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本文章刊登在CHINA DAILY-艾问专栏 有感于自己在上海机场打车的不方便，周航在2010年5月成立易到，通过网约车解决用车痛点，重新定义城市出行。当年一位开迈腾的司机称，在易到一个月2万元的净收入是保底基数。 Finding it hard to get a Taxi from Shanghai Airport, Zhou Hang founded Yongche in May 2010. It is an online ride-hailing service that solves the fundamental pain of taxi-hailing and redefines urbanmobility. According to a VW Magotan driver, the minimum net income back then asa Yongche driver was 20.000 RMB. 无奈在残酷竞争和资本裹挟下，易到被滴滴、Uber等后来者反超，形势急转直下。在经历过与乐视鱼死网破的斗争后，周航也被迫告别由他自己开创的国内网约车市场。 However, successors such as DiDi and Uber overtook Yongche through brutal competitions supported by capitals. After extended and heated fights with its investor Letv, Zhou Hang was forced to leave the online ride-hailing business which he initiated first in China. 2017年4月，离开易到的周航成为顺位资本的合伙人。他曾经羡慕投资人轻松的生活，幻想自己有朝一日不再创业，也去做个投资人。如今梦想成真。 On April 2017, after leaving Yongche, Zhou Hang became a partner at Shunwei Capital. He used to envy investor's relaxing lifestyle and wished to become one when he has no longer has his own company. Now his dream come true. 故事一： Story No.1： 曾经的网约车赛道中，只有周航一人独自奔跑。2013年底的时候，易到手里还掌握着80%的市场份额。转折点出现在2014年，滴滴进攻，Uber入局，就在两家补贴大战正酣之际，周航依旧寄希望于“在正确的商业规则下打赢”。他觉得易到收支平衡没有问题，并一度拒绝超3亿美元的投资. In the past, Zhou Hang was the only participant in the race of online ride-hailing businesses. By the end of 2013, Yongche still had 80% of market share. The turning point was in 2014, when DiDi initiated the heated battle, followed by Uber. As the two were competing and gave huge subsidies to recruit new users, Zhou Hang believed "he could win fairand square." He believed Yongche had a positive revenue stream and oncer ejected an investment exceeding 300 million Dollars. 然而资本还是战胜了理想，最终易到转手他人，周航黯然离场。 However, the power of capital defeated the idealism. In the end, Yongche belonged to someone else, and Zhou Hang left with disappointment. 对于易到来说，原本“只缘身在此山中”的周航，此时的他已然是个局外人。他承认，“人在局中，你是非常不愿意否定自己的，总是想要维护自己的观点；只有把自己放在局外，才有可能看到过去的自己，干得实在有点蠢。” Nowadays, Zhou Hang gains a new perspective as an outsider of Yongche. He admits: "When you are in the game, you are unwilling to admit your mistakes, and always want to defend your opinion. Only when you are out of the game, it is possible to see your old self and realize maybe some things you did in the past were silly." 面对曾经的失意与不堪，如今他试着坦然接受：“如果要让我放弃这些东西，那就不是我了，我做别人也做不好。” Looking back on the failures and disappoints from the past, he tries to accept them with an open mind: "If you want me to give up those things, then I am not me any more. I can't be someone else." 艾问周航：什么才是正确的事？ What is the right thing to do? 周航：一个企业家，一个投资者，哪怕是一个普通人，我们容易犯的最大的一个错误，就是总要维护自己的观点，总要试图证明自己是对的耗费了很大精力。其实你正不正确，毫不重要。我们每个人在那个时刻都有自己对一个事情的观点、看法、判断、决策、选择。你回过头来看的时候，从得失上来说，有可能是对的，也可能是错的。核心是你要认，错了就得认，要低头。我的反思，不是为了指责自己，而是为了学习，为了重新理解这件事情，自己能够有从中吸取养分，有所成长，不管投资还是创业，让以后走得更好。 Zhou Hang: As an entrepreneur, an investor, or even a person, the biggest mistake we are prone to make is that we always want to defend ourselves. We spend lots of time trying to prove that we are right. Whether your opinion is right or wrong does not matter at all. At those moments, everyone has his or her own perspective, judgement, decision, and choices. When you look back, from a cost-benefit perspective, you could be right or wrong. But the key is to be able to admit your wrong-doing and then back off. I am reflecting on this not to blame myself, but to learn, tore-understand this thing. I am learning and growing for my future career no matter as an investor or an entrepreneur. 当然结合到具体创业，我可能首先很关注他的初心，他为什么要做这个事？不是听他表面的口号，我就想解决一个什么问题。我认为很多创业，尤其是在中国的创业，并不是一开始就有初心的，但不要紧，一个好的人，初心是可以长出来的，哪怕就是一个敏锐的嗅觉，我嗅到了要去，然后它会长出一个东西。 Of course, when we talk about how to evaluate a specific founder or business, I might first focus on the original intentions to start the business. Why does the founder want to do this? It is not about listening to the pitch to know what problems to solve. I think many people, especially in China do not always have a good original intention. But it is okay, a good person can foster his positive originalintentions. Sometimes, it is not something concrete, but I can sensethe original intention, and something nice will blossom out of it. 第二，本心，这个人到底是什么样的人？我举个自己的例子。当初有一个A轮的投资者，曾经想投资我们，后来没投。很久以后，我看到一段他的访谈，谈到了这一段，他很客气地说，这个创始人（就是指我）和这个业务本身，人的个性和业务不是那么匹配，我当时听起来心里不舒服，就不服。就是说什么意思啊？怎么了？意思就是对我的不认可。 Second is about evaluating the founder's true self and true personality. Let me give a personal example. There was an investor who wanted to invest for Series A, but he didn't. After a longtime, I saw an interview, in which he talked about this experience. In that interview, he politely mentioned that: "This founder (me), and his personality does not fit his business." I felt very uncomfortable hearing that. What does it mean? It means he does not believe me as a person. 但我其实冷静下来仔细想，其实我是认的。因为我的个性，回头来看网约车这盘事情，它就是个强运营的事情，它可能就是要很嗜血、很敢拼，对规模效应有了足够的认识以后，你要敢打，敢拼，然后又有大量的线下。就算我后来知道了这是一把明牌，我行为肯定跟当初是有所不同的，但是我是不是就能做到足够好？我也问过自己，说实话，我不认为我能做得足够的好。因为我的个性就不愿意去那么血腥，去捅刀子。 But then when I thought more about it, he was right about my personality. The online ride-hailing business is an operation-heavy business. After reaching an economic-of-scale, it needs someone who is belligerent and tough to run it. And it also has a lot of offline operations. Even if I knew about it back then and adapt my behavior, would it be good enough? To be honest, I also asked myself that question, and I do not think I can do well enough. Because my personality is not as belligerent, and I do not like to pick up fights. 有人就是嗜血，但我不是那样的。这就是我的本心和这个业务本身不是那么的匹配。当我想到这一点，其实我还是放下了很多的。 Some people are belligerent, but I am not. Therefore, my true self is not fitting well with this business. When I think of this, it also took a lot of weight off my shoulder. 故事二： Story No.2: 离开易到的周航经历着一个gap year，他不再急于证明自己和维护自己。自我更新、重新思考、重新建立，是他这一阶段的三大主题。与此同时，他希望通过做投资来保持对新事物的敏感。 After leaving Yongche, Zhou Hang had a gap year. He no longer needs to work hard to prove himself. Self-renewal, rethinking and reestablishing are three main themes during that time. Meanwhile, he wants to maintain his sensitivity to new things through investing. 2017年4月，周航成为顺为资本的合伙人。他印象中的投资者生活简直不要太轻松，他们的朋友圈“不是在度假，就是在前往度假的路上，因为所谓投资不过就是花钱，而花钱谁都会。” On April 2017, Zhou Hang became a partnerat Shunwei Capital. Under his previous impression, an investor's life is supereasy. If you check their posts on Wechat Moments, they are "either having avacation, or on their way to a vacation. The so-called investing is just spending money, and everyone can do that." 真正成为投资人之后，周航才发现投资人的焦虑比起创业者的焦虑，实在是有过之而无不及。 However, after becoming an investor, ZhouHang found out, comparing with the entrepreneurs, the anxieties of an investorare not fewer, if not more. “先看赛道，看完赛道后，我会开始担心真正的好公司在哪里？项目确定后，我会疑问这个公司靠谱吗？终于觉得可以了，还要看什么价格？什么估值？总共多少钱？第一个反应，一定是太贵了（没有一个项目例外），而且是匪夷所思的贵……这样糟心的问题没有少只会更多。 "First check out the segment, and after understanding this business, I start to worry if we can find the good companiesin this business. After defining the scope, I would question whether this firmis a solid target. After confirming that this is a good company, we need to check the prices, the valuation and the total costs. My first reaction is always that this is too expensive (with almost no exceptions), so ridiculously expensive… Questions like that are not getting less but more than an investor." 跨界做投资，周航有着自己的认知和方法论。 As an interdisciplinary investor who was previously an entrepreneur, Zhou Hang has his own theory and investment thesis. 艾问周航：跨界的价值是什么？ What is the value of interdisciplinarity? 周航：我刚刚从一个创业者转了轨道，去做投资，我以为我懂很多、很懂创业者，我以为我能够很快把创业中的问题看到，看清，看穿，我就用这样的心态开始了。但雷总提醒说，你要空杯一下，不要抱着这么多成见。就是对投资而言，你看到企业的问题，不是什么了不起的事情，没有什么价值。 Zhou Hang: I just switched my role from an entrepreneur to an investor. I thought I knew a lot, understood entrepreneurs well and could quickly see their problems and understood the core issues. This was the mindset I started with. However, Mr. Lei reminded me I need tokeep an "empty cup mentality" , and I shouldn't hold on to my old experiencesand opinions. As for investing, seeing the problems is not something extraordinary, and does not have much value. 艾诚：每一次你说决定做职业投资人的时候，我都不那么相信，好像你确实做过一次专门的演讲，叫做“如果我再次创业”。 Gloria Ai: Every time you said you decided to become an investor, I couldn't believe it. You even once made a speech, called "if I found a company again". 周航：我的意思是说，干什么都要用创业心态去干，一切从零开始，要追求这种爬坡的感觉，人生就是又开始一次新的出发、新的爬坡。像你说的打怪历险，处在一种创造的感觉。如果你只是个财务投资者，你就是打猎心态，我希望是创造心态，我始终都在想，应该怎么去做好投资？怎么让我们的机构变成一个伟大的投资机构？应该形成什么样的投资的方法论？要什么样的投资文化？怎么让我们的投资行为帮助社会变得更好？ Zhou Hang: What I meant was we need to do everything with an entrepreneurial mindset - starting from ground zero and enjoy racing uphill with new departures and races in life. Just as you said about having adventures and slaying dragons, it is important to feel that you are creating something great. If you are a financial investor, you have a mindset of a hunter. But I hope to have a mindset of a creator. I am always thinking about how to make a good investment? How to build a great investment intuition? What kind of investment thesis to take? What kind of investment culture should we have? How could we use the power of investment to improve our society? 故事三： Story No.3: 成为投资人的周航每天都要和四、五个创业者见面。曾经有过两次创业经历的周航，与其说在考量创业者，还不如说借此机会考量曾经作为同类的自己，“他们就像是我的一面镜子，我可以看到一个创业者的执念、妄念甚至错误。” As an investor, Zhou Hang meets 4 to 5 entrepreneursper day. Zhou Hang has been a founder twice. Therefore, rather than examining the founders, the meetings were also like self-examinations as he used tobe one of them. "They were like mirrors, through them I could see the obsessions, delusions or even mistakes of entrepreneurs." 他甚至有时候会想，如果当时的周航遇见此时的周航，来一场对话该有多好。 Sometimes he even thinks, how great it would be if yesterday's Zhou Hang meets today's Zhou Hang and discusses with each other. 然而做投资仅仅看到问题没有什么价值，更重要的是看到问题背后隐藏的机遇。从企业家转型投资人，周航说“看穿”远比“看见”难，“思考”比“风口”更重要。 However, it is not valuable to only see the problems. For investments, it is more important to see the opportunities hiding behind the problems. As an entrepreneur-turned-investor, Zhou Hang says "seeingthings through" is harder than "seeing things" , and "thinking and reflecting" is more precious than "chasing the hypes". 艾问周航：如何成为一个真正的企投家？ How to become a real entrepreneur-turned-investor?
周航：对外行来说，第一你应该忘掉风口。第二最重要的就是要独立思考，慢思考，深思考。这里面有一个话题，就是看到和看穿的区别。什么叫看到呢，各路人现在都会说，AR、VR，这叫看到，但看到一点价值都没有，大妈都能看到。那你有什么价值呢？核心是要看穿，看穿是一个很难的功力。 Zhou Hang: For an outsider, first, forget about the hypes. Second, it is very important to think independently, slowly, and deeply. This isthe difference between seeing something and seeing something through. What does it mean to see something? Many people nowadays talk about AR and VR. I call this seeing things. However, it has no value, as even the retired grandmas can see that. The key is to see things through, which requires lots of experiences and insights. 就好像你在喜马拉雅山的北坡，看喜马拉雅山，你看到了皑皑的白雪，陡峭的山峰，但是你看不穿，你看不到喜马拉雅山的南麓，就是一片缓慢温暖湿润的大坡，看不到尼泊尔露露青葱的景色。你就以为喜马拉山就是这样，但是你需要有一种功力，至少你要努力去思考，山的那一边究竟是什么？你至少要想，而不是一个直线思维，你以为你看到的就是全部，你看这个跟大家看得都一样，有什么区别？ For instance, this is like you are on the north side of Himalayas. You see shining white snow, steep peaks and slopes, but you cannot see through the mountain. You cannot see that the southside of Himalayas is gentle, warm and moist. You cannot see the greens in Nepal. You would think the Himalayas is just like what you see - white and steep. It requires a different skill set to try to at least think about what it is like on the other side of the mountain. At least you need to think about that, instead of holding a simple mind and believing what you see is all thereis. What difference does it make if what you see is like what other people see? 艾诚：用一个热词来套用你的分析，叫认知，所谓认知升级，投资是把认知变现，企业也是把认知变现，这是两种赚钱办法，你觉得做什么最挣钱？ Gloria Ai：We can use a popular term "cognition" to describe your analysis. There are two ways to turn the so-called "deepened cognition" into value, one is through investment, and the other is through entrepreneurship. Which one do you think brings more profit?
周航：做卓越的事情最挣钱。不管什么事情，你只要去追求卓越，就一定会利益最大化。我一直想要提出一个口号叫“势能战略”，当你把一件事情追求卓越，不是优秀，要远远超过优秀。在这个领域中，做到最卓越的时候，你所具备的势能，你所获取的那个利益、价值是远远超过优秀的。比如100分的价值不是只比90分大了10%，可能是百倍90分的价值。但是大多数人是不敢追求卓越的，因为追求卓越这条路太辛苦了。 Zhou Hang: Striving for excellence will bring you the most profit. No matter what youdo, as long as you strive for excellence, you will maximize your benefits. I always want to promote a "potential energy strategy" , which means to leverage all your potential energy and strive for excellence. Not just try todo something well, but far exceeding well. In this business, if you become the most excellent one, then you can gain and leverage a lot of potential energy. The benefit and value you would gain are also far exceeding just doing something well. For instance, the value you create through doing something 100% is not just 10% better than the value created for doing something 90%. However, most people do not dare to strive for excellence, because it is a hard journey. 艾诚：你对想成为企投家的企投会成员，最想说什么？ Gloria Ai: What do you want to say to someone who wants to become an entrepreneur-turned-investor? 周航：放弃投机，追求卓越。你就一定会成为一位杰出而卓越的企投家。 Zhou Hang: Stop the profit-driven mindset and strive for excellence. Then you will become an outstanding and excellent entrepreneur-turned-investor. |
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