Analyse Asia 207: The Shenzhen startup ecosystem with Jan Smejkal

Editor’s note: This originally appeared on Analyse Asia, a weekly podcast hosted by Bernard Leong, dedicated to dissecting the pulse of business, technology, and media in Asia. The podcast features guests from Asia’s vibrant tech community.

Jan Smejkal, China & Asia Pacific community director of Startup Grind, joined us to discuss the Shenzhen startup ecosystem in China. He provided a comprehensive overview of the interesting startups, incubators, accelerators and venture capital firms within Shenzhen and most importantly, how the major players such as Huawei and Tencent are currently interacting with them.

Download the episode here or subscribe.

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with time-stamps included):

• Jan Smejkal (@yourchinaguy, LinkedIn), China & APAC Community Director at Startup Grind
  • How did you start your career? [1:20]
  • What made you end setting Shenzhen as the place in China to stay as compared to many who will go to Beijing or Shanghai? [2:53]
  • In your journey, what are the interesting career lessons you can share with my audience? [4:00]
  • Can you briefly introduce Startup Grind to my audience? [5:25]
  • What’s your current role & coverage in Startup Grind? [7:04]
• Startup Ecosystem in Shenzhen, China [8:32]
  • For a start, how would you characterize the Shenzhen startup ecosystem to someone from the outside? [8:49]
  • Is Shenzhen the modern day version of Silicon Valley, given the presence of Tencent, Huawei, and DJI similar to Facebook, Google and HP? [11:51]
  • What are the key traits of the Shenzhen startup ecosystem? [13:36]
  • Which are the interesting startups within the ecosystem? [14:54]
    • DJI
    • Insta360
    • MakeBlock
  • What are the key accelerators and incubators in Shenzhen? [18:45]
    • HAX
    • Brinc
  • Who are the investors in Shenzhen, for example, venture capitalists and early-stage angels? [21:36]
    • Shenzhen Capital Group
  • What are the key events that people can attend in Shenzhen to get an introduction? [23:58]
  • Shenzhen is the home of a few well-known Chinese companies: Huawei, DJI, and Tencent, how do they interact with the startup ecosystem? [26:31]
• Closing [28:58]
  • Can you recommend a book, podcast, movie or something which you have found interesting recently?
    • Jan’s recommendation: “Banking on Bitcoin” movie
  • How should my audience find you?

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