Where is the next slogan and opportunity for Chinese entrepreneurship? Is the lightning expansion mode of the popular Silicon Valley applicable in China?
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman mentioned in his new book, Lightning Expansion, that there are two areas in the world where lightning expansion is possible, one in Silicon Valley and one in China. Several cities, including Beijing, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou. In contrast, China’s competition is more intense, because the products here are faster, the decision-making process is shorter, and the talent competition is greater. This kind of soil is more likely to produce fast-expanding enterprises.
Lei Ying recently invited Cheng Mingxia, Assistant Dean of Tencent Research Institute, Zhu Hong, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of CITIC Publishing Group, and Dai Yusen, Partner of Zhenge Fund, to start a dialogue with Lu Jian, President of LinkedIn China. From the perspective of local entrepreneurship Explore the market environment and opportunities for China’s lightning expansion. Based on their rich experience and long-term industry insights, the four guests shared their insights and suggestions on future market trends, typical business cases, business management, and talent strategy.
About the big trends in the next five years
Cheng Mingxia: With the central bank’s RRR cut last week, it means that the economic situation is going down. At the same time, the Internet industry is also facing the challenge of transformation. Everyone says that the dividend of the consumer Internet is gone, the traffic peaks, AI There is no explosion. So in this environment, I would like to know, how do you think about the big trend in the next five years, is pessimistic or optimistic, will we usher in consumer downgrade or upgrade?
Cheng Mingxia, Assistant Dean of Tencent Research Institute
Dai Yusen:For the Internet, we have seen the end of the oversupply of capital. In the past 20 years, the Internet has brought about earth-shaking changes to too many industries in China. Now many people lament that the Internet has entered the second half in the 4G era, and pure Internet entrepreneurship has become more and more difficult, especially in the economic environment. At the time, the situation of desperate expansion may have passed.
But we think this is just the “end of the beginning”, but it has not yet reached the “end of the end.” The Internet is a tool that better integrates resources and information to make all industries more efficient. II feel that the transformation of many industries has just begun. For example, the daily transformation of the Internet, which is replaced by the Internet, accounts for only 10% to 20%, including my old e-commerce business, which accounts for only 20% of China’s retail GDP, and 80%. Can the Internet change?
For example, if you are looking for a restaurant, we have a public comment 10 years ago and can see the restaurant information online. But what happened after going to the restaurant has changed gradually in recent years. Now, we can use the Internet tools to complete reservations, ordering, checkout, and even take-out. Now the restaurant operates with more CRM systems, and we have also invested in angels in related fields. Although the restaurant itself has not changed, every part of it has been changed by the Internet, and operational efficiency has improved.
Dai Yusen, Partner of Zhenge Fund
There are still many changes that we can’t see. On the whole, the Internet as a tool can increase the efficiency of more modules. So I am still optimistic about the whole, just saying that we may have some more aggressive styles before, and some business models that are not very stable will be challenged. In addition to the C-end, the efficiency of many companies at the B-end has yet to be improved through various advanced tools and concepts, but this improvement will be even more difficult because it will be drilled deeper.
The opportunity for “lightning expansion” in China
Cheng Mingxia: Yes, from expansion to refined management. Let us focus on the Chinese market again. Reid Hoffman is very familiar with the US market. He also often comes to China to share and exchange. He seems to be one of the most loved Chinese leaders in the leadership team. He also cited many Chinese companies in the book. example of. When we did a lot of platform enterprise research, we found that the Chinese platform is very interesting. We divided the slow platform and the fast platform. Many platforms will suddenly face capital collapse after they get up quickly. Why is China’s somewhat radical platform suddenly smashed?
Dai Yusen: This is because the company has to find a model of growth early on. Our companies have also experienced periods of rapid growth, such as spending 10 to 10 billion in four years, and China’s subsidies are more common than in the United States. However, if the company develops to a certain extent, it must find a model of the moat to deal with subsidies and reduce users.Case.
The moat model has four types, network effects, economies of scale, strong brands, and high migration costs for users. Although some companies have gone up in scale, they have not become a real moat. If a company wants to continue to subsidize users, users will not lose, which is actually a poor performance of the moat. A good moat, such as WeChat, may still be used even if the user collects money. This is a strong moat.
As the Internet enters the second half, companies must look for moats from growth patterns. If a company can’t continue to grow, it’s not a startup but a business. In the process of relying on the dividend of the times, entrepreneurs must shift gears in time. For example, it is much better to rely on the WeChat bonus, but it has to do it in a timely manner to have a network effect. This is the typical moat mode. So switching from the growth model to the moat model is important, and if you stop at the growth model, you will continue to burn money. Early-stage companies must seize the turning point of the times. Growth often depends on dividends. When the dividends come, entrepreneurs who can seize the dividends can seize the opportunity, but entrepreneurs still have to think more about it, and need to know where the moat is.
Lu Jian:Yu Sen said that these lightning-expanding companies need to have a moat. From another perspective, it is important to first 0 to 1, then from 1 to high speed expansion. I think the most important stage from 0 to 1 is actually what Reid Hoffman said in this book. At this stage, it is necessary to polish a practical business model.
I saw in China that many companies are growing rapidly. When they are not finished from 0 to 1, they think of 1000 and 10000, because the market is overwhelmed if they don’t do it. However, if you return to the book Reid Hoffman, he mentioned that there are two examples of lightning expansion in China, one is WeChat and the other is Xiaomi. Referring to the two companies, I think it is important that both Xiaomi and WeChat prove that their business model is profitable and can continue to grow at a sustained rate.
Zhu Hong:Reid Hoffman mentioned in the book “Lightning Expansion”, what is the so-called lightning expansion? We understand from the surface that lightning expansion is the pursuit of speedAt the stage, the founders faced the so-called “outs”. Under certain circumstances, the founder did not grow up with the company, and at a certain stage, it could not keep up with the company’s development. Of course, the situation may be complicated and involves all aspects of internal and external. But I think that a person can lead a few people, dozens of people in a small company, and can also lead the company when there are thousands of people and tens of thousands of people in the company. There are also founders and entrepreneurs who can grow with the company, but not everyone can.
Dai Yusen: After I went to the market from 0 to 1, I believe that the development of the startup is divided into four stages:< /p>
The first is to find directions and patterns. At this time, management can’t help you, and can’t help you find business direction.
The second is the stage of rapid growth. At this time, lightning expansion is most useful. How do you run faster than your competitors? This is more important than efficiency.
The third is to reach a relatively large scale. At this time, efficiency and management should be improved. However, the problem encountered by entrepreneurs at this time is because he does not like the particularly strict management methods in large companies. Shun, the company will feel that there is no problem in doing this to a certain scale and it does not need management. At this time, you need to shift gears to create management capabilities that the team does not have.
The fourth is innovation. Entrepreneurs need to switch from entrepreneurial mode to management mode and innovative mode. The requirements for entrepreneurs are very high. Sometimes entrepreneurs want to be nirvana and sometimes introduce partners.
Zhu Hong:The book “Lightning Expansion” mentions the management model. We see that there are many so-called lightning expansions on the market today. The fast-moving company, and the subsequent success, was a big problem in internal organization and management. Reid believes that the company’s development is divided into several stages. The company within 10 people is a family, dozens of people are tribes, hundreds of people are villages, thousands of people are cities, and tens of thousands of people are state-owned enterprises. You can’t use them. The way the tribe is managed to manage the country requires different approaches in terms of management model, organizational structure and talent.
In terms of talents, generalists need generalists, and in the stage of stable development, they need specialization and talents that can promote deep development. In the organization and management norms, in the stable development stage, we must change from the pirate mode to the naval mode, otherwise the enterprise will face great problems. This may be an important reason why many fast-starting startups have not succeeded in the end.
Who can be a good corporate CEO
Cheng Mingxia:The founder’s own iterative growth is especially important, but it’s also reallyDon’t be hard. Still returning to the more cruel problem, we have seen that many successful Internet CEOs are technical backgrounds, especially in the competition of the next generation AI. Under such circumstances, which type of people do you think will be faster to self-itate, and which type of person is more likely to evolve into a generalist CEO?
Dai Yusen: I think there are all kinds of types. In the future, knowing technology will become more and more necessary. Now, entrepreneurs are basically a combination of technology and business, and the combination of the Internet and industry. There are fewer and fewer opportunities on the Internet, and technology founders have to break through their limitations. I think entrepreneurs have to constantly upgrade themselves. In fact, there is a common way to find a very complementary and very powerful person to join in the early days. For example, Ma Yun found Cai Chongxin, Ma Huateng found Liu Chiping, Zuckerberg found Sandberg. So I think the best entrepreneurs are people who can effectively attract stronger and complement themselves. On the contrary, some founders have always supplemented people like themselves, and it is difficult for the company to grow.
Lu Jian: I saw a lot of founders in Silicon Valley, not necessarily completely technical, but also a lot of products. I have seen a lot of people with MBA background and pure management people doing business, but I think it depends on the track. Many people in the B2B industry are doing business before, and some even do sales.
Zhu Hong: Reid Hoffman has a book called “Union”, which he specifically mentioned in this book, is such a rapid change today In the era, the most important thing to find a partner is to have a mentality of finding a partner. That is to say, this person may not be in your company. He can be a partner and want to cooperate with him with an open mind. There is definitely a chance in the future. For example, even if the employee you value most is gone, it doesn’t matter. You can build an alliance in the future.
Scarre Talent Skills in Intense Competition
Cheng Mingxia: Talent is not necessarily for you, but it can be used for you.Seeing that in the AI era, some jobs are disappearing, while others are showing an increasing number. After analysis, we find that the growing work has the common characteristics that people are the center, that is, the skills required for these jobs are people’s understanding, such as marketing, human resources, etc., which may be irreplaceable by machines. Because of the need to deal with people and have a deeper understanding of people’s preferences, this can also reveal the need for skills in the workplace.
Zhu Hong:The development of Internet technology will lead to new industries and jobs, such as the WeChat ecosystem from the media industry. Rise, which makes writing and expression an important skill. The development of the mobile Internet has made short-term video entrepreneurs popular. The future video is a very big slogan. There will be a lot of entrepreneurs influx, so people in this field will be scarce.
From a broader perspective, today’s information and technology are evolving very fast, knowledge reserves may be updated or iterated quickly, and many of the things that were previously learned are useless. In the face of such a situation, I believe that the ability of lifelong learning to acquire knowledge continuously is very important.
In addition, from the perspective of enterprises and talents, the founder’s thinking and mentality may be a point that enterprises need to pay attention to. Employees bring good ideas to the company and regard the company as their own company, along with the growth of the company. This is very important.
Dai Yusen: I strongly agree with the idea of lifelong learning. Because our life was prepared from learning, after the middle work, we found that the preparation for learning was useless and needed to be continuously studied. Therefore, I very much agree that learning ability will become more and more important.
The second point is the ability to leverage. There are now a lot of tools that can be leveraged to magnify their strengths. For example, for a talented person, there may not be a way to promote themselves. Now that you have self-media, with vibrato and WeChat, you can become KOL through the influence of existing social media. In the current era, whether there is leverage or good use, the final result will be very different. Enlarging your own advantages as much as possible can become the ability of one person to achieve self-transcendence and class leapfrogging in this era.
A good book for entrepreneurs/managers to read
Cheng Mingxia: Finally, please share a book that you think is the most worthwhile reading in the field of entrepreneurial innovation and business management.
Lu Jian: I would like to recommend the most recent book in the last two or three years, called Rise of the R.Opots, it also has a subtitle called Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future. This is a bestseller in finance and economics. Although it is written about AI, it actually writes about the impact on society as a whole. The reason I like this book is that as a technician, I am in it but I don’t see the impact of technology on the whole society, so I was very impressed after reading this book. Including the disappearance of some of the work we just talked about, after reading this book, I can really feel that the machine is threatening a lot of our work. There are two curves in this book. The productivity of the company has been rising, but the average wage is falling. This is very interesting. I recommend everyone to take a look.
Dai Yusen: I think there is a book that is particularly good, called Cycle. I feel that today’s young people can live in this time very lucky. We live in China’s big bull market. In the past 30 years, China’s urbanization, industrialization and informationization have brought China’s bull market. We just happened to do the Internet. The bull market in the industry, but there is nothing but a bull market without a bull market. This book is about the most well-known American hedge fund founder who wants to know the periodicity and how to use the cycle. I find it very inspiring, and it makes a lot of sense to recall many of the mistakes I made.
Zhu Hong:The book I recommend is called Entrepreneurship. Every entrepreneur is worth reading. Its author is Ben Horowitz, Netscape. Partner of the company founder Mark Anderson. This book records his entrepreneurial process in many companies. He said that entrepreneurship is very difficult every day, but he is not introducing successful experiences. Instead, he puts his own lessons and tells you how to clean up after messing things up. The endgame, this process is very valuable to entrepreneurs.
Cheng Mingxia: I also recommend one myself. The weekend has just read “A Brief History of Human Science and Technology Innovation.” This book is a very rigorous quantitative study by physics scientists. One particularly unexpected conclusion is that this round of information technology explosion cannot be called the “information revolution” because there is no transformation of the material world, and there is no special hard core. Innovation. There are some particularly interesting conclusions, including a large picture, which is very convincing.
