How entrepreneurs survive in the mobile internet age

Wen/Zhang Traditional internet companies still have a huge influence in this era. This makes the entrepreneurial environment more severe than it was 10 years ago. So, the new entrants need to have a stronger viability. IDG Capital is the earliest investment in the Internet sector, we realized that the mobile internet will be the trend, and invested a lot of excellent mobile internet companies, involved in the mobile internet ecological chain of various links, from hardware to software,　　From the operating system to mobile applications. This is in line with our investment philosophy-striving to create a complete ecological chain.　　One of the most important features of the companies we invest in is that they innovate and challenge traditional patterns in mobile internet. The biggest change of mobile internet is the change of user's usage habit, which means the change of Internet traffic entrance.　　For example, micro-credit and micro-blogging are now very important portals, and the influence of traditional portals or vertical web sites has been greatly impacted.　　Moreover, due to the small size of the mobile phone screen, input inconvenience and other factors, making the user's choice is often relatively concentrated and single, industry concentration is higher than in the past, the competition is more intense. This impact on the traditional internet is conceivable. Just imagine, if Tencent did not launch the micro-letter, will be affected by what impact?　　The rise of micro-letter, although it will have a direct impact on its original QQ and impact, but for Tencent, this change is very worthwhile, he seized the mobile era of opportunity. But traditional internet companies still have a huge impact in this era.　　This makes the entrepreneurial environment tougher than it was 10 years ago – entrepreneurs need to compete not just with their contemporaries but with "several mountains". The accumulation of resources and brand effects of the Giants are not available to mobile internet companies. For example, mention mobile E-commerce, Taobao must be the largest;　　Even if everyone's products are doing the same good, people with more resources will have more advantages.　　How does a small entrepreneurial team survive in such a market? The "Mountain" in Internet market is not "original sin", the market position that big company obtains is the accumulation of past effort, also is the result of user choice. The user is accustomed to vote with the foot, which service is good to come, which home is not good to go. So, this requires new entrants to have a stronger viability: first, to run fast enough. The World martial arts, only fast not broken. The big company's technology is strong, the personnel is also very outstanding. But small companies are more focused, making it a point. As long as it is fast enough, the product is innovative enough, there is still a chance; Small companies to compete with large companies, they can only go into the subdivision of the depth of the field, can be financial, education, medical services and other fields. Large companies in this area also have no direct resources, such as MA, Horse also need and MA cooperation in the online sale of insurance.　　This is the combination of different advantages. Third, small companies can use the support of external funds. To meet the appetite of investors, innovative, subversive, enough professional to do. IDG chooses the investment object, both types will consider: One is the top company, itself can grow into an ecosystem, which is the ideal of all investors. The next step is to look for derivative opportunities on platforms that have already formed ecosystems. Now some ecosystems are already very large, such as Taobao and micro-letter, may be derived from a number of business models.　　Of course, the return on this opportunity is not as good as the first.　　Change all the mobile Internet, can change the existing competition pattern, will appear new "Apple"? This first requirement, whether from the user experience, industrial chain restructuring, marketing point of need for innovation, and constantly introduce different generations of products to meet user needs.　　When the company reaches a certain level of time, it is no longer a homogeneous or micro-innovation competition, the possession of a real patent is an unavoidable threshold.　　In this respect, the enterprise in the past did not have much accumulation, patent more concentrated in Apple, Samsung, Motorola and other large companies. There are several paths: one is to pay royalties to patent owners; the other is to carry out subversive research and development in the past; third, if you have enough money, you can choose to buy a company with a patent.　　Chinese enterprises to go out to do some strategic mergers and acquisitions, may also be the only way to rapid development. Whether or not there will be a new "apple" or any other big company, the changes that the mobile Internet brings to us are already evident.　　In the future, it is hard to imagine that, perhaps ten years from now, the smartphone we use today is being replaced by products such as Google Glass or biochip. (The writer is IDG Capital partner)