Young entrepreneurs of the Internet: Looking for an angel is not just a change

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With the undulating of internet and mobile internet, China's venture capital industry has also arisen, and it has played a great role in value discovery, value cultivation and value realization. In the domestic well-known Internet companies behind, active angel investors and venture capital institutions figure. They are not mysterious.

I stand in Zhongguancun ding good building nine floor watching the surging crowd.

This is the new station of innovation Workshop.

In conjunction with the innovation Workshop, there is the Tsinghua Science Park (western Area). At the same time, the "Angel Council", which was established last March, is a symbol of the institutional setting of angel investment, which also settled in Haidian. After the "2012 First Chinese angel Investor conference" held at Park Hyatt, the seventh annual "Innovation China DEMOCHINA2012" Beijing competition also kicked off at the Renaissance Hotel.

As a result, you can see a group of guests from all over the country, whether it's a good building, a Hyatt hotel or a Renaissance hotel. Their identities are a little bit special. How do you say that? They are a group of sparkling, gold-bearing archangels, and more less flash, or a little low-key angel, and the vast majority of the crowd is a great dream, to be sold and sell, eager angel of the entrepreneur.

However, in this group of entrepreneurs, you can not see Jingdong Mall CEO Liu figure. But if the time goes forward to June 1998, if there was already a Chinese version of the demo show, or if the angel was active enough, he could be one of them. If he is lucky enough to get an investment, you may not see him riding a 28-bike venture. His venture capital is 12,000 yuan. But now he has topped the list of "40 Chinese business elites under the age of 40" released by Fortune May 3. Last year, Jingdong Mall annual sales amounted to 30.96 billion yuan, and his goal is to achieve sales revenue in the next five years 200 billion yuan.

Reporters noted that in this 40-person list, 31 people are internet start-ups, active in E-commerce, game development, precision marketing and other fields.

They are the best of Internet entrepreneurs, and every move attracts attention.

But there are more entrepreneurs who don't have that much impact. They are either just starting out, the great entrepreneurial dream is just a prototype or idea, or a certain degree of achievement in the industry, a step closer to the dream, or never to enter your sight, without achieving a secular sense of success. But as a group, entrepreneurs have extraordinary significance. In the internet age, Chinese entrepreneurs have moved from the Guangdong model to the Zhejiang model, and they will contribute their power to the transformation of "Made in China" to "create in China," Lee said.

It should be said that as long as there is an Internet place, you can find entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who may be standing behind them. Yes, not all entrepreneurial projects will be favored by entrepreneurial capital. NetEase technology at the end of last year, a survey showed that entrepreneurs in the start-up capital composition, 66.99% of their own funds, to relatives and friends accounted for 7.77%, Angel Investment/venture capital accounted for only 24.27%.

Among the factors that investors examine the feasibility of the project, whether it is the business model of the project, the experience qualification of the pioneering team, and the network resources, young entrepreneurs are generally relatively scarce. They have not suffered any hardship, and there is no background to the government departments in the capital injection, tax relief and other support. As far as the management and operation of enterprises are concerned, they are less experienced and may not be heard even by an investor with a successful business record. As a result, even VCs will gently advise entrepreneurs to be cautious.

Wu was once an angel investor at Alibaba and Han court, and is now the chairman of the Wind and Investment management company. "Entrepreneurship should be what the elites of youth do," he says. But in the "Innovation China" competition, he also stressed to the hundreds of entrepreneurs under the stage, to understand the creation of small businesses and the relationship between the great cause, "the cause is that this enterprise has the potential to be malleable." This enterprise can continuously be duplicated, make a quite large-scale enterprise, big can reach the Doorsill of the listed company ... Most startups may not have the scale. "Thus, entrepreneurs may wish to" create some small business first "hone, accumulate experience, for the future to create the great cause to do preparation.

Lei, the famous angel investor, said: "You may see Facebook, Dell, Yahoo, Google, the brilliance of these young entrepreneurs, but the domestic students out of school on the success of the case of entrepreneurship is very few." "Based on the fact that college students have a very high failure rate, he" only considers collaborators over the age of 35.

Entrepreneurship is a long-term undertaking, and we don't see how serious it is for 75% of entrepreneurs not to profit from their projects. Instead, they will grow up in failure and find the right path in their mistakes.

Guo Hong, director of Zhongguancun Management Committee, said that entrepreneurs and investors are mutually reinforcing relationships, "entrepreneurs have passion, there are dreams, but they lack of funds, lack of experience, angel investors just can help them grow, and they grow together." ”

So it's not hard to understand that while many investments do not yield the expected benefits, investors are looking for entrepreneurs every day, reviewing the business plan that mixes their dreams: "What if the next one is ' to die '?"

Interest is the biggest driving force of entrepreneurship

(Guest: Tea Tim Xiang founder Peng)

Network leader: Some people say that entrepreneurs must use other people's money to start a business, because if you can not even persuade Angel investment, this project may not be feasible. How do you evaluate this?

Peng: It's not necessary, there are many ways to start a business, and if you have to have a lot of money, anyone can do it. If an angel invests in a project and succeeds, is there too much to be mistaken?

Entrepreneurship is to meet your inner entrepreneurial needs, this is the original driving force. If you want to start a business in your heart, do you need someone else to prove it? Can you rely on other people to fight chicken? In fact, this involves the mentality of entrepreneurship. Before talking about the issue of electric business for the winter, some people said: if the enterprise when the pig, certainly not past the cold winter, the enterprise when the child, Zaguomaitie you will run through.

I don't get bored doing this, and interest is the best way to start a business. The process of entrepreneurship should be happy. You are not doing it for others, you are creating a career for yourself. If the angel likes not, then do not start a business.

Network leader: Investors generally pay special attention to the exploration of the entrepreneurial team. What do you think of the team?

Peng: The team is very important, for example, there are four or five people, everyone's ability is good, so the entrepreneurial success probability is a little bit. However, it is more important to have a core leader, who is more determined to play a leading role at the critical time.

Investors always like to see whether the team has a luxury lineup, I am not so artificial. The key is to see the core staff, generally the founder. Like Apple, without jobs, will there be apples today?

In fact, enterprises have such a law, depending on the founder's style. Of course, the founder must have a pattern, mind, courage, if he does not allow people, it is not suitable for entrepreneurship at all.

Network leader: As an entrepreneur, if your venture is still on idea level, do you have enough courage to take it out to angel investors? Are you also worried that some pseudo angels steal your creative ideas?

Peng: Frankly speaking, the idea on the internet is worthless. The key depends on the team, you can do a good job. As long as your project on the line, others can fully see, nothing but a little time difference, the advantages are not obvious.

But then said back, if this entrepreneurial is you particularly like, copy not 抄没 relationship, not necessarily big, small and beautiful is also very good ah. It has to be big and unrealistic. Not all projects are big businesses that investors like. For entrepreneurs, the goal can be ambitious, but do it to the ground.

Network leader: Some people say that capital is just a company's "ex-girlfriend", advising entrepreneurs not to overestimate the importance of money, how do you think about it? Before the strong capital, how to correctly evaluate the value of the enterprise to ensure their own interests? What kind of engagement do you want him to take after the VCs enter?

Peng: Choose a person for money. If the chat does not want his money, purely for the benefit of interest, then certainly not happy. If the gas field matches, talk about anything. Therefore, the capital in the election of people, you have to choose people, if the capital control, then trouble.

Venture capital is best not to intervene in the operation of the company. When entrepreneurs encounter difficulties, you can find them, listen to their opinions, but ultimately to their own judgment. So investors are the equivalent of advisers and you need to take care of them. Frankly speaking, many people can't be coaches. Successful entrepreneurs are not necessarily. Can Jerry Yang be the coach of Zuckerberg? Do it in his own way, can you make Facebook? The enterprise itself has a process of transcendence, or let it grow freely.

Used to say, "Help on the horse, give a ride", but is this necessary? You let him run free. It's no use talking to him if he can't experience the failure firsthand. When he went through failure, he grew up.

Therefore, the most taboo two cases, one is that entrepreneurs do not listen to anything, the second is investors better-without. If the guidance can be successful, there is a Li Ka-shing is enough. Entrepreneurs should be open-minded. This may be the basic rule of being a person, and investment does not have much relationship. So it all boils down to choosing people.

Network leader: In many entrepreneurs, there are conditions more mature, there is simply not ready, and just holding the cavity blood situation. What do you make of it? After the experience of entrepreneurship, how do you feel about young people, especially college students?

Peng: Not very much in favor of college students ' entrepreneurship, especially in high-risk industries, of course, there is no objection. How much to get into the social work experience and then start a business is not the same. If all the experience from the campus student Union class cadres, to the community is completely different.

I used to be in Beijing two companies, and all of its first staff, involved in the first entrepreneurial process, the two companies from scratch. From that I know how he failed, where he made the mistake and where the problem was.

So, before starting a business, even if you go to a small company for a year or two, and know how he works, the failure rate will be much lower. Besides, entrepreneurship is a long process. You just graduated from school, still not repay the parents, but also increase the burden on the family, Angels will not invest. So it's not justified by reason. should be appropriate to return the family, and then to start a business.

Network leader: How do your venture capitalists evaluate your entrepreneurial mindset?

Peng: Still more peaceful, not impatient, not chasing a rich, but enjoy the whole process. Early on, my investors comforted me, saying that when the last 3000 dollars were left, you thought about making money.

How is the core competitiveness built?

(Guest: Yi-Hyun Net founder Yu Yu)

Yu Yu, born in 1975, loves to write diaries. From the second year of Junior High School, his diary writing on every day does not fall, long has 10,000 words, short hundreds of words, can be described as "diary life-sized", and published a part of it. This love finally led him to embark on a unique path of life.

1999, Yu Yu founded the country's first and so far the only Journal of Professional Journal Journal. In 2006, he took over the 1984-year old Journal of Youth. Last August, Yu Yu founded the Chinese Diary Network (now renamed as "Art Dazzle Net"), specialized for the broad masses of primary and secondary school services.

In an interview with the network leader, Yu Yu said that the reason for the creation of this website is the importance of diary writing for the promotion of youth writing, expression, thinking and reading ability. It is reported that the national primary and secondary school students about 217 million people, behind the number of households reached 400 million, and the other primary and secondary school teachers also have more than 14.6 million people. If we can serve this group well, there is no doubt about the market prospects.

Keeping a diary alone is not enough to keep a website alive. To this end, Yu Yu also introduced another element: talent show. "Attract young people through diaries, and retain young people through talent shows." Writing a diary may be a way to become a talent, and a talent show is a way of becoming famous. "Yu Yu said," and spell dad this abnormal thinking, talent show is a personal talent, more help to establish a healthy social atmosphere. ”

The idea certainly caters to the needs of modern parents. Yu Yu said that the talent show will be recorded in the form of a weekly, one-Star monthly, annual championship and so on, the winners will be 5,000 to 100,000 yuan scholarships.

Of course, there are a lot of websites facing this group. However, Yu Yu is still very confident, he told reporters: "Rice net biased game, nano-oriented animation, and we focus on talent show, and strive to use 3-5 years to create the largest network display interactive platform." ”

In Yu Yu's view, because the project needs a relatively large amount of money, and already have the first force of peer, so, the primary purpose of seeking angel investment, is in the field of positioning "quickly in the industry to get the first position", if the opportunity to see the chance and simply because of the funds for the reason is more than the opponent, it must be very unwilling to see.

With more than 20 years of accumulation in the diary field, Yu Yu is well aware of his core competencies, saying: "We have just come in contact with the angels and are generally interested in our project." When the website is officially online, it will be able to get financing. "Moreover," more hope to get the standardization of enterprise management guidance and the recommendation of composite talents and other resources of the integrated use. ”

Looking back on his entrepreneurial experience, Yu Yu that entrepreneurs must be very clear about what they want, and their strengths, the diversity of projects and the uniqueness of the business model, "the upfront planning is more reliable than the ex-post retreat." ”

Seeking an angel is not just about money.

(Guest: Yue Xing World founder Xu Yufang)

Network leader: What kind of entrepreneur do you belong to (such as technical, creative)? Are you a start-up or a serial entrepreneur?

Xu Yufang: PROBLEM-solving entrepreneurs like to watch people's troubles in their lives and find ways to solve them. Their own entrepreneurial projects are also for the travel outdoors people encounter problems, that is, do not understand the correct equipment information caused by the journey of trouble and embarrassment and carried out. This is my first time to start a business, but also a very bumpy one.

Network leader: What kind of situation are you looking for angel investment? is the original lack of funds, or to expand the needs of the scale?

Xu Yufang: We did a detailed market forecast and detailed financial forecasts before we started the project, and the initial funding was made by the team members themselves, and now they have invested more than million yuan. To seek angel investment is to expand the scale of the need, but it is not a simple "money" thing. We are more interested in the angel investors to the development of the company's help, including funds, contacts, management experience and so on. The angel who throws money may not be the angel we really need.

Network leader: Some people say that entrepreneurs must use other people's money to start a business, because if you can not even persuade Angel investment, this project may not be feasible. How do you evaluate this?

Xu Yufang: I don't personally agree with this view. First, the judgment of an entrepreneurial project comes from the market, not from the Angels. Angels are not without knowing that they may have unique insights into the areas they are good at, but it is impossible to know all the fields. Second, passion and self-confidence are the original driving force for entrepreneurship. If entrepreneurs do not even want to invest their own money, it really does not show that the founders of their own project confidence, more unlikely to impress the angel or institutional investors.

Network leader: Investors generally pay special attention to the exploration of the entrepreneurial team. What do you think of the team?

Xu Yufang: Team is the first condition of success for any entrepreneurial project. A good team can find a good project and expand it effectively, no good team even if there is a good project, it is meaningless. China does not lack good ideas and good ideas, but it is not a good team that can really achieve and continue to develop ideas. So investors pay attention to the team's inspection, is very necessary.

Network leader: How do you evaluate imitation and plagiarism, innovation and micro-innovation?

Xu Yufang: Imitation and plagiarism is the most current Chinese entrepreneurs out of the entrepreneurial path of the first step, it is not a bad thing. China's entrepreneurial environment determines that pure innovation will be extremely difficult to achieve success. The entrepreneurial process is to cultivate the seeds in a barren land, less than 5% of the success probability of growing some crops. If you can on this basis, according to their understanding of the market to make appropriate innovation, undoubtedly can greatly improve the success rate.

Network leader: Do you think your ideas are imitated by others, especially the big internet companies? Does the internet giant open platform have any specific help for your startup?

Xu Yufang: A lot of big creative companies may not have thought about it, just whether it needs to be implemented in person. In fact, many entrepreneurial projects by small companies to do more appropriate. Like in the ocean when driving found not far ahead of an unusually beautiful island, but let Princess Cruise immediately stop this island, speed may not be like a small yacht to faster. So many internet giants choose an open platform for small and medium-sized enterprises to use, is a wise choice.

Network leader: Some people say that capital is just a company's "ex-girlfriend", advising entrepreneurs not to overestimate the importance of money, how do you think about it?

Xu Yufang: Money can lengthen an entrepreneur's runway, but there's no guarantee that entrepreneurs can make a landmark victory on the runway. Cash-strapped entrepreneurs also need to get more resources, connections, and markets on this elongated runway.

Network leader: Before the strong capital, how to correctly assess the value of the enterprise to ensure their own interests?

Xu Yufang: Don't be arrogant, keep the bottom line. Rationally assess the value of their business in the market and seek funding sources. The stock is the most precious thing of the pioneering enterprise, do not sell easily. If the transfer of shares to bring only the money, it would rather stay part of the future core team members, to motivate them to develop their own efforts for the development of the enterprise.

Network leader: As an entrepreneur, if your venture is still on idea level, do you have enough courage to take it out to angel investors? Are you also worried that some pseudo angels steal your creative ideas?

Xu Yufang: Personal advice first put idea into practice, have a certain business prototype or even after the revenue to find angel investors. Of course, this is a proposal for grassroots entrepreneurs. If you have a very good history in some areas, idea is enough to impress angel investors. The idea is really just an idea, not the ability to achieve success, even if stolen is also because of their own ability problems. Youyongyoumou to communicate with investors, but the premise must be sincere.

Network leader: Angel investors in the investment, some will be more emphasis on the relationship between acquaintances. How do you understand that?

Xu Yufang: Emphasis on the relationship between acquaintances is based on the "investment is cast" this basic point, not to consider the relationship between the Angels, but also to see whether the project is reliable, the team is perfect. Good team + Good project, should be all angel investors decide whether to sell the necessary conditions.

Network leader: Capital chasing only competitive enterprises, but also a high growth of the "big business", then, what do you think you (not) the most important reason for financing?

Xu Yufang: The Angels in contact are generally asking, is your project disruptive? Are there explosive growth potential? The answers to these questions determine the stage at which an angel can succeed in quitting, a round of financing, a sale or a final IPO. The main reason our project has not yet been financed is that as a founder, I do not need to "list" the target. Our goal is to serve the basic needs of the travel crowd, solve the trouble of the travelers, our vision is to become China's most professional travel outdoor equipment channel brand, which requires a relatively long-term and steady development process, can not rely on radical and extensive way to carry out. The angel that can agree with this idea is the angel that we really need.

However, a few angel investors have come to me now. We are going to raise 2 million yuan first.

Network leader: What kind of participation do you want investors to take after investing?

Xu Yufang: direct participation or indirect participation is the way we approve. When an angel invests in an enterprise, as a man or woman marries, one must think about it and force it into a place where it is possible to manage the relationship. Therefore, the choice of investors is a very important step, must be very cautious.

Network leader: "2011 Chinese Entrepreneur Survival Report" shows that more than half of the entrepreneurial team failed to obtain financing, direct sales of their products or services is the most mainstream Internet product profitability. What do you think is the cause of this situation?

Xu Yufang: We see in more and more VC platforms, China does not lack the rapid growth of entrepreneurial projects, this is China's rapid economic growth, people's demand in the rapid growth of the inevitable result. But the growth rate of Chinese investors or investment institutions lags far behind those in western developed countries. This imbalance in supply and demand led to the above financing data. I think that in the current Internet environment, the direct sale of products or services is the best way to profit, the size may not be as strong as a few large platforms, but through more and more mature Internet buying environment and habits, this is a real profitable business model. Profit through advertising or value-added services, the need for a huge amount of capital investment and the number of users, in the current several major platforms have been firmly occupied market share, the novice on the road will be very difficult.

Network leader: After the experience of entrepreneurial practice, how will you embrace the entrepreneurial attitude of college students?

Xu Yufang: As an entrepreneur on the road, the advice to college students who want to start a business is if you are starting a business and getting a certain grade (regardless of size) in the university, you have the talent and ability to start a business. But if this is not the case, it is recommended to find a like and have a high speed development potential of the industry to stay for 35 years, trying to accumulate experience and contacts, entrepreneurial conditions are not hesitate to enter into the mature.

Network leader: As a woman, from having a good job to independent entrepreneurship, what Wonderful Life sentiment?

Xu Yufang: Do a good job, but also because on a platform. And entrepreneurship is to be in a barren land, to make things, this is more difficult than the job is too high.

And as a female entrepreneur, the difficulty is actually greater. From a professional point of view, very much like the feeling of work, like to face a variety of problems and find solutions, entrepreneurship after the team are very recognized as my leader. But from a gender standpoint, I am a woman, a wife, a daughter, a daughter-in-law and a mother. These different roles in life are the things that I am very happy to enjoy and do, and I want to be able to play each character perfectly. This creates a very high degree of difficulty in work and life, often busy to 9 o'clock the evening to go home to the daughter bedtime story, the morning of the first to send the daughter to kindergarten directly to see investors or partners. A quick switch to the role tests a woman's ability to balance.