What I learned at a Beijing start-up

Exploring Beijing's start-up scene, Journalist Frank Hersey writes about his experiences in Tech in Asia

Beijing has a burgeoning start-up scene, but what’s it like on the ground in these companies? How does the culture compare to start-up hotspots elsewhere? I decided to go in and find out.
 

I spent a week at Grabtalk, a new WeChat and app-based personal assistant service that helps foreign tourists and expats in Beijing who don’t speak Chinese to do all those little things that are suddenly almost impossible. They arrange cars, buy things on Taobao and TMall and do anything else that crops up.
 

Grabtalk’s three founders are Chinese nationals two of whom got PhDs in computing in the States, the other in China, but chose Beijing as the location for their start-up. They helped their first user in June 2015.
 

Arriving at the office on the 22nd floor of a smart tower in Beijing’s fashionable, foreigner-friendly Sanlitun area, I’m met by a roomful of young ladies. Some are recent graduates, some have several years’ work experience in various fields, but all are now trying out a start-up. 
 

I’m shown around by one of the founders, Qian Haiyang.
 

The aesthetic is familiar: white walls dotted with vinyls of Space Invaders, a statement sofa, an abundance of post-it notes. One thing stands out – rather than the Google-style chefs serving up West Coast fads, Grabtalk have a Henanese housekeeper, already busy on lunch. Qian Haiyang explains that there are two reasons. One: they wanted to recreate some of that Bay Area magic for workplace energy and sense of collaboration. Two: the restaurants around the office serve an oily mess.
 

Why Beijing? Qian Haiyang explains “Because we see the expats suffering in their lives, especially, because we can feel that pain as we all have experience living abroad. And we are more  familiar with Beijing.”

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.