The Google Engineer Who Built Temu
He left Google to start companies. Three came before the big one. Then Pinduoduo and Temu changed shopping.
Imagine you want a bag of oranges. Alone, it costs a lot. But if you and three friends buy together, the price drops.
That simple idea, shopping as a team, built one of the biggest online stores in the world: Pinduoduo. Its sister app, Temu, brought the same cheap prices to shoppers across America and Europe.
The man behind both is Colin Huang. He is one of China's richest people, and one of its most private.
A math kid from Hangzhou
Colin Huang, whose Chinese name is Huang Zheng, was born in 1980 in Hangzhou, China. His parents worked in a factory.
He was very good at math and got into a top local school for gifted students. He went on to study computer science at Zhejiang University.
America and Google
Colin moved to the United States and earned a master's degree in computer science at the University of Wisconsin.
He interned at Microsoft, then joined Google in 2004. There he worked as an engineer and helped as Google built its presence in China.
A famous Chinese investor, Duan Yongping, became his mentor.
Three startups first
In 2007, Colin left Google to start his own businesses. Not all of them became giants.
He built an online electronics store called Ouku, a company that helped brands sell online, and a video game company. These taught him how online selling really works in China.
Pinduoduo: shopping as a team
In 2015, Colin started Pinduoduo, which means something like "together, more savings."
Shoppers shared deals with friends on the messaging app WeChat. When enough people joined, everyone got a lower price. It felt like a game. People in smaller Chinese cities, who wanted value more than luxury brands, loved it.
Pinduoduo also connected farmers directly with buyers, cutting out middlemen.
It grew stunningly fast. In July 2018, only about three years after launch, Pinduoduo went public on the Nasdaq.
Stepping back
In 2020, Colin stepped down as CEO. In 2021, he also stepped down as chairman, saying he wanted to focus on research in food and life sciences.
His company kept charging ahead. Pinduoduo renamed its parent company PDD Holdings.
Temu goes global
In September 2022, PDD launched Temu in the United States. Temu shipped extremely cheap goods, from clothes to kitchen tools, straight from Chinese factories.
Temu ran huge ad campaigns, including Super Bowl ads, and quickly became one of the most downloaded shopping apps in America. It spread to dozens of countries.
Temu also faced criticism over product safety, data practices and pressure on sellers, and new tariff rules on small parcels hit its model in 2025.
In 2024, strong growth briefly made Colin Huang the richest person in China.
Where he is now
Today, Colin Huang is no longer running PDD day to day, but he remains its founder and a major shareholder. He keeps a very low public profile and focuses on science research.
Why the story matters
Colin Huang's story is about patience and fresh angles. His first startups did not become giants. His fourth one did.
He did not copy the big shopping sites. He made shopping social, and he served people others ignored.
For young builders, the lesson is simple. Failed startups are training, not the end. And sometimes the biggest markets are the ones everyone else overlooks.
He did not sell to the rich. He helped everyone buy together.
The Record
Born: 1980
From: Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Studied: Computer science, Zhejiang University; master's, University of Wisconsin
First job: Engineer at Google
Built: Pinduoduo, PDD Holdings (Temu)
Timeline
1980 Born in Hangzhou.
2004 Joins Google.
2007 Leaves Google to start his own companies.
2015 Founds Pinduoduo.
2018 Pinduoduo lists on Nasdaq.
2020 Steps down as CEO.
2021 Steps down as chairman to focus on science.
2022 PDD launches Temu in the U.S.
2024 Briefly becomes China's richest person.