Colin Huang former Google engineer for development of search algorithms in the field of e-commerce, is now engaged in his fourth and most ambitious start-up.
Pinduoduo, or PDD in abbreviation, is a mixture of Facebook and Groupon (a popular discount website - ed.). Huang believes that this project will be able to change e-commerce. The company recently raised more than $ 100 million in investment, according to information from trusted sources, its estimate reached 10 billion yuan ($ 1.5 billion). And this is two years after the foundation. Juan's work is one of the factors why China this year created as many unicorn startups as the US.
The idea of Huang is to give the user a feeling more like a walk in a shopping center with friends. You share the idea of what you liked, get answers from people, maybe discuss the product a little. And then, if you make a purchase together, get a discount.
This idea, which turned into a failure when trying to implement it in the US. At one time, both Twitter and Facebook integrated the "buy" button into the advertisement, which was shown in the user's news feed. However, tests quickly turned off because people did not like
The idea to create a PDD came to him in the course of monitoring the two largest Chinese Internet companies - the giant of electronic commerce Alibaba and the powerful game studio Tencent Holdings, which also owned the messenger WeChat.
Investors of the project remain loyal to the PDD. For example, Duan Yongping, the founder of the Oppo and Vivo vendors with billions of assets, got to know Huang during his transition to Google. Another investor Betty Wang, Advantech Capital's director, chose PDD among 20 other start-ups and only after personal use as a buyer, Making sure that the chosen mechanics work. She found WeChat's choice as the main venue very sensible.
Juan is eager for new heights, but does not intend to spend his entire life managing PDD.