Pinduoduo

We kick off Season 7 with a bang: Pinduoduo, the incredible five
year-old Chinese mashup of "Costco and Disneyland" (as
self-described in their IPO prospectus) which recently became the
fastest company ever to pass $100B market capitalization. What
makes PDD so special, and how were they able to enter a market
that everyone considered "already won" and disrupt massive
entrenched competitors Alibaba and JD.com? This story is
chock-full of lessons that apply not only to China tech, but to
high-growth company building and investing everywhere. 





Sponsors:


WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25

Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry

Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25






More Acquired!


Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups
from recent episodes

Join the Slack

Subscribe to ACQ2

Merch Store!



Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC


Links:


Photo of 26 year-old Colin at lunch with Warren Buffett:
https://thelowdown.momentum.asia/cv-of-pinduoduos-founder/

PDD users on mini-programs vs other Chinese e-commerce
players: https://miro.medium.com/max/1080/0*39fpSP_JqhDaPhQ2.png



Carve Outs


How to Make a Spaceship
https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Spaceship-Renegades-Spaceflight/dp/1594206724

Creativity, Inc.
https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Overcoming-Unseen-Inspiration/dp/0812993012/



Sources:



http://investor.pinduoduo.com/static-files/468b2c9f-9112-410d-84b3-2b22e07c7ee0


http://investor.pinduoduo.com/static-files/5539839d-0a1c-4d40-9bb7-bdb490e2370c


https://analyse.asia/2018/08/09/episode-260-pinduoduo-their-upcoming-ipo-in-china-with-matthew-brennan/


https://analyse.asia/2020/06/28/pinduoduo-on-social-ecommerce-agriculture-with-xinyi-lim/


https://blog.ycombinator.com/pinduoduo-and-the-rise-of-social-e-commerce

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinduoduo#cite_note-8

https://hans.vc/pinduoduo/


https://medium.com/@clarkboyd/pinduoduo-everything-you-need-to-know-about-pdd-chinas-third-biggest-ecommerce-site-38ac42086e47

https://overcast.fm/+HWy7CWz34

https://overcast.fm/+I8dmHF4NU

https://overcast.fm/+PLdRNCiCg

https://overcast.fm/+TmYdC1VPQ

https://overcast.fm/+TmYfSO3sc


https://targetchina.com.au/article/how-pinduoduo-successfully-gained-market-share-through-social-commerce/


https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/26/the-incredible-rise-of-pinduoduo/


https://technode.com/2020/05/12/pinduoduo-growth-story-needs-a-new-chapter/


https://trendslates.substack.com/p/amazons-335bn-in-gmv-amazon-testing

https://twitter.com/bgurley/status/1255172025053663232


https://www.businessinsider.com/fabulous-life-colin-huang-pinduoduo-2020-7


https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/22/what-is-pinduoduo-chinese-ecommerce-rival-to-alibaba.html


https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/07/02/why-pinduoduo-stock-popped-today.aspx


https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/07/07/4-tough-tasks-for-pinduoduos-new-ceo.aspx

https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#721870433d78


https://www.scmp.com/tech/e-commerce/article/3081078/pinduoduo-doubles-down-rural-china-five-year-us71-billion-e


https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1737806/000104746918005204/a2236308z424b4.htm


https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1737806/000110465920051022/pdd-20191231x20f.htm


https://www.techbuzzchina.com/episodes/ep-17-pinduoduo-from-zero-to-23b-in-three-years


https://www.theinformation.com/articles/chinas-pinduoduo-is-nipping-at-alibabas-heels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BidaQ22vWvM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqxtfOMMVFg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjLhCK8sUcw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbskb0KMBUU&t=4s