James Chou is the Managing Director and CEO of Microsoft for Startups North Asia, Chair of Technology and Innovation Committee of American Chamber of Commerce Shanghai. Within Microsoft, he leads the effort to scale up the business for some of the best and most innovative startups in China by providing unprecedented access to top Microsoft partners and customers, venture capitalists, and technical knowledge. Through the acceleration, he helped his portfolio companies raising hundred of million dollars and increased their valuation more than 300% in average in only 4 months to 10+ billion dollars. He is a frequent speaker on Innovation and China Startups, also an advisor to several VC funds, a mentor to several leading accelerators and incubators in China. He has more than 20 years experiences in TMT space in China and US. Before joining Microsoft, he was a serial entrepreneur and a venture investor. He has founded or co-founded three high tech companies in China. Previously, he served senior management positions at AsiaInfo and UTStarcom, the first 2 NASDAQ listed Chinese technology companies. Prior to that, He worked product management, sales, and engineering roles at Hewlett Packard and NEC in Silicon Valley for 7 years. James got his MBA from Santa Clara University.

German national, based in Beijing (China) and Head of China Cross-border M&A in the Investment Banking division of China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC). Profound experience in advising Chinese state owed enterprises (SOEs), private sector firms (POEs) and global multinational corporations (MNCs) with their cross-border M&A undertakings. Over the last four years exclusively dedicated to China in- and outbound M&A, as well as to China related bespoke situations such as private placements and joint-ventures. Trusted lead banker and skilled negotiator in mid- and large-scale sell-side and buy-side situations, as well as public transactions in numerous global M&A jurisdictions. To date advised on 100+ M&A deals globally (emerging and developed markets), with a combined deal value of over US$100bn.

Joe Chang is a Partner at Eight Roads, focusing on technology investments. Joe, who is based in Shanghai, joined Eight Roads from Softbank China Venture Capital. He was previously Head of Corporate Development at Cisco Greater China. Prior to Cisco, Joe held various senior operational roles in Microsoft China, and spent the first 10 years of his career in consulting, first with Coopers & Lybrand, then McKinsey & Co. Originally from the US.Joe first landed in China in 1995 and graduated with an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, and an M.Eng. and B.Sc., Industrial Engineering & Manufacturing Engineering from Northwestern University. Joe also serves as a Board Director for the Asian Fund for Cancer Research on a pro-bono basis.