How Chongwei Chen Grew DataNumen Into a Top Data Recovery Company Serving 240+ Countries

I’m Chongwei Chen, President and CEO of DataNumen Inc. We develop data recovery software that helps businesses and individuals retrieve critical data from corrupted or damaged files and storage devices.

For over 24 years, we’ve served clients in 240+ countries and territories—from individual users to Fortune Global 500 companies like Toyota, FedEx, HP, and Dell. The core problem we solve is straightforward but mission-critical: when businesses lose access to essential data due to file corruption, hardware failure, or human error, we provide the tools to recover it quickly and reliably.

In today’s digital economy, data loss isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a competitive threat that can halt operations, damage client relationships, and cost companies millions.

Our software gives organizations the ability to recover from these incidents without depending on expensive third-party recovery services or suffering extended downtime.

What Inspired You to Start This Business?

While pursuing my master’s degree at Zhejiang University, I read an article in Popular Computer Weekly about a developer named Zhou Yi who was making substantial money by developing and selling his own shareware online. That planted the seed—I thought, “Why can’t I do the same?”

My first attempt was an image viewer called UniView. It flopped. Then I developed DLL to Lib, a developer tool. That didn’t work either. After two consecutive failures, I was discouraged but decided to try once more.

The inspiration for my third product came from a frustrating personal experience: I’d spent hours downloading a massive Zip file, only to discover it wouldn’t open.

When I examined it with a hex editor, I realized most of the data was intact—just some minor corruption at the end of the file, which was completely fixable. I shouldn’t have to re-download the entire file for such a small issue.

So I built Advanced Zip Repair to automate the repair process for corrupt Zip files. But it sold only three copies in six months.

I was ready to give up. Making a living from developing and selling shareware seemed impossible. But before abandoning everything, I made one small adjustment to the business model. That casual tweak, surprisingly, created a miracle. Sales jumped to over $600 that month. By graduation, I had a steady $2,000 monthly income.

Thereafter, I founded DataNumen, a company dedicated to developing and selling data recovery software.That experience taught me something profound: the market’s invisible hand has extraordinary power.

It showed me that even the most technically perfect product means nothing without market insight. That lesson became DataNumen’s foundation—we’d build a business that respects both technical excellence and market demands equally.

Also Read: How Praveen Kumar Built Wild Creek Web Studio Into a $1M+ Digital Strategy Agency

Did You Have a Background in This Industry Before Starting Out?

No—I had zero background in data recovery when I started developing Advanced Zip Repair. I stumbled into this industry almost by accident.

What I did have was a major in computer science and, more importantly, specialized expertise in artificial intelligence. I completed my undergraduate thesis in the AI lab at Zhejiang University under Professor Wu Zhaohui (who later became the university’s president), where I built a solid understanding of AI fundamentals. I then pursued my master’s degree researching artificial neural networks under Professor Chen Dezhao, publishing four papers in high-quality SCI and EI journals.

At that time, I didn’t realize how valuable this AI background would become—but it turned out to be our secret weapon.

When I started developing data recovery software, I recognized that in the real world, there are actually an unlimited number of file corruption scenarios. How could I design an algorithm that works for all these scenarios? Here came my AI expertise.

I utilized the expertise to design an AI-based recovery algorithm that could intelligently adapt to various corruption scenarios and maximize recovery rates. I first implemented this algorithm in Advanced Outlook Express Repair, and it achieved the best recovery rate in the industry.

That success validated the algorithm. Since then, I applied this AI-driven methodology to every new product we developed. This is why DataNumen’s recovery software consistently achieves higher recovery rates than competing products—not because we work harder, but because we have the AI weapon.

Looking back, my lack of data recovery experience when starting up was actually an advantage. I wasn’t constrained by conventional thinking about how data recovery “should” work. Instead, I applied AI concepts to solve a problem that others were tackling with traditional methods.

How Did You Land Your First Few Customers or Clients?

Our first batch of customers found us, rather than us finding them—that is something special in our market.

Nobody will buy data recovery software in advance for daily usage. They buy it only when their important file won’t open. At the moment of data disaster, most of them will find a solution on Google.

Therefore, our customer acquisition strategy is to make sure the customers can find our software on Google when they need it.

Fortunately, in the early 2000s, SEO was remarkably straightforward and easy, and there are not many competitors in the market. Therefore, we identified the keywords people would use to search on Google when facing file corruption issues—such as “Zip repair”—and optimize our product pages around them.

The results were immediate. Our product pages consistently ranked #1 or #2 on Google for these keywords, so we can capture customers precisely when they needed us most. No cold outreach, no advertising budget, no referral programs—just strategic positioning high in search engine results.Looking back, we got lucky with timing.

SEO is far more complex and competitive now. But that early experience reinforced a principle I still follow: understand how your customers naturally discover solutions to their problems, then make sure you’re there when they’re looking for them.

What Was Your Initial Business Model, and Has It Changed Over Time?

When I started, our business model was straightforward: develop affordable data recovery tools for individual users and sell them online as shareware. Advanced Zip Repair, for example, was priced at $29.95 per license—accessible enough for most of the individuals facing a file corruption problem.

The turning point came when we started developing enterprise-grade recovery products for business-critical data—tools like DataNumen Outlook Repair and DataNumen SQL Recovery. These addressed much more expensive problems: corrupted email data affecting business operations, damaged databases containing years of business records, mission-critical files that could halt operations.

The pricing reflected the value: $200 to $500 per license instead of $29.95. And the market responded. These enterprise-level products gradually became our main source of revenue and attracted Fortune Global 500 clients, including Toyota, FedEx, HP, and Dell.

This shift up-market transformed our economics in two crucial ways:

First, the business customers are fewer than the individual consumers. Fewer customers lower customer support costs. Instead of handling thousands of $30 transactions with individual support needs, we served fewer clients paying substantially more—clients who valued reliability over bargain pricing.

Second, total profit increased significantly. The math is simple but powerful: one $500 enterprise order equals seventeen $29.95 consumer orders, but requires far less than seventeen times the support effort.Our positioning evolved accordingly.

We’re no longer just “affordable file repair tools”. We’re the data recovery solution that Fortune 500 companies trust when business-critical data is at stake—and our recovery rates back up that positioning.

What Was Your Exact Timeline to $1M in Revenue?

My path to $1 million was far more winding—and took much longer than most startup stories you’ll read.

Years 1-3: The Side Hustle Phase

When I first founded DataNumen after graduating, I treated it as a side business. Meanwhile I was pursuing a PhD program in Hong Kong, assuming that was the “proper” path forward. The company generated steady income, but I wasn’t fully committed.

Year 3-4: The Turning Point

Several months into my PhD, I realized academia felt disconnected from the realities I’d experienced with DataNumen. So I made a difficult decision: quit the PhD program and returned home to be dedicated to the company.

That shift from part-time to full-time changed everything.

Years 4-6: Rapid Growth Phase

With full focus on DataNumen, I began developing our enterprise-grade recovery products—tools for business-critical data like Outlook emails and SQL Server databases. These higher-priced products targeting corporate customers fundamentally transformed our revenue trajectory.

Year 6 (2006): The $1 Million Milestone

Six years after founding DataNumen, we reached $1 million milestone.

Looking back, I don’t regret the slower timeline. Those early years of treating DataNumen as a side business gave me a financial safety net and let me experiment without desperation. The PhD detour, while ultimately abandoned, taught me what I didn’t want and helped clarify my business path on DataNumen thereafter.

The lesson? Not every successful business follows the “go all-in immediately” playbook. Sometimes the winding path teaches you more than the straight one.

Also Read: How Kateryna Odarchenko Scaled SIC Group to $1M in Just 2 Years

What Was the Biggest Turning Point in Your Growth Journey?

The biggest turning point was the one I mentioned previously, i.e., a minor tweak to the business model of Advanced Zip Repair led to a miracle of sales boost. Without that turning point, I would have given up my entrepreneur journey and followed a routine lifestyle of a developer.

More importantly, that experience became the foundation of how I approach business: Listen to the market and understand your customers. Be willing to adjust quickly. Every major decision since—shifting from consumer to enterprise products, expanding our product line, entering new markets—traces back to that lesson learned in that crucial moment when I almost gave up.

Sometimes the biggest turning points aren’t the ones you plan. They’re the desperate experiments you try right before quitting.

What Marketing Channels Worked Best for You in Getting to $1M?

Organic SEO (search engine optimization) works best for our data recovery business.

Nobody browses for file repair tools leisurely when nothing happens. They search frantically only when a critical file won’t open—usually with queries like “Zip repair” or “Fix Outlook File” directly into Google.

Therefore, our strategy was being ranked #1 or #2 in Google for those keywords when people needed us.

In the early 2000s, this was remarkably achievable. Competition was minimal, and SEO was straightforward—we simply identified the keywords people used during file corruption crises and optimized our product pages around them.

The results spoke for themselves: consistent top rankings brought steady traffic from highly motivated buyers—people who needed solutions immediately and were ready to purchase. That channel contributed most in our first $1 million.

What Were the Top 3 Challenges You Faced While Scaling—and How Did You Overcome Them?

I'm Chongwei Chen, President and CEO of DataNumen.

Challenge 1: The Mistake of Ignoring the Market (Year 1)

As a programmer, I initially had no deep understanding of my customers and the market, which made Advanced Zip Repair sell only three copies in six months. Luckily, my minor tweak of the business model boosted the sales greatly. This taught me to pay attention to both the market and the technology in the future journey of DataNumen.

Challenge 2: Losing Focus on Core Business (2008)

As DataNumen’s revenue grew, I started investing in financial products. In 2007, a bank relationship manager recommended an investment product called Accumulator. I tried it several times and made good money in a short time.

I began to think that developing and selling data recovery software made money too slow, while financial investing seemed like a much faster path to wealth. My confidence grew, and I doubled down.

Then 2008 hit. The financial crisis sent markets plummeting, but my Accumulator contracts forced me to keep buying stocks at prices far above market value, month after month.

Here’s where I got lucky: DataNumen’s technology-based business wasn’t significantly impacted by the financial crisis. Our enterprise customers—including Fortune 500 companies—provided stable cash flow that allowed me to meet those monthly obligations until the contracts expired a year later.

But those stocks languished at low prices for years. I held them for a decade before finally selling them—at a substantial loss.

Then I read a newspaper article that shook me. Another investor had made similar Accumulator bets but wasn’t as fortunate. When the crisis hit, he lacked sufficient cash flow to meet his obligations.

The bank forcibly sold his existing shares at rock-bottom prices to fund new purchases, repeating this cycle until his multimillion-dollar portfolio was essentially wiped out within months. Unable to accept this outcome, he took his own life.

Reading that story, I felt genuine fear—realizing how close I’d come to a similar fate.

This experience taught me two crucial lessons:

(1) My real competitive advantage lies in data recovery expertise, not financial speculation. I should not divert significant energy into areas where I lacked expertise and expect it will make more money.

(2) Greed clouds judgment. Human nature’s tendency toward greed can destroy even sound decision-making. Recognizing and controlling that impulse is essential.

From that point forward, I refocused mainly on building the best data recovery solutions for my customers.

Challenge 3: Outdated SEO Strategy (After 20 years)

After more than two decades of operations, the landscape had shifted dramatically. Search engines had undergone radical transformations, and the market was now flooded with competitors. Our once-reliable SEO strategy didn’t work well any more, and revenue began declining.

Fortunately, this crisis coincided with the breakthrough development in artificial intelligence—particularly ChatGPT.

I decided to leverage AI as my strategic advantage once again, just as I had done in the early days with our data recovery algorithms.After many experiments, I discovered the new key that can unlock the goldmine. My business began thriving again.

Was There a Moment You Felt Like Quitting?

Yes. After Advanced Zip Repair sold only three copies in its first six months, I was ready to quit entirely. But just before giving up, I made a minor adjustment to its business model—and sales suddenly exploded. That breakthrough gave me the confidence to continue my entrepreneurial journey.

What’s One Early Mistake That Taught You Something Invaluable?

In the early stage of DataNumen, I tried to build a universal data recovery tool—one software that could repair any file format.

As development progressed, the software became more and more complex and unwieldy. Meanwhile, the recovery rate for a specific file format became worse and worse. The more formats I supported, the more complex it would become and the worse it would perform on each individual format.

Eventually, I realized the fundamental flaw: trying to solve every problem creates a solution that solves none of them well.

Finally, I abandoned the project and pivoted completely. Instead of one universal tool, we developed specialized software for specific file formats—dedicated tools for Outlook files, SQL Server databases, Zip archives, Excel spreadsheets, and so on.

The results were immediate. The complexity of the software decreased greatly. Meanwhile the recovery rates improved dramatically because each tool was optimized for the unique data structures of its target format.

This lesson extends beyond software development. In business, focus beats breadth almost every time. The companies that dominate niches usually outperform those spreading themselves thin across many areas.

We’ve maintained this philosophy ever since: deep expertise in specific domains rather than shallow coverage of everything.

What’s One Thing About Hitting $1M That No One Talks About?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: success usually leads to dangerous overconfidence.

When people succeed in one field, usually they will become overconfident and believe they will be successful in any other fields. I fell into this trap too.

After DataNumen reached $1M in revenue, I felt invincible. I started investing in financial products, convinced I’d found a faster path to wealth than the data recovery business I’d spent years building.

Then 2008 global financial crisis hit. The crisis delivered a brutal lesson that cost me years of gains and nearly a decade of recovery time.

It forced me to confront an essential truth: real wealth comes from what you’re genuinely good at, not from shortcuts that look faster.Here’s what nobody tells you about hitting $1M: it’s not a success milestone—it’s a dangerous inflection point. It gives you just enough confidence to make much bigger mistakes in areas where you have no expertise.

Also Read: How Max Shak Turned nerDigital Into a $1M Marketing Agency in 3 Years

How Did Your Role Evolve as the Business Grew?

In the beginning, I was the only one in DataNumen so I needed to do everything by myself, including writing codes, designing the website, handling customer support, marketing products, and so on.

As revenue grew, I evolved into a manager who builds systems and leverages others’ expertise, as below:

1. Building a talent pipeline

I launched a long-term internship program leveraging our location near Zhejiang University. I personally mentored master students in the university, teaching them practical software development so that they can develop products for DataNumen. Over two years, this program incubated more than 30 exceptional programmers who developed products like DataNumen SQL Recovery, DWG Recovery, and Word Repair. I transitioned from coding everything myself to training others to code at a high level.

2. Global talent through outsourcing platforms

Meanwhile, I also hired specialized professionals worldwide through outsourcing platforms like Upwork. This gave me access to top-tier talent at reasonable costs—designers, developers, and specialists I was not able to find locally. I shifted from “doing everything mediocrely” to “orchestrating expertise.”

3. AI as an expertise amplifier

When ChatGPT and similar AI tools emerged, I immediately used them as an amplifier of our expertise and integrated them into our business operations. AI now handles substantial portions of content creation, software development, customer support, graphic design, and business decisions. This dramatically reduced labor costs while maintaining quality. I evolved from being the worker to being the architect of human-AI collaboration.

4. Systematic automation

In DataNumen, I built comprehensive automated and semi-automated systems for repetitive work. Example: releasing a new product used to take a week of manual work—website updates, documentation, marketing materials, distribution setup. Now our automated systems can complete this in several hours. I moved from executing tasks to designing systems that automate tasks.

My role today is fundamentally different: I focus on strategy, AI integration, new market opportunities, and system optimization rather than daily execution. The company no longer depends on me personally doing the work—it depends on me making the right strategic decisions about where we should go next.

If You Had to Start Over, What Would You Do Differently?

If I could start over, I would make three fundamentally different choices:

1. Go all-in much earlier

I wouldn’t waste 3-4 years treating DataNumen as a side business. During that time, I was pursuing a PhD and splitting my attention between two worlds—doing neither particularly well. Full-time commitment from day one would have gotten me to $1M years earlier.

2. Target enterprise customers earlier

I wouldn’t spend so much time in the low-dollar consumer market. Enterprise customers have stronger purchasing power and require significantly less technical support per dollar of revenue. This business model is far more sustainable and scalable.

3. Never divert too much energy into financial investments

After hitting $1M, I would have stayed laser-focused on data recovery software rather than chasing high-risk financial products. I create far more value working in domains where I have genuine expertise.

The pattern across all three? Focus and commitment beat hedging and diversification when you’re building something from scratch. Divided attention produces divided results.

Where Is Your Company Today—and What’s Next?

Where we are today

DataNumen now operates with a team of approximately 50 people, serving clients in 240+ countries and territories including over 100 Fortune Global 500 companies like Toyota, FedEx, HP, and Dell.

We’ve evolved from a one-person operation selling $29.95 tools into an enterprise-focused data recovery company with a diversified product portfolio supporting a wide range of file formats, including MS Office files, email recovery, archive and backup files, databases, images, documents and many more.

Current focus

The data recovery landscape is shifting dramatically. Traditional PC-based recovery is mature, but three massive growth areas are emerging: mobile device recovery, cloud-based recovery, and virtual machine recovery.

We’re investing heavily in these directions. Products like DataNumen Data Recovery now support smartphone data recovery, while DataNumen Outlook Repair and SQL Recovery support recovering data from virtual machines—critical as more enterprises move infrastructure to the cloud which uses virtual machines extensively.

We’re also integrating AI more deeply into our recovery algorithms to handle increasingly complex data corruption scenarios that traditional methods can’t solve.

Upcoming goals:

Expand our cloud and mobile recovery offerings – These markets are growing 30-40% annually as businesses migrate to cloud infrastructure and mobile-first operations.
Build strategic partnerships – We’re developing relationships with cloud service providers and enterprise IT management platforms to embed our recovery capabilities directly into their ecosystems.
Scale our AI-enhanced recovery platform – We’re working to make our AI-powered recovery technology accessible to mid-market companies, not just Fortune 500 enterprises.

The fundamental mission remains unchanged: help businesses recover from data disasters quickly and reduce the loss as minimal as possible. But the platforms, scale, and sophistication required to deliver that promise keep evolving—and we’re evolving with them.

What Are You Currently Obsessed With or Optimizing?

I’m currently obsessed with integrating AI with our 24 years of data recovery expertise. The question driving me: how can we use AI to make our specialized expertise more powerful and accessible?

This means enhancing our data recovery algorithms, improving our educational content, providing a better support system, and building better diagnostic tools—all while leveraging the deep domain expertise we’ve accumulated over two decades.

Also Read: How Brandon Leibowitz Built SEO Optimizers Into a $1M+ Digital Marketing Agency

Do You Still Feel Connected to the Mission That Started It All?

Honestly, my initial purpose was primarily to make money.

But as I developed and sold data recovery software, I gradually discovered the true meaning of this work: when businesses and individuals face data disasters, our software helps them recover their data and minimize their losses. Witnessing customers pull back from the edge of disaster—recovering years of business emails, irreplaceable personal photos, mission-critical databases—transformed how I saw this business.

That sense of mission—helping customers recover as much data as we can from unexpected data disasters—gradually became what drives me to keep going.

Now, facing changes in the market, my goal is to use AI technology to make our data recovery capabilities even more powerful, helping more customers recover from increasingly challenging data disasters. The problems are getting more complex—cloud environments, mobile devices, sophisticated corruption scenarios—and I want to ensure we’re equipped to solve them.

So yes, I’m deeply connected to the mission. It just took me time to discover what that mission truly was. I started wanting to make money. I stayed because I found something worth doing.

What’s Your Best Advice for Entrepreneurs Trying to Hit Their First $1M?

I recommend the I Ching (Book of Changes), one of China’s oldest classical texts. It teaches the rules of change—an essential mindset for navigating both business and life.

Over 24 years of running DataNumen, I’ve faced countless setbacks and challenges, hitting rock bottom multiple times. During those dark periods, I’d recall a concept from the I Ching about complementary hexagrams: Pi (adversity) and Tai (prosperity). Pi represents difficult times, while Tai represents good fortune. The key insight? When adversity reaches its extreme, transformation toward prosperity begins.

There’s a Chinese idiom for this: “否极泰来” (pi ji tai lai) — expressing this exact principle.

This wisdom helped me adjust my mindset during the lowest points—after failed products, during the 2008 financial crisis, when revenue declined. Instead of despair, I’d remember: this too shall pass, and often, the darkest moment precedes the breakthrough.

Understanding the rules of change kept me from quitting when things looked hopeless. Multiple times, this perspective helped me emerge from valleys and lead DataNumen back to success.

Any Books, Habits, or Tools That Helped You Succeed?

Everything follows the rules of change.

When you’re in a valley, remember that a peak is coming—this gives you the courage to keep moving forward. When you’re at a peak, remember to prepare for the valley ahead—this keeps you humble and focused.

This understanding of the rules of change has carried me through 24 years of ups and downs. It’s the reason I’ve been able to get back up after every crisis—whether it was selling only three copies in six months, losing money in the 2008 financial crisis, or watching revenue decline as the market shifted.

The entrepreneurs who survive aren’t necessarily the smartest or the most talented. They’re the ones who understand that both success and failure are temporary, and who adjust their mindset and strategy accordingly.

Don’t let success make you complacent. Don’t let failure make you quit. Both are just phases in a longer journey.

Conclusion

Every founder’s journey is marked by a handful of defining decisions — moments when clarity, resilience, and conviction shape the entire trajectory of a business. Chongwei Chen’s story is a reminder that success isn’t built on shortcuts or luck; it’s built on consistency, deep expertise, and an unwavering commitment to solving real problems for real people.

From overcoming technical challenges to building a globally trusted brand, his path shows what’s possible when you pair mastery with persistence. In a world chasing speed, his journey celebrates something far more powerful: long-term excellence.

At Unicorn Success, we champion founders who build with purpose — founders like Chongwei, whose stories illuminate the grit behind the growth. If his journey inspired you, share it with another entrepreneur who might need the spark today.

And if you’re building your own Zero to Million story, we’d love to hear it. Your breakthrough might be the next one we publish — and the next one that inspires the world.

👉 Inspired by Chongwei Chen’s journey building DataNumen into a global leader in data recovery software? Share this story with a fellow entrepreneur—this might be the spark they need to scale their own business.

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