YASO - 100m rev business?
Helping Western brands break into China
YASO: Revolutionising Social Commerce for Western Brands in China
In the fast-evolving landscape of global commerce, YASO has a simple mission: help Western brands break into the Chinese consumer market. While the mission may be simple, executing that at scale is not. Founded by Jonny Plein, Adam Knight, and James Campbell, YASO is at a pivotal point in its journey, so I felt lucky to be able to interview Jonny Plein (their more sales-focused founder) a few weeks back. He was impressive and to the point so it was an interesting chin wag.
The Co-Founders' Journey
Plein’s path began working at Ernst & Young, which I think he found a necessary and useful evil before co-founding Pouch, a browser extension for voucher codes, which was later acquired by Global Savings Group.
Co-founders Adam and James brought complementary expertise, having founded Tong while completing degrees at Oxford in Chinese and economics. Tong was a marketing agency that specialised in helping Western brands penetrate the Chinese market. Over the next few years, Tong grew into the largest agency of its kind outside of China, generating millions in revenue and ultimately becoming the springboard for YASO's creation.
This mix of co-founders is mental. All have set up businesses, Adam and James speak fluent Mandarin, all have a deep understanding of the West and its brands/the e-commerce space and potentially most importantly, Tong has given them a treasure trove of data on what works and what doesn’t in terms of marketing to the Chinese consumer and the problems faced by Western brands trying to break into the market.
James (Left), Adam (Middle) & Jonny (Right)
The Problem YASO Solves
China’s market, though highly lucrative, presents a unique set of challenges for Western brands. Historically, brands have turned to Tmall—China’s version of Amazon—to reach consumers. However, as the platform became overcrowded and increasingly expensive, profitability dwindled. Meanwhile, emerging platforms like TikTok Shop (Douyin in China) have captured significant consumer attention but have lacked accessible solutions for Western brands to tap into these opportunities. There is also a disconnect between Western brands and the Chinese consumer, marketing teams across brands headquartered in the west have repeatedly failed to understand the many differences in how the Chinese consumer buys products and builds trust with a product.
YASO addresses this gap by offering a seamless integration between Western e-commerce platforms and Chinese social commerce channels. This allows brands to sell directly on platforms like WeChat and Douyin, bypassing the traditional hurdles of localising operations and navigating complex regulatory landscapes.
Basically, even the biggest/most well-known brands struggle with China, and before YASO, there was no real solution (tech-native or not) to help those brands access one of the top three biggest consumer marketplaces on the planet.
The YASO Solution
YASO’s solution builds on a prototype developed within Tong. Initially, the team created an integration between Magento and WeChat, allowing Western brands to sell via China’s super app.
The platform offers:
Localised Integration: Bridging Western platforms like Shopify with Chinese social apps.
Comprehensive Dashboard: Providing brands with actionable insights into their performance in China.
English-Language Support: Offering a user-friendly experience with account management in English.
All of this is aimed at one thing - increase sales. Which in lots of ways makes YASO’s solution really powerful because it isn’t a tool that saves time or makes the brands team’s workflows look nice, it is a tool that either makes sales or it doesn’t. It’s not a ‘nice to have’, if it works it is an absolute imperative.
Revenue Model: A Unique Approach
YASO has developed a unique revenue model, positioning itself as a "revenue-based SaaS" rather than a traditional consultancy or agency. Unlike typical service-based models that charge high fixed fees, YASO takes a percentage of the sales brands generate through its platform in China. The company earns 35-40% of the total GMV (Gross Merchandise Value), which covers all operational costs in China, from logistics to social commerce. The brands are responsible for marketing and product costs. This model was why raising capital from venture firms like Playfair Capital was so important: it meant that YASO could stomach losing money with their customers initially to then participate properly in a rev-share model as the partnership grew.
This revenue model has proven beneficial, especially as YASO has secured long-term, multi-year deals with its clients. The growth in revenue—approaching a run rate of £600,000 per year by 2024—demonstrates the scalability of this model.
The Chinese Market: A Unique Landscape
The Chinese market poses specific challenges, not only in terms of consumer behaviour but also in the technological structure of its e-commerce platforms. In a notable example, Plein discussed how reviews play a pivotal role in China. Unlike the West, where reviews from major influencers might drive sales, Chinese consumers place significant trust in reviews from everyday consumers, or Key Opinion Consumers (KOCs). This grassroots-level authenticity is crucial for building trust in products.
Furthermore, the challenge for brands lies in effectively navigating the interconnected nature of Chinese social commerce platforms. Platforms like Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok), Little Red Book (similar to Instagram), and Tmall (similar to Amazon) form an ecosystem in which content, influencer promotions, and direct sales interlink. A successful strategy requires a nuanced understanding of how to drive engagement across these platforms, from seeding product awareness via influencers to converting sales through live streaming or targeted ads.
This is Zheng Xiangxiang, a prominent live streamer on the Douyin platform. She infoumously made $13m in a week selling products that were given her seal of approval for all of 3 seconds per product on the live stream. This streamer/situation is obviously an outlier in more ways than one but does show how pervasive and important these kind of personalities are to the e commerce ecosystem in China.
It’s easy to see how quickly this can become incredibly complex. It’s this complexity that has tended to kill even the best-resourced/most well-established brands' attempts to gain a proper foothold in the Chinese market. This is why YASO is such a compelling company: because not only is it a real problem, it is a problem felt by many, regardless of size.
A Big Win and the Realities of Startup Life
In terms of YASO’s own progress, Plein shared one of the company’s recent triumphs: a highly successful live-streaming event featuring a prominent Chinese actress that generated $10,000 in just 10 minutes. "It was kind of crazy." However, the most significant shift, according to Plein, has been the company’s growth over the past year. "This time last year, we had no clients and the product wasn’t live. Now we’ve got seven clients generating revenue every day and a proven, more battle-hardened product." It’s taken a bit of time but YASO can now confidently say they have found product market fit, the goal for 25 is now to get that product in as many hands as possible and continue to hire an incredible team to deal with that growth.
Unsurprisingly, with startups, it’s never smooth sailing. Plein noted that the biggest challenge has been finding the right people to join the team. "We’ve had a few mis-hires, especially in China, which have caused a bit of a headache." Building the right team really must be the most difficult part of building a startup once you have revenue. Humans are so perpetually complicated and nuanced; finding good people is a mix of being a good person (as the employer), showing real traction (opportunity for growth) and then, I think, a huge chunk of luck. You can bring as much data, science, process, and agencies as you want into the equation, but getting good people is, annoyingly, massively down to luck.
Creating a Western Tech Culture in China
One of the core themes that Plein touched on was the kind of culture he aims to build at YASO. "We’re trying to build a Western technology culture in China, which is different to the culture that some of these individuals have been in before," he explained. He referenced China’s well-known "996" culture (working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week) and his desire to create a more balanced work environment, which is fairly unsurprising as 996 doesn’t sound like a healthy way to live… "We want accountability. As long as people get their work done, that’s all we care about," Plein said. "It’s refreshing to our Chinese staff, building a company with a single culture across two time zones is challenging, but we’re quite well-positioned to do it." YASO currently operates with a team of 16, split between China and the UK, maintaining cohesion across these different environments remains a key goal and a real challenge.
Chinese tech tycoon Jack Ma famously said it was a "blessing" for anyone to be part of the so-called "996 work culture". That is, as long as you stay on the right side of Xi… which poor old Jack found out the hard way.
Raising Cash as an Exited Founder
Plein was candid about the challenges of raising funds for YASO, reflecting on his prior experience as a founder. "Getting those first meetings is still a real challenge, and it’s a massive advantage. But if fundamentally your idea or your pitch isn’t there, it doesn’t matter," he said. When I asked him for a highlight and a lowlight in the fundraising journey, the YASO team’s lowlight was well worth bringing up: when pitching one of the most respected VCs in their space, "We completely fluffed the pitch; it was absolutely horrific. It was so bad, it made it into James’ best man speech." Despite the disastrous pitch, Plein outlined that their past success as founders of Pouch and Tong helped them get through the door with investors. "It didn’t really move the dial on actually raising money. But it got me in the door," he remarked. While having an exit under his belt may open doors, Plein emphasised that it is ultimately the strength of the idea and the team that sealed the £2m deal.
Why become a founder?
Jonny was refreshingly candid about his reasons for being a founder, saying initially it was about the "buzz" of entrepreneurship. "I thought it was cool to be a founder. I thought it would help me meet interesting people." Over time, however, the desire to build something meaningful and to live without the regret of not trying became his driving force. "You only have one life, and you can choose the regrets you live with," he said, reflecting on the emotional side of the entrepreneurial journey. "Your 20s are for learning the game, your 30s are for playing it, and your 40s are when you run the game." This is what blows my mind about founders in general: Jonny, having sold his business Pouch, was then working at the acquirer. He was a respected leader in that team, earning a good salary doing a job he really enjoyed, and he gave it up to start a business that was very likely to fail.
Conclusion: The Road Ahead - Building a Business That Generates $100m Revenues
As with most venture-backed businesses, the blue sky has to be a valuation of a billion+ at least, so when I asked Jonny about this, his response was unsurprising. "We have the potential to be a $100 million annual revenue business," he said confidently. "The next six months are going to define the company. We need to execute like absolute Marines to make it happen."
What was more surprising to hear, however, was the clarity Jonny and his co-founders have around how to make YASO becoming a unicorn a reality. Yes, as with every startup, there remains a huge amount of risk and unknowns, but after speaking to Jonny for 45 minutes, I felt even I had a clear picture as to how YASO gets to $100m in revenue. Here are the main points that stood out to me:
Their rev-share model (big one).
The lack of real competition in the market for their specific solution.
The fact that the problem is a real one, and it’s felt by lots of businesses with deep pockets.
The unique set of experience, skills, and expertise that the co-founders have.
They have proved the product actually works.
YASO has the potential to be an extraordinary business.