Entrepreneurship requires a certain innate trait

Want to start the first possible in addition to find a good idea, a good team, and also hope to have the support of funds, may be a lot of people start to think not to raise money, VCs really need what kind of business. I think the example is the best, can tell two cases, recently we cast two Internet enterprises, in fact, are E-commerce, first of all, we can give you a minute how we find these enterprises, and second, after the cast of these enterprises are how rapid growth.

Jingdong Mall is our October 06 when the first phase of funding in place, the first time to see Liu is 10 o'clock in the evening, at Shangri-La Hotel. We talked and thought the story was good. First, Jing Dong a penny advertisement does not do every month to grow 10%, I think he quite has the idea, this person also quite has the good faith. Second, the business long so fast, it must be because of the consumer to impress a nerve. The next day, I took him to see the partner, and we immediately signed the framework agreement. Signed a framework agreement. He still has one thing, need to the original shareholder said at that time to give money later did not give, to sell it out, we then the investment contract did not sign, we will give him the money, to solve his immediate needs. Later we also thought about it, we from meet to the funds in place, maybe one months less than two months, the speed is relatively fast.

I think this choice may have a few things touched us, one may be Liu this person is more honest, a person is not honest, I can not say what kind of people, but you met to know. He is a sociology, not a computer, but he taught himself computer in college, in the university is already a richest student, go out to help people design software or something. The man who bought the BP machine and the Big Brother was the first to make a special effort. This illustrates two things, I think the entrepreneur is born, there are many people say that such a smart person how not to start a business, entrepreneurship early success, this is a very big assumption, entrepreneurship needs a certain trait, this trait is innate. We especially like people who have business acumen from college, everywhere to find a job, which means that he has a trait, you do not look at college students do a little business, explain two issues, first, he has the desire to start a business, and second, he has a bit of commercial mind, and third, he commanded one or two soldiers, college students do business this matter not necessarily resign , but it's a trait of his character that we like. In addition, a self-taught person should be a little smart.

Look at the performance, this person can not do with the performance is very related, we see his performance to do what is quite successful, think it is OK, the performance is good. So people are more honest, but also very smart, performance is OK, we also read his data, looked at his ERP system, spot spot checks, he was not very famous at the time, consumers why to buy the Jingdong Mall, one is the judgment of the people, one is the judgment of the business opportunities, then played 20 phone calls, after communication with consumers, Discovering this value is great because the value proposition is very clear. First, consumers feel that the quality of protection, there is no parallel imports, which they adhere to has been very good, no parallel to everyone feel very relieved, because the Internet to buy things we feel very uneasy, but in Jingdong Mall buy goods no parallel, quality is guaranteed. Second, the price is cheap, the price is cheap 10%-15%. Can the price be sustained? This is critical. We looked at the pattern seems to have some advantages, rent savings, staff savings, we go to the store to see display, usually have a prototype there, touch to touch on the old, to sell at a discount, this skipped. There is liquidity occupancy, Gome, suning have done better, their liquidity is basically 30-40 days, the internet can do 10 days, so the liquidity savings a lot. The retail industry can do to look at two numbers, one is gross profit how, there is a liquidity turnover how, although his gross margin is not high, but the transfer of funds quickly, but also can roll themselves, see Gome, Suning long so big also did not take the wind to vote for a penny, indicating or liquidity dealer to pay him money, big , so we feel that his pattern has a little advantage.

There is another reason, just said the quality is guaranteed, the second price advantage, third, I feel that we users still feel very convenient, we played a lot of phone, in fact, people from all walks of life have, and some in very remote places, they feel convenient is the first choice, before the computer mall to buy, The experience is not very good, it is pulled to pull, the bus two stops to feel very inconvenient. We feel that the Chinese Internet users, especially after the age, especially like to stay on the internet, because he grew up holding QQ, he often see Tudou, not to watch CCTV, so such a group of people are very like to buy things on the internet. So we think the user is convenient, this amount is also very big, so we feel very good, then cast. Now feel is good, growing up quickly, we came in to help the enterprise three magic weapons, to assess the first brand of corporate culture, or quite useful. The first time to find the financial director Xiao Chen, asked me Jingdong Mall is what Ah, do not know what is. We say this is incredible ah, you come here will be very promising, one is the career of the future, one is the future of money, painted a pie, Xiao Chen came, that time is relying on our capital today to cheat him, now do not need, and then Jingdong Mall own great fame, do brand benefits, one is the performance of a long time , there is to attract talent is very easy, now Jingdong mall talent has come a lot of middle-level backbone, we feel it growth rate from 80 million to 1.3 billion, 2 years time. Of course there are a lot of pain in the process of growth, people's problems, warehouse problems, and so on, growth is very painful, Liu and his team I think the doing is quite good.

The correctness of the pattern is sometimes more important than the person's self-confidence.

This is a case, is how to look at people to the industry, in fact, the feeling of the industry, it felt that the industry is good, consumer surveys are done in the late research, and began to feel better, in fact, we feel caught eyeball, when you see a business model, There are so many growth patterns in the absence of any advertising, and we believe that the correctness of the pattern is sometimes more important than the confidence of the person.

I think it is very important to choose the right model if you want to start a business. We have three investment ideas, the first investment industry, the second investment entrepreneur, the third to help this entrepreneur to build the first brand, you see the order is the industry first, we feel that the industry election is very important, the industry after the election of your team sometimes a little bit close or executive force a little bit almost no relationship, Business model itself will give you a good threshold, give you a good growth rate, as for the following implementation can be learned, so the first to choose a good industry, and the industry to experience this thing from the user. Because we are often cross-sectoral cast, the biggest feeling is that we often see a group of very capable people, but not how the business model, finished is more than 10 years also do not come out, we think these people to do that industry has long been successful, but did not do so.

The most typical example is that many traditional industries, such as the electronic manufacturing industry, see Sony Big enough, enough cattle, but also often in the loss of money, a company to do something very profitable, profit is very high, you see NetEase is also, NetEase actually very profitable, profit margin 30%, 40%, do one thing, online games. I often talk to entrepreneurs, in the final analysis, what is important, why our internet companies have been given such a high price-earnings ratio, in fact, I think is the recognition of this model, you are in the mode of the threshold is relatively high. Why Baidu, management may not be the best in the world, a lot of employees are gone, but Baidu profit margin is still 40%, the annual growth or 80%, the industry is good, so I think the choice of industry is very important.

No matter how busy the CEO is, be sure to do it yourself.

I think the industry election may have to look at people, integrity or the most important, because we small shareholders, the money to others also let people decide, here in the face of his trust is very critical, very reassuring. Another is his grasp of business opportunities, because business start-up time in fact not so high management requirements, or the entrepreneurial grasp of the business is critical, he can not feel the other people do not feel the things, I think we choose a few entrepreneurs have the same characteristics, is that they can grasp, Seems to the cause of the feeling is very good, from Ding Lei, to Liu, to the diamond birds, every time on the market have a feeling, especially for the user has a feeling. We often tell our entrepreneurs that no matter how busy you are, there is one thing you must do yourself, is to communicate with users and product development, we feel that a business is not good, or the internet industry or High-tech industry, is because the boss himself is not the founder is a part-time job, he came to see the financial statements every month, He sits in the office just as the manager, and he's not on the front line. You see how long it is on the internet every day, every time the user experience his feeling is the most accurate, this is the general direction of judgment, and this decision is made by the boss, try the boss never online, just listen to others report, a great idea, from below to product development manager, To climb the ridge to the CEO here has played a lot of folding. Why the boss is very important, his fancy things can be pushed to move, the following look useless. So I think Ma teng This method is very good, I do product manager. He has a lot of teams down there, and every time he does, he knows he can do it, and it doesn't matter if he uses a lot of time to communicate with users on the Internet.

At that time when we cast Liu found that he often sleep woke up after the discovery that users sent a post he answered, spent a lot of time with users. Diamond birds too, spend a lot of time with users. He would never make a big mistake by saying that the pricing was wrong or the direction was wrong. Including Ding Lei is also, I think this feeling is with him a lot of spending time with the user is very related, so this is our market and a feeling to people.

The expansion of a cause by trust is not done, rely on the system can be big

We choose the diamond bird is also very interesting, we also start from the industry to see, we first select the industry and then select entrepreneurs. How did we find the industry? It was also the beginning, our philosophy has been to seize the middle class and his lifestyle, middle class we see, the United States has a middle class, we China is not just beginning the middle class, see Americans have money to do, what we are doing. I noticed a big difference: middle-aged American women, 30-year-old appearance, basically have common characteristics, is to wear earrings, to necklace, wear a ring to the United States to see is very common, basically, there are few ears light, they feel that it is difficult to wear, very strange things. In China, there are not many women in this room, please raise your hands with earrings, please raise your hands with your ears worn ear. There are 2, why not wear it? Maybe the boyfriend didn't buy it. What does that mean? Our jewelry industry is going to rise, because people have money or need to decorate, jewelry industry can do gold, and can make diamonds, choose what? A look at the gold is a bit of soil, giving people the feeling is money, but the diamond to people is a dream, so we prefer diamonds. We didn't actually look at the Internet at first, we also go to the line to see, see the Diamond chain, see a lot of home, found that this industry demand is very large but the pattern does not do, the industry demand is not equal to the model big, this is very important, the model can be big is there is a law in the inside, Why aren't diamond chains doing so much? Then we looked at several businesses, and his inventory was too stressful, because the user went to your store is to look at the diamond, your diamond to see the touch, the diamond is very large, inventory is equal to 50% of sales revenue, that is to 500 million of the sales revenue to put 200,000,005 of the diamond there. There is also a bottleneck, such as diamonds and so money, you put so much money in so many Hango small stores in case of stealing, in case you changed, the requirements of the shop is very high, to trust him. So we think that the expansion of a business rely on trust is not done, but rely on the system can be big. At the time we felt as if there was a big demand but it didn't work out, and it didn't seem to be big or expensive to sell.

We noticed that the Internet has a company called Diamond birds grow very fast, selling diamonds on the internet, because he has no stores, no decoration costs, it is cheaper to sell. We have seen three, why do we choose diamond birds? In fact, is also two judgments, one is that they are very good faith, very relieved to see this pair of siblings you know, I do not know how to describe, but see them feel very trusting. I think their partner is very good, brother understand diamond procurement, sister do sales, they are very small, more than 20 people, one months of income is only 2 million, and just open the shop on Taobao, their website has no traffic, then we invested. Now we are also very happy, the investment has grown 10 times times, should be pulled out of the second year more than twice times the gap.

Note: from Sohu it March 25, 2009 related reports.