Club Dinner: How I Made It Big – Lessons From Building One of Asia’s Biggest Matchmaking Sites

What does it take to build a successful Internet start-up? Serial entrepreneur Song Li argues that you must find a good business, have a coherent strategy and recruit a strong team. But what defines a ‘good business’? And can Hong Kong be a serious player in the digital era? Dr Li shared insights gleaned from more than a decade in the trenches of China’s Internet revolution.

Dr Li, a native of China, originally trained as a molecular biologist at Cornell University. Later, he transitioned to studying finance at Columbia University, eventually obtaining a Ph.D. He spent years working as a senior investment banker in the US and Hong Kong. Feeling disillusioned by selling derivative products, Dr Li decided to fulfil his dreams of creating his own business. He is the founder, chairman and CEO (until 2016) of Zhenai.com, one of Asia’s largest Internet dating platform operators. Headquartered in Shenzhen with branches in 37 cities, Zhenai.com has 120 million registered members, an estimated US$200 million in revenue and US$30 million in net profit in 2017 and over 4,000 employees.