Mining the Middle Kingdom

When Patrick J. McGovern, chairman of the Boston magazine conglomerate International Data Group Inc., was thinking about starting a venture capital fund for China in the early 1990s, he figured it might be easier to scale the Great Wall with his bare hands. The communist government dominated the economy. Seasoned entrepreneurs were almost nonexistent. Most challenging, with no national stock market and few private companies, it would be tough for IDG to cash out of the startups it backed. Still, lured by the potential of a rapidly evolving, billion-person market, he plowed ahead, creating the first venture fund in China in 1992. Rival venture firms thought he had lost his marbles. "They all laughed at us," says McGovern.

Source: BusinessWeek

For more information, please contact:
Howard Sholkin
howard_sholkin@idg.com
617-239-7882