NET CEO Yang Hao-hu: Borrowing money to start a two-degree ledge

Venture capital Note: This article was published in the September 2010 Business Review of 21st century, when net was just 5 years old. 3 years of net focus on innovation, in the Internet PC end and mobile end gradually exerting force, not only launched the network recruitment development trend of the network job fairs, real estate trading page Street map, used car page rest assured the new products such as vehicle channels, but also launched a credit system, express guarantee transactions and other user protection services Net profit also finally let the founding team keep cloud Open see month Ming. Recently, net announced a total of up to $90 million trillion in new financing news, this may be from Yang Hao Chung to achieve the initial goal of entrepreneurship-"net to become the leader of classified information in China" another step. During 2001-2004, Yang Hao-hu A number of High-tech companies located in Silicon Valley, the world's largest network security equipment company Juniper NX's core development team as a system expert, a stable and not too tired work, with a large salary ... It can be imagined that if you stay abroad to develop, Yang Hao the future life is very comfortable, but he chose to return to business. Yang Hao-hu Very frankly said: "In fact, just go abroad when the plan to come back, then is to come up to see, long experience, learn something, and then come back to do something." "Is such a simple intention, so that the young people back in the winter of 2004 to return to an unprecedented enthusiasm in the internet entrepreneurial tide, a short period of time, to deal with the company registration, rent Office, recruitment staff and other matters, early start-up and staff to stay up late to write programs, Cycling around Beijing's university campus, wandering the dormitory to distribute leaflets ... Then there is the "net", the largest and most active local life information portal in China. Most of the technical CEOs are not good speech, but it is obvious that Yang Hao Chung does not belong to this category, he easy-going, Frank, do not make public, looking back on this 5 years of entrepreneurial process, net several times, Yang is always a faint tone, but the listener clearly can experience the thrilling, Life-and-death. Yang Hao Chung, net CEO borrowed 100,000 dollars Leo I, from a small bone has restless factor. When I was a bachelor, I worked with a few students to contract the school cinema. When I was a graduate student in China, I also worked as a book agent for the new Oriental. In the 1997, a lot of people pay a dollar a month, and I was one months to earn 10,000 dollars. By June 2004, there are a lot of people in Silicon Valley are starting a business, affected by their influence, in the United States, I also try to find someone to borrow 100,000 of dollars, but the parents heard I want to come back to entrepreneurship, are strongly opposed, they are very worried: if things do not make money and how to lose it? At that time the domestic salary is not so high, I guess I can find a monthly salary of about 20,000 of the work, in that case, 100,000 dollars I also have a few years! And in the future will not be able to enter the industry. But see my wishes are urgent, parents give me a suggestion: Let me wait 6 months to observe and see if I really want to do it again. At that time, my idea was to copy Craigslist, the largest classified information site in the United States, to China, a site similar to a BBS without prior login, where users could post and sell second-hand, make friends, rent a house, find a job, and I used it to sell my guitar and sofa. The site now has more than 40 million people log in every day, can be classified as the originator of the information site. After this 6 months, while I apply for a green card, while holding a business plan to find VC, has contacted several large VC, they have expressed interest in my things, but often on the actual level, there is no tidings. Something happened in September that year, and I was more determined to start my home business immediately. The cause is that I sent a business plan to a few VC, including a VC to me to introduce the project, I went to see the partner sitting next to another Chinese investors, the heart is very uncomfortable, so quickly introduced the project left. Later and this VC because the shareholding ratio and investment and other conditions did not talk about, I asked the investor out to dinner, I said to him, first, I do not want you to copy my ideas; second, if you really want to do it, we do it together. But the conditions he made were harsh and I couldn't accept it. In this way, I was very nervous, the mind is always a string, thinking that this person may act faster than me, so I want to hurry up, rush in front of him back, finally determined to resign. I remember clearly that the day of the flight was December 24, 2004, filled with a Christmas atmosphere. Within a week, I was quick to take care of the company registration, rent Office, recruitment staff and so on, in the Tsinghua Science and Technology Park building a 70 square meters of the house began the entrepreneurial journey. Two-degree Ledge March 20, 2005, net officially on the line, to April the national classification information site has more than 200, June, the approximation of 2000, Sohu, Sina and other portals have joined in, I have a huge competitive pressure, but in front of the staff, but also to show a very confident appearance. I made a budget: 100,000 U.S. dollars converted into RMB about 800,000, each month's rent and market costs are 30,000, 10 employees, per capita monthly salary of 2000 yuan, each month to spend 50,000 yuan, so that can adhere to 16 months, then again attract not to invest in the game is over. Fortunately, the situation soon turned into a turnaround: June or July of that year, net has emerged from similar sites, when almost all the sites are doing the national business, net the beginning of the national business, and then I think that is not right: I have just returned home for a few months, Guangdong, Shenzhen and other cities I have not been to, how to do these markets? I decided to only do the Beijing market, and only do three categories-friends, rent and second-hand, focus on key cities and key business, so the marketing is very targeted. After half a year, the effects of these practices are already clear: although the total number of net visits is notBiggest, but its Beijing area's user visit quantity is stable first. NET provides classified information to the service object and content beyond the portal, which is why in the United States, people are in love with Craigslist, because they want to do something, the site of this kind of information enough and effective. It also happened when Google was planning to enter the Chinese market, but the Chinese government did not allow foreign companies to have ICP licences, and Google needed a Chinese partner. After the introduction of friends, I met with Google's people, chatting very speculative, in early 2006, the two sides set up a joint venture company, Operation google.cn Domain name, we each year from this joint venture company's income part, the income not only is sufficient to maintain the website operation, moreover can do more promotion, net finally does not have to worry about the survival question. In 2006, net entered three first-tier cities in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Every time we enter a new city, we start to advertise on the local website of this city, and then track the amount of traffic that comes from the website, and gradually shrink to a small number of good media in half a year. At this time many VC initiative to come to the door, I said to investors, if you give us another 800,000, I have the confidence to defeat Shanghai's competitors. In June 2008, we got a risk financing however, unfortunately, the impact of the global financial crisis, the VC began to be cautious, or to the project reassessment, a lot of even the equity agreement signed not to vote, that time to find VC talk about the project, they asked the first sentence is: "You profit?" Don't talk if you are not profitable. "It was a tough couple of months, and I thought to myself before I went to bed every day: The less money I spent." Several of our management are not getting paid and Xianchan to the company. In this way for 8 months, by April 2009, Net finally really began to profit. Cut the value point many people think that the site is to write code, posted on the Internet a number of posts is classified information, and then find some businessmen to talk about some discounts back, this page can make money, it seems that the threshold is very low. In fact, the market of classified information site needs to be cultivated slowly, this is a short period of money can be earned in the industry, indeed, these years the vast majority of classified information sites because of lack of funds and promotion, can not survive and die. To this year (Entrepreneurial State note: 2010), the real Industry classification information site only left three: 58 with the city, the People's Network and net. My first thought was to copy Craigslist directly to China, and later, in the Chinese market, things were far less simple than they had imagined. In China to do classified information Web site, the promotion of higher costs, the need for more human costs. Because net users, like Craigslist users, the thing that matters most is whether the information is sufficient and true. The value of NET is a real solution to the problem of life for the user. For example: one wants to move to BeijingPeople out of the railway station, the rest of everything can be handed to net, find a house, find a dream job, find a few like-minded friends ... These net can help you. At present, Net's service area covers almost every aspect of life-renting, recruiting, housekeeping, maintenance, second-hand goods trading, making friends, even carpool and love. NET's annual income reached tens of millions of dollars in 2009, but there is still a big gap compared to Craigslist: according to the investigation agency aim group, Craigslist's revenues in 2009 exceeded $100 million trillion. Today in the U.S. mobile phone search, the number one is not Google, but Craigslist. In my opinion, as long as the flow to do up, products and services to follow up, and other such as income, profit these are the things that come naturally. Mobile Internet is the general trend, mobile phone as a communication tool, call this function has been widely recognized by users, 3G came, mobile internet has come, it will bring about our life changes? In the commute, when waiting for a bus, you can do a lot of things simply by querying the location-based Life service information. In the next two years, I expect the net wireless service to exceed the total number of visits across the Internet. We encourage our employees to innovate, for example, our technicians are developing and coming to a new business, called "Rental call transfer". Users worry that the phone will be harassed on the internet, we will make a virtual phone, the call to the user's cell phone up, and so the user rented the house to break the connection, so that the personal phone will not be exposed. In the past few years, companies with less than 10 start-ups have grown to hundreds of and are expanding at a rapid pace. But I hope that my staff and I will always be able to maintain a passion for entrepreneurship. In management, I advocate simplicity and transparency, just like our website style: simple, easy-to-use, and all related page decorations. We strive to create a relaxed and free working environment for our employees, and many of our young employees wear T-shirts and slippers to work. We just got a 20 million dollar investment from Nokia Growth Partner fund and Blue Venture in May, which helps us to further expand our business, and I hope everyone uses net to make it the leader of classified information in China.