Photo provided to Hangzhoufeel
Experiencer
By Shahrukh Amir
I have lived in China for 10 years and in Hangzhou for over 2 years. I started my own business after working for a few years in China. Entrepreneurship anywhere can be challenging, but in Hangzhou, I think it is one of the best places in China to have a startup, where there are many ways for you to start your own business and set up a company.
I started my company last year, with a main business in Artificial Intelligence research and development. We are a small team of 9 foreigners (some are students) that work on interesting projects and ideas and providing innovative AI products to the market.
I have been faced with many challenges that you may or may not be able to imagine. There are many laws and legal issues that might take you some time to get familiar with. If you are a student, for example, you might have to consider the laws that prevent you from working in your own company, but you can invest as a shareholder and employ other people to work for you.
The local government in Hangzhou have various talent centers and innovation parks, such as Hangzhou International Talent Entrepreneurship and Innovation Park (HITEIP), Dream Town, 5G Industrial Park and many more in the Zhejiang Hangzhou Future Sci-Tech City and various Economic and Technological Development Zones in different districts. In my experience it has been very easy to open a business, especially with the help of business registration service, visa application service, legal, financial and industry docking and support, government support policy application service and free office space, etc.
There are also many communities in Hangzhou, among which my favorite is Founders Breakfast held every Friday morning, where many entrepreneurs meet and discuss their ideas. There are other communities such as art communities, trade communities which I am not familiar with since I am in the tech industry. There are also global startup accelerators such as Founders Space and Nihub, where several competitions and entrepreneurship events have been held.
What makes you stand out? If you have any ideas with a business potential and worth exploring, all you need will be a great passion, a strong team and an innovative idea. Make sure that you have considered the business potential of your idea before jumping into it. You can start by finding people with like-minds and try to create a prototype of your product and business plan that you might be able to show to your investors.
Overall, it's a highly competitive but exciting journey. If you have a great idea, you should give it a try! However, be careful of all the legal issues and know your market before you enter it.
If you want to open a company, reach out to any of the places I mentioned and learn more! Hope to see your new ideas flourish!