It is said that “the epidemic has been three years”, and the start-up companies in the epidemic can be said to have witnessed history. Especially this year, every entrepreneur may more or less feel the changes in the macro economy and policies, and also face challenges in terms of talents, funds and markets. So what is the most important survival rule for startups in the post-pandemic era? In an environment of superimposed uncertainties, what new opportunities can startups seize? At the 2022 “Fortune” MPW Women’s Summit held on December 8, Xu Boling, the founder and CEO of Xinqing Medical, Luo Lan, the co-founder and executive director of Shanghai Yunli Information Technology Co., Ltd., and the founder and executive director of Light Tree Technology Co., Ltd. CEO Zhang Jiachen spoke with Liu Lanxiang, Senior Editor of Fortune (Chinese Edition) about these issues. The following is an edited transcript of the conversation.
Liu Lanxiang: The three guests are all outstanding entrepreneurs. Let’s talk about how entrepreneurs in the post-epidemic era have figured out their own entrepreneurial rules and finally become invincible. Light Tree Technology was established in 2017, and it is also the pioneer of privacy computing in China. After experiencing the development of the entire epidemic, I would like to ask Jiachen to talk about it. What are the most important entrepreneurial rules for startups in the post-epidemic era?
Zhang Jiachen: The companies that are still starting businesses are actually very brave. It is true that the epidemic has put forward many new requirements for the development of the company itself. We will observe that many companies are now working in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. situation, increase the fault tolerance of their own operations. More and more large companies and start-up companies are paying more and more attention to new investment in organizational construction. They must not only embrace change very optimistically, but also carefully analyze strategic choices and investment frameworks. They need more small partners to see the long-term In the short term, we can advance and retreat together with the company. Many things are anti-human to a certain extent, and we need everyone to have a more ideal side and take down-to-earth measures. In terms of organizational and cultural construction, more and more growing companies spend more energy on employee communication and construction. In addition, the emphasis on operational efficiency itself, even earlier, when the previous generation of start-up companies were advancing rapidly in the capital market, growth could cover up many things. Now more and more people pay attention to cost, output value and human efficiency. Everyone has a lot to think about in this regard.
Liu Lanxiang: That is to say, more attention should be paid to the construction of soft power. I noticed that even in the most difficult year of the year, you have completed two rounds of financing. How did you do it?
Zhang Jiachen: The situation in the large capital market and the primary market is very difficult due to many reasons. Under such an environment, we are also relatively lucky, and spent more time looking for investors who are more suitable for what we do. Because the fields we are working in are mainly new technologies and products related to data security and data compliance, the two investors we chose, Shenzhen Venture Capital, are the investment funds of the national team, and they are proactively optimistic about the overall environment. For changes, the other one is directly related to the industry. 4Paradigm is a leading company in the AI field. It understands technology and judges the direction of things from the perspective of the scene. In fact, most of the other companies that have raised money this year have received national funds and industrial capital. Generally speaking, the start-up companies that raise funds are very brave, looking for local opportunities in a relatively large but not particularly optimistic plate.
Liu Lanxiang: In fact, start-up companies need to find funds that match their style. Xinqing Medical was also established in 2017. It is an artificial heart and ECOM pipeline. During the epidemic, everyone paid more attention to artificial hearts and ECOM. Dr. Xu would like to talk about your thoughts on the survival rules of start-up companies in the post-epidemic period ?
Xu Boling: Startups are first of all about survival. We make survival-related medical devices. We saw a lot of sad things during the epidemic, but yesterday (December 7) the good news came. Thousands of trees and pear trees bloomed. up. All of you here are executives, founders, and leaders of the company. As long as you are alive, the company will be alive, so how to overcome the painful feelings and discouragement in these darkest moments should be the top priority. For me, after going through such a dark time, there is one thing that is very important, that is, not forgetting the original intention, not forgetting why I started my business and did this job. Second, during the epidemic, it is very important to be anti-human in many cases, that is, to be “fast, precise and ruthless”, and to do everything quickly without violating the moral bottom line. No one knows what will happen tomorrow; it must be to find your own cooperation Be accurate, don’t spend time on unsuitable people and things; be ruthless, that is, be ruthless in investment, and this is probably the rule of our survival.
Liu Lanxiang: In terms of medical devices, the epidemic has helped you educate the market to a certain extent. So, under the circumstances of repeated epidemics and geopolitical conflicts and other uncertainties, do you see some new opportunities?
Xu Boling: There are indeed some new opportunities, especially medical devices and hard technology entrepreneurship are rare opportunities of the times. The policy issued by the state is to tackle key technologies and absolutely focus on innovation. This is a particularly good opportunity of the times. In the context of a big society, the economy is still okay. Although the consumption has been very high in the past few years, everyone still moves forward with the mentality that the future is bright. In terms of high-end medical equipment, everyone has realized the importance of this matter through the epidemic. Therefore, we must not only support the technologies needed in China, but also support the technologies that go abroad. This is the dividend of the times.
Liu Lanxiang: The dividend of domestic substitution is a dividend that many companies, including the medical device industry, have enjoyed for a long time. Yunli Information is an enterprise established in 2015 for supply chain information collaboration and value-added tax invoice cloud platform management. Your company’s official website says that there is zero loss of core customers. How do you understand this? Can you see your survival rules as a startup company in the post-epidemic era?
Roland: Simply speaking, our business starts with value-added tax invoices. We are also the largest and earliest cloud platform that connects the world’s top 500 big Bs and suppliers with cloud-based SaaS. We often say that an invoice connects four parties to form a closed loop. In terms of business model, we have served more than 200 Fortune 500 companies and 1.3 million upstream suppliers. We provide such value to big B companies and upstream suppliers based on such a platform. We have always been adhering to customer-centricity. No matter during the epidemic or not, each enterprise faces different challenges at different time periods. How we provide value to enterprises as a service provider is the long-term value. For example, during the epidemic, the epidemic has just begun in 2020. At that time, many catering companies were greatly impacted. For example, McDonald’s was our early customer. We built a platform for them, and the joint government and Bank of Shanghai helped them provide upstream suppliers. Funding. We have the transaction data of the connection between the central enterprise and the upstream supplier. The bank can easily judge whether the supplier is a good person or a bad person. At this time, it helps him to implement online functions, and he can help small and medium-sized enterprises survive this period.
We also have real estate clients. In the past, real estate companies had revenues of hundreds of billions or even trillions, and they were not very sensitive to money. In the past, they had hundreds of people in the IT team, and each branch didn’t care about finding more financial and tax personnel, but when they faced challenges, they had to think about how to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and how to bridge the gap between them and suppliers. To improve efficiency, innovation is also very important at this time. We must think about how to digitally transform. Digital transformation must have a starting point and data, so we can provide longer-term value. When you solve customer value, you can survive in any market environment.
Liu Lanxiang: Even in the worst environment, I cannot do without you, because the customer stickiness is particularly high. You have connected many small and medium-sized enterprises. We noticed that nearly 13 million small and micro enterprises were newly registered in the first half of this year, and the growth momentum is quite good. Does the actual situation you feel match the data? Or do the entrepreneurs you have seen in the post-epidemic era make any choices that are different from their predecessors?
Roland: We serve small and medium-sized enterprises, suppliers upstream of big B. I have no way to judge whether the data is true, but the customer base (small and medium-sized enterprises) on my platform has increased. During the epidemic or the current cold winter capital and the bad environment, small and medium-sized enterprises are faced with many challenges. They can survive in this environment and provide services to big B. Small and medium-sized B must be very focused on In terms of its own services and products, it has provided big B with good enough value. On the road of entrepreneurship, life and death are always faced. No matter how much money is raised, in order to go on for a long time, we must constantly think about how to provide value and survive at the same time. If it can stay, it must have provided a very good product.
Liu Lanxiang: It is true that in the past two years, some new companies will emerge in new tracks, including new energy, semiconductors, and the privacy computing field where Jiachen is located. Have you observed any differences between entrepreneurs in the post-epidemic era and their predecessors? where?
Zhang Jiachen: It can also be observed from the primary market or the venture capital circle. At the same time, some data show that there are more companies that have been deregistered in the first half of this year than in the whole year of 2020, so there are actually a lot of changes and reshuffles. The start-up companies that are still able to operate and survive to get money now have indeed changed a batch. There are several industries that cannot be said to no longer exist, but they do no longer exist from the perspective of the capital market, so the overall environment changes are very drastic. The newly established companies we are seeing are becoming more and more vertical, including more and more professional talents like Dr. It no longer exists, and there is no company. This is quite emotional. So I think everyone is becoming more and more professional, and there are many such trends. In addition (compared to the past), the challenges for entrepreneurs are actually greater now, and they face a lot of uncertainty. I have a friend who has been in business for 30 years. He said that the past five years are very different from the previous 25 years. (For entrepreneurs) The overall requirements are more comprehensive and higher, including many challenges to determination and tenacity.
Liu Lanxiang: Many things have happened in the past five years. It just so happens that both of your companies have grown and developed in the past five years. During this period, more and more professional talents like Dr. Xu start businesses. I just talked to Dr. Xu in the audience, and I heard her say that being an entrepreneur has been hard work in the past few years, and she is thinking about the fate of the company every day. What supported you to go all the way to today?
Xu Boling: It was really what I wanted to do at the time. Artificial heart and ECOM belong to the field of serious medical treatment, and they will be useful once they are developed. Why has China never had its own ECOM or its own artificial heart? It is because the field is very small. When I was studying for a doctorate, all my classmates went to other industries. After I stayed in the laboratory for more than ten years (wanting to do this), the core that drove me to do this is my goal, and My goal is to save people. People say that your artificial heart is very cool and dazzling. In fact, I did this to save people, but before saving people, I killed many animals for experiments, and I was actually heartbroken. I think the desire to do this at the time is the strength that has supported me to this day.
Liu Lanxiang: It is indeed very difficult. The original intention has always been there. Of course, many investment institutions have seen your prospects. I saw that the other two guests had a lot of experience in the workplace before starting their businesses. Jiachen worked for Amazon and Xiaomi before founding the Light Tree, so in the process of changing his identity from a professional manager to an entrepreneur, what has he experienced? What is the biggest challenge? If you had only one piece of advice for other entrepreneurs, especially women, what would you say?
Zhang Jiachen: The role of executives is more at the level of decision-making and communication, because in a large company there is a more pyramid-shaped team, and there are relatively modular things to sort out. Judgments are made on this basis. In my opinion Come to think of it, this is the most important job of most executive jobs. If you start a business, the entire chain of work that the founder has to undertake is much longer. In addition to analysis, decision-making, and communication work, there are many details. Such. Regarding entrepreneurship, there may be an aspect that sounds simple and crude but many people may not think of it. First of all, entrepreneurship is a physical activity, because entrepreneurship requires very high physical fitness. I have very good friends who are now doing very successful entrepreneurship. The company was an investor before. Once he met me and said, I didn’t know you were so tired before starting a business. This is the psychological preparation that everyone should have when considering starting a business. In addition, although a start-up company can spend most of its time on creation itself, we also have a lot to communicate with in a start-up company, such as different shareholders, different institutions, and reasonable communication with them at different stages , In fact, the communication work to be done to a certain extent may be more than within the enterprise.
These are the two biggest differences. If I only give one suggestion to female entrepreneurs, my suggestion is that we must build a better support system for ourselves before starting a business. A large part of this support system comes from the family, because only when the support system is well established, To be able to do this demanding job well.
Liu Lanxiang: It is very pragmatic, and everyone agrees. Roland also has a wealth of experience. Before founding Yunli, he was an investor and a senior executive of many companies. The biggest experience you have experienced in the process of changing from an investor to a professional manager to an entrepreneur What are the challenges?
Roland: Entrepreneurship is indeed a process of self-cultivation, or a challenge to human nature. I have done everything, including corporate executives, investors, and management consulting. In fact, I became a partner of this company because the last investment institution I worked for invested in this company. In the A round, the founder came to recruit me when he participated in our 10th anniversary, and it is this kind of fate that gave birth to my current company, Yunli. My current identity is to help companies raise funds. An investor asked me before, “What do you think will cause you to fail in entrepreneurship?” Have faith and stick to it.
I just talked about the difference between professional managers switching. I think professional managers pay more attention to the improvement of their own abilities. Of course, there may be a team, and they may be responsible for a piece. There is a boundary. Everyone is a screw. You only see things. One, but when starting a business, you must be responsible for the long-term of the company, you must be responsible for the life and death of the company, and you must also be responsible for these employees. Entrepreneurs sometimes do not think about the present when making decisions, but about anything you see in the future. You have to balance the different demands of everyone, and when you are tired to death and sacrifice (yourself) wholeheartedly for others, Maybe people still say that you are not good. This is a thankless job. Entrepreneurship involves a lot of hard work and many challenges. You may have done a lot but may not be recognized, but it is also very gratifying when you take every step forward and lead the team to cross every hurdle. Everyone has the same mission and vision, and only by reaching a consensus can we move forward. This whole process actually poses great challenges to your body and mind, your practice, and your mentality.
Liu Lanxiang: But this may also be the reward for entrepreneurs, not material but spiritual. Entrepreneurship is a long-distance race, which requires both endurance and instant explosive power. This process may be very hard, but as long as you are running, there is hope. (Fortune Chinese website)
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