Sun Shang’en:The Innovator

At ten o’clock on April 17， 2014， Sun Shang’en was eating barbecue with colleagues on Guijie Street in Beijing， anticipating a bell on the other side of the world. That night， Sina Weibo became the first Chinese social media platform to be listed on NASDAQ.

Sun Shang’en is a product director at Sina Weibo mobile. One developer of China’s largest and most active social media website， Sun considers Weibo’s listing the greatest achievement of his life so far. Just 30 years old， Sun is brimming with entrepreneurial spirit hidden beneath his calm demeanor.

Entrepreneurs over Followers

In April 2010， in the wake of a failed start-up attempt， Sun Shang’en scored an interview with Sina. Sun spent 300 yuan to publish full-color pamphlets to show Sina interviewers a mobile app he developed. HR asked him to “come to work as soon as possible.”

After taking a position in Sina’s wireless department， Sun became product director for mobile clients， responsible for product framework construction and functionality. At his busiest， he oversaw dozens of mobile client products at the same time.

At that time， the PC version of Weibo had been live for a half year and the mobile version was brand new. Its development team was composed of a dozen people with an average age of 26. Now， the team numbers about 400， of which twenty-somethings account for a third and the rest thirty-somethings. Sun， on the verge of turning 30， is considered a senior member of the team. His teammates’majors range from computer science to chemistry to psychology.

Sun likes discussing design and innovative ideas with his team. “In the beginning， China’s mobile internet saw fast development and non-stop innovation， ” remarks Sun. “Three months was long enough for a company to die or prosper.” So， he often told new employees， “This job will not be comfortable， but it will make you grow up fast.”

When Sun was still new at Sina， he attended a meeting in which Sina CEO Cao Guowei exclaimed， “Sina is starting a new microblogging business. You should not think like you work in a big company but like you’re starting a new business.” These words ignited Sun’s passion. He came to believe that although few big companies have the resolution to reform through innovation， Sina would. He kept his head in the start-up state.

China’s Twitter

Of all the products Sun has developed， Weibo remains his favorite. Sun studied new media in college and in 2006 interned at Microsoft Research Asia， after studying many Web 2.0 products such as Facebook， Twitter and MySpace. In those days， he already foresaw the rise of Chinese social networks.

Since its release， Weibo has been updated hundreds of times. Before working on a new version to add new functions or even details in the logo， Sun and his colleagues always engage in lengthy discussion. The pursuit of perfection excites him. “Focusing on user experience and making quick decisions， it’s a laborious process to avoid self-indulgence and ensure you make the right choices.” Weibo now runs on almost every mobile device from cell phone to tablet.

When Weibo went live， Twitter was already very popular. Sun is frequently asked whether Weibo is the Chinese version of Twitter. “Their design principles are the same， but Weibo is adapted for Chinese customers.” For example， Twitter’s 140-character limit makes tweets about as short as an instant message， whereas Chinese characters expand the length considerably. A tweet is usually composed of words and perhaps a link， while a Weibo post can include multimedia. “We try to find a balance between the habits of web portal users and social network users.”

In 2011， after comparing Weibo and Twitter， HP Lab concluded that Weibo’s trending topics usually centered around entertainment， whereas Twitter focused more on news. But today， Weibo is changing. By the end of April， 30 million Weibo posts mentioned MH370， the lost Malaysian flight with 154 Chinese people on board.

Weibo has become a hub of the Chinese internet， spreading tidbits of news throughout China and beyond in real-time after becoming extremely popular over a short period of time. Over 80，000 accounts have been registered by governments at all levels in addition to 700，000 verified individual accounts and 400，000 business accounts， making Weibo an important conduit fostering interaction between the government， companies， celebrities and ordinary people. Its ability to give everyone a voice is why Weibo developed so fast， according to a report from Chinese researchers.

China’s Apple Yet to Come

Sun is a fan of Apple and an admirer of Steve Jobs “who could do things to the extreme.” He has read many books about Jobs and likes how he launched Apple as well as how he started making phones. “When I tried to start a business， I failed. So I really like watching it with a happy ending.” With increasing working pressure， Sun hopes he can travel to India like Jobs did “to stop and think.”

Sun thinks that a company the caliber of Apple might one day emerge in China， but he believes it will happen “in decades.” He visited Apple headquarters in the U.S. and met some young people working on American social media. “Their veins are full of innovation and entrepreneurship，” Sun explains. “Few Chinese companies are listed as global Top 500 because of their innovation and technology. Chinese society is encouraging young people to start businesses but the market environment is not good enough.”

Upon graduating from college in 2007， Sun and some friends launched a company to develop a photo program for mobile phones. In an office he borrowed from his teacher， Sun rented a server， bought a domain name and hired several employees. “Back then， the investment climate was not good and the internet was just starting to gain steam in China.” The 100，000 yuan he saved was quickly spent.

“Early bird， early death，” Sun laughs. He was left penniless and even had to ask his parents for money. But Sun learned a lot from that experience. “My partner was ten years older than me. I didn’t know how to persuade a more experienced and capable person to do things quickly with cooperative thinking.” Working at Sina helps him learn a lot. “My vision， ways of thinking and management ability have improved greatly.”

Sun hopes that in the future， like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk， founder of Tesla Motors， he can start a business with “the thought of internet” and create valuable products.

During college， Sun dreamed of becoming a film director.“Perhaps when I am old enough and have collected enough experiences and stories， I will shoot a film.”