A guide for smarter startups

Steven Hoffman publishes his latest book, Making Elephants Fly, on the process of innovation with practical advice from Silicon Valley.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The Chinese version of a veteran US entrepreneur's book, Making Elephants Fly, on the process of innovation with practical advice from Silicon Valley, is on the stands. Xing Yi reports.

Steven Hoffman believes that Chinese startups will play a vital role in shaping the future of the planet.

Recently, the veteran US entrepreneur published a book, Making Elephants Fly, on the process of innovation with practical advice from Silicon Valley.

The Chinese edition hit the shelves in March, but the English edition will not be available until this fall.

"It is unusual," says Hoffman. "While I was talking to business book agents in the US, I told my Chinese friends that I had just finished a book.

"Instantly, I was connected to almost all the top Chinese publishers, and things moved really fast. In China, everything seems to move so fast."

Having created three venture-funded startups in Silicon Valley and trained many corporate executives, Hoffman founded a business incubator in San Francisco in 2012.

The company opened its first overseas branch in Shanghai last September.

Besides giving consultancy, providing shared working spaces, and connecting angel investors with Chinese startups, the Shanghai branch serves as a bridge that helps overseas startups to enter the Chinese market, and the Chinese to go to Silicon Valley.

Last year, Hoffman traveled to more than a dozen major cities in China, meeting business partners and giving lectures to startups.

The experiences in China enabled Hoffman to do some "localization" in the book's Chinese edition.

"I put in special things just for China," says Hoffman. "The core teaching is the same, but there are a lot of Chinese examples."

When speaking about commercialization, Hoffman uses Hiibook to make the point.