This year is the eleventh consecutive year that Chuangbang has launched the list of "entrepreneurship upstarts under 30 years old", and Chuangbang has once again handed over the stage of "entrepreneurship upstarts under 30 years old" to the young post-90s and post-00s. In the case of sudden changes in the market and more dark tides of competition, through the interpretation of these young entrepreneurial upstarts, showing their exploration and deep cultivation in various cutting-edge technologies, how their entrepreneurial passion and sense of innovation will affect and change this era.
Author 丨 Xie Xia
Editor 丨 and Yi Rong
Image source 丨 Respondents
Picture design | Li Bincai
In 2014, after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Zhao Yang began a job search. He was first favored by a company that did video conferencing, and he didn't choose to join at the time. Later, the company became popular all over the world.
The same experience has happened twice, these experiences are certainly regrettable, but in Zhao Yang's view, every time he was invited by the founder, it strengthened his belief in entrepreneurship.
Therefore, in 2015, he began his entrepreneurial journey, and as a co-founder, he co-founded Zaihui Network with Li Xiaojie and Zhu Chenhao.
Business is the most straightforward way to realize value
During his college years in the United States, Zhao Yang experienced great shocks in terms of vision, values, methodology, and even lifestyle, which prompted him to have a great tolerance for multiculturalism.
Once, he went to an interview in a suit, and there were homeless people on the street, and after the interview, he went to exchange 25 cents of change with the homeless, and then took the change to wash his clothes, and he and the homeless were very happy.
"The first step is to be inclusive, and the second step is to be compatible, which means that you can find your own way in various ways." Zhao Yang said.
Zhao Yang gradually found his own way in college life. He followed the professor to do a lot of poverty alleviation projects, such as helping Indians build houses that automatically adjust the temperature, helping African children make AR glasses, and helping them read books in many different languages, which made Zhao Yang feel very accomplished.
Project research and entrepreneurship are in the same vein.
In 2013, he had a brief venture in the United States, doing a stranger social app, and although the project ended in failure, he met Zhu Chenhao, a current entrepreneurial partner. Zhu Chenhao was the lawyer of the project at that time, and both of them had great enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and hit it off. After returning to China, Zhao Yang was introduced by his wife's friends and met Li Xiaojie.
In August 2015, Zaihui Network was established at a time when the corporate service industry was rapidly expanding. When hot money pours in, the industry is bound to go through a curve process of rapid prosperity, bubble generation, bubble bursting, and back on track.
"In 2015 and 2016, the enterprise service industry was a false boom, and then in the past two years, it gradually fell to the bottom, and many investors did not dare to invest." Zhao Yang told Chuangbang that the current form of enterprise services has crossed the gap, and from 2019, the industry has slowly returned to fundamentals, business logic and long-term value.
Zaihui's first two rounds of financing occurred during the rapid boom period of the industry, and the third round of financing was in November 2017, when the bubble began to burst, but Zaihui still successfully raised funds and began to accelerate the pace of development. After the industry bottomed out and rebounded, Zaihui received another $50 million in Series C financing.
"When the market is good, companies that should not get money can also raise funds, but when the market is not good, the head effect will be more obvious." Zhao Yang believes that the bursting of the bubble is a good thing and can make the entire business environment healthier. The bursting of the bubble is one of the necessary conditions for the industry to get back on track.
In just 6 years, Zaihui Network has completed 5 rounds of financing with a total of more than 100 million US dollars, serving more than 10,000 enterprises, becoming a dark horse in the field of enterprise services.
Through the cycle, Zhao Yang has a unique judgment, he believes that new consumption is currently in a state close to the blasting point, and the blasting may be at the end of this year or next year.
The third SaaS upgrade expands the enterprise service boundary
When Zaihui was founded, it positioned itself as a digital catering marketing solution provider, helping restaurants to be repeat customers and build a set of Social CRM in a digital way.
In Zhao Yang's view, Zaihui has so far experienced three stages of border upgrading and expansion.
The first phase is Software-as-a-service, Software as a Service.
"At the beginning, we mainly sold a cloud software, and after doing it for a while, we found that providing a separate software, the intimacy with the customer was limited, and the service space for the customer was also limited." Zhao Yang said.
As a result, Zaihui upgraded the boundary, and the second stage not only provided Software, but also provided more services, which Zhao Yang called Service-as-a-software, service as software.
The most typical is the anti-tradition of re-benefiting the operation service on behalf of the generation. The agency operation service provided by Zaihui will release manpower through the support of middle and back office software, artificial intelligence systems, and big data, and the role played by people in it is only the translation officer between the system and the customer.
"We have redefined the generation operation, only in this way can we scale, have higher gross profit, and have precipitation." Zhao Yang said.
At present, Zaihui has entered the third stage, that is, all services and software are intelligently and platform-based upgrades.
Talking about Zaihui, Zhao Yang spoke quickly and talked, and from his tone, you could feel his passion and firmness in entrepreneurship.
However, this passion is accompanied by doubts along the way.
Accept questioning and enjoy solitude
For Zhao Yang, questioning has become the norm, including questions from colleagues, partners, investors and even family members, "When not questioned, but will feel uncomfortable." ”
Zhao Yang has an account on Douyin, he likes Musk very much, he has tried to send Musk's interview clips to his Douyin number, and he has charged 100 yuan of DOU+, but his purpose in doing so is not just to share his favorite entrepreneurs and content.
"In fact, I kind of want to deliberately absorb some social doubts, and test what the public orientation on TikTok looks like." The result of Zhao Yang's test was that most of the audience was scolding, which was in line with his original assumptions.
If three or five years ago, Zhao Yang might have responded to these doubts to prove himself, but after 6 years of entrepreneurship, he was accustomed to these doubts, and for him, being questioned was a "particularly beautiful process".
"There are only two ways to deal with being questioned, emotional and rational." At the perceptual level, Zhao Yang believes that doing a good job is essentially faith-driven, and only if you have a persistent belief in one thing can you do it well.
On a rational level, Zhao Yang said he was a "super self-critic."
Every once in a while, Zhao Yang would write a summary for self-criticism. "The so-called criticism is to get a new cognition through criticism, which is more like the combing of cognition, but this cognition must first challenge itself continuously, and the ultimate result of the challenge is the concept that can be exported at the moment." The challenge is not an end in itself, but a tool, a gripper. ”
"Most people think they're thinking, but they're just carefully sorting out their biases, which can't be thrown away 100 percent, only 60 to 70 percent as possible."
These reflections are also reflected in decision-making.
Zhao Yang often throws out some new ideas, the moment the idea is thrown, everyone in the team will feel that they must start working immediately, but he will let everyone precipitate for a period of time, a day, a week or even longer, when the passion and prejudice fade, and then pick up the original idea, if you still feel that it is a must-do thing, and then explore more specific execution strategies.
"Major decisions must be able to stand the test of time, and if they are discouraged in a few days, it is even more unlikely to continue in the future."
Since starting his business, Zhao Yang's biggest feeling is that there are two qualities that entrepreneurs need to have the most, one is sincerity, and the other is the pattern. To be sincere is to be true to one's own inner choice and to be honest with others; the pattern is long-term thinking, and there must be enough patience and firm belief not to be affected by the complex factors around you.
Once, after an employee left his job and started an independent business, Zhao Yang helped him introduce investors and customers, helped him complete background checks in the financing process, and endorsed him.
"If we think in terms of interests, I certainly shouldn't do this, but I think we should be entrepreneurs who cherish each other and support each other, help others, and create greater social value." Zhao Yang said that if you are helping others in pursuit of return, then your ideas will definitely not be pure.
There are two entrepreneurs he most admires: Jobs and Musk. From these two entrepreneurs, not only did he learn the attitude and thinking of dealing with things, but also greatly immersed in the improvement of his spiritual level.
"Entrepreneurs are lonely, and you will enjoy the process of loneliness more and more." Talking about loneliness, Zhao Yang's desire to talk was aroused again, and he quoted a long passage from Jobs in "Here's to the crazy ones": They are maverick, they are untamed, they are in trouble, they are incompatible... You can refer to them, you can oppose them, you can question them, you can praise or denigrate them, but you can't ignore them, because they have changed things, they have pushed humanity forward, maybe they are crazy in the eyes of others, but they are geniuses in our eyes.
"The sentence may be narcissistic in itself, but the underlying logic is that you can't be ignored, as long as you don't ignore yourself, even if you are lonely." 」 Zhao Yang said.
Musk has also faced many doubts, but also experienced loneliness, he named Space X's rocket recovery ship "Of course I still love you", which in Zhao Yang's view is: after being questioned more, you will love those who question you, because they promote your growth.