Tribute to the Unstoppable Force | Light View
A tribute to the unstoppable force.
Investing in Xiaomi gave me the privilege of participating in a great entrepreneurial practice, of accompanying a top-tier entrepreneur through loneliness, perseverance, prosperity, desperation, rebirth, and fearless facing of future challenges. Salute to the power of forging ahead.
— Qin Liu, Founding Partner, 5Y Capital
Time flies. Xiaomi is already ten years old.
For readers of this book, Forging Ahead, investing in Xiaomi is a fascinating story. For me, a "young person" who has spent twenty years in venture capital, it transcends both a successful startup story and a successful investment itself.
Forging Ahead, Xiaomi's official authorized biography
Behind Xiaomi lies a seventeen-year friendship between Lei Jun and me, one that has profoundly influenced and altered the trajectory and perspective of my life. It gave me the privilege of participating in a great entrepreneurial practice, of accompanying a top-tier entrepreneur through loneliness, perseverance, prosperity, desperation, rebirth, and fearless facing of future challenges.
Following Xiaomi, Lei Jun and I joined forces again to invest in Kingsoft Office and Agora, which successfully listed on China's STAR Market and NASDAQ respectively, both achieving unexpectedly strong market performance afterward. Looking back at the projects Lei Jun and I invested in together: Lakala, YY, UCWeb... After so many successful collaborations, even I grew curious — what made Lei Jun choose to work with an inexperienced young investment manager back then? What forged such a deep friendship between us?
On the night of Xiaomi's IPO celebration dinner, I published an essay titled "The Power of Belief." I wrote it in one sitting in my hotel room on IPO day, facing the magnificent Victoria Harbour. It was a heartfelt tribute to the entrepreneurial spirit that Lei Jun represents, and it perfectly captures the underlying code of our mutual understanding.
Lei Jun and Qin Liu, photographed during Xiaomi's IPO roadshow in San Francisco
Who is Lei Jun?
Lei Jun is an incurable idealist.
In his youth, the book The Silicon Valley Way ignited his hero complex. But more importantly, this complex never became vulgarized — it was consciously elevated into an innate sense of mission. At Kingsoft, this was sublimated into "carrying the banner of national software." At Xiaomi, it rose further: enabling ordinary people everywhere, regardless of race, skin color, or wealth, to access the tremendous value that technology brings. I remember after Xiaomi's IPO banker beauty contest, I participated in a discussion among the founders about IPO roadshow strategy. I proposed using Hollywood filmmaking techniques to interpret Xiaomi's brand. In that moment, everyone in the room felt the resonance of that mission.
Photographed on the night of Xiaomi's IPO roadshow pricing
Lei Jun is remarkably pure. This purity, which sometimes appears almost naive, makes him exceptionally persistent.
When Xiaomi was nearing its IPO, he called me to discuss whether Xiaomi could commit to capping hardware net profit margin at a certain number. He worried that post-IPO greed for profit would destroy Xiaomi. "Be a small restaurant where people line up" — he is one of the rare few who takes staying true to one's original aspiration with utmost seriousness. This experience taught me that purity is one of the most scarce qualities in an entrepreneur. It helps founders make the most farsighted and powerful decisions amid complex noise.
Lei Jun's commitment
Lei Jun is remarkably resilient.
During Spring Festival 2016, we went skiing together in Japan. It was the eve of restructuring the mobile hardware R&D and supply chain team. Faced with a massive company crisis, there was no choice but to confront it and make changes. That Spring Festival was extraordinarily grueling. Lei Jun pulled me into all-night conversations. By the time I got back to my room, it was already 3 a.m. The next morning, when I struggled to get up and head to the slopes, I heard that Lei Jun had already been up for an hour, skiing energetically. I knew he was physically exhausted too, but mentally he was crystal clear. The decision was made. No turning back. Utterly resilient.
Qin Liu and Lei Jun
Lei Jun dares to evolve.
At the end of 2019, I gathered friends to celebrate Lei Jun's 50th birthday. Everyone had a wonderful time. That evening, Lei Jun also shared with me the challenges Xiaomi faced at that moment — Xiaomi needed to embark on its second departure for the next ten years. The biggest change would be making major organizational transformations, enabling a large group of post-80s and post-90s generations to grow into the company's management core, and achieving Xiaomi's long-term endurance.
Lei Jun has been chronically underestimated.
Two or three years after I invested in Xiaomi, I attended an event in Beijing. The organizer told me that for years, everyone acknowledged Lei Jun's decent achievements at Kingsoft, but no one imagined he could build Xiaomi. I said you have all underestimated him. This underestimation stems from not understanding that true mission brings immense charisma; not understanding that a person's purity is a powerful source of inner strength when facing temptation; not understanding the fighting spirit that burns in a resilient entrepreneur's heart, giving them unbreakable, indestructible force; not understanding the terrifying power of someone more successful than you who, amid external noise and clamor, dares to open his mind to feedback and continuously evolve.
Knowing Lei Jun and investing in Xiaomi is the most vivid and significant chapter in my life's journey. This friendship has given me enormous spiritual wealth, filling me with tremendous passion and extraordinary patience for young entrepreneurs who are underestimated.
The entrepreneurial spirit I have learned from Lei Jun has given me a pair of pure eyes and tremendous courage to identify, accompany, and help those young people who are far more underestimated than recognized. You can come empty-handed, from ordinary origins — as long as you have a sense of mission, sufficient purity, sufficient resilience, and sufficient courage to evolve, you can become the next Lei Jun.
This book is completed at the moment of Xiaomi's tenth anniversary. Its opening chapter is drawn from an ordinary working dinner I had with Lei Jun a few years ago. The story of Lei Jun, of Xiaomi, and of me — it will continue for the next ten years, and for many more decades beyond...
On the evening of August 11 at 9:30 p.m., Xiaomi's official authorized biography Forging Ahead will debut on Xiaomi Mall, Xiaomi Youpin, JD.com, Tmall, Dangdang, and other e-commerce platforms. E-book versions will also be available on Duokan and Kindle platforms. Audiobooks can be purchased on the Ximalaya app, with exclusive interview recordings included.
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5Y Capital is one of China's earliest venture capital firms focused on early-stage investment, currently managing both USD and RMB dual-currency funds with assets under management totaling several billion dollars. Its limited partners include internationally renowned sovereign wealth funds, family offices, fund-of-funds, and university endowments.
Having worked together for nearly two decades, the 5Y Capital team seeks out, supports, and inspires solitary entrepreneurs, sharing their exceptional vision and providing our insights, industry experience, and support across all operational aspects — from spiritual to managerial.
5Y Capital's successful investments include Sohu (NASDAQ: SOHU), Trip.com Group (NASDAQ: CTRP), The9 (NASDAQ: NCTY), China Distance Education (NYSE: DL), Focus Media (SZ: 002027), Xunlei (NASDAQ: XNET), Phoenix New Media (NYSE: FENG), UCWeb (Alibaba (NYSE: BABA)), JOYY (NASDAQ: YY), Didi Dache (DiDi), Musical.ly (ByteDance), NYSE: ZEPP (NYSE: HMI), TAL Education (NYSE: ONE), Huya (NYSE: HUYA), Xiaomi (HK: 0181), Viomi (NASDAQ: VIOT), Kingsoft Office (688111.SH), LIZHI (NASDAQ: LIZI.US), and Agora (NASDAQ: API). The portfolio also includes rapidly growing companies such as Kuaishou, WeDoctor, SenseTime, Xpeng Motors, Dasouche, Horizon Robotics, Bigo, Aihuishou, Xiaozhu, Maimai, Smartmi, Pony.AI, and Keep.