Contract Signing with Success - CCTV "Win in China" Top 100 Entrepreneurial Questions

Author: CCTV "Win in China" Project Team
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: The dreams of entrepreneurship and success are hidden in everyone's heart, but they require wisdom and courage. At the same time, not everyone can become an entrepreneurial hero. What kind of person is suitable for entrepreneurship? How to find funding, people, and markets during the entrepreneurial process? As a large-scale interactive economic program produced by CCTV, "Win in China" has specially created the "Top 100 Entrepreneurial Questions" series of dialogues, inviting renowned domestic entrepreneurs such as Yang Jiehe, Chairman of Pacific Construction Group Co., Ltd., Huang Guangyu, Chairman of Gome, Jiang Nanchun, Chairman of Focus Media, Niu Gensheng, Chairman of Mengniu Dairy (Group) Co., Ltd., and Guo Guangchang, Chairman of Shanghai Fosun High-Tech Group Co., Ltd., as well as famous venture capitalists such as Xu Xin, President of Today Capital Group, Xiong Xiaoguo, Vice Chairman of IDG Technology Entrepreneurship Investment Fund, and Yan Yan, President of Beijing SoftBank SF Investment Consulting Co., Ltd. to share their successful experiences and provide guidance from both theoretical and practical perspectives with contestants from "Win in China" at different stages of their careers.
Qian Jiang: I am Qian Jiang from Lianhe. The name is easy to remember—money flows like a river. Our website gathers domestic and international psychology and relationship experts, who have designed a love psychology assessment system. Through this system, we help our users find soulmates. This is our main business. However, during our entrepreneurial journey, we encountered a significant challenge. We would like to ask the experts here, as well as our fellow entrepreneurs, when you face difficulties in entrepreneurship, do you choose to stick to your original path or change direction? The new direction might seem better to you. For example, when we first started, we focused on social networking, creating a community-style website system. But after surveying our users, we found that 80% of them came to our site to find partners. We also observed the people around us and realized that finding partners is a large unmet social demand.
I used to work at McKinsey & Company, and there was a joke in our company: if you came to work without being married, you had two options—either find a partner within the company or with clients, because otherwise, you basically wouldn’t meet anyone else. Since the people who are looking for partners are often young professionals just starting out in their careers, they don’t have time for dating.
Once, I went to Zhongshan Park with my mother and encountered hundreds of middle-aged and elderly women there, wearing tags with their children’s names, photos, and workplaces. I asked them, and they said they were helping their children find partners without their consent, because the children were too busy and didn’t want their parents to meddle.
I also have a friend who used to drive a jeep to universities with many female students, trying to find a girlfriend. We often teased him, but later he sent us a message that I still remember vividly. He said, “How easy is it for me?” Many users have similar sentiments. Based on this survey, we believed the market was large, but when we discussed it internally, both sides had strong opinions. One side argued that since we had already built a social networking system, we should stick with it. They said that all successful companies go through many low points and overcome numerous difficulties—only then do they succeed. If you change direction at the first sign of trouble, you will definitely fail. I’m sure many of the entrepreneurs here have faced similar situations.
Host: Thank you. Tian Yuan, how do you think his website should proceed—stick with it or pivot?
Tian Yuan: I think the demand is very straightforward. With over a billion people in China, the need will only grow over generations. However, whether your website succeeds is another matter. I started my company in 1992, when China was developing in every industry and actively adopting foreign models. I used to work in government agencies, and I did quite well—by the age of 30, I was already a bureau chief. But I later felt too many restrictions, so I kept wanting to start a business. I went abroad for two years to study in the U.S. I learned at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the world’s largest futures exchange, where thousands of people trade every day, it’s very lively, and many people make a lot of money. So, I decided to start a company like that when I returned to China. It’s been 14 years now, and we are now the largest company in this market, holding a 12% share.
I believe the internet offers many opportunities and great imagination. It truly is an opportunity. For many of you here, I think no matter which industry you choose, don’t aim for big money from the start. If you do, you’re doomed. You need to find a way to make your business profitable in a relatively short time—to support yourself and your team. Then you’ll have the chance to adjust to market differences and eventually align with the market. To survive, make money to support yourself, and then you can adjust and persevere—that will lead to success. So, the goal is to identify a business, invest a bit of money, find a few people to work with, and make it profitable enough to sustain yourself. Then, you can gradually expand. I think setting a low initial target is the most realistic approach. As for achieving something like what Focus Media or Mr. Huang has done—that’s something that comes once in tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands. I suggest entrepreneurs don’t think about that when they start. That’s my opinion.
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