Sarah Lacy is currently working on TechCrunch senior editor. She is also an award winning journalist and author of two books, critically acclaimed in "once you're lucky, twice you're good: the rebirth of Silicon Valley and the rise of Web 2.0" (Gotham books, April 2008) and "a brilliant, Crazy, cheeky: how the top 1% of entrepreneurs profit from global chaos ... ? Read More
Even before I worked at TechCrunch Disrupt was one of the few industry conferences that I looked forward to every year. There are two big reasons why: the enthusiasm and joy of the startups out there that run and an unprecedented lineup of the most interesting people in tech, Frank and honest talk.
We expanded the franchise to New York, it was natural for most exciting Silicon Alley stage names. This includes people like Fred Wilson and Dennis Crowley, but also the top names in media as Charlie Rose and Arianna Huffington. We even threw New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the mix.
In thinking through the lineup to derail the Beijing – our first ever international conference – I wanted to make sure we and some of the most interesting personalities from the West to China. But more importantly that we anchor the show with the most interesting names on the stage of Chinese technology, we can find.
This is not a conference about Silicon Valley coming to China to tell in the country, as is the case. China is the only country in the world, where entrepreneurs are already build Locomotive Online $ 1 billion. This Conference, which aims to bridge the gap between two distinguished tech ecosystem in the world today.
So after many months of work and in the early morning, Transcontinental phone calls, I'm happy to start announced the composition of our group. This combination of veterans and newcomers, investors and entrepreneurs, and of course the East and West.
The Conference will kick off with one of the most captivating people in the tech world today: Tencent CEO and founder of Pony Ma.
Although the Alibaba and Jack MA or Baidu, Robin Li, often at the international conference circuit, this pony Ma, which proved to be a strength, Chinese entrepreneurs may be on a global scale. Tencent is not only the largest Internet company in China, it is the third largest in the world. This Titan from China surging online games/virtual goods universe is one area where Valley copycats not Chinese. Tencent company you worry, if you run in China, and if you start in the US – how to Groupon –, is a company you want to do a joint venture.
It's the perfect time for Ma event header TechCrunch. After years of focusing on the Chinese market Tencent are starting to get more international, expands its staff in the United States and quietly acquiring United States launches. If you can't make it to China, it will be a keynote address, which you'll want to make sure you catch on livestream.
Lei Jun is not nearly as well known as MA, but when I asked friends and entrepreneurs in China, which they most like to see on stage at Disrupt, almost all of them mentioned it. He is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor, which is compared with each of Ron Conway in Peter Thiel. Earlier this month he made waves with the announcement of the upcoming Android phone Xiaomi's in keynote, Steve Jobs-style.
Xiaomi is one of the most ambitious startups in China right now. It seeks to make the first smart phone with high quality, and for the Chinese market, the price is cheaper than other local smartphones and less than half the price of the iPhone. Will it run on Android, but Google features and services are specifically for the Chinese market. It's sure to turn off the pricing war that will affect everything from HTC for Google and Apple one of the biggest tech stories of the fall.
We will announce more speakers over the next few weeks, so you may want to grab your tickets here now. And if you don't speak Chinese or Chinese speak only – don't worry. TechCrunch invests in real-time translation headsets for the Conference, thus each of the guests could solve the audience in their native language and everyone in attendance can trace.
As I said at the beginning of this post, another thing that could Disrupt a special event is to start the battle. We can stack agenda with big names, but we rely on the TechCrunch community make battlefield simply unforgettable. If you're a startup, and you want to demo your product at one stage as pony Ma and Lei Jun, send us your application now. Application forms are available in English and Chinese languages, and presentations can be done in any language. The battlefield is not limited to Chinese companies – like all our Disrupts startups from around the world are invited to submit.
Questions about whether your company fit? If in doubt, don't hurt to fill in the questionnaire. Just TechCrunch staff will verify applications, and we want to see every great.
Stay tuned for more information about how to defeat Beijing in the coming weeks!
The company claims since March 2008, Tencent is China's largest and most used Internet service portal. Popular products company powers as instant messaging and games.
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