1. Rita
Oliver
Vania
Raj

2. Business Canvas #1: Original idea
Location Based Asset Tracking for China SMEs


3. Business Canvas #2


4. Lessons Learned – First Pivot

 The China SME market for RFID tagging was not as
large as we imagined
 Pivoted to a Yammer Clone for the China SME
market
 Advisor and VC feedback for the pivot was great so
we saw far more potential there
 Learned importance of being flexible and willing to
decisively pivot!

5. Business Canvas #3
Key Partners Key activities Value Propositions Customer Customer Segments
Relationships

• Web site • A more secure • SMEs in China (#
• Payment providers social network among • Automated Services employees 20-100)
development
• Established Social business • Customer care line
• Mobile App
Networking platforms communities
Development
like QQ, Sina.com • Simplify and
• Database
• Smartphone App organize the lives of
management
Store providers busy professionals
Key Resources Channels
• Streamline • Internet website
• Software Developers communication and • App stores
• Software management projects • Word-of-Mouth
• Memorialize • Social Networking
meeting outcomes Websites
• Baidu / Google
Cost Structure Revenue Streams
• Cost of technology development • Freemium (Initial trial and free service for tracking a small
• Customer Service number of items)
• Data Storage • Monthly subscription cost based on usage

6. Lessons Learned – Second Pivot

 Had become a Yammer clone for the Chinese market
… but then saw potential beyond that
 Now taking the best features of social collaboration
companies – including Yammer, Doodle and
Dropbox – to include in the MVP
 Communication: Constantly seeking feedback – from
customers, advisors, and business team.
 Needed to work on IP and licensing clearances –
especially since we are dealing with China – This
took longer than expected.

7. Business Canvas #4
Key Partners Key activities Value Propositions Customer Customer Segments
Relationships
• Web site development • A more secure social • SMEs in China (# employees
• Payment providers • Mobile App Development network among business • Automated Services 20-100)
• Established Social Networking • Database management communities • Customer care line
platforms like QQ, Sina.com • Office application development • Simplify and organize the lives
• Smartphone App Store or linkage of busy professionals
providers • Streamline communication
• Chinese Government (for and management projects
license applications) • Solidify meeting times
• China Mobile Operators e.g. Key Resources • An efficient communication and Channels
China Mobile, China Unicom collaboration platform for SMEs
• Software Developers who don’t have an OA software • Internet website
• Software as a service • Appstore
• Word-of-Mouth
• Social Networking Websites
• Baidu / Google
Cost Structure Revenue Streams
• Cost of technology development • Freemium
• Customer Service • Initial trial and free service for tracking a small number of items
• Data Storage • Monthly subscription cost based on usage
• Chinese Domain registration
• Chinese SMS partnerships
• License fees

8. Web Site Launch Application Process in China
万网审核 Submit Domain Name Applications
Domain Name5 weeks Check
Takes Application
 2-3 Work Days
Get a web space from a web hosting company
Mail Information to Web Hosting Company 25-Day
4 Work Days Process
Submit Web Site Application to Communications Administration 通
管局
Company ID and Web Site Ownership
Owner State ID
License Description Certificate
15 Work Days
Web Site Application Approved

10. Lessons Learned – Third Iteration

 Prepare for the unknown - Getting Internet site up and
running in China is a non-trivial effort
 Don’t assume anything - Learned that UI design in
China is way different than in US
 Needle in a haystack - Finding early adopters is really
hard, especially when people don’t trust you
 Where’s the microscope - Analytics is a great friend if
you want to know your customer’s needs

11. State of the Union


12. Visitors Statistics To-Date from Google Analytics


13. Top Ten Most Visited Sources
City Visits Pages/Visit Avg. Time % New Bounce
on Site Visits Rate
1.
2.
Fuzhou
Xiamen
378
13

13.99
11.38
00:08:49
00:07:10
32.01%
53.85%
17.72%
15.38%
3. Beijing 9 7.44 00:08:27 88.89% 33.33%
4. Hangzhou 5 4.40 00:00:48 100.00% 20.00%
5. Shenzhen 4 3.75 00:02:25 100.00% 50.00%
6. Guangzhou 3 2.00 00:00:50 100.00% 33.33%
7. Chongqing 2 2.50 00:00:16 100.00% 50.00%
8. Dalian 1 1.00 00:00:00 100.00% 100.00%
9. Shanghai 1 40.00 00:14:36 100.00% 0.00%
10. Nanjing 1 1.00 00:00:00 100.00% 100.00%

14. Popular Visited Pages
- from Google Analytics

 Micro-blogging Page
 First Page of Site before logging in
 Page to log in
 Listing of company groups
 Invitation to other colleagues
 Viewing Members of the company
 Private Message inside the 35hzs.com

15. Customer feedback

 Customer feedback from last block
 Front page was too simple
 Reply messages need to be showed
 Concern about security
 What we have improved from customer feedback
 Front page
 Full function SMS
 Sign-in Authentication
 Learned from trial users in Oliver’s company:
 The site should be designed based on users’ daily work flow
 How to increase stickiness - rankings, supervisor’s
responses, useful & interesting contents

16. Other Players in China

 Talked to Salesforce and one other competitor
(gongxf.com) in China
 Social Collaboration for Business is new concept in China
 Salesforce Chatter: targeting Global Customers in China
 gongxf.com 工學坊： Offer free HBR articles for their
customers
 Demand is there for Business Social Collaboration Software
 Nascent Market: Only have early adaptors now
 Chinese Government is not intervening this

17. Biggest Challenges and Next Step

 More evangelists!
 More marketing and advertising activities are
needed to raise customer awareness to attract real
users
 QQ.com and Sina.com is more for consumer market
 Need to have another channel for the B-to-B market
 Continue to refine key features of the MVP
 Coding Challenge
 Start charging for the product according to a
“Freemium” model

18. Other Lessons Learned

 Unlike other MBA courses or working in a well-
established company, emulating an early stage
startup requires no clear cut tasks. As a
result, passion, individual initiative, team spirit, and
the ability to function well as a team are critical to
success.
 Legal strictures and requirements cannot be ignored.
Proper licensure and clearance is critical, especially
when working within a country such as China. These
obstacles simply took longer to overcome than
initially anticipated.