Fashion is the New Geek: TechNode.fr and XFounder Set to Upend Your Mindset for Startup Geeks

What will pop up into your mind on hearing the word “GEEK”? Probably a bunch of The Big Bang Theory protagonists who are surprisingly talented on the one hand, but also extremely inward or even look nerdy on the other hand. Your mindset would be changed if you joined us last Friday at Shanghai’s art gallery Island6 for the launch party of TechNode French as well as the first gathering of our invitation-only entrepreneur club XFounder, because the XFounder geeks here are sophisticated and primed to explore a new field-fashion!

Committed to the goal of bridging Chinese and global startup ecosystem as ever, TechNode partnered up with the Sino-French digital consulting agency for fashion brands VELVET Group to launch the French version of TechNode two months earlier.

The special occasion also served as a best opportunity to bring together the tech and fashion communities, two fields that boast so much similarities as well as cooperation potentials.

Fashion is ever-changing and it’s about being creative, inventive, and paying excessive attentions to details. These factors also constitute the essential spirits of tech industry. Moreover, fashion is a positive attitude which celebrates the incessant pursuit for better life. As a true believer of the idea that life is the best incubator for startups, Dr. Gang Lu, founder of TechNode, shares similar conception on fashionable lifestyle with our partner and we are dedicated to inspire more innovative ideas and cooperation between the startup geeks and fashion industry.

To practice the belief, TechNode also launched the Node International Entrepreneurship Center at Beijing’s new art district 751D-Park, as well as a series of offline meetups targeting to connect the two areas.

A wild mix of around two hundred participants partied with us last Friday, ranging from the founding members of XFounder (Teambition, Xiaohongshu, Tenyears.me, etc.), founders of early-stage startups (Gurudigger, Singaheart, Weilver, Vtime, etc.), venture capitalists (Orange-Ren Zhen, Gobi Partners-Avery Li, CyberAgent Ventures-Wu Wenwei, etc.), incubators (Innospace, Chinaccelerator, etc.), to e-commerce business heads of premium brands, fashion bloggers, and fashion photographers, etc.

It is worth noting that several startups that participated in the party are actually working at the intersection of technology and fashion, such as P1, an online fashion community for affluent Chinese, and Xiaohongshu, an overseas shopping note that offers tips for overseas purchases.  Our old friend Eike Wobker, digital manager of Nivea, also joined us.

Last but not the least, we want to express our sincere appreciations to the sponsors of this event, Uber, Teambition, Upyun and Island6 for their special efforts in helping us to hold the party.