Understanding the product mindset that guides WeChat's Creator, Allen Zhang.

Funding announcement for our Series A investment in KoBold Metals.

Using Business Models as a lens for product strategy. This post studies how podcasts, books, videos and music are monetized in China vs. the US

What happens when AI research comes to life in a mass-market consumer app? This post studies TikTok, and other new consumer platforms where AI IS the product.

When QR codes disintermediate existing use cases… and enable new ones.

(with Kyle Russell) Hallway chat covering our reactions to f8 2017. We touch on messaging and QR codes; brain computer interfaces; augmented reality and social VR; and, bots (again).

(with Luke Wroblewski and Sonal Chokshi) What does it mean to design for a mobile world where “an app isn’t really an app” — and the very definition of apps are themselves evolving, including cross-culturally?

Livestreaming in China is more like a video version of selfies. And the interaction — between personal broadcasters/hosts and their audiences — is the fulcrum for engagement and monetization.

(with Christina Xu and Sonal Chokshi) From glittery reaction gifs to rage faces, stickers and emotive “biaoqing” have taken over messaging culture in China and beyond. A wild tour of cultural messaging memes and messaging tech in China and beyond.

Red envelopes were WeChat’s secret weapon in getting users to adopt mobile payments on their messaging platform, unlocking all subsequent transaction activity across their ecosystem.

Stickers aren’t just frivolous little punctuation marks to be inserted in text messages. They can be replacements for entire sentences, and help create a new medium for communicating and storytelling.

Learning from China involves rethinking our mindsets around it … beginning with how to be open to learning from China in the first place, to preparing for future competition from there as Chinese companies aim to realize their global ambitions.

This post is all about WeChat, but it’s also about more than just WeChat. While seemingly just a messaging app, WeChat is actually more of a portal, a platform, and even a mobile operating system depending on how you look at it.

(with Benedict Evans, Steven Sinofsky, and Kyle Russell) Innovation or invention? Platform or app? Vertical or horizontal? Strategy or tactic? Does the smartphone eat VR? And (not to get all existential about it or anything but), what is an app, really?

(with Chris Messina and Benedict Evans) So… about those bots. Bots bots bots. Bots!

Conversational commerce is unproven, even in Asia. If texting takes more time than clicking a button on a webview, why is it better?

(with Clay Shirky) No matter how one views Xiaomi — and there are many ways to view it, for better or worse — one thing is clear: It, and other such companies (like WeChat and Alibaba), indicate a broader trend around innovation coming from China.

(with Anu Hariharan) India and China. The two most populous countries on the planet are also two of the most tantalizing markets for companies of all size, from startups to conglomerates.

(with David Pierce) What happens when a messaging app essentially becomes an operating system for our lives? What conditions made the mobile, business, and cultural environment in China so ripe for a phenomenon like WeChat?

(with Chris Dixon and Benedict Evans) China has been a tough market to crack for U.S. internet companies. One of the key reasons is China has its own crop of hugely successful and highly innovative companies.

Connie Chan is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley based technology venture capital firm with over $7B under management. Since joining Andreessen Horowitz in 2011, Connie has worked on the investment team sourcing deals and working closely with startups across the portfolio. She also spearheaded the firm’s Asia network to bridge the gap between Silicon Valley companies looking to navigate Asia opportunities and companies in Asia seeking to better understand Silicon Valley. Connie’s writing and speaking on the topic of innovation in China has brought renewed attention to the topic with her writing on WeChat winning a Sidney award in 2015.
 
Before joining Andreessen Horowitz, Connie worked at HP leading its webOS efforts in China. She started her career as a private equity investor at Elevation Partners, investing in media and entertainment. She has been named a LinkedIn NextWave Top Professional 35 and Under, Wired's Next 20 Tech Visionary, Fast Company's Most Creative People 2017, and won a Sydney award for her writing on WeChat, and is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum. Connie received her B.A. in Economics and M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

 

Connie Chan（陈梅陵）是美国硅谷创投公司Andreessen Horowitz的合伙人，其专注于消费类技术领域的早期阶段风投项目，并负责建立和维护该公司的亚太区关系。此前，Connie带领惠普Palm公司的在华业务发展以及市场营销工作，并负责管理webOS操作系统的应用程序搜索目录（App Catalog）、开发人员门户以及Facebook移动应用程序的创建。在Palm之前，Connie担任美国硅谷私募集金Elevation Partners的创始资深投资经理，为该拥有18亿美元管理资产的基金研究并分析高科技、媒体及娱乐领域的投资项目。Connie毕业于斯坦福大学，于四年之内获得经济学学士学位以及管理科学及工程的硕士学位。

Meet Silicon Valley's China Whisperer

3.19.19, CNN

Connie Chan

7.18.18, a16z (Ben Horowitz)
 

Are Celebrity Accounts on Private Social Media an Oxymoron?

4.20.12, AllThingsD
^ One of the cross-border deals I'm most proud of: WeChat's very first official account!

Meet Silicon Valley's China Whisperer

3.19.19, CNN

Mark Zuckerberg Wants Facebook to Emulate WeChat

3.07.19, New York Times

Billionaires Are On The Hunt For New Underground Cobolt

3.03.19, Bloomberg

Spotify’s Deal Signals a Golden Era of Podcasting

2.22.19, Los Angeles Times

Why Startups Keep Raising Mega-Rounds of $100 Million (or More)

12.13.18 Fortune

Behind China’s Startup Surge: Meritocracy and ‘Growth Hacks’

11.14.18, The Wall Street Journal

Top VC Firm Just Removed a Big Obstacle for Women

7.18.18, Inc.

China Will Soon Challenge Silicon Valley
7.18.18, Fortune

VC Firm Andreessen Horowitz Promotes Connie Chan to General Partner

7.18.18, Fortune

Connie Chan Breaks The Mold Becoming First General Partner To Be Promoted From Within

7.18.18, Techcrunch

Andreessen Horowitz Names Connie Chan A General Partner

7.18.18, Forbes

Venture Capital Firm Andreessen Horowitz Has Elevated Connie Chan to General Partner

7.18.18, Recode

Mobile-only Shift Creating Retail Nirvana

4.20.18, MobileWorldLive

What Shopping Will Look Like

4.20.18, The Wall Street Journal

Why China Is Emerging As A Tech Superpower

11.21.17, Fortune

Meet Tencent, The Chinese Tech Behemoth

11.8.17, Washington Post

China's Audacious and Inventive New Generation

9.23.17, The Economist

China’s Plan for World Domination in AI Isn’t So Crazy After All​

8.14.17, Bloomberg

Can WeChat Thrive in the United States?​

8.11.17, MIT Tech Review

Comeback of the Dreaded QR Code

7.18.17, Wired

Q&A with Connie Chan

6.13.17, TechinAsia

Where VC Money is Going in China

6.13.17, The Wall Street Journal

Asia Tech Firms Look To Climb Out of SV's Shadows

6.9.17, The Wall Street Journal

What does China's Tencent want with Silicon Valley?

6.4.17, The Wall Street Journal

Next List 2017: 20 Tech Visionaries

4.26.17, Wired

Most Creative People in Business 2017

May 2017, Fast Company

These 6 Chinese Tech Giants Are Ramping Up the Pace Of Innovation For The World

2.13.17, Fast Company

How Social Cash Made WeChat The App For Everything

1.2.17, Fast Company

China's internet is flourishing inside the wall

11.23.16, Financial Times

LinkedIn Next Wave 2016

10.11.16, LinkedIn Lists

Alibaba's E-Commerce App Has a Social Network Facebook Would Love

8.21.16, Bloomberg

WeChat's World

8.6.16, The Economist

Meet The China ‘Whisperers’ Who Get The Big Deals Done In Silicon Valley

8.4.16, Washington Post

Kik Launches a ‘Bot Shop’ Because Bot Shops Are The New App Stores​
4.5.16, Fortune

The 2015 Sidney Awards

12.18.15, The New York Times