Strategic Use of YouTube for Business Development in China and Europe: Case study of “Very Venture China”

Abstract

In the growing creator economy, YouTube has become a vital tool for startup entrepreneurs to build personal brands and drive strategic business development. This thesis examines how individuals can leverage Western digital platforms, specifically YouTube, for visibility, credibility, and opportunity generation in politically restricted environments. Using an ethnographic case study of the Very Venture China (VVC) project, the research explores how platform strategy, cultural adaptation, and content optimization enabled real business outcomes despite algorithmic and geopolitical constraints. With over €25,000 invested and a cross-functional team, VVC applied Lean Startup and emergent strategy principles to build audience engage ment through emotional storytelling, SEO, and Shorts-first publishing. This visibility led to consulting offers, partnerships, and job invitations from international firms, validating the power of platform-native personal branding. The study introduces the Visibility–Credibility–Conversion (VCC) Framework, showing how entrepreneurs can translate digital presence into professional results. It contributes to research on digital entrepreneurship, platform branding, and cross-cultural communication— highlighting the rising cost, complexity, and strategic importance of content-driven growth in constrained digital ecosystems.