"Cool News Faction" Entrepreneurship: Sing it, the gods shake is how the birth of

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Tencent Science and Technology Zong February 5 Report

"Be a boxer, or you won't be there." ”

This is a group of entrepreneurs who are not so prestigious. They have tried to create a big scene, but experienced a painful lesson, many people subsequently on the entrepreneurial road several times wasted. But like "Armored Steel Fist" in the abandoned but eventually the small robot, they are not born sparring, mobile internet is the stage of their renewed energy.

Chen and Wu Shichung used to be a pair of entrepreneurial partners, 7 years ago, the two people jointly founded a cool news, "life search" concept of a flash, but also in the company in the trough when both outs. After several changes, they have entered the mobile Internet, the former do now popular mobile phone K song application "Sing It", the latter has become a gourmet search application, "God Shake Shake" founder.

The founder of Cool News is not only Chen Wu two people, there are a group of cool in the turbulent period to leave the product and technical elite. Compared to the domestic famous "Google pioneering help", or a lot of attention to the NetEase entrepreneurs, "Cool News faction" slightly low-key, but this group of people who have fought together after different setbacks in the collective choice of mobile Internet as a new battlefield.

Zhang Yixi, the original Cool News Technical committee chairman, he left the cool news after doing a real estate search website Room 99 (merged original Cool News property), but since policy changes cannot continue, he has instead started a byte-hopping company focused on mobile apps for social data mining, such as "Today's headline", a personalized reading of 7.5 million active users.

Zeng Tingkun, used to do technology development in cool news. Farm game when he left Cool news, and others jointly set up a game company play Crab Technology, as CTO. The company launched last year, the mobile game "big Masters", is currently the Apple App Store one of the best-selling games, the monthly income of more than 20 million yuan.

Zhouqingsong, original Cool News real estate search product manager; Grim, original Cool News senior engineer. They used to move from cool to 99, and last year started 517 travel networks, and recently launched a "travel diary" of mobile apps.

Incomplete statistics, 2008-2009 years before the departure of the former cool news staff nearly one or two years has founded more than 10 companies. Although most of them are still outside the limelight, several of these bursts of star apps have started to focus on the entrepreneurial community, which has an emotional bond with the early cool news experience.

A group of entrepreneurs frustrated with the Internet's vertical search, now collectively in the mobile Internet glow youth. What lessons have they drawn from the ups and downs of the past few years?

Cool News

The cool news of the Chen Wu era is the perfect deduction for a "hot money darling" of the ups and downs curve, the once famous start-up company with train ticket search started, has a dream start: a year to melt tens of millions of dollars in money, and try to create a big scene in the Life search field. But only three years, the wonderful dream is met the reality setback, cannot find the business model, the fund runs out, the layoff, in 2008 years, the cool news announced abandons the original route transformation online traveling, Chen and Wu Shichung successively sadly leaves.

After leaving the cool news, they were not able to get rid of the search knot and path dependence at first. Chen went to Alibaba continue to do search research and development, and then jumped out to continue to venture, he first based on the search technology to do the Electric shopping promotion website Most Amoy, failed in a few months. Wu Shichung also toss a period of time after the creation of the music and the interaction, the original product form a bit like the original cool news of the restaurant search, but also made a SNS community, do not smooth. Until Chen did sing it, Wu Shichung changed to do the food God shakes, began to slowly fire.

Other "Cool News" entrepreneurs are also more to search or cool news complex. Zhang Yixi's reading application, "Today's headline," is at odds with the way the information is subscribed, at the core of information aggregation and data mining. "He does the product or use the technology of search engines, with the original Cool News (IDEA) is the same." "In Chen's view, Zhang Yixi is the most dedicated search person in the cool news faction." Even Zhouqingsong and grim, they founded the 517 tourism network seems to have nothing to do with the search, in fact, also from the Chen in the cool when the project of the tourism community "play together" in the inspiration.

But they are no longer likely to go the same way as cool news. This is a mobile internet era, but also a new era.

"The internet has not had much chance, and it is very difficult to build a new brand on the Internet." It's not a matter of personal ability, it's no longer related to ability. ”

Chen said to Tencent technology.

Sing it May 2012 31 online, more than tens of millions of users in a few months. In Chen's view, mobile Internet is a blank, there is no thing has been determined, every application has the value of survival space, as long as the cut to a part of the user, that part of the value.

Zeng Tingkun The reason why he chose to start a mobile phone game. Now the layout of the page and the end of the tour has been very stable, the new participants face the threshold will be very high, and promote the cost is not cheap, compared to the mobile game has just begun, full of opportunities.

But it's not easy to really do something. Zeng Tingkun Entrepreneurial Road after three or four years of hard days, with Wu Shichung words is "hold big recruit", until last year launched "Big Masters". The public figures show that in the December Apple App Store China revenue list, "Big Masters" ranked second in 4.23 million U.S. dollars in revenue, which is a leading domestic mobile gaming products. #p # subtitle #e#

The gene for Cool News

Every company has its own genes. Cool business people are basically exclusively technicians, initially engineers, after the transformation of the company's helm.

This is related to the state of the cool news when it was created. At the end of 2005, Chen and Wu Shichung created Cool News, from the beginning this is a technical, product-oriented companies. Chen was less than 30 years old, recruit a lot of people are highly skilled, thoughtful, passionate peers, this kind of engineer culture throughout the cool news early entrepreneurial atmosphere. Moreover, the cool news at that time uses the business Department independent accounting, each team must consider how to do the brand, the product, the market and the development, the team members often together analysis and the discussion, but does not have the role trenchant like the big company.

"At that time, they were already accumulating their own experience of starting a business. "Chen points out. Graduation is to enter cool news work Zeng Tingkun memories, he was in the free time will also consider his future to do things, intend to wait for the opportunity to mature their own entrepreneurial.

This experience of common warfare has created a special feeling of "cool" and has made them very consistent in their style of action.

For example, sing the team and the spirit of God shake the promotion model is the same, the gods shake than sing six months early to promote, then sing it also reference its experience to promote, micro-Bo marketing company is even the same company. Later, Zhang Yixi also find the company to promote. Chen do sing, from Cool news dug a person, now is to sing the marketing director. Wu Shichung There are also two or three cool news people, one of them was responsible for the cool news market, Zhang Yixi team responsible for the market is also from the Cool News marketing department.

"We are a way, all marketing methods, marketing discourse is very similar." "Chen said. Even in the icon design, "Cool News faction" Do several applications are very similar, eating God shook up the "eat" word, sing it accounted for the "singing" word. Travel accounts for the word "brigade".

Wu Shichung advocates "cool News faction" entrepreneurs to share some experience. He often said that entrepreneurship is like fire brigade every day, as long as you have experienced these things, others have experienced words can give him some advice, you can take some detours.

This communication often opens up ideas. Not long ago, Chen please Zeng Tingkun to sing a lecture. "Not I want to do the game, I want to know I sing the product on the phone, can not refer to the game on the train of thought, make me better money." "Chen said.

Experience and lessons learned

Chen and Wu Shichung are serial entrepreneurs, now the product red, behind each have a bitter tear, there are many experiences and lessons.

"The big lesson is that a company can't have that many directions. "Especially when a company is very small, it is a waste of energy to play the business department," Chen said. "Wu Shichung also believes that the choice of direction is the most important." Small companies to start a business, you must do some relatively vertical, at the right time to do the right direction.

"Don't dream of eating a fat one mouthful." Have to do a Taobao out, or have to do a QQ out. This dream is big, but your resources don't support this kind of dream. "Wu Shichung said.

"Cool News faction" Entrepreneurs are very focused on team operations. Wu Shichung that, the lack of anything, it is necessary to find a matching partner, together to set up a core founding team.

Chen himself. He chose to do it. is a big adventure, a record company people do not know, a star do not know, the company sings well No. But the advantage is the team, "we finally found that the team's executive power, technical team is strong, product team is strong, the market team is strong, three things together, in this market a dozen, others even shadow are missing." ”

As for Wu Shichung, who has made many angel investments, he stressed that it is also important to manage the pace of the company's development.

He argues that rapid expansion is bad for the company. How to manage expectations, for example, for the industry's grasp of fluctuations, every two or three years a wave crest trough, financing environment is also between extreme cold and extreme heat transformation. It's important to be able to make money when it's hot and save a little when it's very cold.

More technical curtilage Zeng Tingkun seems unable to like Chen, Wu two the same speak out entrepreneurial principles. "I didn't think that much, I just wanted to bring some sense of achievement to the team," he said. Just stick to it. "Talking about his own business," he said.

Zeng Tingkun's wishes were simple and sincere, he said the most important: insist.