Tolerance for failure: Chinese entrepreneur maturing

Source: Internet
Author: User
Keywords Alibaba New ventures
["The first lesson of investing is to never invest in a business model or business plan," Jiayi said. "You should choose an entrepreneur and support him wholeheartedly." The vast majority of success stories you hear in China are backed by an entrepreneur who can get away from the mundane and maverick.  "American Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have learned from the many lessons of the dotcom bust of 10 ago that failing to run a business in the US is not the end of the world." "American culture is relatively tolerant of failure," said George Wang, founder and chairman of the Chinese career elite network in Beijing, a professional resource and consulting business [Chinese Professional receptacle (CPN)]. Failure sometimes means losing face in front of family and others.  "At the 15th annual Wharton Asia Business Summit in Philadelphia, in the context of diversity and innovation, Wang brought a fresh perspective to the conference."  However, he also pointed out that everyone wants to start a business and dream of becoming China's next "Alibaba", so the culture of fear of failure in China is also changing.  In China, the entrepreneurial environment is indeed different from other regions, the understanding of entrepreneurship vary, but the investment of the hot land to make a lot of VCs crazy, how to more accurately understand China, for any one VC is a necessary lesson. The lesson from the 90 's when venture capital in China was so good that China was very different from other countries, such as the US. In the early 90, 90% of companies funded by venture capital were state-owned, according to a research report by Rand Corp.  However, as China's market reform deepens and the discriminatory policies faced by international venture capital are gradually decreasing, this proportion will soon fall. One of the themes that runs through this evolutionary process is the success of venture capital in China. "Investing is more like gambling in a new, fast-growing market like China," Wang points out, "The difference is whether you are a professional gambler or a casual player." Most of the investment should be the latter. "Money is never a problem for such investors," he says.  "On the other hand, for professional investors, the key is to find the best business ideas and personnel as early as possible (and the sooner the better)." In fact, behind all the success stories of VCs there is a common factor that the balance sheet cannot express: excellent human capital. "Invest in people, like incubators, to find and support the right entrepreneurs as early as possible," said Jiayi, chief executive, "to understand the market." Do more to help entrepreneurs make the right choices for their entrepreneurial partners. He added that it was more interpersonal relationships than institutional relationships. "If you come to Beijing, there are 10 people who can make you know all the investors," he said. "He suggested that Western investment in China's new venture market should be expandedThe first step is to slow down and not to make hasty decisions. "Take six months to learn more about geography and people.  He suggested. The key word for people and geography is "local knowledge". Participants believe that for the success of venture capital, it is more important to understand China's business environment than to know whether the company is Chinese or foreign, or whether there is a relationship between Chinese and foreign governments. "If you have a comprehensive understanding of China, if you understand the mindset of Chinese entrepreneurs, you have an advantage over others," Wang, "Sometimes you can't judge them from a Western perspective." "There is no doubt that some Chinese-style factors can determine the success or failure of a new business plan," he said. E-commerce, for example, in Western countries, E-commerce is the sale of goods and services through the Internet, but many ordinary Chinese consumers prefer to use the telephone center to place orders, rather than through the network. Wang points out that entrepreneurs who are familiar with Chinese consumers can make judgments intuitively, but it can be difficult for newcomers. But China is changing so fast that VCs need to keep updating their local knowledge. "If you leave China for more than three years, you will be considered obsolete."  "he said.  In the past, when foreign venture capitalists with strong financial resources were unfamiliar with local knowledge, they would spend heavily on overseas lawyers, accounting firms and other trade experts familiar with western investors, rather than finding locals in emerging markets such as China. Of course, foreign investors with strong financial resources can make up for some of their personal experience through hardware construction--Alex Gloff, a participant expert, said.  Grove a "Trans-stage" venture capital job at Morgan Stanley, where he started his own education consultancy last year. "If we want to invest in coal mines, we will look for KPMG or other accounting firms that can penetrate the corporate audit," he said. We will also look for Western law firms such as Linklaters or other offices. These institutions are on standby and ready to go ... Some basic work is absolutely up to the ground, "Grove said." I reckon there are a lot of smaller companies, especially Chinese venture capitalists, who will also hire these institutions to provide services. "The Xu Jiarong of Ka Fung Capital believes that many of China's homegrown venture capitalists, especially those engaged in upfront investment, are significantly different from big investment banks in the way they execute transactions. "For the early investment of start-ups, many venture capital companies work for themselves." They also hire lawyers, accountants and other professionals, but there are internal personnel who do the same. They may be more inclined to the latter than they are. "In fact, the characteristics of the primary stage of the Chinese market are the main reasons investors are willing to join the Ka Fung Capital." "We have a model that can be linked to angel investors, every angel investor has their own expertise, or has a successful investment experience in China." "he explained. Thus, when entrepreneurs show their projects to investors, they are likely to meet people with experience in the field, which will help to analyze and evaluate newIdeas or finding fault with business plans.  Banks also want start-ups to link entrepreneurs to investors with similar industry experiences and interests. There are other differences in learning about the venture capital environment between China and America in different ways. Michael Kelsen, a partner at Miro Investment company Miro Capital Partners and business start-up at the Wharton School of Business, Michael Kersen that entrepreneurs in the United States rarely have direct "door-to-door" search for venture capital and meet investors directly,  Instead, a lawyer or other consultant who has a relationship with an investor will be hired at the outset. Xu Jiarong that many things in China depend on relationships.  That is why his company, which is made up of a number of investors, has a wide network of people who can always find their colleagues or former bosses of venture-capital entrepreneurs through relationships. Even China, like Grove, keeps learning to earn a living in China. He recalls how his Western educational background and fluent Chinese had made him popular. But after setting up a company last year to help Asians study MBA programs in the United States, he has faced many questions, particularly his qualifications, including those he now introduces to Chinese students. Because fake diplomas are too easy to build. "My entire career has been in China, which has made me look at things from a different perspective, making me more flexible, more strategic and more creative." Kelsen added that, in addition to the global financial crisis, instead of creating a good investment opportunity, "if you want to succeed, don't care about macroeconomic trends." "When asked what American venture capitalists could learn from the country's start-ups, participants pointed out that they had to pay attention to individuals. Wang smiled and said: "Everyone is a different individual ... You must know one by one. "The same is true in shopping malls, and keeping an open mind is better than a preset project standard." "Don't be fooled by appearances," he said, "You need to walk into people's minds and say, ' What's your value? ' "The first lesson of investing is to never invest in just one business model or business plan," Jiayi said. "You should choose an entrepreneur and support him wholeheartedly." The vast majority of success stories you hear in China are backed by an entrepreneur who can get away from the mundane and maverick. "(This article comes from Wharton Knowledge Online, www.knowledgeatwharton.com.cn, edited by this newspaper)
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