Business networks to China and back

What: 9Spaces, a bilingual, cross-border networking site for business people in the U.S. and China. Based in Bellevue with offices in Guangzhou.

How it works: The site (www.9spaces.com) lets people post profiles, connect with groups, find events, do research and access an online marketplace. It aims to be "one of the largest bilingual job boards between the U.S. and China," says co-founder Dave Parker. "You can't automate relationships, but you can automate introductions," he said.

Drilling down: The four categories of research range from basics about whether to do business in China to custom reports and business-plan development. White papers and podcasts with experts cover law, accounting, culture and other topics. The company is making all content available in both languages.

Business model: The site is free now but will begin charging early next year. Annual subscriptions will be about $500 for content such as research papers and audio interviews, up to $5,000 for a service that connects the user directly with experts.

Who's behind it: Parker, CEO, and co-founder Weihua David Dong, chief technical officer. The two met at Classmates.com, where Parker was on the board and Dong was lead developer.

Employees: Six in Bellevue, 17 in Guangzhou, China.

Competition? Plenty, but Web giant Alibaba is much broader, Parker says, and other networking sites in China emphasize social aspects like dating. "What Alibaba doesn't do is help Chinese companies come to the U.S. market," he said. "We're surprised about the number of Chinese companies that want to come here. We can simplify part of the process."

The other direction: Information aimed at Chinese users includes how to interview and get hired by a U.S. company.

Funding: Self-funded along with angel investors since starting up last September. Parker says he's considering venture-capital investment soon.

The name? "It kind of reminded us of the Temple of Heaven [in Beijing] that's surrounded by nine stones," Parker said.

— Kristi Heim