Be Long-Term Greedy, Be a True Hero | FreeS Fund 2019 CEO Annual Meeting

Entrepreneurship is an arena of asuras — you must see through the illusions of worldly desire, endure the struggle of combat, and know that success or failure can hinge on a single thought.

In 2018, primary and secondary markets hit a deep freeze. Home prices stopped rising, fundraising grew harder, P2P lending platforms collapsed. Sectors from cryptocurrency to bike-sharing to unmanned shelves rode roller coasters. Even the new-economy giants found themselves in waves of layoffs. Many said this was the year entrepreneurs ran into their darkest hour.

Yet in a world gripped by pessimism, there are always outliers — those who wade through the flood of anxiety, convinced opportunity always exists; those willing to hold fast for the light at the end of the tunnel.

FreeS Fund has walked alongside you for three years now. We've always believed history's pendulum swings toward something better. And the greatest gift to the future lies in dedicating our efforts to the present. In 2019, let's carry this light spring breeze and this weighty resolve, and walk further together.

▲ Highlights from FreeS Fund's 3rd CEO Annual Meeting

On March 30, 2019, at the third FreeS Fund CEO Annual Meeting, whether in the riveting keynote speeches or the brain-stimulating roundtable forums, the conversations all converged on long-term value — and on creating social value beyond commercial value. Though the path to lasting value is thorny, being right always matters more than being comfortable.

We've compiled some of the most interesting and substantive moments from the meeting, hoping they might offer you some inspiration.

▲ Wall of Entrepreneurial Wisdom

These two walls of entrepreneurial wisdom were nearly impossible to walk past — everyone stopped to linger and take photos. Each aphorism carries a story behind it; stay tuned for our next installment.

▲ Li Feng, Founding Partner of FreeS Fund

Feng Shu, the patriarch of the FreeS family, broke down opportunities in consumer, education, healthcare, and technology, and gave special thanks to the CEOs who, beyond driving commercial growth, worked to make society better — whether building glasses for the blind, advocating for educational equity, advancing cancer treatment, or improving waste recycling. These represent another dimension of entrepreneurial spirit: social responsibility.

Feng Shu also said that while 2018 was hard, there was always hope; there are always more solutions than problems. Whatever we go through, we still love life, and we still want to create value.

▲ Feng Shu in conversation with Tang Ning, Founder and CEO of CreditEase

Following this came a conversation between old friends, with Tang Ning, founder and CEO of CreditEase, taking the stage. Tang Ning and Feng Shu have known each other for years — both are Peking University alumni, both were former teachers at New Oriental, both returned from overseas. As founder of an internationally leading fintech enterprise, Tang Ning operates in a foundational service sector heavily influenced by government policy. On the question of boundaries, he drew a sharp line: so-called "financial innovation" must be acceptable to all parties, must build up the entire market, and must dramatically improve resource allocation efficiency — not merely focus on obtaining a license or permit to do business. Without the capability to actually operate, without reverence for financial risk, one doesn't even have the basic qualifications to obtain a license.

In his view, the DNA of truly great companies is what he calls the Six Meridians Sword — six M words: Market, Model, Money, Men, Mobile, Motivation. The sixth is the most critical. "Motivation is about why you set out in the first place. Whether you treat entrepreneurship as a means to profit, to improve your life, to advance your social class — or whether you're genuinely driven by inner passion and ambitious ideals to push forward things that benefit people, enterprises, and society — these are completely different logics," Tang Ning said.

▲ Moderator: Zhang Huan, Partner at FreeS Fund

Guests: Chen Bin, Managing Director of CICC and Executive Head of Growth Enterprise Investment Banking; Fan Xin, Executive General Manager of TMT Investment Banking at Huatai United Securities; Li Hui, Deputy General Manager and Managing Director of CITIC Construction Capital Management; Liu Fang, Director of the Information and Media Industry Group at CITIC Securities Investment Banking Management Committee

In the subsequent capital markets roundtable, Zhang Huan, Partner at FreeS Fund, joined four guests from top securities firms to discuss new developments in the capital markets. A focal point was the STAR Market. The guests agreed that in 2019, the STAR Market's rise would represent a new opportunity for capital markets, particularly for genuine technology enterprises. They also discussed policy changes and institutional reforms surrounding the STAR Market, its similarities and differences with ChiNext and the main board, and its implications for other segments and markets.

▲ Moderator: Li Feng, Founding Partner of FreeS Fund

Guests: Zhang Sai, Chairman and General Manager of Effiar Automation; Wang Shiyong, Founder and CEO of 2:10 Animation; Li Jian, CEO of Xinliangji

The "Dark Hour Tempering" roundtable brought stories of hardship and growth. Feng Shu sat on stage with three CEOs from the FreeS family, and reflecting on their journeys, the founders all shared the sentiment that entrepreneurship's essence is enduring tribulation, breaking through oneself, and climbing uphill. A few memorable quotes from the session:

Li Jian: Fortune and misfortune come together. Once the darkest hour passes, luck arrives. Entrepreneurs must cultivate a spirit of finding joy in hardship.

Zhang Sai: When we named our company, we used a phoenix emblem. There's meaning in that — a phoenix cannot ascend to the clouds without first passing through nirvana.

Wang Shiyong: Once a company has been through something truly painful, it will definitely learn its lesson.

Difficulty and growth are two sides of the same coin. Perhaps Churchill put it best: "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

▲ Wu Minghui, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Mininglamp Technology

After lunch, the conference hall filled once again. Introducing Wu Minghui, founder, chairman and CEO of Mininglamp Technology, Feng Shu offered a bit of darkly humorous self-criticism: at the end of 2006, he co-founded AdMaster with Wu Minghui, then left shortly after to switch to investing. Now AdMaster has become the largest internet advertising data analytics service provider in China, and one of the industry's premier AI unicorns, driving enterprise decision-making and growth through measurement science.

Wu Minghui, who works with data every day building data-related products, said that every new generation of data brings iteration of business models across industries. He shared his thinking on AI, mentioning its applications in smart security, digital cities, and digital health — using the word "refresh."

▲ Hu Zheren, Co-founder, CTO and Head of Adult English at LAIX Inc.

Next, Hu Zheren, co-founder of LAIX Inc., took the stage to review his entrepreneurial journey and his insights into the education industry. He said every enterprise starts unknown, hoping to finish unforgettable. After introducing his company's explorations and development over the years, he joined the education roundtable discussion.

▲ Moderator: Xian Jintong, Early-Stage Project Lead at FreeS Fund

Guests: Hu Zheren, Co-founder, CTO and Head of Adult English at LAIX Inc.; Yang Linfeng, Co-founder and CEO of Onion Math; Wang Jie, Founder and CEO of Shanbay; Zhang Yang, Vice President of TAL Education Group's Smart Education Business Group, Founder and Chairman of Shunshun Liuxue; Gu Kun, Partner at FreeS Fund

Xian Jintong, Early-Stage Project Lead at FreeS Fund, led several guests in a discussion: as one of the industries least transformed by technology, what are education's characteristics, and what roles do technology and people play? A few highlights:

Zhang Yang: TAL has an important principle — that results are the most important prerequisite for renewals and repurchases. It's also a crucial dividing line between agrarian and nomadic civilizations.

Yang Linfeng: Using technology to empower education also breaks down into perception, cognition, and finally action. This is actually very difficult, because education is a non-standardized process.

Wang Jie: Education is a very special product. Spending money is only the first step of consumption. If you don't invest time and effort afterward, what you bought may have nothing to do with you.

Gu Kun: The product of education and training is the student — a human being. The cost of education is the highest because it's irreversible. Once you've finished this segment, you can't go back and make it up. So no matter how technology develops, the importance of human beings in the process remains irreplaceable.

▲ Li Chenjian, Co-founder of Novita Therapeutics

Li Chenjian, co-founder of Novita Therapeutics and a lifetime professor at Peking University, shared the major issues, challenges, and opportunities across biomedicine. Topics covered genetics and gene editing, geriatric diseases, and oncology. He said the pharmaceutical industry has a particular characteristic — to use an analogy, it's like playing 18 holes of golf. From start to finish, it's a long and arduous process.

▲ Moderator: Wang Lei, Director at FreeS Fund

Guests: Li Chenjian, Co-founder of Novita Therapeutics; Fang Nan, Founder and CEO of Singleron; Li Xiang, CEO of Coyote Bioscience; Zhang Xiaohua, Co-founder of Suzhou Anyeep

Wang Lei, Director at FreeS Fund, then took the stage with several guests to join Professor Li in a healthcare roundtable. Wang Lei said that the intersection of industry, academia, research, and application — cross-disciplinary collaboration — is where innovation happens, and the entire healthcare industry is full of synergy and cooperation. The four guests shared how they collaborate with other healthcare companies in the FreeS family.

▲ Moderator: Huang Hai, Executive Director at FreeS Fund

Guests: Wu Jun, Founder and CEO of Saturnbird Coffee; Lin Sheng, Founder and CEO of Chicecream; Tang Liang, CEO of Plantur; Luo Huide, Chairman of Jordan&Judy

The consumer roundtable tackled a highly practical topic — how can early-stage consumer companies break through in the post-red-envelope era? Because, as moderator Huang Hai, Executive Director at FreeS Fund, put it: "The era when you could build a big company simply by riding the Tmall and Taobao red envelope is clearly over, and this is the objective reality all consumer-facing companies must confront." A few memorable quotes:

Tang Liang: In China, you earn reputation in first-tier cities and real money in third- and fourth-tier cities.

Lin Sheng: Plant seeds outside Taobao, harvest inside Taobao. So for traffic acquisition, we place higher emphasis on off-Taobao channels.

Luo Huide: Commercial real estate continues to expand and sink lower-tier; we want to capture the retail storefront dividend.

Wu Jun: Coffee has consumption attributes and cultural attributes. Coffee brands carry a bit of content sensibility — because you're selling at a premium, I need to feel your sense of value.

▲ Xu Jun, CEO and Executive Director of 360 Finance

The day's intellectual feast concluded with a speech by Xu Jun, CEO of 360 Finance. He offered several practical pieces of advice for entrepreneurs: with an ordinary mindset, choose a good track, build a good team, take it slow — opportunity will come, because opportunities change and industries change. He also mentioned the "Three Reductions": reduce the chicken soup, reduce the anxiety, reduce the ineffective socializing.

▲ Four hundred drones forming "FreeS Family" — Powered by EHang

The lights dimmed, and a drone spectacular ignited the warm, joyful atmosphere of the evening banquet. The banquet's theme was "tech feel," and FreeS family members brought their A-game — Teletubbies, cyberpunk silver jackets, sequined dresses, and more made their appearances. Several FreeS Fund partners took the stage to sing "True Hero."

"Under the brilliant starry sky, who is the true hero? Ordinary people move me the most."

As the song rang out — who is the hero?

Every entrepreneur, through their own tears and sweat, forges greatness from the ordinary.

All entrepreneurs who work hard for their dreams rather than choosing arbitrage and speculation are true heroes; all entrepreneurs who can hold their breath waiting for the final trumpet of victory, who are long-term greedy, are true heroes; all entrepreneurs who climb up from the dust of failure to meet their next battle — they are even more true heroes.

The annual meeting concluded, and a new journey begins. As the Greek poet Constantine Cavafy wrote: "As you set out for Ithaka, hope the voyage is a long one, full of adventure, full of discovery."