Ep 109: building a SaaS in the Wechat, Weibo & Douyin ecosystems

China Paradigms

Matthieu David interviews Alex Duncan, Co-founder and Product Lead, and Alex Li, VP at KAWO Head of Brand and Agency Partnerships. If you are a big brand trying to establish yourself on the Chinese market you’re going to need a strong social media presence. Thus, we decided to arrange this interview to get the answers directly from experts and explore social media management platform, since KAWO offers support for foreign brands across all the major Chinese social media platforms. How hard was it to build this business? What were the challenges the team face when deciding their pricing model and what did they learn about how to handle the ever-changing algorithms of the Chinese social media platforms? Find out the answers to these questions and many more by listening to this interview. 0:15 Guest introduction and KAWO’s history 6:11 KAWO is always implementing new features based on user feedback 8:50 Present company size and user base 13:26 How did the coronavirus outbreak impacted KAWO's functioning 15:24 The early days - how did KAWO come to be? 19:24 How hard is pricing the service in the SaaS industry? 23:25 More about pricing - how adaptable does the pricing model need to be a for KAWO? 28:02 How does KAWO handle pricing for multiple account users? 32:26 Planning and Reporting - very important features for KAWO users 37:32 Does planning mean just pushing messages or is there more to it on KAWO? 39:06 How difficult is it to build a software service based on APIs of existing Chinese social media platforms? 43:15 How is KAWO's API leveraged by their clients? 45:15 Beside timing what makes a post great by KAWO's standards? 49:13 WeChat subscription accounts are the safe bet for tailored content 52:04 How hard is it to be viral on Wechat? 53:52 Post frequency on Weibo - avoiding diminishing returns 55:13 Catering content to your niche is the key to success on Wechat 55:58 What books have most inspired Alex in his entrepreneurial journey? 58:54 What do you read to stay up to date on China? 1:01:22 What unexpected failure and success have Alex witnessed in China? 1:05:41 Outro Learn more about KAWO: https://kawo.com/en/ Going from digital agency to SaaS business in China with Daphne Tuijn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y61fV3Eo3T0 Listen & Subscribe: Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/china-paradigms-daxue Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/china-paradigms/id1450916630 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/78qDpsYgQXWrkPpJyZJLtx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2y6ixpQB1WIs6GMdUeoq4g?view_as=subscriber Website: https://chinaparadigm.com/ Thanks for listening! If you like what you hear, do us a favor and write a review on iTunes. What is China Paradigms Podcast? China Paradigms is the China Business Podcast for entrepreneurs and China watchers. Learn from business professionals in China on our China Paradigms.