About Duncan Clark

Duncan is a founder, investor and leading advisor, focusing on the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship and Asia where he has been based for over thirty years. 

Born in the UK, he grew up there as well as in the US and France. After graduating from the London School of Economics, he began his career at Morgan Stanley, focusing on technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) transactions.

At the age of 24, he was transferred by Morgan Stanley from London to Hong Kong, where he worked on TMT across Asia before turning his attention to the blank spot on the map: China.

In 1994, he was tasked with organizing a conference in Beijing on the financing of China's telcos. Hosted by Morgan Stanley and China's State Planning Commission, the event helped shape the financing structures that ultimately led to China’s first telco IPO. Following this, he relocated from Hong Kong to Beijing to establish his own consultancy, BDA - named after his Chinese co‑founder Bohai Zhang (B), himself (D for Duncan) and Associates (A) - serving Morgan Stanley and its TMT clients looking to enter the Chinese market.

He deferred an offer from business school for a year and ended up never going. Instead, he gained his business skills from “HBS” - not Harvard Business School, but the experience of living in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.

In the mid‑1990s, he was fortunate to meet the individuals who would become China’s internet pioneers, including Wang Zhidong (Sina), Ding Lei (NetEase), Charles Zhang (Sohu) and Jack Ma (Alibaba). He went on to work with several of these founders, most notably Jack Ma. Duncan's 2016 book, 'Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built', became recognised as a helpful tool for understanding not only the rise of Alibaba, but also China’s tech sector and entrepreneurial class. The book has since been published in over 36 languages, was named Book of the Year by The Economist and was shortlisted for the Financial Times' Business Book of the Year

After 25 years in China, Duncan began in 2010 to split his time between China and other parts of the world. His first stop was Stanford University, where he became a Visiting Scholar and co‑founded the China 2.0 initiative, which brought leading internet entrepreneurs - including Jack Ma - to Stanford to share their stories.

In parallel, he began investing in early-stage tech ventures in Silicon Valley and beyond, all led by founders from Asia or with experience working in the region.

Beyond navigating the dynamic landscape between Silicon Valley and China, he has served in various roles connected to UK-China relations, including Chair of the British Chamber of Commerce in China - a position for which he was awarded an O.B.E. by Prince (now King) Charles. Duncan currently serves as Vice Chair of the China-Britain Business Council.

In recent years, he has focused on innovation in Japan, serving on the Board of Councilors of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST). He recently joined the advisory board of Japan Activation Capital and supports a new initiative at Waseda University in Tokyo - the Institute of Japan in the Global Economy - where he serves as an Adjunct Researcher.

He also serves on the global Board of Trustees of The Asia Society and its Executive Committee. In 2021, he co-founded the first branch of the Asia Society in the European Union, Asia Society France, where he currently serves as Co-Chair.