Bo Shao: Chinese-born serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist who founded EachNet (sold to eBay) and was founding partner of Matrix China. He now co-chairs Evolve, a philanthropic foundation and impact-investment firm focused on relieving inner suffering.
What this episode covers
Bo Shao recounts growing up poor in Shanghai under a strict, sometimes raging math-teacher father who trained him to add decks of cards in seconds, fueling dozens of national math-competition wins and a full scholarship to Harvard at 17. He explains how a 'value comes from performance' imprint drove a lifelong perfectionism that helped his career but burdened his family. After founding China's first major online auction company, EachNet, and selling it to eBay, he retired at 29 only to find success changed little internally. The bulk of the conversation turns to his later 'inner work': repairing his relationship with his wife and children, his framework for conscious parenting, and his nuanced view of psychedelics as a starting point that still requires hard integration work.
Recommended on this episode
To Live
Zhang Yimou
“he made a film called to live which is uh i guess huaja that was initially denied theatrical release in mainland china but later i believe was made available”— Tim Ferriss
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Tesla
Tesla
“i remember when i initially got my tesla i needed to look at the tesla maps i need to look at google maps i need to look at waze”— Bo Shao
New Concept English
L.G. Alexander
“it was a textbook called new concept english i think from the uk and i listened to those tapes over and over again until i pretty much memorized it”— Bo Shao
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman
“you have also uh correct me if i'm wrong spent some time with the 15 commitments of conscious leadership but a lot of those commitments”— Tim Ferriss
Big reveals from this episode
- Shao realized a core childhood imprint was that his value came solely from his performance, specifically being number one, leaving him feeling worthless otherwise.
- EachNet became the largest e-commerce company in China and was sold to eBay in 2003 for a price he couldn't refuse, after which he retired at 29.
- He admits he once looked down on people who went to retreats or meditated, finding it almost disgusting, before life nudged him toward inner work.
- Shao confesses he was a terrible father who didn't enjoy parenting and repeated his own father's harmful patterns, including threatening to throw his son out.
- He frames psychedelics as a helicopter tour of the terrain that shows you the destination but lands you back where you started, requiring hard integration work afterward.
- His turning point was committing to make inner work a top priority for just three months, after which his progress changed dramatically.
- He deliberately quit Weibo about ten years ago after noticing he was posting to please others and feeding his ego by tracking replies and applause.
Worth remembering
- His father trained him on mental math using a deck of cards, and Shao eventually could add all 52 cards in about 12 seconds, roughly the biological limit of human image processing.
- In 1980s China, being newly rich meant having 10,000 RMB; his family couldn't even afford the $35-50 college application fees and needed waivers.
- He overcame his English by listening to 'New Concept English' tapes thousands of times one summer until he memorized even the copyright notice spoken on the recording.
- On arriving in the US in 1991, he used a payphone for the first time; a cleaning lady scooped his lost quarters from the malfunctioning phone before he understood what happened.
- EachNet raised about $6.5 million in October 1999, and Shao spent it all in five months, largely on being one of China's first internet companies to run TV advertising.
- When the 2000 market crash caused a lead investor to renege, Shao strategically asked for $5 million instead of the promised $20 million and used it to raise the full round.
- Because the SAT wasn't offered in China, Shao took the GRE instead, scoring around 2260, reportedly the third highest in the country at the time.
- After eBay acquired EachNet, its China market share collapsed from over 80% to about 5% within a few years, while Alibaba's Taobao rose to dominate.
- Shao notes a boy's prefrontal cortex isn't fully developed until his 20s, so expecting disciplined behavior from a 12-year-old is developmentally unrealistic.
- Shao started a parenting company called Parent Lab after three years of R&D collecting child-psychology research into an accessible, customized framework for parents.