On January 29th, it was just the anniversary of the establishment of the Thunder. After 13 years in the thunder, Cheng Hao resigned from all positions and turned to “Chuang Chuang You Yuâ€. He did not join the large-scale investment institutions, but early this year, together with Li Wei, founding partner of Songsong Capital and partner Wang Yang, he co-founded Songsong Yuanwang Capital. "Thunder has been listed, and it is still an important stage to complete. In a company to do too long, I want to see the outside world. I think I'm quite suitable for investment." Dialogue with entrepreneurs and i dark horse, Cheng Hao leaned On the sofa, said lightly.
"Finding new things" may be Cheng Hao's inner preference. As early as 13 years ago, Cheng Hao, a senior technical manager at Baidu, chose to resign from his high-paying work and moved south to Shenzhen. Finally, together with Duke University alumnus Zou Shenglong, they each co-founded Xunlei with 50,000 yuan. In 2014, Thunder was listed on NASDAQ. In 2016, Cheng Hao chose to start again. This time, he set a new goal for himself: In the next decade, he will build another sequoia.
In addition to the establishment of Thunder, Cheng Hao also managed several years of strategic investment in Thunder. "I am doing investment and I am interested and good at it," said Cheng Hao. "I have experience in technology companies for so many years. I have a background in the technology industry. There are entrepreneurial experiences from 0 to 1, and these help for entrepreneurs will be great."
Now, every time Cheng Hao goes to Silicon Valley, he also has to look at many projects there and communicate with American investors and incubators. "Although we mainly invest in projects in the country, we must have a forward-looking understanding of the world's most cutting-edge technologies. After not investing in the country, we have discovered that everything is about to fall behind and will be replaced two years later."
The investment direction of Songyuan Yuanwang Capital Selection is mainly technology-leading enterprise services, Internet finance, artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR)/enhanced reality (AR). Cheng Hao personally focuses on VR/AR and AI investment direction, because he has been involved in these areas very early. When studying at Duke University, Cheng Hao's major was related to big data. He later worked at Baidu and Thunder. The two "technical temperament" companies have kept Cheng Hao and frontier technology in close contact. "I have an advantage in these areas," Cheng Hao said earnestly, and said that artificial intelligence at this stage is the direction he is more concerned about.
Cheng Hao
However, in terms of artificial intelligence, Cheng Hao saw many projects, but he did not shoot much. In this one, there is his own philosophy and persistence. "The water is deeper. I want to read it clearly again," said Cheng Hao, who said that he was evenly balanced and said, "Some areas require less demand from investors. Looking at five years and looking at one year, the accumulation of judgment is almost the same. But artificial intelligence The longer the time is, the more accurate it is and it is itself a long-term industry with a 5-10 year chance."
"Ten years of grinding a sword", since the "re-established Sequoia" set a target for ten years, Cheng Hao is obviously not in a hurry, he wants to more accurately lay out the future.
The following is Cheng Hao dictation, edited by entrepreneurs & i dark horses:
"Immediately see through the upper and lower hand"
In the field of artificial intelligence, I have seen many projects. Frankly speaking, this line of water is relatively deep. On the one hand, particularly high-quality entrepreneurs have high valuations for their projects. On the other hand, the business model of many start-up projects is not yet clear. In relative terms, we want to see more clearly.
Our investment phase is partial to Angels and A-round. In general, investment has two latitudes: people and things. The earlier it is, the more important it is to see people, and the more you go back, the more you have to look at “things.â€
From the investment direction, we prefer focusing. I personally focus on AI in this area. But before I invest, I must thoroughly understand related fields. What is it? For example, I’m watching AI+ Finance. There are 5 players on this track. I’m in touch with A. What about the other four players compared to him? First of all, you have to have a clear understanding, you have to have a chat with them.
And this is not enough. It is best that you can explore the upper and lower reaches. Ask people related to the upstream and downstream industries: Why work with this team? Are they more cost-effective or are they more mature? What is the productivity of these entrepreneurs? If you don't know something about an industry this way, it's hard to judge. In the AI ​​world, if you have not voted on a project before, you may feel good about each project, but it is very difficult for each project to “triggerâ€.
Of course, not every investor is playing this way. Some early investors only look at people. They may not know how to understand things and the industry. But as long as they feel that this matter is reliable, this founder has value, With personal charisma, this project can be cast. However, we voted especially for the partial A round. We will almost always make an industry report after we read it. To vote for this project, you can, but you have to tell me who its competitors are, and you have all talked about it. What is the basis for your investment decision? You see that our public number often produces some industry research reports.
Before our investment in this fund, we must have a very deep understanding and judgment of the fields we invest in. I have a saying that: Any track, any field, and hundreds of projects will be completed. After reading, the status quo of the entire industry, the competitive landscape, and the pain points are clearly defined. Through rational analysis and comparison, I can rest assured that I have invested. Even if the project valuation has become more expensive at this time, it may take several months. However, we value the long-term growth and long-term value of the entrepreneurial project. This patience is worth paying for.