Building off the Beaten Path in Asia – with Metatheory COO Adam Bao

The Harbinger - China Tech & VC Podcast

Hi folks, welcome back! Today Sandy Diao (Director of Growth at Descript) joins us to guest host and interview Adam Bao, founder of The Harbinger and COO at Metatheory. Since 2017, Adam took the path less traveled to explore business model innovation and venture deals across China, Taiwan, and SEA. Adam double clicks into startups he evaluated alongside Hurst Lin (Cofounder at Sina and DCM Ventures) during the Covid years. It’s a roving discussion that highlights the importance of unconventional thinking and competitive differentiation across categories ranging from e-bikes to K12 dance networks to selling upcycled trash products. Adam also describes his early entry into the world of Web3, building games + new IPs at Metatheory with Kevin Lin (Twitch cofounder) and the team. To date, Metatheory has launched the DuskBreakers IP collection, raised $24m+ from lead investors including a16z, Pantera, Dragonfly, Breyer Capital, Sfermion, and Merit Circle, and is currently building out its flagship games. Finally, Adam shares hard earned lessons about scaling high quality teams and organizations, and how he manages (and leverages) chronic pain as a lever. Show Notes (00:00:00) — An early education on the value of differentiation (00:04:40) — Insights into Chinese startups at Shunwei Capital (Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun’s fund) (00:07:35) — Building out The Harbinger podcast and network (00:14:05) — Generating 100m+ views for The Harbinger while on Chinese dating show 非诚勿扰 (If You Are The One) (00:18:33) — Segue to Segway-Ninebot (Loomo, delivery robots, and e-scooters!) (00:22:42) — Launching Beam, Asia Pacific’s largest shared micro-mobility company (00:27:32) — Moving to Taiwan during COVID, sniffing out unconventional opportunities and hidden gems with Hurst Lin (Cofounder at Sina and DCM Ventures) (00:41:28) — Taiwan the “recycling kingdom” and a business in upcycling trash! (00:47:52) — K12 dance education to power the next vertical social network? (00:53:03) — But what about manufacturing opportunities in Taiwan? (00:56:53) — The wacky world of games, Web3, and building with Kevin Lin (Twitch cofounder) (01:06:32) — Lessons learned while building Metatheory & DuskBreakers (01:11:53) — Managing chronic pain and finding strength in vulnerability Medium post here: https://medium.com/the-harbinger-china/building-off-the-beaten-path-in-asia-with-metatheory-coo-adam-bao-a31f16c750eb.