Bowei Gai, like many serial entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley, is a restless sort. In 2007, while finishing up his master鈥檚 degree at Carnegie Mellon, he co-founded mobile photography app Snapture. His second startup, CardMunch, a business-card transcription service, was bought by LinkedIn, early in 2011, reportedly for seven figures. He then led a transition team to integrate his company into the fold of the popular professional-networking giant.聽
By late summer, he found himself exhausted and in need of a vacation. On an impulse, he looked for cheap flights to China, where he had lived as a child. Almost as soon as he booked a trip for the following week, he got anxious. What would he do with himself for nearly a month? Then he realized that he knew nothing about China鈥檚 startup scene. Great time to start learning.聽聽
Before he packed his bags, he worked his network to get introductions in China to investors, lawyers, the smallest entrepreneurs, and a businessman worth billions. Once there, he soaked up everything he could about the startup ecosystem in that rapidly expanding economy.聽
Back home in his 鈥渟ideways house鈥� in San Francisco鈥攈e lives on one of the city鈥檚 most crooked streets, which gives his house the illusion of sitting askew鈥攈e wrote up his observations to send to those who had helped him network. At 2 am, he clicked send. By the time he awoke six hours later, he was a folk hero. Someone had posted his PowerPoint file, titled The China Startup Report. Already it was on the front page of SlideShare鈥攖he YouTube of slideshows鈥攁nd had gone viral in the United States and China.聽
鈥淭he reason it became so popular is that I didn鈥檛 write a detailed report with all the numbers and pages of facts because people don鈥檛 read that,鈥� says Gai of his 15-minute crash course. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a thin layer of information that covers lots of broad topics.鈥� For instance, he reported that the fundamental rules of the Internet don鈥檛 apply in China. The Chinese do not pay for software, only physical goods and games. 鈥淢icrosoft would not survive there,鈥� he wrote. As for his opinion on competition, he doesn鈥檛 beat around the bush: 鈥淎ll are vicious, many are unethical, some are illegal. It鈥檚 a dog-eat-dog world in China. For example, companies can buy customers鈥� favorable reviews and reviews to destroy competitors. Intellectual property protection is something the government is pushing for, but in practice it鈥檚 virtually non-existent. Competing in China requires a different mindset.鈥澛�
Gai鈥檚 Silicon Valley credibility contributed to why the report was well received. But, perhaps most important was his brutal honesty. 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 planning to share this with the world,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his was a private report for my friends.鈥澛犅�
Friends mean a lot to Gai. In fact, the reason Carnegie Mellon has been one of the keys to Gai鈥檚 success is not only because of the education (he earned his BS in 2006 and MS in 2007, both in electrical and computer engineering) but also the friendships. His CardMunch co-founders include Sid Viswanathan (E鈥�06) and venture capitalist Manu Kumar (E鈥�95, CS鈥�97, TPR鈥�99). Even his first CardMunch intern, Sudeep Yegnashankaran (E鈥�08, 鈥�09), was a Carnegie Mellon student. 鈥淚 did end up leveraging my Carnegie Mellon network because these are the people who you trust to have a very good basic training,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou can easily check their credentials through your friends. People can vouch for them.鈥�
Viswanathan remembers his first impression of Gai. 鈥淗e鈥檚 fearless,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hatever it is,鈥� he laughs, 鈥淏owei鈥檚 plan will be some version of taking over the world.鈥澛�
Gai鈥檚 latest project actually takes him all over the world. He鈥檚 not in it to make money. He鈥檚 made plenty for the time being. But his China report led him to reflect on how little is known about global startup cultures. So last January, he kicked off the World Startup Report, his ambitious plan to document startup ecosystems by traveling to 29 countries over nine months. Every five to ten days, he says, he 鈥減arachutes鈥� into a new country and opens his email to a 10-page schedule. He鈥檚 preaching the gospel of the startup, acting as a facilitator, and helping entrepreneurs in each county network with one another.聽
Benjamin Joffe, who identifies himself as a startup therapist and angel investor, traveled with Gai across India. 鈥淚 remember telling Bowei he also had to take time to have fun and try local things,鈥� he says. 鈥淗e was so focused on doing a great job, filling up all his days that I thought he might burn out. You can take Bowei out of the Valley, but it鈥檚 hard to take the entrepreneur out of him.鈥澛�
Gai took Joffe鈥檚 advice to heart. Among their cultural experiences were a rooftop yoga session, meditation in an ashram, and Bollywood dance lessons.聽
It鈥檚 been a life-changing experience, Gai says: 鈥淣o matter where you are, there鈥檚 innovation. You can be in the middle of nowhere, Nepal, and build a million-dollar company.鈥澛�
He says he鈥檚 also realized that the end result of innovation doesn鈥檛 necessarily have to be the next Facebook. 鈥淎 lot of these places worry about a completely different set of problems鈥攍ike electricity and running water. These past months, I鈥檝e met about 5,000 entrepreneurs, teaching them what I know and helping them see how they can tackle problems in their own country. I hope I鈥檓 inspiring a new wave of entrepreneur.鈥�
Sally Ann Flecker is an award-winning freelance writer who is a regular contributor to this magazine.聽
