Techtalk with Jan Smejkal about scaling ventures in China and emerging markets

This episode of Techtalk features Jan Smejkal, better known as #YourChinaGuy, who resides in Shenzhen and is the founder of YCG, a boutique cross-border business expansion firm working with a selected group of companies to supercharge their operational and business development capabilities in China. Jan is a venture partner at Black Panther Capital (BPC), founded by established and influential family offices around the world. And he is also Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR) at Stacks Accelerator, which is investing in outstanding startup teams building on the Stacks Blockchain. Nevertheless, Jan is the one who scaled Startup Grind (the world's largest startup community) in Asia.
In this interview, Jan talks about the beginning of his new life and entrepreneurial journey in China, back in 2018. And also about how he manages to facilitate the next generation's cross-border success in China by going much deeper than the past generations of entrepreneurs and by truly trying to understand the culture, in order to play a long-term game and to build sustainable entrepreneurial bridges.
“If you have that comprehensive approach - the next generation approach - that you want to understand the culture, you want to meet a lot of people, you want to build your network locally, not just in your specific area, but you want to go broad,” Jan says. “Those are the things that can save you eventually.”
Listen to this episode to find more about Jan’s point of view over the following topics:
Connect with Jan Smejkal on his: website, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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Hosted by Ștefan Koritar, the Techtalk podcast is dedicated to exhibiting the entrepreneurs, innovators and experts in the Central Eastern European startup ecosystem. A show powered by Grai Ventures start-up studio and distributed by Romania Insider.