discuss them.¿ The fact is, there are plenty of businesses who have successfully…

It is possible. Just extremely hard. And I will love to write a book about it after I have gone through a good amount of papers on cultural theories and had a good amount of interaction with Chinese of all walks of life so to have a better grasp of "the Chinese way" and somehow utilise the very knowledge of it in my new start-up to make Vsauce-inspired Chinese videos on liberal arts, philosophy, science and tech for…

This does not do much to clarify.

Which person in Chinese history has had the most influence on your perspective of the "Chinese way"?

Re: An update on YC China

#323

Post by eternalban »

avocado4 wrote: post #283
northfoxz wrote: post #235

My observation is that Qi used the YC brand to help launch his MiraclePlus. After that they part ways. The first batch of startups are very different from regular YC companies. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/KdfV4hF4qz8Ti1XL0i_S3A

So form a partnership with US firm, extract IP and know-how, launch a clone in China, and part ways. Sounds like a standard approach.

Oh, and the Western "chumps" got "nothing". Is that the story line you are selling here?

Re: An update on YC China

#324

Post by slowmotiony »

SandersAK wrote: post #45

Personally I was really disappointed when YC opened up shop in China - to me it really revealed a Profits over People approach and was pretty brazen at the time. Happy to see (for whatever reason) that they're recommitting to communities that (at least on the surface) don't support fascist overtures.

They aren't recommitting anything. They got their IP stolen and their logo is still being used, and apparently they can't even say anything about it.

Re: An update on YC China

#325

Post by svrtknst »

ClemFandango wrote: post #222
realusername wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s understandable it’s a touchy subject. Why piss off China if you don’t have to? Only something to lose and nothing to gain. Because that's pushing the line further and further of what the CCP can make people accept.

Business won't be the one to push the change on this attitude. It has to be people, or at best government. Most companies are morally agnostic, they only follow the money, you can judge them for it either way, but it's the truth.

I'd say "only following the money" isn't moral agnostiscism, but very much a moral choice. It's a choice made by people collectively, and either way it doesn't exist outside of morality, or consequences.

Re: An update on YC China

#326

Post by aguyfromnb »

leroy_masochist wrote: post #55
jessewmc wrote: post #11

Strange optics not to mention the elephant in the room. I could see them hitting some roadblocks and wanting to try again to get into China, but that would be a reasonable thing to come out and say. It also would be reasonable to come out and say they've changed their minds due to political climate or some other risks. Instead its... the new guy is busy?

Wouldn't it be an abandonment of their duty of care to portfolio companies for them to poke the bear, though? I get that if PG tweeted something like, "We're pulling out of China because they're violently repressing pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong and they run a re-education gulag archipelago for millions of Uighurs and they murder political prisoners so they can sell their organs through their state-administer…

>I don't run a company that could get screwed if YC lands on Beijing's shit list

The fact that not being on an oppressive country's "shit list" is at all a priority is exactly the problem here. If your company relies on making money from these places, you deserve to fail.

Re: An update on YC China

#327

Post by aguyfromnb »

tptacek wrote: post #149
ivalm wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totalitarian actions of the regime primarily against Muslim minorities (Uighurs), including concentration camps with >1M people.

Yeah, no, I've read a newspaper in the last year. What exactly does that have to do with YC? They're withdrawing from China.

>Yeah, no, I've read a newspaper in the last year.

Did you read one prior to Summer 2018? Because when YC decided to go into China, there were people in internment camps then too. This stuff didn't start last year:

https://chinatribunal.com/

Re: An update on YC China

#328

Post by aguyfromnb »

ivalm wrote: post #255
derekdahmer wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's saying its weird they are withdrawing without saying why, when the human rights atrocities are likely a big factor.

If they overtly offend China this would negatively impact YC current portfolio companies, discourage current/future LP, and other make their business more difficult. So they went with an intermediate approach.

>If they overtly offend China this would negatively impact YC current portfolio companies

Don't you see that this mentality is exactly the problem? Some of these comments are really surprising.

Re: An update on YC China

#329

Post by kristjankalm »

archibaldJ wrote: post #312
addictedcs wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the same narrative all over again. When no strong arguments are present to defend a viewpoint, the topic suddenly becomes a "cultural" thing. Sounding smart and mysterious. In Russia, it's "the Russian way", in China it is "the Chinese way" etc. It's just BS.

What you have just said is very postmodern and the meta-narrative (or meta-sentiment) could be applied to virtually anything. I was merely trying to shift the focus of the heated discussion here as things were getting homogenous and reddit-like.

so a specific example then -- in your opinion is putting ca one million Uighurs and Kazakhs into internment camps compatible with the 'Chinese way'?

Re: An update on YC China

#330

Post by yorwba »

jakobmi wrote: post #279

@YC Leadership: The Chinese Article [1] reads synonymously to: YC China was RENAMED, not aborted. That's highly different from your English statement. LOL: even the website ycchina.co redirects to MiraclePlus. http://www.ycchina.com/ [1] https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/SnSsli_ZGo0yI58YD-ddaw

I don't think there's any contradiction between the two statements. Y Combinator stops their involvement in YC China, turning it into a separate entity. YC China gets renamed MiraclePlus.

The announcement by YC emphasizes the separation from YC China, the announcement by MiraclePlus emphasizes the continuity with YC China.

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