Charlixia wo to create starting camp

Core tip: Charlie and Sirun jointly manage the fund and serve as partners in the starting-point start-up business.

Sheng Shanghai Report

Although near the Spring Festival holiday, a large conference room in the Xinzhuang wisdom garden is still brightly lit: a young entrepreneur, constantly swinging the laser pen in his hand, circling on the slide screen, talking passionately about the business model of their company, where listeners listen and sometimes interrupt the speaker, Discuss the puzzle. So, it often lasts a whole day, and extends to the night.

The organizer of the event is the "starting-point business".

Last December, the starting point of entrepreneurial incubator start-up camp in Shanghai officially launched, "Base" is located in Minhang Xinzhuang Wisdom Garden. At the same time, "starting Point venture capital fund" also announced the success of the initial stage of the scale of 200 million yuan.

The founding partner of Charlie and SoftBank China Executive partner Xue Cun Wo is a friend for many years. Charlie has held managerial positions in Saatchi & Sattchi, Ziffdavis and famous international media companies, and has served as Asia's CEO in the UK listed company Motionposter. In the early 90, he started a business in the United States and served as President and CEO of EastWest Creative Communication Inc. and InterPro. Sirun, one of the founders of UTStarcom Inc., joined SoftBank in China, where he led the team and invested early in projects such as the audience, Alibaba (Weibo), and good kids.

In 2011, they decided to jointly launch a renminbi fund and set up an incubator to focus on the early Chinese technology companies and discover and build a "great enterprise" for the future. The idea was supported by the Xinzhuang government, the Minhang government and the Shanghai government, all of which have become the LP of the Fund, which now stands at 200 million yuan. Charlie and Sirun jointly manage the fund and serve as partners in the starting-point start-up business.

As early as 2000, Charlie the incubator of an early technology start-up company in China, ideafactory the earliest Chinese search engines, online learning, online music and mobile gaming. Charlie is also a fund that focuses on investing in early-stage new technology companies. In the meantime, he also on the network on Entrepreneurship, venture, innovation and other topics for entrepreneurs to provide advice. May 2010, Charlie "Give you a billion, what can you do?" Was officially published and became a commercial bestseller.

Despite the view that "China is now in an environment entrepreneurship incubator and early investment, are a certain degree of labor, only they like to do such a dirty work, not afraid to fall dead, will do, but the arrival of the Chinese knowledge entrepreneurial peak or let Charlie and Sirun can not help but again to do the incubator.

Sirun said the goal of starting a start-up camp was simple: to tap China's next Alibaba.

"Not an incubator."

Although the incubation agency was set up twice, the partners of the starting-point start-up camp did not recognize the model of the conventional incubator. In the interview, they always stressed that the starting point is not an incubator, but barracks.

"Tens of thousands of incubators in the world, so many years down, the real cattle companies, how many are out of the incubator?" "He believes that, as of now, the incubator has not proved the validity of its model." So it is with China. For a long time, Chinese governments around the world to promote innovation, encourage entrepreneurship for the purpose of the incubator to occupy the mainstream of domestic incubators, they provide rent-free, tax-free or even a small amount of financial support services, in addition, there are real estate operators operating in the name of the incubator for various real estate projects

Charlie to the incubator as a "greenhouse" practice is not recognized, in his view, the greenhouse can only produce flowers, and the entrepreneur should be the field army, the incubator should be on the site, facilities and start-up funds on top of things, such as to find the right direction for entrepreneurs, help them enrich the team, positioning products, help the flag, provide resources, Directional suggestions.

This is also the origin of the name of "Starting a business camp".

So, starting-point startups focus on entrepreneurs who have taken the first step, not just a start-up idea or a business plan. Charlie said the start camp does not welcome those who just wait for someone to pay for their tuition, entrepreneurs must have the most basic sense of survival and ability, the entire enterprise should be in normal operation.

In addition, he wants the entrepreneurial team to be at least 2 people, because if you are a one-man business, no knowledge and skills complementary team, no checks and balances, he feared you will become an arbitrary dictator.

"We're not two landlords," Charlie explains. "We're investing in starting a business, with the aim of constantly finding good entrepreneurs, investing in their businesses, becoming their first institutional investors, and becoming part of their founding team." ”

Do not set a mandatory relationship

In Charlie's view, the biggest value of incubators should be to help entrepreneurs in entrepreneurial thinking, while the exchange of entrepreneurs is also one of the essential ways to accelerate success, by successful entrepreneurs for the first time on the road entrepreneurs to provide guidance and help, which is more valuable than investment money.

Starting a pioneering business organizes a large number of open activities of entrepreneurs, including how to polish the business model, how to write business plans when financing, how to make financial forecasts and so on to guide the entrepreneur.

They also set up the CEO "compulsory course", tailored for the CEO, such as how to dig people, how early companies predict the future, and help them find industry advisers.

To enjoy these services, the entrepreneurs do not have to pay any price, including shares.

Someone asked Charlie such a question, "Why don't you take a stake in every company?" "It's not a good idea for a resource swap, and I think it's essentially a cheap job for entrepreneurs," he said.

For the settled enterprise, the starting-venture investment fund will invest selectively in future, but it does not have the preferential investment right.

"In our industry, word of mouth is very important, I said that the provision of services and value, will certainly provide, since we want to invest, guide and train entrepreneurs, we must also be entrepreneurs, we must have the same values as entrepreneurs, Charlie said, the beginning of the entrepreneurial camp is more want to build a public good, Open entrepreneurial ecological environment, "Let the whole society to pay attention to and support entrepreneurship, which will make our chances of success increased a lot."