A Founder's 365 Days: The Days That Got Us Through, and 22 Amazing Moments | FreeS Fund Year-End Special

New Year's Eve is almost here. FreeS Fund has walked with you through another real and singular year. Entrepreneurship is a magical journey, and in the past 365 days, every single one was lived to the fullest — brilliant and eventful, and tested too.

Before the holiday, we sat down with 22 founders from the FreeS Fund family to look back on the year: the days they pulled through, their amazing moments, and the typical day behind all the hardship and laughter. They fight in different fields; their stories each have their own flavor, but also common threads:

• They keep packed schedules, rising at five or six in the morning, meetings back-to-back all day, lunch and dinner spent talking work and life with employees, commute time filled with audio courses. And they still want to be more efficient.
• They think about how to keep their companies growing steadily while keeping their families happy. Yet feeling indebted to family is, always, just daily life.
• Encounter difficulty, solve difficulty, repeat. Tight capital, missing talent, lost major clients... They endure exhaustion, persist in the pursuit, pull through, or are gritting their teeth right now.

Fortune favors the brave. Every day of entrepreneurship, every ounce of effort, deserves respect. In the new year, may you on the entrepreneurial road have wisdom and determination, luck on your side too — to explore, to strive, to persist.

Happy New Year!

Sai Zhang @ Effiar

▍Days Pulled Through & Amazing Moments

The days pulled through and the amazing moments were the same thing. We got a massive order from Lens Technology — over 80 robots, with delivery in two months. A near-impossible mission, and we pulled it off, earning the client's praise.

When I got the order, I immediately called an all-hands mobilization meeting. Everyone went into no-days-off mode, working 8:00 to 22:00 daily. It wasn't just the production staff running nonstop — even the office admin women had to run to the workshop to help. No one left their post for minor injuries. One worker got a nail through his foot, went out for a six-yuan tetanus shot, and ran back. One colleague got so busy he missed his own child's birth... These things moved me and broke my heart.

At the start of 2017 we set three targets: revenue, robots sold, and net profit. Looking back, we hit the first two, and reached two-thirds of the profit target. In 2018, I hope net profit breaks ten million.

▍A Typical Day

Up at 6:00, at work by 6:30, leave the office after 21:30. Handling all kinds of matters, not a free moment. What excites me is that every day is brand new — good things might happen, bad news might come. Facing fresh challenges alongside employees — that's the charm of entrepreneurship, isn't it?

Xiaoliang Chen @ SoundAI

▍Days Pulled Through

Through the cycle of encountering difficulties and solving them, we fully understood the cruelty of business competition. I can't name the single hardest moment, because a CEO's key task is resolving the contradiction between business growth and resource scarcity — fighting difficulties every waking moment.

▍Amazing Moments

2017 was SoundAI's first full year. Our technology earned praise and recognition from many users. The most amazing moment was seeing clients using SoundAI's technical solutions launch products that succeeded right out of the gate, with sustained strong sales.

▍A Typical Day

Every morning I track global market information — it shifts almost daily. This excites me, because no one can accurately predict the future. The world's changes often exceed judgments based on historical experience, and the opportunity within that is the greatest gift the era gives us.

Can Wang @ PatPat

▍Days Pulled Through & Amazing Moments

In June 2017, supply chain couldn't keep up, and sales actually dropped from May. With everything tight, we rapidly built the team, developed suppliers, and pushed hard on fundraising. That period was exhausting, but no one complained — everyone delivered. By July, a dream supply chain team had formed, and performance started surging. By late November, company sales crossed 100 million, exceeding the year-start target. That was our most amazing moment.

We're changing the landscape of a vertical industry in this world. In an industry that belonged to dominant Western brands, a Chinese brand is on the path to becoming the world's top brand and channel. Just thinking about it gets me excited. We are entrepreneurs who truly witness and participate in China's rise.

Yu Li @ Hehuan Medical

▍Days Pulled Through

At the end of 2016, the market environment was relatively weak, our business momentum slowed, and fundraising wasn't going smoothly. Back then I attributed the underperformance to insufficient continuous improvement in strategy, hoping that getting strategy right and executing well would bring progress.

But I later realized that strategic execution requires multiple parties to push forward together, to reform in sync. As they say, when in poverty, change; with change, comes flow; with flow, comes endurance. This experience taught me that a CEO must keep an open mind, learn from many sources, and ultimately rely on independent, deep thinking to arrive at a strategy suited to their own development. And the most precious quality in all this is to not give up.

▍Amazing Moments

What fills me with immense fulfillment and excitement is that my daily work creates value I believe in. Our new product, the 24/7 online "Hehuan Video Doctor," received great reviews after launch — that's the most amazing thing~ I feel like I've taken another big step on the path of changing the world, extending human lifespan.

Shiyong Wang @ 2:10 Animation

▍The Days We Survived

2:10 Animation has been around for ten years — we just held our tenth anniversary celebration. From day one, my goal has never wavered: build a truly great company, create a massive ecosystem, solve the problems facing Chinese animation, and help every dreamer succeed.

Talent bottlenecks, management challenges, vision constraints — the typical hurdles startups face in their first two or three years — we don't really run into anymore. Back in 2009, we went through a period where everything hit at once: an employee got injured on the job, another fell seriously ill, the company was strapped for cash and couldn't make payroll. We also survived the 2012 wave of animation studio closures that swept the country. Over the years, our core team has grown calm and composed. No matter how extreme the joy or sorrow, we can face it with steady resolve.

▍Amazing Moments

In 2017, we raised hundreds of millions of yuan and started thinking longer-term — what we might be doing decades from now. But to me, fundraising isn't something to brag about. The work you do determines the talent you attract. What made me happiest that year was successfully bringing several of my former mentors and bosses on board to work alongside me.

Also, I exceeded my goal of losing 15 pounds. Here's hoping my wish to improve my English public speaking comes true this year.

Changke Liu @ Qingqing Tutoring

▍Amazing Moment

In June 2017, I took over 60 of our company's mid-to-senior leaders on a three-day, 88-kilometer trek through the Gobi Desert near Dunhuang. The moment we reached the finish line, everyone felt the power of the team, the power of perseverance, the power of belief. That feeling was truly incredible!

Over the years of building this company, what excites me most is driving our growth and learning alongside my partners. For the coming year, I hope we can keep pushing forward with this great social endeavor of "making home a classroom that children love," so more kids can experience the efficiency, intimacy, and warmth of learning at home.

▍A Typical Day

My workday starts with a morning run. Quiet and alone, I think through what needs handling that day — my mind clears, my efficiency soars. After every run, I face the new day with genuine positivity. In 2018, I hope to break three hours in a full marathon. As CEO, communication is the most important part of my job. I spend most of each day on it — meetings, presentations, one-on-one conversations.

Tang Liang @ Zhi Guan

▍Amazing Moment

Every morning before officially starting work, I check the previous day's sales data. The best feeling? "Hey, yesterday's numbers look pretty good!"

▍A Typical Day

My days are usually filled with meetings, receiving visitors, and conversations until after dinner, when I finally get time for my own work. As Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, said: A manager's time does not belong to the manager. It's so true. Drucker also said a manager's results come from the performance of their subordinates. A crucial part of my job is motivating and helping my team maximize their output. Truer words were never spoken. In 2018, I hope to read one book a week — 56 books for the year!

Jun Tong Qi @ Yifei Intelligent Control

▍The Days We Survived

The toughest stretch came during a new funding round. We already had a relatively safe option on the table, but then an investor appeared who could bring far more resources to the company and was expressing strong interest. We decided to go with the latter, the option that would be better for the company's development. Neither I nor our VP in charge of investment and financing slept well during that period — we were terrified of ending up with nothing. We got through it by encouraging and decompressing with each other.

▍Amazing Moment

Not long ago, I learned that two colleagues who'd been with me since the earliest days of the company — we'd spent two years together around the clock, their employee numbers were in the single digits — had gotten married. I found out the day before they got their marriage certificate, and immediately took my whole family to Jinzhou for the wedding to give them my most heartfelt blessings. They built their careers here and built their family too!

For the new year, I hope to spend 30% of my time on recruiting and significantly improve the management capabilities of our mid-level managers. I also want to keep taking my kid to kindergarten, while strengthening my time management to boost efficiency by over 30%.

▍A Typical Day

I'm up at 6:00 every morning, exercise for an hour, then take my kid to kindergarten. During my commute, I handle some emails and WeChat messages, read biographies of famous people. Once at the office, I quickly map out the day's plan, then use lunch and dinner to discuss work and life with different colleagues. After getting home, there's more time for emails and conference calls. Before bed, I spend half an hour on Douyin to unwind and have some fun.

Lingyun Gu @ IceKredit

▍Amazing Moment

We've had plenty of competitors. Unfortunately, in their rush for quick success, many of them went down the path of selling data or got into payroll lending — now under heavy regulatory scrutiny — straying from their original mission. That left us as the undisputed leader in the credit assessment space in 2017.

For 2018, I have a small personal goal: lose 15 pounds!

▍A Typical Day

I set aside half an hour to an hour for reading each day. If possible, I'll also spend half an hour reflecting and summarizing. The rest of my time is pretty miserable! Filled with meetings, various business activities, or spent on the road — completely beyond my control.

Shuhao Wen @ XtalPi

▍The Hard Times & Amazing Moments

Two things made me happiest: we closed our Series B, with HSG and Google as investors; and our Fascin protein product started generating steady revenue with major client orders. For 2018, I want company sales to hit 5-10x this year's numbers, and sign contracts with all ten of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies.

The toughest stretch was also fundraising — it dragged on. My takeaway: startups can use certain tactics during fundraising, like bridge loans from investors, so cash doesn't get too tight.

▍A Typical Day

The first thing I do when I get to work is open my inbox. Nothing beats the feeling of seeing a new order, or a thank-you email from a client explaining how our technology helped them, or a weekly report from a colleague noting fresh progress on a project!

My work hours are basically consumed by email, meetings, and strategic discussions with my partners. At a startup, partners need to stay aligned and set the right strategy. If the strategy's wrong, everything else is wasted.

Shaoguang Miao @ Hand Network

▍The Hard Times & Amazing Moments

When we first entered the onboard load-weighing industry, we did field research with a fleet manager from one of the top-ranked companies — and found they didn't need our product at all. That meant we'd lost our biggest potential single-customer segment. We had to go door-to-door across the country, installing demo units one by one, then incubating, nurturing, and testing before the industry would even recognize or accept us.

During that period, we worked from 8 a.m. to midnight every day, seven days a week, just to get demo units installed. Sometimes it felt like the whole world needed us; other times, like nobody really did. No breakthrough point, just grinding forward slowly — the process was genuinely crushing.

I relayed the research findings to the core team. The news was heavy, but we processed it and moved on quickly.

Today, the reason we're the only company in the industry capable of precision weighing is that we outlasted everyone else. We "out-endured" them — and that made us. Now, any difficulty, anything that sounds unbearable, isn't existential for us. Accepting the unacceptable is the thing we've done best in five years of entrepreneurship.

Rui Ning @ Shima Finance

▍Amazing Moments

Shima Finance is three years old. 2017 was the year of fastest change — every quarter we covered ground that used to take a year. I also took classes at Hundun University this year, met a lot of impressive people, and used them as mirrors to examine myself and break through my own shell. In 2018, I hope to keep breaking through shells in cognition, habits, and thinking patterns, moving toward becoming a top-tier founder.

▍A Typical Day

Most of the time, I'm moving forward under pressure. I'm up at 5 a.m. — my eyes open and I reflexively start thinking about unsolved problems, upcoming challenges. On my commute, I like listening to Fan Deng Read Club or sharing sessions from Hundun classmates. Then it's back-to-back meetings at the office, often eating boxed lunches during them.

I've kept at it partly from belief in what I'm doing, partly from the support of my team and family. I have two kids — they're what keep me confident and fully charged to fight. I make it home by 9:30 p.m. every night to chat with them before bed. In the new year, I want to use my time better and spend more time with family. That's the most important part of life.

Zhen Zhu @ Yibao Health

▍The Hard Times

Getting professionals who think in three completely different modes — medical services, software and technology, and business — to coordinate around a single goal is genuinely difficult. We went through multiple failures during trial and error, but persisted through the skepticism. The reason: we all believed in the original vision, and we had an outstanding team plus solid financial planning.

2017 was still a year of deep industry exploration. Looking back, we lacked sufficient respect for the industry when we set plans at the start of the year, so we had to adjust later.

In the 0-to-1 phase, what matters most isn't hitting predetermined numbers — it's sticking to user value. In 2018, I hope we can make up for lost time, deliver on our product value, and gain traction in select market segments through products and platform services, with market penetration exceeding 10% of the industry.

▍Amazing Moments

At the end of your rope, suddenly a clearing appears. Like when someone from the tech team proposed a solution that cracked a problem that had stumped us for six months.

▍A Typical Day

• Morning: confirm schedule and meeting prep (20 min)
• Morning standup (30 min)
• Priority tasks (2-3 hours)
• Lunch with employee conversations (1 hour)
• Independent work (30-60 min)
• Priority tasks or client visits (2-3 hours)
• Project meetings (business decisions) (3 hours)
• Simple dinner somewhere in between
• Walk home to decompress
• Before bed: 20 min daily review and next-day planning

Jianchao Wang @ Aobei Environmental

Aobei Environmental hasn't even been around for a full year. The best part of this year has been watching every person on the team step outside their comfort zone, attempting things they'd never done before — and actually pulling them off. The hardest part was exactly that process, because in the middle of it we experienced pain, doubted ourselves, and weren't sure whether there'd even be a tomorrow.

What we accomplished in 2017 and what we'd planned at the start of the year were completely different. In January, we hoped to find ten thousand families to participate in waste sorting, delivering bags to each household. But by December, we'd entered 30 schools, reaching 20,000 students, and discovered that the right path for waste sorting starts with schools, institutions, and organizations.

Refining and elevating your ideas through practice — that's the magic of entrepreneurship!

Pengyun Chen @ Huasheng Haoche

▍Amazing Moment

The most amazing moment was Singles' Night! Over two thousand colleagues across the country pulled an all-nighter that evening, handling customer consultations, taking orders, delivering cars, and logistics support. In that moment, I felt not just the explosive power of combining auto retail with the internet, but also the efficient collaboration and cohesion that the Huasheng Haoche team forged in a major battle.

We exceeded our 2017 annual plan. The growth dividends of the new auto retail sector seem to be coming even faster than we'd imagined. 2018 will be a year for us to continue building our internal capabilities. I hope Huasheng Haoche can初步 reach the standards of an excellent retail company, while becoming a brand known in customers' eyes for good service quality.

Dami @ VPhoto

▍Amazing Moment

Every day of entrepreneurship brings surprises; every day's achievements come naturally. I really can't think of one single most amazing moment off the top of my head~

I'm someone who doesn't let myself down. In 2017, the company hit 130% of its targets. There were difficulties along the way, of course, but I constantly push myself to subtract, to see the essence of projects clearly, to排除诱惑和干扰, and persist in nailing the core processes — using today's "heavy" to aim for tomorrow's "light."

▍A Typical Day

Every morning when I arrive at work, I get excited that new challenges are beginning again, with different problems waiting for me to solve. My office is fully transparent, less than 10 square meters, with a whiteboard taking up half a wall. People stream in and out every day, and I feel like I'm constantly leveling up by defeating monsters — exhausting but thrilling. Occasionally I'll seclude myself to sort out my thoughts. When I leave work in the evening, I'll trade banter with my partner (also my husband) on the way home to relax, which has earned me the nickname "the Jia Ling of the internet."

Zhongyi Zhang @ Haowu

▍Amazing Moment

Singles' Night, just after midnight, watching the sales numbers and curves shoot upward on screen — I felt that heart-racing thrill. That was the most amazing moment of 2017!

Other things that excite me: every morning when I arrive at work and receive samples sent from the factory — the latest designs we've developed, products filled with our blood, sweat, and tears, the first step on our path to success.

The low-frequency, long-tail nature of home products means their growth takes longer, requiring more effort to carefully craft. So I believe "surviving long" matters more than "running fast." In 2018, we're committed to achieving positive cash flow through refined operations while continuing rapid growth — able to sustain ourselves on our own.

Si Wei @ Yuki Animation

▍Amazing Moment

The most exciting thing about coming to work every day is definitely seeing everyone busy and fully engaged. Everyone feels invested, can't help but pick up the pace and raise their own efficiency.

A Typical Day

Up at 5:30 every morning, working by around 6:30. To avoid wasting time in rush-hour traffic, I'll work from home for a while — reviewing reports, replying to emails and messages, tracking progress on previously arranged tasks. I usually get to the office around 10:30 and spend an hour and a half discussing issues with relevant leaders. By 12:30, I'm typically meeting with the HR lead about talent recruitment or overall employee performance — I take this very seriously. Afternoons are for meetings with visitors or going out for visits. In the evening, I return to the company and spend quality time with the product team. There's no set end time for this — we talk until we're done, often not heading home until the middle of the night.

Jianhong Xiao @ Xinyi Information Technology

Getting Through the Hard Times & Amazing Moments

2017 was Xinyi's first year. We went from germination to team-building to project R&D, and right before Spring Festival completed our chip's first successful tape-out. Along the way we received so much encouragement and moving support: "I believe you can do it!" "If you need me, I'll join anytime!" "I've got this sorted!"

As for difficulties, they were mainly concentrated on talent recruitment and project timelines. We'd just been founded, weren't familiar enough with domestic talent, and worried that recruitment challenges would prevent us from completing projects on schedule. But we didn't overthink it — we just got to work immediately, accelerating hiring on one hand and improving efficiency through work breakdowns on the other, outsourcing some engineering tasks.

In the end, we completed chip R&D and hiring in just nine months, with chip power consumption and integration levels expected to far outpace competitors. The same work might take a large company two years. In 2018, I hope our products can reach mass production and commercial use. One personal goal: exercise more, stay far away from becoming a greasy middle-aged guy~

A Typical Day

The most exciting thing every morning is knowing a new day has begun — I can push projects forward and get a little closer to our goals. My days are filled with phone calls, technical meetings, in-office interviews, project discussions, calls with partners to exchange updates, and receiving visitors. Recruiting, internal project discussions, and external partnership discussions each take up roughly a third of my time. In the later stages of a project, project discussions take up a slightly larger share.

Yan Jun @ Capsule Fashion

Getting Through the Hard Times & Amazing Moments

Being a CEO is a daily test of physical stamina. The thrill is in facing pressure every single day without letting up on thinking. For us, 2017 was a year of hard work that hadn't yet reached its "climax." But building a company is like running a marathon — you can fall and get back up. Maybe that's the best part? In 2018, we hope to reach break-even.

Han Shuo @ Meiweiting

Amazing Moments

The best thing this past year was finally, in the wedding industry — where you can't find any major company to benchmark against domestically or internationally — clarifying a promising strategy and the organizational structure to match it. In 2018, I hope the wedding planners, designers, florists, and execution teams we serve will all earn more than they did in 2017.

Sun Siming @ Kezhiyin

Amazing Moments

Over the past year, we hit several important milestones. First, in August we closed our angel round from FreeS Fund. Second, by November our investment in speech recognition began paying off — we developed speech-to-text capabilities for vertical domains that outperformed general-purpose recognition engines. Third, we generated our first revenue and gained customer validation for our product.

For 2018, we've set a sales target of 5 million yuan, hope to fill several key positions with the right people, and plan to complete our next funding round by mid-year. Personally, I'll delegate more than 50% of what I handled in 2017 to others, and devote at least 30% of my energy to recruiting.

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