Go Explore, Go Strive, Go Persist | 2018 FreeS Fund CEO Annual Meeting Recap

Entrepreneurship is about opening up new worlds, and it's also about living in the arena. Once you start, you're permanently at war.

Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's, was still a milkshake mixer salesman at age 52. Rejected everywhere he went. Then a speech dispelled his despair:

Persistence. Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts...

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. They make you unstoppable. If you try to accomplish one small goal every single day, the results will surprise you.

Emerson said, "A man is what he thinks about all day long."

Even after McDonald's had conquered the world, Kroc would still quote these words that had given him strength in his own speeches.

FreeS Fund walked with you through 2017, and now we're setting out on the road to 2018. The journey is long, and there has never been any "perfect plan." Let's give it everything we've got and play the game against the world. Keep the original fire alive — explore, fight, and persist.

On January 19, 2018, nearly a hundred FreeS Fund family CEOs gathered in Shanghai. Behind every illuminated logo was an entrepreneurial team.

Just like those two clasped hands in the opening video. We believe that an annual gathering is a chance to connect, and that exchange and collision produce beautiful results.

These are FreeS Fund founding partner Feng Li's flight records from the past three years. Like him, every colleague on the FreeS Fund investment team has grown accustomed to life as a frequent flyer — all to meet innovation and the extraordinary.

▲ From left to right: Lingyun Gu, founder, Chairman and CEO of IceKredit; Limin Yan, founder and CEO of GuoXiaoMei; Changke Liu, co-founder and CEO of Qingqing Tutoring; Jian Li, founder and Chairman of New Spicy Way Catering Group, and CEO of Xinliangji; Jian Ma, CEO of XtalPi; Zheng Li, co-founder, GM and CTO of Qingtao Energy; Feng Li, founding partner of FreeS Fund.

At the morning roundtable "Growing Pains," six CEOs from the FreeS family discussed the physical and mental changes they'd experienced in their entrepreneurial journeys, the hurdles they'd crossed, the growth they'd gained, and the small secrets of perseverance they'd discovered along the way. They said entrepreneurship is a game between greed and fear — greedy when facing temptation, fearful when confronting challenges. An entrepreneur's mind gets tempered through this process, growing stronger and gradually understanding the meaning of "persistence." Like a true marathon master: over 42.195 kilometers, the pace variance per kilometer won't exceed five seconds.

Yonghao Luo, CEO of Smartisan, took the earliest flight to get here. During his one-hour talk, the room erupted in laughter thanks to his humor. And his candor made the speech deeply moving. He spoke about how his biggest change over the past five years was making peace with the world — he no longer picks fights over small things. As CEO, he now feels more responsibility, more capacity for understanding, and more restraint.

From the efficiency of brand strategy, to what to do when entering a red ocean, to how his own mindset and his family's changed over the course of building a company — Luo's experiences sparked curiosity among the FreeS family CEOs. In the back-and-forth of Q&A, the hardships and triumphs of entrepreneurship resonated with everyone.

We picked a photo Luo really liked, and ended up with these two very anime-style portraits.

Jiangchun Jiang, founder and Chairman of Focus Media (002027), gave a keynote on "Hearts Matter More Than Traffic." He won over the audience with vivid case studies and sharp insights. As he put it, no technology is absolutely leading, and no model is impossible to copy. In the entrepreneurial journey, technological leads and business model innovations only buy you a time window to capture users' minds.

So much demand for this — yes, please hold on, we've got authorization and the transcript will be with you soon.

Liaoyuan Zhang, founder of Three Squirrels, shared stories from the company's 2017. He said human nature tends toward goodness — it just needs the right incentive. He wants everyone in his company to become a striver.

▲ From left to right: Liaoyuan Zhang, founder of Three Squirrels; Huidi Luo, Chairman of Jordan & Judy; Liang Tang, CEO of Plant; Linfeng Yang, co-founder and CEO of Onion Math; Dami, founder and CEO of VPhoto.

At the afternoon roundtable "The Brand Moat," five FreeS family CEOs explored what makes new brands new, the pitfalls of brand-building, and the inspiration they'd drawn from companies like MUJI, Xiaomi, Apple, and Starbucks.

The industry salons were equally packed with substance and sincerity. Across two venues, CEOs from deep tech, consumer, entertainment, and education reviewed the past year's industry shifts and major events, their reflections and takeaways.

The special "Blockchain Salon" was both mind-bending and packed to capacity. Once currency goes digital, it gains absolute liquidity with zero transaction cost. Members of the FreeS family who track frontier trends gathered to exchange ideas and explore.

The dinner went with "Chinese style" as its theme. FreeS family members brought their A-game. Mandarin collars, qipao, armor — the red carpet photo session had it all.

Entrepreneurship is like a treasure hunt. Guided by your team's vision and wisdom, through torment and persistence, you find the treasure in your heart. And the best entrepreneurial teams — every member holds a treasure map.

FreeS family members each prepared a book recommendation for the year, to be randomly exchanged. Their collective wisdom wove together into a unique "entrepreneurial treasure map."

One book, one flower, one world. Every FreeS family member randomly received a gifted book from another member, exchanging the momentum to keep pushing forward. The pages held both technology to solve problems and chicken soup to fight loneliness.

The stage that had crackled with intellectual energy during the day revealed its joyful,感性 side after dark. "The sea laughs, tidal waves crash on both shores, floating and sinking with the waves, remember this moment..."

Raise a glass together — to ourselves, to our fellow travelers.

Entrepreneurship is a spiritual practice, a total commitment of body and mind. On the second day of the annual meeting, we woke our bodies with a breathing exercise, ready to set out again.

See you next year!