A few weeks ago, my former intern boss, Gary Wang (interviewed in blog post #3) contacted me, asking if I wanted to meet with an industry friend.  “She’s an HR Director in a leading industry innovator company,” he said.

“Sounds great!” I replied.

Little did I realize that the friend worked in Hangzhou, not in Shanghai, but after clearing up that misunderstanding, I got excited.  I’d always wanted to visit Hangzhou, Shanghai’s next-door neighbor city, and as I was soon to learn, an up-and-coming hotspot for China’s internet industries.  Thus, I decided to turn this interview into a proper business trip (my first ever-hurray)! and recruited-you guessed it-my trusty travel companion, Sangha, to accompany me.

After an hour-long bullet train ride from Shanghai Hongqiao train station, we arrived in Hangzhou, and I went to meet my contact.  Cindy Li is the HR Director at the Yingying Group (盈盈理财-Yingying Licai) a financial technology start-up turned lifestyle beauty app.  We met in her 10^th floor office to chat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hangzhou’s tech businesses, as Cindy explained, are split up into three camps: Alibaba-followers, Zhejiang University grads, and everyone else.  Alibaba, the e-commerce giant I’ve mentioned previously, is based in Hangzhou, drawing many other entrepreneurs into the area.  Many tech start-ups, including the Yingying Group, are founded by ex-Alibaba employees or receive angel investments from the well-known conglomerate.  Situated close to Shanghai’s financial resources at half the rental cost, Hangzhou has become the chosen hub of internet start-ups, although a smooth journey is not always guaranteed.

Take the Yingying Group.  Originally founded as a financial services app, last year, the executive team decided that their current business model was not sustainable.  Instead, the company began developing a lifestyle beauty app, called Meili （美丽-means “beautiful” in Chinese）with a May 2019 launch date.  Meili targets female consumers, otherwise known as the “she-economy,” by selling beauty products and connecting users with social media “influencers.”

As HR Director, Cindy recruits and nurtures company talent.  After working for established multinational companies for over a decade, the tech start-up life introduced new challenges for her.  But Cindy made this career jump intentionally, wanting to build things, and not follow anymore.  At the Yingying Group, she has developed a radical new system of employee feedback/review.  Instead of the standard annual review, the company checks in with employees after their first week, first month, and first three months, and so on.  The check-ins are short, asking questions like “Do you fit in?” after the first week, “Are you contributing?” after the first month and “Do you belong?” after the first three months.  These brief but more frequent check-ins suit a fast-paced tech start-up, since the industry is well known for its intense lifestyle and high turnover rates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to developing new HR procedures, Cindy also stands out as the only female executive at Yingying.  This circumstance is not new in her many years as an HR executive.  Despite the many challenges of being a woman in a fast-paced industry, Cindy enjoys her position and ability to guide her colleagues, many of whom, as entrepreneurs, are less familiar with the management aspects of running a business.  In the few short years since the company’s founding, she has helped turn this start-up into an 800-person company.

After an engrossing interview and office tour, I said goodbye to Cindy and reunited with Sangha for the touristy part of the trip.  As anyone familiar with Hangzhou would tell you, the main thing to do is visit the vast and beautiful Xihu, or West Lake.  Tons of people milled around the lake’s edge, taking photos of the setting sun, playing music, and going on boat rides.

Sangha and I rented a rowboat and while rowing around the lake, we both enjoyed scenic views of many lakeside pagodas and sweated profusely under the beating sun.  Most of the locals were startled to see two young women rowing themselves; they kept calling out to ask why we were doing so and would we like a few men from the surrounding boats?  Which definitely brought back memories of rowing crew in high school.  Oh, the humanity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hangzhou’s other claims to fame are its food and shopping, so Sangha and I made sure to sample a bit of both.  For dinner that night, we enjoyed traditional Xihu cuyu (West Lake crispy fish) and Hangzhou-style hongshao rou (braised pork belly) and soup dumplings.  All were juicy, tender, and utterly divine.  We also checked out the silk and pearl markets and bought a few scarves and jewelry pieces from local vendors.

Looking back, I think this was a great first business trip!  My conversation with Cindy was fascinating and contained so many more insights than I could include in this blog post.  I also loved walking around West Lake and sampling local food and activity.  Hangzhou reminds me of a tamer, mellower, Shanghai; it has its fair share of businesses and shopping opportunities, but slower rates of development and overall turnover.  With its growth of new tech start-ups and increasing migration, I plan to keep an eye on this city’s development.  Who knows, maybe in the coming years, I’ll make another trip to Hangzhou!