We were recruiting promising engineers to join our incubator and launch startups targeting China’s first wave of smartphone users. Guo wanted to know what he could do to support that mission. I told him that the cost of rent was eating a big chunk of the money we wanted to pour into fostering these startups. Any relief on rent would mean more money for building products and companies. No problem, he said—he would make some calls. The local government could likely cover our rent for three years if we relocated to the neighborhood of Zhongguancun.
