What Dan Wang thinks about startups
Writer and analyst of Chinese technology and industry, for years based in Beijing and Shanghai, best known for his annual letters and for the argument that manufacturing capability lives in accumulated process knowledge rather than in tools or intellectual property.
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1 dated position, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Dan Wang has said — not written or endorsed by them.
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Their wordsStartups don't need dissent; they want workers who can grind until the network effects kick in. VCs don't like dissent, showing again and again that many have thin skins. That contributes to a culture I think of as Silicon Valley's soft Leninism.