Founding a solo startup with a focus on digitalization after majoring in Chinese studies… A series of expert interviews as the primary business model
Cover photo source = China Impulse homepage
Germany and China established diplomatic relations in 1972. Since then, their relations have developed in various political, social, and economic aspects. In particular, in 2020, China became Germany’s top trade partner, recording a trade volume of over 212 billion euros. China also views Germany as a key European partner. Despite these close ties, China is evaluated from various perspectives in Germany. In German society, which is highly sensitive to political and social issues, there are critical views of China due to the persecution of minority groups such as the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and the crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, leading to movements to keep China in check.
Germany and China have viewed each other as important partners and strengthened cooperation since 2011. The biennial ‘German-Chinese Government Consultations’ marked its sixth session last April. Photo: German Government
I met a woman connecting Germany and China in this complex and multifaceted relationship. She is Alexandra Stefanov, who leads China Impulse.
China, Digital, and Innovation as Core Business Keywords
I met Alexandra Stefanov through the professional networking platform LinkedIn. Since I was interested in connecting South Korea and Germany, I uploaded news about Germany and Europe in Korean, and news about Korea and Asia in German on social media. As I did so, people active with similar tags naturally started appearing in my feed, and I came to know Alexandra, who connects China and Germany just like I do. Surprised and delighted by our similarities, we met immediately via Zoom. I was in Berlin, and Alexandra was in Frankfurt.
Alexandra studied Chinese Studies and Transcultural Studies in Heidelberg, Tianjin, and Shanghai. She has visited China regularly since 2009, engaging in various activities. What Alexandra noticed was that “China is at least five years ahead of Germany in terms of digital trends.” Therefore, she made efforts to build her career focusing on “China, digital, and innovation.” After graduating from university, she began her professional life by developing a Chinese learning app at Zizzle. She gained experience at Sinojobs, a company developing a China-Europe job portal, and since 2020, she has worked as a project manager at the “German Economic Digitalization Initiative” while simultaneously founding her own brand, “China Impulse.”
Alexandra Stefanov, CEO of China Impulse. Photo: china-impulse.de
Providing and Connecting Expert Insights and Networking
China Impulse opened its doors in May 2020 in Frankfurt as a “solo startup.” The history of studying China and observing and recording China’s digital transformation for over a decade is being reproduced intact through “China Impulse.” China Impulse helps many people and companies in Germany to understand China better. Above all, it is a platform that provides a bridge for German companies to be inspired by and transfer know-how from the speed of China’s digital development.
The main content is an interview series titled “China Impulse—Experts’ Insight into China’s Complex Digital World (China Impulse-Der Experten-Einblick in Chinas komplexe Digitalwelt)." Inviting sector experts on Germany and China to conduct interviews and providing them to subscribers is the primary business model. Since the interviews are provided in both video and audio formats, subscribers can consume them in whatever way is most convenient.
Experts who participated in China Impulse’s 2021 expert interview series. Photo: china-impulse.de
China has 940 million internet users, and its number of patent applications surpassed the US in 2019 to rank first in the world. Succeeding in the Chinese market means succeeding globally, and growth in the Chinese market has come to mean the same as growth in the global market. Therefore, providing content on Chinese innovation to Germany, forming networks with Chinese experts to produce this content, and connecting them back to German companies is the secondary business model of China Impulse.
The Expert Insight series started in May 2020 and conducted interviews with a total of 24 experts in that year alone. In 2021, a total of 21 expert interviews have been conducted so far. The experts include not only sinologists but also experts in digitalization, management, consulting, PR and marketing, journalism, and various startup founders. Representative examples include Huyuan Zhang-Dircks, CEO of HanseSinoContact & Consulting (HSC), a German-Chinese business media & consulting company, and Frank Sieren, a bestseller author and journalist who served as a China correspondent for major German media outlets like Süddeutsche Zeitung and Handelsblatt.
How can she manage all of this—doing such diverse networking, translating it into interviews and writings, and later connecting it to another business—all by herself as a “one-person enterprise”?
Alexandra explained, “A founder is immersed in this business 24 hours a day. It would have been difficult if I were a salaried employee. However, the thought that ’this is a job to grow my own brand’ created sustainability. Networking creates continuous business opportunities. That’s why understanding the counterpart deeply and having a close partnership is the core of my business.”
As a key example, China Impulse has a partnership with ZEEVAN, a Chinese e-commerce agency. ZEEVAN provides a one-stop service for European SMEs to successfully enter the Chinese online market, from digital brand marketing to online platform entry and payment, and China Impulse connects German SMEs to ZEEVAN.
Roopu Cloud is also an important partner of China Impulse. One of the things needed to pioneer the Chinese market and digitalize the entire process is cloud services. Cloud services provide a platform designed to select platforms in a short time at an optimized cost and respond to various regulations. Roopu Cloud is a partner of global corporations like AWS China and Azure China, providing services optimized for the Chinese market. China Impulse plays a role in connecting German companies particularly to Roopu Cloud.
Since founding the company in May last year, she has sent newsletters to email subscribers almost daily, and business opportunities have continued to increase as she plans the expert interview series. As the demand for audio and video content surged due to COVID-19, the response to this series also grew, and Alexandra is spending a very busy time nowadays, barely having a moment of spare time.
Recently, she joined as a business mentor for ‘Bridge to China,’ a combined workshop, mentoring, and pitching program by the Humboldt Tech Bridge designed to help German science and technology-based startups better understand China. Meeting various entrepreneurs, she has entered a period where she must devote effort to achieving practical results. As Alexandra ponders “how to grow China Impulse into an even more meaningful brand,” how will her challenge expand in the future? It was an encounter that gave a great realization that connecting two countries can indeed become a startup itself.
Eunseo Yi
eunseo.yi@123factory.de
This article was edited and adapted from the “European Startup Chronicles” series in BizHankook.