During its nearly two decades of investing and operating in China, the Gobi team has witnessed and experienced several major business cycles, including the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, the bust of the dot-com bubble in 2001, and most recently, the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. Through these cycles, Gobi has been able to hone its investment philosophy, which is based on three key strategic pillars: |
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| Investing in People People are the key to Gobi’s success. Technologies and business models can change, but great management teams are resilient and have the capabilities to adapt and overcome challenges. Great leaders have a combination of courage, charisma and ambition, but most importantly, they are willing to share the fruits of their labor and make others around them better. Furthermore, one of the biggest challenges for growing companies is to create a self-sustaining corporate culture of excellence and an institution that can outlive its founders. Creating an environment that truly empowers employees is what will challenge them to make a difference. This is a belief and a mandate that we are proud to uphold within Gobi itself, and will also be a requirement for the companies and the people that we invest in. |
| Staying Ahead of the Curve When Gobi first identified digital media and the convergence of TMT in 2002, the market was still in its beginning stages. The global business community had just begun to grasp the vast potential of technology, having experienced the first major growing pains of the dot-com bust, and was reeling to recover. Gobi was one of the first venture capital firms to map out the future trends of the industry at large, as well as the emerging role of China in a global context. Today, as China drives forward into a new era of development, there is another trend rising to prominence. China’s previous role as a manufacturer and product exporter has begun to shift towards that of an innovator and capital exporter. This new wave of innovation and expansion has had a marked impact in the digital media and technology industries as they sweep into previously untouched sectors such as education, energy, the environment, government, healthcare, and infrastructure. By identifying these opportunities early on and staying ahead of the curve, Gobi is able to leverage its deep domain expertise, and take full advantage of emerging opportunities. |
| Hands-on Approach Today, as the market overflows with excess capital from domestic and overseas sources, competition for promising companies has intensified. Money is no longer enough. Rather than simply serving as a passive supplier of capital, Gobi is proud to maintain its history of getting involved at an early stage and helping to build companies in a hands-on way. To do this, Gobi provides comprehensive assistance in a number of areas including: financial, human resources, legal, public relations, operations, strategy, and technology. There are no shortcuts, and Gobi has invested the resources necessary to build out its team and infrastructure to support the needs of entrepreneurs in an increasingly competitive global market. Gobi’s years of accumulated experience and know-how provide valuable insight for entrepreneurs, investors, and strategic partners, as we all look to invest into the world’s digital future. |
