Shen: Why did I give up finance to choose internet Business

Who is the banner of China's private sector? It is difficult to answer the question in a less transparent and open private sector. However, one person from 2010 to 2014 by Forbes as China's best VC, he is the founder of Chinese Sequoia Capital and executive partner Shen. While responding to industry-related problems, he gave a meaningful pause when asked to abandon the financial industry's well-paid work and decide to create a "Ctrip" feeling. First Financial daily: Venture capitalists are very risky, and it is not so transparent, what do you think is the best investor? Shen: Our industry is in the service of two groups of customers, first of all must serve the investors, investors give money to you is an important entrusted, but to get high returns, must serve the other group of people, Is the entrepreneur you invest in. As a good investor, he should not only use money to help a business, but also to bring his own resources, which is a big responsibility of investors. As an investor, the biggest satisfaction comes from making money for its investors, and from investing in helping a group of companies become successful and even great. Daily: An entrepreneur friend asked me to say that he studied abroad, returned to the Internet to do the company, but encountered a lot of gray areas, often faced with a moral choice. As an investor, must let the company profit, lets the investor make money, when the entrepreneur faces the gray area, what investor should do? Shen: I think for the entrepreneur, care should not be the short-term benefits maximization, should be the long-term maximization of corporate interests. At the same time, I think the right thing to do, this is in any country entrepreneurship must adhere to the rules, there should be a very clear dividing line between what can be done and what not to do, and I think in many industries in China, it is possible to rely on their own products and efforts to achieve success, rather than by stepping on gray lines or on the red line. Daily: Before 1999, Lehman, Deutsche and Citi had already peaked in the financial industry, but chose to start a business. But the founder of Ctrip is 1999, in fact, is the dotcom crisis, when the motives in the end is what? Shen: A young man was able to realize that it was a bubble, not easy. Not to do the internet industry, for many people will be a pity, but also for me, because the internet is changing and affecting many industries. Of course for me, this decision is difficult to do because I am not learning it, nor is it a programmer or product manager. However, the Internet still gives people too much throbbing, so I decided to venture into the sea. Looking back, this decision is a bit risky because I and my start-up partners don't have a lot of business experience, also not a lot of internet product experience, we are very fortunate to successfully come out, Ctrip became a considerable size of the company, for me that period of start-up enterprises how to take shape from zero experience is very valuable. This is also through the tortuous development of the road, perhaps these lessons forIt's more important to me. Daily newspaper: What's the biggest lesson? Shen: Young businesses start from scratch and go through a lot of detours. Marketing promotion on the same year also some blind practice, fortunately in the general direction did not make any mistakes. Daily newspaper: What should you do at that time? There are bubbles, and economic pressure, what should be done? Shen: The most critical possibility is to return to the core of the enterprise development problem is to solve the user's needs, understand what users need, consider how to meet these needs. Have seen a lot of Chinese enterprises through such a detour. Too much imitation of overseas business models and products, ignoring whether Chinese customers need such products. Invest in the past few years to find that the domestic and overseas excellent entrepreneurs have an important common characteristics, they are doing a service or a product, the purpose of doing this product or service is to change the way many people's lives and work, such a business philosophy is that we very much agree. Daily: What do you consider most in your investment enterprise? Shen: We invest in a business, rarely think about when it IPO, we first consider the enterprise in the next 5 years or even 10 years will be how the development trajectory, it can become the market leader in the segment, whether there is the potential for sustained growth, Rather than a two-year fast forward to profit, from the level two market arbitrage. Daily newspaper: Still need to have an exit strategy, right? Shen: I don't think we should consider too many exit strategies at the beginning, because a good company you must be able to achieve the exit, its value must be achieved. Good companies, whether they are listed or merged with other companies or are acquired, can have various exits to achieve returns. Daily: China Sequoia Capital's outstanding achievements, whether this and China's partners have a relatively independent decision-making mechanism? Shen: Yes, I think this is one of the reasons why we are doing well in China. We believe that the world is "flat" and that the experience of each place is unique and can be helpful to investment in other regions, but decisions must be localized. For example, we focus on the consumer sector, new energy and clean technology industries, which may not have any investment opportunities in the US, but in China these areas do have quite a few good investment opportunities, and China's funds have to choose industries and concerns based on local conditions in China. (This interview was completed by Aishing, a bilingual host and journalist from the first financial television overseas department)