Top investors Talk: Great entrepreneurs don't have to come from Silicon Valley

Tencent Science and Technology Liu November 18 Report

Now that more and more Chinese start-ups are looking to India, Helsinki, and Singapore for expanding overseas markets, does Silicon Valley's innovation magic fail?

Sponsored by Tencent Science and Technology connector event today in Beijing's Chaoyang district, the World Trade Center, Tencent meeting as scheduled. Skype co-founder, Atomico founder Niklas Zennstrom and the managing director of Jinsha Venture, Ding on "internationalization of entrepreneurship and cross-border investment" dialogue.

Seeking greater market is the driving force of internationalization

Sweden, about 450,000 square kilometers, slightly smaller than Heilongjiang province, the population of about 9 million, the equivalent of Henan province, one-tenth of the population. But in terms of population, Sweden is the country with the largest number of multinationals in the world.

Niklas, a Swede, said it was because of its small size and low population that Swedish companies were forced to look at the international market from the start. "When we started Skype, we found that the Swedish market was too small, so we were looking for a bigger market on the first day, so we came to China to go to Korea and Latin America and the rest of the world and work with them," he said. ”

In China, the situation is diametrically opposed. China is a big market, and many successful entrepreneurs are focused on the local market. The next 5-10 years is the golden time of internationalization, the Chinese market is again big, also cannot avoid this wave. "The Internet has changed every industry, and for Chinese companies, overseas expansion must be considered." "Niklas, for example, has been expanding overseas by big Chinese internet companies such as bat in the past few years.

Ding that information plays an important role in the first phase of Internet development. The language barrier has become a double-edged sword at this stage. "This has allowed Chinese companies to protect themselves from foreign competition and to be constrained to compete in international competition." Because we have to face the dual challenges of language and culture. Ding said that Chinese companies, like Lenovo, are still rare. The internationalization of Chinese Internet companies is still in its infancy.

Ding that with the development of the Internet to the second stage, more and more industries to complete the Internet, language and cultural differences no longer become a barrier to competition, the new round of competition mainly occurred in the original technology, such as artificial intelligence, large data. "This is a pressure on internet companies. Either become an international company or be replaced by an international company. “

Great entrepreneurs don't have to come from Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley has long been seen as the absolute center of global Technological innovation. The language advantages of English, the educational advantages of top universities and the attractive immigration policies are difficult for other countries to compete.

Niklas pointed out that in the past decade, technology entrepreneurs want to achieve success must go to Silicon Valley, but the situation has changed dramatically, now great companies are not just born in Silicon Valley. For example, in the past 10 years, the software sector has 40% from Silicon Valley and 60% from outside Silicon Valley. Of these, 34 of the most valued companies come from outside Silicon Valley.

"Companies in other parts of the country are as important as Silicon Valley companies. In fact, great companies can be anywhere, and entrepreneurs can come from anywhere. Niklas that Beijing is the ideal place for entrepreneurship after Silicon Valley. Of course, he is not denying the status of Silicon Valley.

When it comes to investment standards, Ding and Niklas both believe that the success of entrepreneurship in addition to the geographical conditions, "people and" is a very important factor. Niklas is talking about whether the entrepreneur is brave, whether there is clear thinking, broad vision are the key criteria for consideration, and secondly, to be good at marketing, export the ideal, vision and values to the outside world.

As it turns out, the leaders of the current international business are no more than speakers. Introduce technology to people, look to the future, and vividly present the picture they believe in.

China model has the opportunity to win global market

There is no doubt that China's Internet market is huge, with billions of users, and many successful Chinese companies have been born in a highly competitive business environment. The commonality of these companies is aimed at the vertical field, the product to a large number of grassroots users, and in the rapid growth of competition. Now a group of investors are replicating this "grassroots" success model in the United States.

The trend, Niklas believes, is that the Chinese entrepreneurs of the past 10-15 years have made innovations in the original business model, and many of China's unique models of success have emerged that are becoming increasingly internationalized. "One thing that is happening around the world. Whether you're a small entrepreneur or a big entrepreneur, the message is the same. After 10 years, the world will be more and more balanced. ”

Relative to Niklas's optimism, Ding talked about deficiencies. He believes that the success of the Chinese model, many of them in the application of micro-innovation, technology, original technology, innovative talent or more scarce. "Such technological innovations will have a great impact on the world, such as artificial intelligence, large data, data analysis, biotechnology, and German industry 4.0." "The challenges China needs to address have not been translated," he said.

Although China's growth is obvious to all, India's performance cannot be underestimated. Some investors are heading to India to find the next miracle. Ding says India is an important market for international funds. Most funds are still focused on the Chinese market, with few plans to expand to India.

In fact, whether China, India or the United States, the world at the same time one thing is to connect more and more. Ding finally said that the international tide is unstoppable, cross-border investment is increasingly common, Chinese companies must not have the idea of self-protection, but to adapt to use. The Internet, artificial intelligence, big data and so on technology is bound to challenge the traditional mode of occlusion.