Erick Guo left Asia's largest Internet company last year to build a team of artists and engineers who could create smartphone applications inspired by Japanese manga.
The 25-year-old and his team ended up with China's hottest app last month and are working on their next hit.
The free app, called MYOTee, lets people design avatars, or digital images, of themselves and friends that can be used for instant messaging or on social networks. It soared to the top of the Apple Inc. and Google Inc. Android app stores in China in June, with the software downloaded 36 million times.