Archive for February, 2011

UnitedStyles.com officially launched!

Today, February 28, 2011, UnitedStyles.com was officially launched. After our closed beta in November last year we got tons of feedback from our users and after improving the site and the user experience we now open the site to the whole world. UnitedStyles is a customized kids online fashion site, where kids or their parents can design garments. Right now only girls fashion, but soon we plan to also add boys and baby wear. UnitedStyles brings the experience of fashion design within reach...
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

Inside Sina Weibo

China has many Twitter clones and the biggest one (by far) is Sina Weibo. I am amazed by the huge growth of Weibo over the past couple of months. Almost all my Chinese friends and colleagues use it, and even my wife became a heavy Weibo user (so no more complaints about me sharing our whole life online!). After she stepped down from her management role at Tudou.com a couple of weeks ago to spend more time with the kids, I can now follow her whole life in pictures and quotes on Weibo (her...
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

Shanghai Restaurant Week 2011

Shanghai has many 'fine dining' restaurants but most of them are quite expensive. If you had always wanted to try some of Shanghai's best restaurants such as for example Kathleen's 5, Danieli's, T8, M1NT, or Sir Elly's, the Shanghai Restaurant Week may be your chance. Organized by the team behind DiningCity Shanghai, Dutch entrepreneurs Onno Schreurs and Siem Bierman, this year's Restaurant Week will take place from 7-13 March. During this week top restaurants will serve a special 3-course...
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

Groupon China off to a bad start

Instead of going for a run during my lunch break yesterday I decided to write an article about Groupon China. It was published on the Silicon Alley Insider last night, the original article is here. Make sure to also read the comments under the SAI article, and the update I just added at the end of this blog post. It doesn't happen often that a US Internet company enters the Chinese market with a huge budget, so when a company does this the Chinese media follow all the steps this company...
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

Higher prices could lead many people and businesses to leave China’s big cities

I wrote this article for the Business Insider, the original article is here. China's high growth over the past decades turned the country from a developing into a developed country. But the continuous high growth also leads to price inflation and higher wages. In big cities like Shanghai that may lead to problems that not everybody is aware of yet. For years prices have been rising steadily in China. The price of fuel is about 3 times as high as 10 years ago for example, but also daily...
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

After lunch walk around UnitedStyles.com

Today was a beautiful day, but because I worked the whole day at UnitedStyles I couldn't really enjoy it. But after a heavy lunch (hamburgers from Pete's Tex-Mex...) Joop and I decided to talk a walk to at least enjoy the sunshine a little bit. I had never taken a walk in the area around the UnitedStyles office before, even though the company has been here for a couple of months already (I normally spend most of my daytime hours in the Spil Games Asia office). Because the current...
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

The Foursquare Film Noir

Are you an oversharer on Facebook, Twitter or Foursquare just like me? Then you should absolutely watch this 3-minute YouTube instant classic: The Foursquare Film Noir. Also a great short indie movie if you are just a lurker of course. Description: A tech-savvy detective takes a cold case into his own hands, but is he prepared for...
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

Is Groupon trying to get kicked out of China before it even gets started?

Dumb, dumber, dumbest. Of all the US Internet companies that have been trying to enter China it looks like Groupon is making the dumbest mistake, and that even before it officially launches here. Over the past weeks I have followed Groupon trying to set up its business in China. Not only from the press, but also from friends that interviewed there for one of the 1000 jobs that they plan to fill over the next couple of weeks, and of course from things I heard from other Groupon clones. I...
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

Chinese New Year’s Eve 2011

In China tonight is New Year's Eve and I just finished a huge dinner with the family. Because all our domestic staff went home to their families we hired a cook to make us a nice (and very big!) dinner. Among others codfish, shrimps, soup with crab meat and shell fish, beef soup, fried beef, deep fried spicy pork, and many, many kinds of vegetables. Excellent - we should hire this cook full time! Outside there are a lot of fireworks already, even though it's not even 9 pm. Scott is not sure...
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>

Fontainebleau State of Mind

If you did your MBA at INSEAD in Fontainebleau or plan to study there in the future, you will surely enjoy this Tudou video. It's making fun of life in Fonty (INSEAD speak for Fontainebleau) and all things happening there to students working hard and partying harder. It's a great clip that gives a glimpse of student life on and off campus (make sure to listen to the song text!). Bonus: if you watch the clip until the end there a couple of bloopers next to the credits. Enjoy! Update: The...
READ THE FULL ARTICLE >>