A cheap, electronic floor mat for dancing games does not sound like inspiration for a successful career in hedge fund management, but for Zhao Danyang it was a foundation stone.
Mr Zhao has become one of a few investors whose name is known in China – although more people know him as the man who paid $2.1m at auction in 2009 to have lunch with Warren Buffett, rather than because they have invested in Mr Zhao’s funds.
The dance mat took months to develop in the mid-1990s – when Mr Zhao ran a Shenzhen-based consumer electronics company. But by the time the device was ready, the craze for dancing games was over and the market had moved on.