
Burning Your Money; Pitching to the Media; Art of X-thinking Design; 8X8 Speakers Series (4/4) with Maggie Tan, Russell Flannery and Michael Lai
04/25/19 • 34 min
Welcome back to the FINAL episode of Chinaccelerator 8X8 Speakers Series 2019 Spring with Maggie Tan, Former Co-head of Strategy & Planning, Uber China, Russell Flannery, Chief Editor of Forbes China, and Michael Lai, Partner & Dean of X Academy TANG.
Now, stop for a second. Hold your breath and imagine yourself burning 20 million RMB per hour. Unbelievable? That’s what Uber and Didi actually did. Ultimately, burning money is a choice and Maggie advised that one should do the math before venturing into it. How do you actually pitch your company to the media in an impactful manner? For this, Russell provided us with some sage advice on how to stay ahead of the pack and carve your existence successfully. Lastly, the final chapter of this speaker series ends with a book. Michael revealed the essence of x-thinking, and how lessons learned from writing a book could also be applied to the domain of entrepreneurship.
Don’t miss out the amazing insights they shared in this episode!
Show Notes:
[01:53] Maggie’s talk (Maggie’s presentation slide: https://www.jianguoyun.com/p/DYCH0b4Qrai4BxiTu7cB)
[10:40] Russell’s talk (Russell’s presentation slide: https://www.jianguoyun.com/p/DS21l40Qrai4Bxiku7cB)
[26:40] Michael’s talk (Michael’s presentation slide: https://www.jianguoyun.com/p/DSU0GocQrai4Bxieu7cB)
Many thanks to our speakers Maggie Tan, Russell Flannery, and Michael Lai, editor David and Geep, producer Eva Shi, organizer Chinaccelerator and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com.
If you like us, please give us a 5-star review and share with your friends!
Follow us on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/the-china-startup-pulse/
Email us: [email protected]
https://chinaccelerator.com/chinacceleraor-8x8-speakers-series/
Welcome back to the FINAL episode of Chinaccelerator 8X8 Speakers Series 2019 Spring with Maggie Tan, Former Co-head of Strategy & Planning, Uber China, Russell Flannery, Chief Editor of Forbes China, and Michael Lai, Partner & Dean of X Academy TANG.
Now, stop for a second. Hold your breath and imagine yourself burning 20 million RMB per hour. Unbelievable? That’s what Uber and Didi actually did. Ultimately, burning money is a choice and Maggie advised that one should do the math before venturing into it. How do you actually pitch your company to the media in an impactful manner? For this, Russell provided us with some sage advice on how to stay ahead of the pack and carve your existence successfully. Lastly, the final chapter of this speaker series ends with a book. Michael revealed the essence of x-thinking, and how lessons learned from writing a book could also be applied to the domain of entrepreneurship.
Don’t miss out the amazing insights they shared in this episode!
Show Notes:
[01:53] Maggie’s talk (Maggie’s presentation slide: https://www.jianguoyun.com/p/DYCH0b4Qrai4BxiTu7cB)
[10:40] Russell’s talk (Russell’s presentation slide: https://www.jianguoyun.com/p/DS21l40Qrai4Bxiku7cB)
[26:40] Michael’s talk (Michael’s presentation slide: https://www.jianguoyun.com/p/DSU0GocQrai4Bxieu7cB)
Many thanks to our speakers Maggie Tan, Russell Flannery, and Michael Lai, editor David and Geep, producer Eva Shi, organizer Chinaccelerator and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com.
If you like us, please give us a 5-star review and share with your friends!
Follow us on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/the-china-startup-pulse/
Email us: [email protected]
https://chinaccelerator.com/chinacceleraor-8x8-speakers-series/
Previous Episode

8Ps of Entrepreneurship, Your Customer Experience Sucks and Simple is Good; 8X8 Speakers Series (3/4) with Alvin Graylin, Neil Liang and Lucas Englehardt
Welcome back! We are heading to the 3rd episode of Chinaccelerator 8X8 Speakers Series with Alvin Graylin, China President of HTC, Neil Liang, Chief Product Officer & Co-founder of The Carevoice, and Lucas Englehardt, CEO of xixilab.
Price, Product, Place, Promotion. Sounds familiar? Wait till you see how Alvin raised the bar for this business strategy by doubling it to 8Ps. The path of entrepreneurship, in all its variation, still holds some key principles for those who wish to embark on it. “The simpler u made your customer journey, the more likely your customers will actually repeat that journey,” remarked by Neil. In fact, good customer experience can even be regarded as a baseline that either makes or breaks your business. Finally, Lucas believed in the power of focusing on one thing that works. No buzzwords, no fancy terms. We are going to do things one step at a time and examine for ourselves the beauty in simplicity.
Don’t miss out the amazing insights they shared in this episode!
Show Notes:
[01:50] Alvin’s talk (Alvin’s presentation slides: https://www.jianguoyun.com/p/DSzVz24Qrai4Bxii1LQB)
[12:43] Neil’s talk (Neil’s presentation slides: https://www.jianguoyun.com/p/De8gdOAQrai4BxiY1bQB)
[19:19] Lucas’s Talk (Lucas’s presentation slides: https://www.jianguoyun.com/p/DZJhjl4Qrai4BxiT1bQB)
Many thanks to our speakers Alvin Graylin, Neil Liang and Lucas Englehardt, editor David and Geep, producer Eva Shi, organizer Chinaccelerator and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website www.chinaccelerator.com.
If you like us, please give us a 5-star review and share with your friends!
Follow us on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/the-china-startup-pulse/
Email us: [email protected]
Next Episode

Building a Holistic Ideal Experience for Your Customers with Michael Lai, PhD, Dean of X Academy & Partner at TANG
More thoughts are required when cultivating the relationship between the brands and users, from a level of “friendship” to being part of a one big “family”. As such, how can businesses deliver better experiences in this environment? Our guest Michael Lai has a diverse background with over 10 years of consulting experience in the areas of branding, interaction design, service design, and experience design. We will learn more from this interview in terms of how he understands the importance of segmenting your customers, maintaining your perspective and moving at the right speed in today’s society.
TANG is an experience strategy and design consultancy focusing on helping clients build a holistic ideal experience for their customers, whose clients have included Fortune 500 companies, startups, nonprofit organizations from financial, consumer electronics, automotive, and education industries.
Show notes:
[03:38] Introduction of TANG
[08:36] Desire for “consumption upgrade”
[11:35] Maintaining your perspective in a fast-paced society
[15:25] Most interesting learning from Michael’s book: “The relationship model”
[18:16] Human resources vs technology component in China
[21:03] Innovate in China, implement it elsewhere out of China
[23:50] Types of companies that are working with TANG
[28:04] Moving at the right speed: speeding up or slowing down
[31:25] One lesson for startups: segmenting your customers
[34:48] Knowing more about Michael’s book
Many thanks to our host Ryan Shuken and Oscar Ramos, guest Michael Lai, editor David and Geep, producer Eva Shi, organizer Chinaccelerator and sponsor People Squared. Be sure to check out our website https://chinaccelerator.com/china-startup-pulse-podcast/
If you like us, please give us a 5-star review and share the favorite moment with your friends!
Check more exciting episodes on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/the-china-startup-pulse/
Email us: [email protected]
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/asia-startup-pulse-32598/burning-your-money-pitching-to-the-media-art-of-x-thinking-design-8x8-9546298"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to burning your money; pitching to the media; art of x-thinking design; 8x8 speakers series (4/4) with maggie tan, russell flannery and michael lai on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy