Hello, this is Rita Liao. Welcome to Episode #3 of Leapfrog, a podcast about entrepreneurs who have ventured out of their native land and are reshaping a slice of the global tech landscape. You can read more about why I started this project in About.
David Chang belongs to the generation of Chinese who came of age during the nation’s economic reforms, and whose worldview was shaped heavily by China’s increased openness to the world. A cohort of them went on to study abroad and founded tech companies that aspired to capture international markets. In recent years, however, they found it increasingly difficult to go global from China as geopolitical tensions heightened. Rather than taking sides between the US and China, Chang is keeping ties with both while charting an alternative path in Japan, where he’s about to deploy his firm’s autonomous delivery vans.
Tune into this episode if you’re curious how Chinese entrepreneurs like Chang are navigating increasing geopolitical complications.
Chang himself makes for an intriguing subject. Defiant of norms and authority, he fought his Chinese headmaster over school uniform policy. He rebuked Chinese investors who questioned his qualifications as an eager entrepreneur due to his privileged background. This Tianjin native bridges seemingly opposite qualities. He's both nerdy and flamboyant. He praises Shenzhen’s entrepreneurial spirit while criticizing its burnout culture. Growing up in China's state-oriented economy, he has nonetheless come to embrace free-market ideals inspired by political philosophers like Friedrich Hayek.
Timeline:
3:40 Why Chang left Baidu as the Chinese tech giant was embracing AI
7:42 Shenzhen, the least bureaucratic Chinese city
8:55 Chinese VCs are skeptical of founders from wealthy families
12:12 Most Chinese autonomous driving founders are ‘too old’
14:35 How Chang’s Whale Dynamic cracked the Japanese market
16:25 Why Japan is the “best” springboard for Chinese founders going global
18:43 Challenges for Chinese firms raising capital from US investors
21:25 Chang’s fight with his school headmaster changed his life
25:25 Chang had a culture shock arriving in Shenzhen from Tianjin
27:17 What the UK taught Chang as a young adult
28:46 Why Chang decided to seek US residency
31:42 To survive China’s business environment, one needs to be politically sensitive
33:41 Chang’s criticism of ‘involution’ (卷), the burnt-out culture in China
36:33 Chang’s defiance against the Chinese education system
37:59 Chang’s love for Frederick Hayek and the free market
39:07 Adapting to different cultural norms
40:34 Being street smart in China
42:20 Chang’s three life essentials
Mentions:
David Chang’s LinkedIn
Baidu started going ‘all in’ on AI around the mid-2010s (Tech in Asia)
China’s burnout culture — involution, or neijuan/内卷 (The New Yorker)
Chinese entrepreneurs face increased scrutiny from the West (TechCrunch)
Friedrich Hayek, Austrian-British political philosopher of the 20th century and an advocate of free-market capitalism
#3: 'Chinese entrepreneurs now need a political science degree'