Starting up in China: how to go from idea to product in 6 months

Six months ago my business partner and I sat in a Beijing Starbucks with nothing but an idea for an app and some notepads. Neither of us comes from technology backgrounds, but we had an idea we believed could succeed here in China. I’d like to share our experience from concept to product.

This was the first question we asked before a single dollar was invested:

Is the idea good?

All business ideas come from a problem and finding a solution for it. However, not all solutions translate to good businesses. The first question we asked ourselves was if people would buy or use our product once we created it.

We started by conducting market research the old-fashioned way: asking friends. It’s an easy and cheap way to find out what potential users are thinking (and a good excuse to meet with friends for a drink).

The information we gathered from just those around us was invaluable. Our product still maintained the core functionality we originally had yet it was vastly improved from the original concept. To this day, we still regularly talk to those around us for feedback.

How much will it cost?

The next step was to see if it had a reasonable chance of making any money without spending too much.

With our basic understanding of the industry, we tried to estimate the price of every possible expense we could think of: hosting, domain names, trademarking, copyrighting, rent, salaries, contractors, equipment, transportation, and others.

I didn’t know the costs of any of the above-listed items at the time, but I’ll say time and time again: Google is your best friend (whose name is Baidu or Bing if you’re in China too).

How much can we expect to make?

Expected return is the question on every entrepreneur’s mind, however, it is very hard to estimate. We looked at the size of our target market and estimated a reasonable portion of the market we could capture. I emphasize “reasonable” because it’s dangerous to have unrealistic expectations. It’s better to predict lower and exceed than the other way around.

Setting up the company

The biggest surprise was how much work it took to set up the company before any creative or technical work even began.

Starting a company in China, especially as a foreigner, is not easy. Sharing every detail of the process would overwhelm this article so I’ll just say find a good lawyer, consultant, or friend who knows about the regulations to assist. Here are some key things we needed to get going: a business license, a legal representative, and capital (all of which are needed to operate as a Chinese company).

The setup process takes time. But, once it’s all out of the way, the fun part begins: creating the product.

This took us: 1 month

But you don’t know how to code

Finding a UI/UX Designer

Finding a contractor

Preparing for launch

Six months later