WTOIP Global - Help Foreign Tech Startups Launch Business in China

It's a dream for nearly any foreign startups to enter China market. The country's massive population of more than 1.3 billion, of which 730 million are currently connected online, is attractive to almost any enterprise looking to expand and scale. But, China is a unique market that the way it worked in another country may not work here. So it makes it hard foreign startups to start business in China as they must redesign a solution that’s localized for its own demographic. And below are some common challenges foreign startups may face when starting business in China. Not Understanding the Market as Locals Product and market strategy often depends on intuition about the way users or clients will react or behave, but foreigners don't have such intuition, even if they can speak the language. Staying in touch with the market is becoming increasingly important, and they are getting out of touch by being abroad. So foreign startups have a competitive disadvantage whe...

The China market grows more compelling by the day, drawing more and more companies into this eastern land. However, before you start business in China , are you familiar with the challenges someone faces when starting a new business in China? To lower the risk, here are essentially four things you need to learn before you start business in China. Know about the Market Many a times, startup owners don’t research on what their market actually want. They simply make decision based on personal experience or current trend instead of conducting market research, and ultimately spend much time adjusting strategies and change products. So learn and study your target market as closely and as deeply you can and then polish up your offering to the exact demands of your market. Know about the Product Too many entrepreneurs rush towards announcing their products or services without actually understanding their own offering. Just like market researc...

Ask any small business owner is it difficult to start your own business, and you’ll likely get a wide range of answers. For some entrepreneurs aren’t good at running business, and have no experience of how to navigate through the complex procedure, it may be a difficult task. So what should you prepare to start business in China ? Have a Full Understanding of Yourself The first think is your own mentality. If you want to get rich quickly, maybe you are not suitable for entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a long-term process. Someone who is eager to make money is difficult to persevere in the earliest tough days of entrepreneurship. And this has basically become a common failure of entrepreneurship. Secondly, evaluate how much risk can you afford to take. Entrepreneurship and risk are coexisting, especially under the fierce competition in the China market, people who think they can only succeed without failure may not be suitable to start business in China. Finall...

A good trademark represents the company image, in addition, a registered trademark protects your brand, and provides you with the tools to prevent someone using similar signs and riding off the back of your business. For foreign startups who want to start business in China, how should startups choose trademarks? Understand Trademark Elements First of all, the composition of trademarks is diverse, what kind of element can be used as a trademark. Traditional trademarks are mostly text, symbols, graphics or graphic compositions Modern trademarks have included sounds, colors, animations and 3D shapes By now in China, most of the trademarks are in the form of text, graphics, or graphic compositions. In fact the elements of the mark can be more creative anti-traditional. Such as sound trademark, color combination trademark, 3D trademark, and even smell, touch trademark. When companies choose a trademark, try to open your minds and choose richer elements as your ow...

Foreign entrepreneurs are full of great ideas and powerful ways to implement them, but in China, starting a new business is always not easy. One of the most frequent questions to entrepreneurs is "How do I find the money to start my business in China?" I’m not going to explain much about the traditional solutions such as bank loan, trade equity or venture capital. Here I’d like to focus on 4 newest ways that getting popular in China these days: Start a crowdfunding campaign online Crowdfunding is an attractive alternative to traditional funding. This newest source of funding can help entrepreneurs launch their companies without much capital investment. Here people make online pledges to your startup during a campaign for proof of concept, early idea validation and even customer pre-orders. With the right crowdfunding platform and ample promotion, a crowdfunding campaign has the potential to raise quite a lot of money in a very short amount of time. Request a ...

Though it’s hard to make decision, before a tech startup starting business in China , they have to decide whether to protect their technology achievement by patents that open their technologies, or trade secrets. There are quite a lot Chinese and foreign cases and studies on this topic,below are some common situations. 1. If tech startups are about to negotiate of financing, or are likely to be acquired by big companies, they should apply for patents as soon as possible to prove their technological capabilities and increase the bargaining weight. 2. Whether to protect their technology achievement by patents or trade secrets depends on the technical complexity, the requirements of the production process of the startup industry. If your competitors can easily copy, or surpass your ideas or products simply by looking at your patent specification, you should consider more seriously. After all, patent infringement litigation takes time and money. The market share is likely to...

In the process of looking for investors, how to choose and how to contact with them it is extremely important. For starters who know little or have no idea about fundraising, who and which approach for them to look for investors to start business in China ? In general, the channels to reach investors are mainly in the following 3 ways. Recommended by Friends No matter in what time, friend recommendations seem to be a fast and efficient way to reach high quality investors. For investors, they are more willing to invest in projects that are recommended by friends, because personal factors such as trust and relationship come into play,but whether they are suitable for each other still depends on the specific circumstances of both the startups and the investors. Relatively speaking, this is the fastest channel, but in fact, it is very hard for foreign startups to have such a network of resources in China, and the matching rate is not high. Media Exposure and Entrepre...

Nowadays many foreign startups have realized the huge market in China and are trying to enter, however, we must also clearly know that the majority of starups even giants like Google and Facebook failed to enter the China market. Therefore, before the tide of entrepreneurship in China, foreign startups should make rational analysis and conduct preliminary research before starting business in China . To help make success a reality, here are 3 important tips for foreign businesses breaking into the China market. Be Data-driven Many entrepreneurs will fall into a mistake, believing that a product does well in the domestic market will be successful in the Chinese market too, but this judgment is often based on a lot of assumption about the market, consumers and competitors. We can see after some brand new products or technologies enter the Chinese market, they will be quickly killed or copied by competitors, and die soon. Therefore, foreign entrepreneurs must conduct a compreh...

As the world's fastest-growing major economy, China maintains about 7% of economy growth each year, and offers many opportunities to foreign startups. It continues to attract many foreign startups to come to China for business and investment. However, opportunities comes with challenge. To start business in China means you have to deal with its historical, political and cultural complexity. In this article, we will point out a few foreign entrepreneurs need to pay attention to before they enter the China market. Understanding Local Culture The entrepreneur first needs to be sensitive to China's culture and how it affects business. One important concept to master is “Face”. Face represents a person’s reputation and feelings of prestige within the workplace, family, friends, and society. For example, it is quite natural for foreigners to point out someone’s mistakes at the meeting, make alternative suggestions, or directly reject other's demands, but in China it...

Starting your own business is not an easy job, for foreign startups, to start a business in China are much more difficult. In order to maximize the success rate of entrepreneurship, what are the factors that successful startups have to do? Here are some basic things need to start business in China . Distribution Channel The role of sales channels for startups is very important. Even if you have a good product, if there is no suitable sales channel, not only nobody knows your product, but more importantly, you can not make a profit. If you can’t generate revenue, it will be hard to attract employees and investors, therefore making growth nearly impossible. For startups abroad to start their own business in China, a less risky approach is to look for local partners such as WTOIP Global . By utilizing their industry and connection resources, you can rapidly enter your target markets. Capital and Funding In the early stages of your business, entrepreneurs should prep...

China's IP laws and regulations are increasingly reflecting international standards. They have made continuous effort to strengthen the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. However, starting business in China is still challenging, problems like lingering issues with China’s IP legal framework in areas such as trade secrets, uneven enforcement, and significant procedural barriers that frustrate company efforts to protect IP in China. At the same time, counterfeiters and infringes in China still exist. They often exploit procedural loopholes, proactively seek to invalidate legitimate patents and trademarks. So if you don’t adopt preventive measures to protect your IP, you expose your business to unnecessary risks. Here are some common ways: Register IP in China in Time IP rights are territorial, that is they only give protection in the countries in which they have been granted or registered. If you are thinking about starting business in China, th...

In recent years, China has put lots of effort into encouraging entrepreneurship and has introduced many relevant policies on entrepreneurship, such as tax relief, capital subsidies, and so on, which have contributed to created a favorable entrepreneurial environment in China. Many of these policies are also applicable to a large number of foreign startups at the same time. However, with the rapid development of local enterprises, the development of foreign startup companies is not as fast as the local ones in China. Even we can hear voices saying that it is very difficult for foreign startups to start business in China . Is that true? For foreign entrepreneurs, what problems have hindered them from starting a business in China? Here are some of the concerns when foreign startups starting business in China: Complex and Unclear Laws and Regulations Foreign startups often struggle with laws and regulations in China, with 32% respondents in a recent business survey listing confusio...

These years, starting business in China has become one of the most popular topics in the startup sector due to the fast development of the economy. Generally speaking, it’s not easy for foreign startups to start business in China , but they have their natural advantages that may help them survive under the fierce competition. Here are 4 tips for foreign startups when considering starting business in China: Stick to what you are good at Doing what you are familiar with is always the fastest and safest way to start your own business. You don’t have to spend time learning the market, product and the network, and you have known the best way to market and sell it to target customers. Even though the market environment is different, similar business mode should share something in common, thus it will be easier for foreign startup to survive and develop their own business in China. Find a trustworthy local partner When talking about starting business in China, the first impre...

China market is favorable in terms of its huge size and great opportunities, in despite of its complex regulations and legal proceeding. Hence prior to start business in China, it is often advisable to find a reliable local partner to help you navigate through. Here are the 5 reasons why local partner is crucial for foreign startups when starting business in China: Process Comparing with many other countries and regions, company registration is a complex procedure in China that requires proper planning and execution, and thus I would not recommend doing this on your own. Issues such as what type of entity to register, how to file the registration to the designated authority, what documents should be arranged, what certificates should be applied for your specific type of business, need to be carefully considered beforehand. Moreover, even after the entity is duly set up, how to fulfill your mandatory tax liabilities, how to pay your employees, and if you are in the high-tec...