Kaifu Lee States the Obvious: ‘Now is a Good Time for Mobile Startups in China’

It’s no secret that China’s mobile internet is growing like a…well, like a thing that grows really fast. A weed, perhaps? I don’t know how fast weeds grow, but China’s internet is probably growing faster than a weed (suck it, weeds!). Anyway, in case you hadn’t connected the dots there, Kaifu Lee (who invests in startups via his company Innovation Works) is here to help. He had this to say at a recent startup event in Shanghai:

China already has at least 100 million high-end mobile internet devices, and the next hundred million will come even more quickly. This will create a large audience of app users, and it brings with it a huge opportunity.

Lee also pointed out that the costs of doing a startup have really never been lower than they are for mobile internet startups right now given that distribution, which was a massive problem for tech startups even a decade ago, is now about as simple as this:

1. Upload your app to the relevant app store.
2. Cash checks.

OK, maybe it’s a little more complex than that, but you get the idea. Anyway, this all makes the barriers to entry much lower, too:

Young entrepreneurs can stand on the shoulders of giants to sell a good product, and if you’re not sure whether or not you can do a startup, you can just give it a try by writing an app and then optimizing it and looking for a market later.

Of course, what Lee is saying here is not rocket science. We hear this sort of thing again and again, actually. So if you’re looking to do a mobile startup, know that Kaifu Lee is behind you. But know, too, that he’s encouraging everyone else in the world to give it a shot, so if you want to stick out you’d better have a damn good idea.

[China Youth Daily via TechWeb]