James Mi is Founding Partner of Lightspeed China Partners, a China-focused early-stage venture capital firm. He previously led Google's early efforts in China as chief representative of its China office and co-founded the VOIP startup iTelco Communications. — Princeton GradFUTURES: James Mi *91, EEN.

Forbes ranked Mi No. 53 on its 2021 Midas List, "helped by successful investments in Pinduoduo and Meituan." Lightspeed China Partners invested in Pinduoduo's early institutional rounds, and Mi led Google's investments in Baidu, Dianping, Xunlei and Ganji. — Forbes: China Anti-Monopoly Push Adds To Enterprise And Deep Technology's Appeal: Lightspeed's James Mi (September 2021).

Infographic for "Lessons from James Mi (Mi Wenchao)".

On Investment Philosophy & Strategy

  1. On being an investor: Mi said "To be a founder and start your own business is a most challenging and exciting journey. But I take the next best thing. As an investor, I can help many companies thrive, which is very meaningful." — AVCJ: Profile, Lightspeed China Partners' James Mi (Larissa Ku, February 2023).
  2. On timing: Mi said "If you move too early, starting a business when the supporting infrastructure is lacking, you can hardly expect to thrive," and "In subsequent investments, I have tried to invest just before an industry takes off." — AVCJ: Profile, Lightspeed China Partners' James Mi (Larissa Ku, February 2023)
  3. On product-market fit: AVCJ reported that Mi turned down Google in 1999 because "he failed to appreciate the importance of product-market fit." — AVCJ: Profile, Lightspeed China Partners' James Mi (Larissa Ku, February 2023)
  4. On conviction: Mi said "Our key decisions regarding Hesai are all based on long-term assessments." — AVCJ: Profile, Lightspeed China Partners' James Mi (Larissa Ku, February 2023)
  5. On market size: AVCJ reported that Mi passed on Colin Huang's earlier start-up: "he saw the path to profitability but questioned the size of the market opportunity." Another idea, on online-to-offline manicure services, was rejected because "the growth efficiency was too low." — AVCJ: Profile, Lightspeed China Partners' James Mi (Larissa Ku, February 2023).

Advice for Entrepreneurs

  1. On knowing the founder: After passing on ByteDance in 2013 Mi said "I regret not talking to his early investors to learn more about him. In short, I didn't really know him well enough." Lightspeed China then adopted two rules: "try to build an in-depth understanding of the founder by exploring different channels" and "keep tracking the company and stay in contact with the founder." — AVCJ: Profile, Lightspeed China Partners' James Mi (Larissa Ku, February 2023).
  2. On lifelong learning: Mi told the 2016 graduating class "the vast majority of the knowledge I use for VC investment is not taught at university. My constant self-learning made it possible for me to be good at VC investments." — SJTU Global College: 2016 JI commencement speech by Mr. James Mi.
  3. On cross-discipline learning: Mi said "Many of world's biggest challenges need cross-discipline solutions and require multi-discipline learning." — SJTU Global College: 2016 JI commencement speech by Mr. James Mi
  4. On the safe path: Mi said "Don't always take the safe path. The path that looks safe today may not be safe in the future." — SJTU Global College: 2016 JI commencement speech by Mr. James Mi
  5. On being brave: Mi said "Being brave is sometimes doing what is not the easy way, but what you know is the right way." — SJTU Global College: 2016 JI commencement speech by Mr. James Mi
  6. On gratitude: Mi said "My entire career has been possible because other people were willing to take a chance on me." — SJTU Global College: 2016 JI commencement speech by Mr. James Mi
  7. On learning on demand: Mi said "There has never been a better time to learn on demand on any subject imaginable." — SJTU Global College: 2016 JI commencement speech by Mr. James Mi
  8. On cooperation and culture: Mi said "In the long run, the cooperation and culture that you learned through this joint program may be the most important part of your future success." — SJTU Global College: 2016 JI commencement speech by Mr. James Mi
  1. On enterprise services: Mi told the U.S.-China Business Forum "One thing that's pretty obvious is enterprise services. The pandemic accelerates a lot of the enterprises adapting these cloud services." — Forbes: China Anti-Monopoly Push Adds To Enterprise And Deep Technology's Appeal: Lightspeed's James Mi (September 2021).
  2. On staying nimble: Mi said "We always think we need to be really nimble" and "always keep a growth mindset, always reset ourselves." — Forbes: China Anti-Monopoly Push Adds To Enterprise And Deep Technology's Appeal: Lightspeed's James Mi (September 2021)
  3. On past success: Mi said "Don't sit on your past success, be humble, and always try to learn new things." — Forbes: China Anti-Monopoly Push Adds To Enterprise And Deep Technology's Appeal: Lightspeed's James Mi (September 2021)
  4. On Chinese manufacturing: Mi said "Supply chain and manufacturing capabilities are very strong. I'm not just talking about low-cost manufacturing, I'm talking about cutting-edge technology products. You need a lot of iteration." — Forbes: China Anti-Monopoly Push Adds To Enterprise And Deep Technology's Appeal: Lightspeed's James Mi (September 2021)
  5. On green technology: Mi said "It is not trivial to get to carbon peak in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2050 by U.S. and European standards, and by 2060 for China," and that the world "lacks technology." — Forbes: China Anti-Monopoly Push Adds To Enterprise And Deep Technology's Appeal: Lightspeed's James Mi (September 2021).

Career Learnings & Principles

  1. On building Google China: Mi said "In 2003, I joined Google to build another startup inside Google, called Google China. Later on, I left Google and eventually co-founded a venture capital firm, Lightspeed China, to invest in early-stage startups." — SJTU Global College: 2016 JI commencement speech by Mr. James Mi.
  2. On a growth mindset: AVCJ reported "As part of the annual review, every team member makes two suggestions as to how Mi can improve and lead the firm more effectively." — AVCJ: Profile, Lightspeed China Partners' James Mi (Larissa Ku, February 2023).
  3. On his education: Mi's Princeton biography says "James received a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University and a B.S. in Physics from Fudan University. In addition, James received executive management training at Stanford University." — Princeton GradFUTURES: James Mi *91, EEN.
  4. On his work at Google: Mi's Princeton biography says he "spearheaded Google's early efforts in China as chief representative of Google China Rep office, and was responsible for strategies, products and also investments," leading investments in "Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), Dianping, Xunlei (NASDAQ: XNET) and Ganji." — Princeton GradFUTURES: James Mi *91, EEN.

Learn more:

  1. James Mi *91, EEN (Princeton GradFUTURES)
  2. China Anti-Monopoly Push Adds To Enterprise And Deep Technology's Appeal: Lightspeed's James Mi (Forbes)
  3. 2016 JI commencement speech by Mr. James Mi (SJTU Global College)
  4. Profile: Lightspeed China Partners' James Mi (AVCJ)