Momentum Works Executive Immersion (MWX) Cohort 1

From 26–28 November, we just completed our first Momentum Works Executive Immersion (MWX).

It was small by design: 14 participants, 5 countries, 8 companies analysed, 9 Chinese “logics” decoded, 49 playbook tactics, 23 Mixue beverages, and an unlimited amount of deep, honest, energising conversations crammed into three days.

The group was an unusual mix:

• Entrepreneurs who are scaling fast
• Senior executives steering large organisations through change
• Investors looking for patterns
• People who have spent years building and leading Chinese businesses

One participant put it this way:

“The content was exceptional—well-structured, clearly delivered, and incredibly relevant. The depth of insights and the clarity with which the cases and logics were explained made the entire experience very enriching. Material-wise, it was the strongest immersion I’ve attended.”

That alone would have made the three days worthwhile. But that was just the surface.

So what did we actually do?

“When Chinese companies enter our markets, how should local companies respond – and how do we decide whether to compete, partner, or make them a client?”

To answer this question from the participants, we:

• Put Shein vs Temu, Luckin vs Mixue, Alibaba vs Meituan, Dreame vs Anker side by side – not as “case studies”, but as live playbooks to dissect.
• Unpacked 9 distinct ‘China logics’ – how these companies make decisions, what they optimise for, where they deliberately give up control, and why their models behave so differently once they leave China.
• Even compared how people like Naval Ravikant and Duan Yongping approach decision-making – two very different “operating systems” for dealing with uncertainty.

There were strong reactions from Day 1.

On the question of what local companies can realistically emulate from Chinese competitors, Kaifei Yao, our ecommerce expert from China, shared this:

“The non-negotiable primary metric for ecommerce companies in China is the lifetime value over the customer acquisition cost (LTV/CAC). If you don’t have a sense of how long a user will stay with you, and how much they can spend with you over the long term, you have no idea how much you should pay to acquire them at the beginning.”

“The LTV/CAC for Taobao will be very different from the LTV/CAC for a small ecommerce brand. And CAC will keep going up; only a clear LTV lets you decide whether to keep playing.”

You could feel people mentally revisiting their own dashboards.

Days 2 and 3: just insights, insights and scar tissue

On Days 2 and 3, we brought in three more guests who have built multiple tech, retail and ecommerce companies. Two of them flew in from Hangzhou to Singapore specifically for the programme.

They spoke very candidly: the bets that worked, the bets that absolutely did not, what they wished they had seen earlier when working across China and Southeast Asia.

One founder, after walking through the five businesses he had built, paused and said:

“100% of my success came from luck, and 100% of my failures came from hard work.”

The whole room paused, and then erupted in applause. (And maybe also quiet relief.)

What made this cohort special

The pioneer cohort was a brave one. They came not just to “consume content” but to open up their own businesses.

People were:

• Dissecting the hard parts of their P&L and org charts
• Spotting parallels with companies operating at 10x or 100x their scale
• Sharing their own frustrations, hopes and experiments working with Chinese partners
• Getting support and introductions to people and companies in China that could actually help

At the end of three days, Cohort 1 had turned into a community.

Conversations have continued well beyond the room. Participants are actively supporting and advising each other, sending each other notes, intros and screenshots. The group is already planning to meet again in 2026 – possibly in Kuala Lumpur, Bali or Hong Kong (the debate has already started).

As Jianggan pointed out at the end:

“We are not copying the China playbook. We are decoding it (together) and making it our own.”

MWX Cohort 2: 28-30 January 2026

We designed MWX as something we ourselves would want to attend: small, practical, slightly uncomfortable (in a good way), and honest about how things actually work.

It’s now becoming a flagship experience for Momentum Works – and we are opening Cohort 2:

📅 28-30 January 2026
📍 Singapore
👥 A small, curated group of founders, senior executives and investors
(We are keeping it intimate – once the room is full, it’s full.)

If you’re curious about how Chinese companies really operate, scale, adapt and expand – and what that means for your own organisation – this is for you.

Register now!