Liu Weilong, founding partner of Red Pepper Capital: An excellent technology or product entrepreneur with a heavy position

Hong furnace point snow casting tianjiao bridge the future of the industry

——Interview with Liu Weilong, founding partner of Red Pepper Capital

For more than 20 years, the venture capital industry has cultivated a group of venture capitalists who pursue investment returns but are not mercenary, have feelings, ideals, vision, and responsibilities. With the entrepreneurial goal of "investing to create value, boosting scientific and technological change, and accelerating social progress", they embark on a journey that belongs to their own sea of stars. These investors who are at the forefront of society are full of passion and ideals, stand tall and see far, and are committed to realizing the harmonious unity of investor interests, corporate value and national interests, showing the charm and value of the venture capital industry.

Liu Weilong, founding partner of Red Pepper Capital, mobile Internet expert, angel investor, serial successful entrepreneur, senior webmaster. 17 years of Internet operation and management experience, 9 years of entrepreneurship, 4 years of investment, has founded 5 websites and 3 Internet companies. He graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a master's degree and was a former researcher at Samsung Electronics Korea Headquarters. In May 2017, Red Pepper Capital was established, positioning itself in early-stage entrepreneurial project investment, focusing on technology and product innovation enterprises, focusing on new technologies, new models, hard technologies, artificial intelligence, blockchain and consumption upgrades. Red Pepper Capital management team has a successful entrepreneurial background, graduated from Jiaotong University, Tsinghua University, Central Europe, Yale and other well-known universities, overseas study or work experience, rich early investment experience. Red Pepper Capital has invested in a listed company, Dingdong Grocery Shopping (NYSE:DDL), a unicorn company, Bitmain, as well as high-growth enterprises such as McGet Technology, Salary Too Soft, Micro-reporting, and Ink Case Technology.

There are talents in the world, and people with benevolence have always been

"There is Bole in the world, and then there is Maxima. Maxima is often present, but Bole is not. Liu Weilong often commented on his team and his own career - that is, to be the Bole of entrepreneurs, and before that, Liu Weilong was also doing mobile Internet entrepreneurship. As early as 2012 to 2015 when the mobile Internet exploded, every year there are thousands of mobile APP projects to find Liu Weilong's team needs to develop, many of them have just started a business of young people, these projects reserve funds are not much, hope That Liu Weilong team to carry out technology investment, so innovatively put forward the "technology angel" investment method, but after trying several projects found that the effect of technology into the shares is not very good, the interests of the technology angel side will often conflict with the project side, Because the needs of the project side must continue to iterate and the technology investment is getting bigger and bigger, Liu Weilong's team cannot bear a large amount of overruns, and the entrepreneurial team may not be able to get the money of other investment institutions, which is easy to get into trouble; moreover, this unprofessional investment method cannot do a good job in the screening and post-investment management of excellent projects. What the venture capital industry needs is investment rationality and strategic determination, to maintain positive optimism in the winter of the industry, to maintain rationality and objectivity in the summer of the industry, to start with the end, to create a unique style of investment. The era of pursuing rapid returns is passing, and venture capital institutions with systematic investment concepts and methodologies, as well as mature mentalities, are more resistant to cyclical fluctuations. For Liu Weilong, the founding partner of Red Pepper Capital, it is precisely because he has the dual identity of an entrepreneur and an investor, and he has been meticulously sown to play out the unique advantages of Red Pepper Capital's investment: the internalized gene of deep cognition of entrepreneurship, the strong empathy for entrepreneurs, and the help of follow-up financing, strategy, talent, finance, management and resource docking for post-investment services under the principle of "no chaos".

In 2017, Liu Weilong and 3 venture capital friends founded the Red Pepper Angel Fund, the original intention is very simple, early project financing is difficult, even Maxima is difficult to get "Bole" favor; in addition, institutional investment is more effective than personal investment to find good projects, invest in, and can help them grow, to achieve a better allocation of social resources. Most individual investors often do not have strict institutional evaluation of projects, have limited project sources, and have less post-investment management. Institutional investment can reduce risks and effectively increase the probability of success, thereby helping excellent entrepreneurs and better achieving social productivity. Early investment is a venture capital financing method that realizes the effective combination of innovative elements such as technology, capital, talent and management with entrepreneurial enterprises, boosts the incubation and growth of science and technology, industrialization, and finally capitalization, thus forming a virtuous circle. At the same time, early investment requires the ability and determination to "see talents with discernment and become a great instrument", not to forget "adult self-esteem", and not to "cross the line", in order to create a revolutionary friendship between Bole and Maxima.

Science and technology entrepreneurship helps the country strong The investment philosophy is the original intention

Most people may think that early investment is like a kind of high-yield "gambling", but in Liu Weilong's view, early investment is more valuable to "help innovative technology or products grow faster, benefit the public, and promote social progress." "Investing is to help entrepreneurs promote the success of a certain technology, or a certain model, so as to promote the development of society, and it is based on long-term benefits rather than immediate benefits." The early development of many scientific and technological projects is very difficult, if you can get the help of capital, you can help to get things done, promote the rapid maturity of technology, and have a huge role in improving social production efficiency. Liu Weilong links venture capital with social value, firmly believes that "strong capital is strong in science and technology, and strong in science and technology is strong in the country", and dedicates his own strength to China's "high-quality development".

Liu Weilong frankly said, "We ourselves are entrepreneurs, the early investment as a good deed, and full of idealism, compared with other investment institutions, Red Pepper's investment pays more attention to the founder, heavy position excellent technology or product entrepreneurs, give them full trust, only help not lick the chaos." Red Pepper Capital's investment philosophy is from the "Unity of Heaven and Man" in the Tao Te Ching, and entrepreneurship follows the development principle of "Dao Sheng One, One Life Two, Two Life Three, Three Life All Things". "Dao Sheng Yi" is the process of starting a business from 0 to 1, at this time, the founder needs to think deeply about the company's "Tao", only by finding it, can he do more with less and stand out in the competition. As an excellent early investor, Liu Weilong pays special attention to the process of a company from 0 to 1, because when he invests in these projects, he often just started, and may only achieve 0.1 or 0.2, at this time, the project can not break through to achieve "1", it may die. "At this time is also the most critical moment, more than 50% of the time of red pepper flower to do post-investment management, from strategy, financing, finance, personnel, products, markets, management and other aspects to help the development of startups." Liu Weilong believes that the advantage of Red Pepper Capital is to "see early, understand, invest in, and help", and the founders of the invested projects also highly recognize Red Pepper, become friends with each other, and even become the investment partners of Red Pepper New Fund. The "Tao Wu" sought from chaos begins with the end, with the help of the power of capital, iterates continuously, and finally realizes "three lives and all things".

"Red Pepper Capital mainly gathers early investment, and the investment logic focuses on three aspects, one is to look at the founder, mainly to analyze the degree of matching he has with entrepreneurial projects." The second is to look at the track and observe whether the project has the opportunity to make a listed company, whether the node where it solves the problem is correct, and whether it is really valuable for promoting social progress. The third is to look at the data, from the verification of the minimum feasibility model of the project, and then to the analysis of the data growth trend of the month, week and day, and find that the project is constantly verifying its ability from 0 to 1. Liu Weilong summarized the successful investment experience of Red Pepper's early projects and gradually formed a set of methodologies for pursuing certainty in uncertainty.

Whether it is an enterprise or a person, it must be a hero created by the times, not a hero who creates the times. Going up the river, that's the trick. When the situation is good, everyone has a chance to become a hero. Only after becoming a hero can it be possible to adapt to the current situation and transform the current situation. Liu Weilong believes that capital is an important production factor of social development, which must meet the needs of national and even global development, "aim high", make full use of their professional capabilities, and make greater contributions to society.

Red Pepper Capital's performance praise Bridge the future of Baiyexing

The ability to innovate is the soul of national progress and the core of economic competition. As a cutting-edge investment institution, Red Pepper Capital is proving itself with remarkable achievements, 80% of the invested enterprises have obtained the next round of financing, and the book return of red pepper 1 fund is more than 10 times. Dingdong Grocery Shopping, which is invested by Red Pepper Capital, has developed rapidly in the past four years, from less than 30 million GMV to 15 billion GMV last year, an increase of 500 times, and was successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange in June 2021, and is also Red Pepper Capital's first "home run (from the first round to the listing)" project, with a book return of more than 100 times. Therefore, Red Pepper Capital won the "2021 Investment Institution" issued by the "Ninth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Leadership Summit and 2021 Digital Economy New Forces Ceremony" of the new digital forces, and Liu Weilong personally also won the honor of "2021 Emerging Investors".

Speaking of the future, Liu Weilong, founding partner of Red Pepper Capital, believes that China is in the process of new upgrading and transformation, and scientific and technological innovation is the key to whether China can become a developed country. "China's policy has begun to encourage 'specialized, specialized, new, and domestically produced alternative types of enterprises. These projects generally go global because they are particularly well done at one point, which is an opportunity for our investment institutions and an unshirkable responsibility. Red Pepper Capital's Investment in McGill Technology and Salary Too Soft are both 'specialized and special new' enterprises, and we will invest in more of these companies in the future. "From an international perspective, Liu Weilong's investment institution has played a very important role in helping to narrow the technology gap between China and foreign countries and do a good job in the localization market." Liu Weilong said that in the future, he wants to create a school of entrepreneurial cognition with his alma mater, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which has emotional color and public welfare, to share the practical experience of entrepreneurs or investors, help college students who want to start a business to improve their cognition, share the course with everyone, and let more people take fewer detours, so as to help a new generation of entrepreneurs and become a beacon on the way forward for more entrepreneurs.

Innovation is the most significant feature of the new era, and scientific progress, technological or model innovation is the core driving force for social progress. The practice of entrepreneurship requires continuous persistence, continuous summarization, and constant upgrading of their own cognition. Joining a top entrepreneurial circle and becoming a core member will have a huge effect on improving entrepreneurial awareness. The initial development of Red Pepper Capital benefited from the circle of founding partner Liu Weilong, and in the red pepper investment project, there were many projects from the circle of friends. For example, Liu Weilong has been friends with Liang Changlin, the founder of Dingdong Grocery Shopping, for 11 years, and Zheng Yanpeng, CEO of Maijie Technology, was the entrepreneurial partner of Zhang Xuefeng, a partner of Red Pepper Capital. Red Pepper has built the Internet, SAAS software, chips, consumer electronics, artificial intelligence, blockchain and many other TMT fields of the country's top entrepreneurs and expert circles, Liu Weilong believes that Red Pepper must practice the core concept of "bridge", become a bridge linking entrepreneurs and investors, should continue to improve Red Pepper social attributes and community operations, to help more people become venture capitalists.

The venture capital industry is a gathering of elites, big men, and new stars, and it is a group of tireless venture capitalists and venture capitalists who support this great and vibrant industry. It is believed that under the leadership of Liu Weilong, Red Pepper Capital will also conform to the trend of the times, cut through thorns and thorns, forge ahead, and occupy the new highland of Red Horn in the investment market.

(This article is the transcript of the interview of Liu Weilong, founding partner of Red Pepper Capital, interviewed by "Time China")