Colin Huang, founder of China e-commerce site Pinduoduo, made a big splash this year with a U.S. IPO that raised $1.6 billion. It made a less welcome splash soon afterward on complaints of alleged fakes among its potpourri of items (Pinduoduo says it is working to crack down on fakes ). Shares of the Sequoia VC-backed company stabilized, giving it a market cap north of $23 billion and leaving Huang, who owns 47% of the business, with an $11.25 billion holding that ranks him, at No. 12, the highest newcomer on this year’s rich list. Forbes spoke to 38-year-old Huang, a serial entrepreneur who started two businesses before setting up Pinduoduo in 2015, in Shanghai earlier this year about his days in the U.S. as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, work in Silicon Valley and China for Google, and business lessons learned. Excerpts follow.
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