Sunday we took the train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou, a two hour ride through Shenzhen, Dongguan and the Guangdong countryside (factories, factories, factories – this area is literally the factory of the world). We had a meeting there in the afternoon with Yanik Cantieni and his girlfriend Lian. Yanik is a long-time friend of mine who is working for DaimlerChrysler in Stuttgart (he used to work in HK before that). Lian also used to work in DC headquarters, but last year she decided to become an entrepreneur and developed the idea for 1bib.com. She is now CEO of the company, and runs a team of about 12 people. I am an investor in this company. Yanik was visiting her and it was nice to catch up with him as well.

1bib.com’s aim is to become China’s no. 1 car comparison site. The site (that will go live on Wednesday – right now you won’t see anything yet…) currently focuses on used cars in the Guangdong area, but soon other parts of China will also be covered. I was very impressed with the way they built the site, and think this could become really big. I cannot say too much about their business strategy and ideas (competitors might also read this blog), but I believe in what they are doing. I plan to keep readers informed about the next steps 1bib.com will make.

After the meeting was over we jumped in a taxi to a bar in downtown Guangzhou, where we arrived just in time to watch the 9PM Holland – Serbia-Montenegro game. The game was shown on a big screen outside, and we enjoyed fish and chips with cold pints of Tiger beer to cheer for the Dutch team. I wasn’t even the only Dutch person in the bar, there was a group of about 10 fellow Dutchman (sporting Oranje-jerseys) also cheering for the winning team. After the game we headed back to the apartment, because there is a very busy week ahead of us, and I needed the sleep.