Grace Zhang

Community builder since 2014 | Former tech journalist | Ground-level notes on Shenzhen, founders, manufacturing & Physical AI.

[Grace Zhang @GraceJelly9]

1/6 I’ve been building founder communities in Shenzhen since 2014.

After 12 years of conversations, events, experiments—and quite a few mistakes—I’m starting this account again to share what I’ve learned from inside the ecosystem. 🧵

[Grace Zhang @GraceJelly9]

@robinluosz Yeah, I was really buffered to hear that the exoskeleton team targeting outdoor enthusiasts hasn’t really talked much to outdoor lovers. Logically, they should be hanging out with them all the time.

[Grace Zhang @GraceJelly9]

10/10

We want this pitch event to feel like an open startup lab.

You do not need a perfect product—or to pretend you are already successful.

Bring the unfinished idea. Let it collide with real people, real experience and honest questions.

That is how it learns what to become.

[Grace Zhang @GraceJelly9]

1/10

At the end of our Startup Pitch Party in Shenzhen, I brought out three unicorn toys for the three highest-scoring teams.

They were not real unicorns. The founders on stage were nowhere near that point either.

But we liked the metaphor. 🧵

[Grace Zhang @GraceJelly9]

9/10

What made me happiest happened after the results.

People did not leave.

They gathered around the founders, examined the products, exchanged contacts and raised questions the teams had not considered before.

That was the real value of the afternoon.

[Grace Zhang @GraceJelly9]

I just got started! Hi Jun!

[Lei Jun @leijun]

Back-to-back calls today. Resting for a bit. Has everyone finished for the day?

[Grace Zhang @GraceJelly9]

Lots of us coming to X hoping to quickly spread, enlarge and enhance self image. I was distracted for a while too, but now I decided to just focus on writing more and developing my own voice.

[Grace Zhang @GraceJelly9]

Congrats Sihao! Have fun @AnthropicAI hi from Shenzhen

[Sihao Huang @Huang_Sihao]

1/ Some personal news: I'll be joining @AnthropicAI as Head of Frontier Compute Strategy to work with @NotTomBrown on our infrastructure expansion, coalition building, and planning for rapid AI progress.

[Grace Zhang @GraceJelly9]

9/9

The people who refused to leave taught me one of my earliest lessons:

A great event creates excitement.

A community turns that excitement into belonging—and belonging into people showing up for one another.

Part 2 of my Shenzhen community-building notes.

[Grace Zhang @GraceJelly9]

1/9

At our early Startup Grind Shenzhen events, the hardest part was sometimes not getting people to come.

It was getting them to leave.

The talk would end, but the room would remain full of conversations. 🧵

[Grace Zhang @GraceJelly9]

8/9

That changed how I understood my role.

My job was not only to find speakers, fill seats or run a smooth event.

It was to create the conditions for trust, repeated encounters and relationships that could continue without me.