84: The Soft Skills Needed To Build A Business In China

China Paradigms

Matthieu David interviews Greg Nance, CEO of Dyad.com. In this China business podcast, we learn about his company, how Dyad.com has been lucrative on a very powerful niche offering mentorship to students who want to study abroad and need to navigate the vast mechanisms of admissions that ivy league colleges have in place. Knowledge is power and that’s exactly why it is a valuable resource that Dyad.com manages to place at their scholars’ disposal. How Dyad.com can offer quality certified mentorship, how they attract mentors and how they put them in touch with aspiring scholars on a daily basis? We’ll find that out and much more in this podcast! Skip to the highlights: 0:08 Guest introduction and company history 1:56 Dyad.com – how does this platform work and who is it built for? 3:30 The business model perspective – how does Dyad.com earn revenue? 4:26 The traditional way of studying abroad vs the digital reach of a dot com 6:06 Certified mentors and scalable quality based on feedback – what Dyad.com takes away from the Alibaba model 9:20 A powerful niche - how big is Dyad.com? 11:19 Life is an ultramarathon – Dyad.com’s business philosophy and how they get better and better every cycle 13:13 Client acquisition – a “word of mouth” marketing plan 17:11 Accelerating growth – why creating an engaging and actionable service is important 19:54 The Upvote leads to conversion– where does Dyad.com engage with non-costumers? 21:32 How does Dyad.com get coachable and motivated costumers? 23:06 The conflict of interest and why remaining an honest broker is the best route 25:39 The many iterations of Dyad.com – what was the company initially to what it has become in the present day 27:53 Luck and good fortune – how Dyad.com started out and why they managed to attract and keep investors involved 32:03 Luck surface area – meeting the former CEO of MacDonald’s 36:39 How the current market situation looks for Dyad.com 38:59 Defining the middle-class Chinese family and what their budget is for studying overseas 42:37 How the Trade War is impacting the need students have for studying abroad 44:25 How does Greg Nance stay up to date with business in China? Which resources does he recommend for that and what does he recommend for aspiring entrepreneurs as reading material? 46:03 What productivity tool does Greg use for his business in China? 46:27 What was the most surprising experience that Greg had in China so far? 47:10 What was the most unexpected success Greg has witnessed in China? 48:07 What was the most unexpected failure Greg has witnessed in China? 49:00 Outro Learn more about Dyad.com: http://www.dyad.com/en Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2y6... Website: http://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.