Crossing most of the globe with *Dark Currents* | Waves Odyssey
The world is vast — where do you want to go?
Research | Dark Tide Editorial Team
Our understanding of "globalization" began by accident. Two and a half years ago, in interviews for Waves, we observed a group of entrepreneurs crossing oceans alone. Compared to previous waves of going global, they came from more scattered backgrounds, targeted more diverse regions, and were younger. Yet in a primary market fond of coining new terms, no precise word yet existed to describe them.
If you remember, in "The New Era of Going Global: Chinese Founders, Conquering the World", we first presented this group in concentrated form, borrowing the concept of "Chinese founder" from one interviewee — which has since become our specific way of describing them.
Waves subsequently launched a series of globalization content. In "A Globalization Guidebook: Slicing the World Horizontally", we divided the world into seven regions and analyzed the opportunities and difficulty levels each market presented for Chinese entrepreneurs. In "Chinese in Saudi Arabia: Flowers, Desert, and Dreams Dampened" and "Starting Up in Egypt: Joy and Sorrow in the Middle East's Shadow World", Waves authors conducted on-the-ground visits lasting over ten days, presenting the real conditions of Chinese entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Additionally, we published continuous observations from more than ten practitioners and investors on globalization's front lines.
But this wasn't enough. For a project like globalization that consists of countless specific problems, people need concrete discussion.
We moved the discussion offline, hosting multiple "Dark Tide Afternoon Tea" sessions themed around globalization over the past six months. More than 40 founders, overseas company heads, and investment partners from AI, internet, smart manufacturing, and related fields joined as speakers to discuss markets including Mexico, North America, and Europe, with over 500 attendees registering to participate.
But this still wasn't enough. Diversity, fragmentation, and even divergence are both the opportunity and the greatest pain point of globalization for Chinese companies. If Chinese companies need to adapt to different regions, then the content and reach Waves provides should likewise be adapted.
In North America, for instance, more Chinese stories center on AI and hardware. In Europe, energy, consumer electronics, and e-bikes represent new growth. Mexico and the Latin America it radiates toward offer more opportunities in manufacturing, e-commerce, and fintech. The Middle East, while advantaged on the capital side, remains relatively scarce on the asset side and has the strongest localization demands.
We've decided to go out into the world with Waves readers, tentatively naming this initiative the Waves Odyssey program.
Unlike tour-group-style international study trips, we hope to co-create each journey with fellow travelers. "Co-creation" means: beyond sharing information and perspectives with each other, participating in shaping the itinerary itself.
Take Mexico as an example: we've initially connected with over 30 node companies or figures active in that market long-term, mainly in e-commerce logistics, mobility, fintech, smart vehicles, and energy. The fellow travelers we hope to find are those who care about and aspire to make moves in the Mexican market, and who already have some understanding of the region. Our plans won't be limited to company visits, factory tours, salons, workshops, or 1-on-1 coffee chats.
We've launched similar explorations in Silicon Valley, Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere.
If you're interested in globalization themes and want to participate in our program or co-create with us, we invite you to scan the QR code to take the Waves Odyssey survey, so we can learn what topics and regions you care about.
We look forward to brainstorming with you to build an interactive, jointly explored "globalization travel" playbook. Who you want to meet, where you want to go, what's possible and what isn't — we'd love to hear from you.
We look forward to traveling with you someday.
Image source | Waves Editorial Team
Layout | Nan Yao
