A Conversation with Zhaogang Group's Wang Dong: One Team, One Email, Thirteen Years of Building Zhaogang --- When Wang Dong, founder of Zhaogang Group, sent that email thirteen years ago, he didn't know he was assembling what would become one of China's most resilient B2B platform teams. The email went out to a small group of former colleagues and industry contacts. The subject line was simple, almost too simple for what it would set in motion. They were going to digitize steel trading — an industry notorious for opacity, fragmentation, and old-school relationship-based dealmaking. "We were basically a group of people who understood steel but didn't understand the internet," Wang Dong recalls. "And somehow that turned out to be an advantage." The early years were brutal. Steel is a commodity business with thin margins and entrenched middlemen. The platform model required convincing buyers and sellers — many of whom had operated through personal networks for decades — to transact online. Trust had to be built transaction by transaction. What separated Zhaogang from the wave of B2B platforms that emerged in the mid-2010s was operational discipline. While competitors burned capital on rapid geographic expansion, Wang Dong's

A Conversation with Zhaogang Group's Wang Dong: One Team, One Email, Thirteen Years of Building Zhaogang --- When Wang Dong, founder of Zhaogang Group, sent that email thirteen years ago, he didn't know he was assembling what would become one of China's most resilient B2B platform teams. The email went out to a small group of former colleagues and industry contacts. The subject line was simple, almost too simple for what it would set in motion. They were going to digitize steel trading — an industry notorious for opacity, fragmentation, and old-school relationship-based dealmaking. "We were basically a group of people who understood steel but didn't understand the internet," Wang Dong recalls. "And somehow that turned out to be an advantage." The early years were brutal. Steel is a commodity business with thin margins and entrenched middlemen. The platform model required convincing buyers and sellers — many of whom had operated through personal networks for decades — to transact online. Trust had to be built transaction by transaction. What separated Zhaogang from the wave of B2B platforms that emerged in the mid-2010s was operational discipline. While competitors burned capital on rapid geographic expansion, Wang Dong's

March 10, 2025

This episode's guest is Wang Dong, founder of Zhaogang Group.

At age 20, he founded Team Home at Sichuan University, running a guild of nearly a thousand members. Back then he was a curiosity-driven student, frequently scolded by teachers for being "disorganized and undisciplined." In 2000, the esports market hadn't yet taken shape — even getting online required a dial-up modem. StarCraft had just begun to emerge, drawing packs of passionate college kids to Battle.net. They played entirely in English, endured lag on 6.4k connections, and huddled around livestreams for matches in the days before replays existed. Wang Dong, who once placed second nationally, recalls: "StarCraft was my first glimpse of the internet."

In 2011, the Shanghai steel trading crisis erupted, leaving a massive void in the market. Traditional industries reached an inflection point, and a wave of B2B companies emerged. His old teammates urged him to come to Shanghai, stirring the steel industry professional who'd spent every day watching Win in China on TV. He sent an email to ZhenFund's Dream Center, quickly received a response, and secured angel investment. Zhaogang was also ZhenFund's first B2B investment. A year later, he assembled 11 founding members — and Zhaogang was born.

Today, Zhaogang Group's digital platform connects approximately 15,000 registered sellers and over 180,000 registered buyers, making it China's largest third-party digital steel trading platform. In 2023, the platform recorded 47.3 million tons of third-party steel transactions, representing roughly 40% of China's total third-party online steel trading volume.

On March 10 Beijing time, Zhaogang Group successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under ticker 6676.HK. This IPO marks Zhaogang as the first steel e-commerce company to debut on Hong Kong's main board in nearly three years, and the first mainland Chinese company to go public in Hong Kong via the De-SPAC route.

Thirteen years of entrepreneurship — how did he navigate cycles amid industry transformation? In this episode, we chat with Wang Dong about Zhaogang's growth and evolution, and how this steel B2B company was forged.

Guest

Wang Dong: Founder and CEO of Zhaogang Group

Timeline

From Physics Teacher to Steel E-Commerce Founder

  • 01:17 From university teacher to internet company
  • 02:25 Steel's shift from supply shortage to overcapacity
  • 05:32 "Finding" the entrepreneurial opportunity in internet
  • 07:10 Teaching and doing B2B are fundamentally both human resource management
  • 10:47 From Zhengzhou to Shanghai — the esports connection that sparked entrepreneurship
  • 12:44 A letter to ZhenFund's Dream Center
  • 13:42 Transforming from China's largest steel self-operating trader to platform

Essential Qualities of an Entrepreneur

  • 18:31 What entrepreneurs need most is environmental awareness
  • 20:27 Running a gaming guild was more "useful" than college
  • 22:43 Post-DeepSeek, young people need to become higher-frequency
  • 23:03 As long as this planet still uses steel, Zhaogang will be needed
  • 24:25 AI's core value is solving B2B's pre-sales环节
  • 25:47 I admire Elon Musk's first principles thinking
  • 29:11 A relaxed first job isn't necessarily bad for young people
  • 30:34 The so-called comfort zone is only briefly comfortable

The Biggest Vision for Zhaogang's Future

  • 32:50 How big can Zhaogang actually become?
  • 34:42 Cognition is the first element in the steel industry
  • 36:51 People have unbridgeable gaps — different trades, different worlds
  • 44:21 Sales is making others believe what you want them to believe
  • 47:28 Entrepreneurs in emerging fields have no retreat
  • 49:03 Entrepreneurship is repeated burning of boats
  • 50:26 Heaven's gifts refused bring self-inflicted harm

If you too believe technology changes the world, and love practice and creation, welcome to contact ZhenFund Dream Center: dream@zhenfund.com

Staff

Executive Producers: Cindy, Jiamin, Wendi Post-Production: Keyone Studio

About ZhenFund

"Straight Talk" (此话当真) is a general business podcast produced by ZhenFund, where our investment team shares the latest hot topics and industry insights with leaders across fields.

Founded in 2011, ZhenFund is one of China's earliest angel investment institutions. Since inception, ZhenFund has actively sought out the most outstanding entrepreneurial teams and era-defining investment opportunities in artificial intelligence, chips and semiconductors, robotics and hardware, healthcare, enterprise services, new energy, cross-border expansion, consumer lifestyle, and other sectors.

ZhenFund — your first stop for entrepreneurship!

Contact Us

WeChat Official Account: ZhenFund (ID: zhenfund) Website: www.zhenfund.com Email: media@zhenfund.com

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