Rise of the new breed of Internet entrepreneurs

Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent are seeing some of their most talented staff leave to set up or join online startups as venture capital funds move into the market

It was like a magic spell that left Li Guoxun entranced. In his head, he kept hearing the words: "Go and do something that will make an impact".

Li did and left his job as a senior manager at Baidu Inc, one of China's Internet heavyweights. In April, he went to join Yicuntongda (Beijing) Network Technology Co Ltd, a four-year-old tech firm specializing in the agricultural sector, as vice-president for marketing.