David Ben Kay has been an anti-piracy czar and an arts guru. But after more than 20 years in Beijing, he's started a new adventure: as a kind of mother hen to creative entrepreneurs looking to break into China.

Formerly Microsoft China's general counsel focusing on intellectual property, the 57-year-old Colorado native opened Yuanfen, a new-media art gallery in Beijing's trendy 798 arts district, in 2008. In September he transformed the gallery into Yuanfen Flow, a business incubator that nurtures start-ups that combine art, business and sustainability with technology.

Mr. Kay discovered the Yuanfen space in 2003, just as 798 was emerging as a creative hub, with artists, fashion designers, book sellers and restaurants taking over old Soviet-era industrial buildings and converting them into Soho-style galleries and studios. A Bauhaus-style former ceramics factory, the brick-and-concrete structure was like 'a cathedral,' he said. 'It was extraordinary. All the windows were black and broken. Crap was piled up knee-high. So I said I'll take it.'

He added, 'When I walked in here I felt something I had never felt in a place before, like maybe I'm supposed to be here.'

At first he converted it into a plush living space for himself and his wife Gabrielle, complete with second-floor lap pool and circular bedroom windows that swung open. Eventually, though, he decided to turn it into a center for new media art projects, with exhibitions featuring sound, video, digital and performance art.

After four years running a gallery, Mr. Kay was ready for a new challenge.

'I said to my friends, Yuanfen is cool, it's serendipity, but it's not enough to really get things done,' he said. 'It has to...make something into a productive activity that really changes the world.'

He expanded the gallery by gutting the old space to create three levels of open office areas, with glass floors and open staircases that lead up to a third-floor 'cloud' for projects that are close to fruition.

Yuanfen Flow doesn't seed fledgling companies with any money, but instead offers practical advice on finance, law, design and marketing. It also offers them a creative startup environment in which to work and share ideas. For three months, entrepreneurs get free run of the space, which still has a green East German weighing scale, a potters' wheel, lockers inscribed with red Maoist slogans, and yes, the Kays' lap pool available for use. After that period, they must start generating revenue in order to extend their stay.

Companies Yuanfen Flow has helped include Muuyu, which offers two-way live-streaming yoga and tai chi lessons, and Customaid, a for-profit clothing company that allows customers to shop for, follow and comment on selected designers while donating a percentage of each sale to charity.

Sumeet Harish, Customaid's founder and chief executive, said that Mr. Kay helped him shape his business idea, build his contact list and connect with relevant players in the Chinese market.

This input, Mr. Harish said, has been invaluable. He also added that while business incubators 'are everywhere