17Startup.com, A CrunchBase for China

17startup was launched in China earlier this week, building on the model of TechCrunch’s CrunchBase, a comprehensive database covering tech companies and the people behind them, from startups to giants. In Chinese, 17startup can be read as “Let’s startup together!” (一起来创业吧！)

Started by a two-man team (a man and a woman, to be exact), it differs in offering a social side meant to connect investors, people behind startups, and other interested individuals. It has an open registration for both personal accounts and startup profiles, and I was able to setup TechRice’s profile in a matter of minutes. Considering there was an actual editor setting up the profile, the speed of execution by the 17startup team is amazing.

After the launch, I managed to catch up with the co-founder, Fly Wen (@文飞翔), and got some insight on the core design aspects of 17startup and how she envisions its development.

17Startup Home Page

1). What is 17startup’s key value?

To start with, 17startup is positioned to be a startup database and social community. We want to create something that’s a combination of CrunchBase and AngelList in the way Douban.com manages its communities.

Its key values are presented in the following two ways: first, as an open database for startups to present and promote themselves while they develop, especially the ones are just starting off. The database is designed to include website profiles, reviews, mobile applications, related news, and milestones the startups achieved. Second, the database offers social functionalities, allowing startup founders to build up their contacts and benefit from the improved connectivity and providing a platform for them to promote through built in widgets and enhancements, which is valuable for helping investors to find potential startups for investments.

2). What kind of relationships will 17startup build with startups?

This comes in two stages: 1. We collect and edit the startup profiles for them (with help from volunteers), and 2. Once the database has hit a critical mass, startups will be asked to claim their project profiles (like a verification) and begin to build their own social networks.

This is like reverse engineering. We think most entrepreneurs will not be attracted if it’s an up front social network, so building up a database is key in attracting them to 17startup.

3). What kind of ideal social network are you building for startups?

An ideal is only a direction, with signs to point the way, which may not be realized at the end.

But 17startup is hoping to accumulate a large enough database that will also include reviews for each startup by other users. Next we will also offer profiles for investors, which will allow them to verify themselves as well. Thus our complete social circle will involve startups, investors, and individual personal accounts. In this social community, we are aiming to achieve:

1. Startups, optimization of their products and promotion in 17startup (to investors).
2. Investors, a much efficient way to look for startups worthy of investment. They can also follow the products and business development, which will help to make better judgement when eventually investing.
3. Individuals, an improved way to find internet products for the right needs. And when encountering bugs, individuals will actually be able to contact the team behind the product to solve the problems.

4). What are the benefits for startups?

Startups can launch and promote new product versions, get connected to users through their reviews, and receive feedback and investors’ attention.

5). The database seems to be the core part of your product. How will you design the interface for users?

17startup is an open platform, so anyone can recommend a startup, which we will then verify for its authenticity. At this point, we have not yet launched any official verification process, but once the database reaches certain mass, we will consider that. In a way, we are creating a Wiki on China’s startups that anyone can come and edit. Afterwards, our staff will further edit and verify the contents. We will continue to optimize 17startup’s design so that more and more entrepreneurs can display their projects.

6). As an entrepreneur what were your past ventures?

My first venture was in graduate school, a B2B market segmentation service site, offering business intelligence for clients. Later the site restructured and redirected its focus to offline services. Wanting to stay in the internet industry, I chose to leave the team.

After that I was involved in media relations for CYZone (a entrepreneur online media) and did a feature site for NetEase on daily interesting website recommendations. Following the editing work, I published a book <复制互联网 – Copying Internet> with two editions published already. Offline, I’m the organizer of WuDaoKou Salon – 五道口沙龙 (a well known tech event in Beijing).

So creating 17startup came natrual to me, and we are hoping it will become a great social platform for users, entrepreneurs and investors to gather and socialize.

As a tech blogger, I’m excited to see an open social platform launched that’s designed to serve anyone with a great site or opinions on a product he/she experienced, or even an investor looking for the big hit. It will certainly be exciting for me to dig in and explore the more than 800 startups already signed up at 17startup.

Earlier this month, China tech blog TechNode also launched a similar project, the Nodeble.com database. Chinese startups are starting to get the attention they deserve!

Join 17startup or contact Fly.