Companies acquired by ByteDance are all about the founders. Unlike traditional resource-complementary acquisitions (like Tencent) or market-share-driven mergers (like Alibaba), ByteDance tends to absorb the entire founding team, granting these founders significant internal authority and resource support to create immense value within the platform. 1. Zhang Nan: Founder of the photo-sharing community TuBa, joined in 2013. Built Douyin (TikTok China) and Huoshan Short Video from scratch, drove the development of Jianying (CapCut), and is also responsible for Seedance under JiMeng, which went viral globally. 2. Zhu Jun: Founder of Musically, joined in 2017. Previously led TikTok's global strategy, now heads Doubao. 3. Guo Lie: Founder of Faceu/Facemojing, joined in 2018. Part of the core team behind Jianying (CapCut), providing AR effects and visual tech support for Douyin/TikTok. 4. Yuan Jing: Formerly from Moonton Technology, joined in 2021. Oversees ByteDance's gaming division, maintaining Mobile Legends' dominance in overseas markets and competing with Honor of Kings. 5. Luo Yonghao: Founder of Smartisan Technology. After ByteDance acquired Smartisan's team and patents in 2019, Luo signed an exclusive livestreaming deal with Douyin in 2020, sparking a boom in the livestreaming industry with many newcomers flooding the space.