Joseph Constanty | Urban Mobility and Growing the World's Largest Smart Scooter Company Globally

Topics Discussed and Key Points:

● Joseph reminisces on his time in Beijing during its “up-and-coming” days in the early 2000s

● How differently entrepreneurship was regarded in China from 2000 to 2010

● How Joseph’s footwear design house became the number one seller in the shoe category on Kickstarter in 2013 and 2014

● The opportunities that came out of Joseph’s time at Tangential Consulting

● Best practices for setting up a business in China

● Countries that are particularly more difficult to penetrate

● Advantages and challenges of working at a company based in China as an ex-pat

● The evolution, and the future, of urban mobility

Episode Summary:

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Joseph Constanty, who has been steeped in China's business world for over 16 years. Since 2016, he has been the Director of International at NIU Technologies.

As the largest smart scooter company in the world, NIU has been doubling down on its international expansion efforts as the global economy continues to rebound strongly from the lockdowns of the past year and a half.

Alongside his work with NIU, Joseph is also a Co-Founder and Advisor at NextStep Studio, an accelerator specializing in the food tech and F&B companies in China.

Having entered China back in the early-to-mid 2000s, Joseph reflects on why entrepreneurs were a rare sight back in the day, and the factors that led up to China’s drastic rise to becoming a force to be reckoned with when it comes to innovation and commerce.

He compares Beijing in particular to Southeast Asia. While these countries may differ culturally from China, they are now exhibiting the same drive and resourcefulness that the tier 1 cities are known for. He regards them as primed for exponential growth in the very near future.

Joseph goes on to share how he found success in a variety of fields in China’s startup world; how he helped to build the largest smart scooter company in the world and a shoe brand that became the most funded footwear Kickstarter project two years in a row.

He also describes the advantages and challenges of working at a company based in China as an ex-pat and explains why those looking to found a company in China should consider initially establishing it as a consultancy.

Finally, Joseph speaks on changes in and the future of urban mobility through the years and how COVID has impacted the industry.

Key Quotes:

“[In the early 2000s, entrepreneurs] didn’t exist because, culturally, it wasn’t acceptable for them. Their parents, or those born between 1975 and 1985, needed to get a job, get married, buy a house, have a kid, be financially successful, and do all that by the time they’re 30. Running a startup wasn’t part of that equation.”

“What we took away from Kickstarter was simply the power of storytelling and building a brand from nothing. We were literally building it with almost zero marketing and just riding the Kickstarter traffic and influencing those people that were interested in helping makers at the time through the story we were telling.”