EP. 1: PROFITING FROM CHINESE SOCIAL MEDIA

Today’s guest Michael Michelini left his job on Wall Street in 2007 and came to China.   He’s currently the co-founder and CEO of Social Agent, an online tool that helps businesses leverage Chinese Social Media for sales.   In this episode, we’ll find out what drew Michael to China in 2007, how he was able to put together a team for a tech startup even though he doesn’t code, and his experience with China-Axlr8r, one of the premiere tech incubators in China.   We’ll also discuss the lay of the land for Chinese Social media.

EPISODE MENTIONS:

• China-Axlr8r is a tech incubator based in Dalian, China. They’re currently accepting their 4th class of startups. Application deadline is May 15, 2013. You can apply to China-Axlr8r here.

• Canton Fair is a huge China Import/Export fair held in Guangzhou twice annually (usually in April and October)

• The Insourcing Boom an article in The Atlantic discussing the trend of "insourcing"

• Lean Startup Machine hosts weekend workshops all over the world teaching entrepreneurs the Lean Startup methodology

• Startup Weekend hosts events all over the world where entrepreneurs come together, share ideas, and launch startups over one weekend

• Chinese Social Media: Weibo, Weixin (WeChat), QQ, RenRen, Kaixin

You can connect with Michael via:

• @michelini on Weibo

• @michelini on Twitter

• Michael’s startup Social Agent is a Chinese social media tool that helps businesses find, track, manage, and report on leads in the Chinese market.

• Michael also writes a personal blog

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