Kai-fu Lee: Age is not the problem is the distance

On September 8th, the Innovation Factory Shanghai Base was formally launched. Li Kaifu (Weibo) standing in the center of the venue was slightly uncomfortable. His hands used to tidy up his clothes from time to time, but he quickly recovered when he sat down to face the media. The most natural and comfortable state. He joked that now the leaders are gone, we can talk about it casually.

This year, Li Kaifu just entered the age of knowing the fate of the heavens. His life experience is the golden age. Before he took dinner with the team and Jack Welch, the old man was very high, but when he spoke on the second day, Welch was obviously a bit weak. Li Kaifu told everyone privately that I finally knew that I would be 20 years later. What is it like?

Two years ago, 48-year-old Lee Kai-fu resigned from Google China to join the innovation workshop. As an entrepreneur, age is never a problem. Vision is the most important.

Once in doubt:

What exactly does the innovation workshop do ?

Dim Sum is one of the most well-known projects in the incubation and incubation of innovation workshops. At the end of last year, it had successfully secured a first-round investment of nearly US$15 million. At the National Chengde East Road 300 Venture Training Base, more than 30 members of the dim sum have already entered the city. A beautiful woman is yelling at a godly male colleague, "You must calm down, give me a good code!" Some people chatted and chatted, and suddenly there was a bright expression on the face.

What exactly does the innovation workshop do? Two years ago, almost everyone with such questions. Kai-fu Lee said that we gradually began to understand that what Kai-fu Lee did was not a charity company, not to help college students find a life direction, but to lead young people to open up their dreams and diligently nuggets. In the two years since its establishment, Innovation Factory has reviewed more than 2500 projects, invested 34 projects and companies, and 9 of them successfully attracted external VCs to complete Series A financing. The investment amount exceeded RMB 250 million and the total valuation is expected to reach RMB 3 billion.

For the doubts two years ago, Kai-fu Lee had enough confidence to answer. “We have created a 'professional incubation+investment' model that is suitable for all entrepreneurial fields and entrepreneurs. We are not going to give those conditions that are all mature. Entrepreneurs who are short of money only invest money, but they haven’t become a company, they haven’t registered yet, and they start creating companies.”

In jargon terms, it should belong to Pre-Angle, which is the frontier part of angel investment. This is exactly what entrepreneurs “what are missing in addition to ideas” are most in need. Distressed CEO Zhang Lei once said, “In addition to my colleagues and investors, Kaifu also solved my recruitment, legal, public relations, IT, government relations, etc., and let me focus on products, R&D and commerce. The project can grow rapidly without any worries."

Now busy:

Turn Zhongguancun from a hypermarket to a “Silicon Valley”

The 2,000-square-metre area of ​​the Beijing Innovation Base has long been insufficient, with nearly 500 people crammed together, together with those hatchery companies that have obviously graduated and are still “relying on and not going”, so the company has moved since the establishment of the company, and it has been busy recently. Look for new places. “The spaciousness of the room is large enough to meet the requirements of future development” is the primary condition for the selection of the Shanghai Base for the Innovation Workshop. Finally, on the Guoding East Road, we got a three-story office of nearly 8,600 square meters.

The team of the innovation workshop is totally sitting with the incubation enterprise. Outsiders visit. If they do not introduce, it is impossible to distinguish between the employees of the innovation workshop and the employees of the incubation enterprise. Start-ups will be able to settle in. Today, the team of the visiting countries has become one of Li Kaifu’s daily tasks. The White House’s “President Obama National Innovation Strategy” panel made a special call to consult and discuss the secrets of how to maintain the vitality of innovation.

Kai-Fu Lee hopes to bring some innovative genes from Silicon Valley to the country. Innovation workshop Beijing base was originally only Starbucks, now opened a lot of garage cafes, investment agencies have also set up offices in the surrounding, just as the bees found the flowers, Kai-fu Kai laughed and said they turned the Zhongguancun from a hypermarket into a Silicon Valley. These are merely superficial phenomena, and the company’s innovative ideas are fundamental.

Future vision:

Send job advertisements through the media

When the Innovation Factory was established to raise funds at the beginning of its establishment, Li Kaifu's customary greeting card, New Oriental's Yu Minhong, Foxconn, and MediaTek were all his old friends. Just make a phone call and the next day the money will be available. But soon the financial crisis has come. Innovation workshops also have more than half a year's time. They talk about investing. When people talk about it, there is a lot to do. Can you help others to start a business? Kai-fu Lee simply ignored interference and focused on doing his own thing. With dim sum, pea pods, and line clouds, the popularity of these items is getting louder and louder. Money is no longer a problem, and it is a question of who to vote for.

“Of course, we are most concerned about software, especially the mobile Internet. As long as there are engineers who can do it, the cost will be reduced to a minimum, the expected benefits will be seen in six months, and the probability of success in the future will be high. These are the factors that we consider investing in. Those projects that will not see growth in the short term, those who have made hard-earned and hard-earned money, such as outsourcing, are not considered in the innovation workshops.” Kai-fu Lee admitted that they are now throwing a net fishing method, casting a lot, and ultimately succeeding. There may only be a few. Facts have proved that his vision is to turn gold into gold. At first, he was optimistic about the Android platform. Nowadays, VC-appreciated snacks are used for Android solutions. Leiyou is doing Android game software. Youmu is a statistics program for smart phones. All of them have "champions."

For Kai-fu Lee, for entrepreneurs, Shanghai has strong advantages in finance and e-commerce, while Beijing is very mobile and technologically strong. As far as social networking is concerned, both sides are good. The Shanghai Base will replicate its Beijing base in full-featured and full-featured. From investment, personnel, and markets, to technology, IT teams, and legal affairs, Li Kaifu will also issue job advertisements through the media. He hopes that talents with incubation experience will actively apply for resumes. , Join Innovation Workshop.