Mountains, Rivers, and Dreams — Measured in Steps | Dalton Venture 2023 Outing Notes
Running down the hard but right path, staying focused with enduring passion.
Mountains and rivers are the sages of ancient philosophers,
Watching over every inch of land as it changes.
Lifting the weight and vastness of life,
We see clusters of dream-laden branches.
Every experience is a harvest,
Etched into our 2023 Outing journal.
✦
OUTING
Open Up, Take Initiative, Ignite New Journeys.
The autumn wind blows crisp, the granaries promise abundance — it is time once again for Dalton Venture's annual team retreat.
Looking back at 2022, the industry weathered more severe trials than ever before, and for the foreseeable future, seismic commercial shifts and fierce competition may well become the norm. Even so, Dalton Venture has sent out surprisingly resilient tendrils through the biting wind and rain:
A new Shenzhen office opened;
Six new members joined in succession;
Investment pace accelerated, with encouraging results
...
It is the grounded determination, steadfast progress, and shared dreams of every Dalton partner that have guided us toward each choice, every departure, each leap forward.
"Mountains, Rivers, and Dreams, Measured in Steps" — this year's outing theme is meant to encourage every individual to pursue their dreams with courage and perseverance, while channeling personal energy into close teamwork, pooling collective wisdom to achieve common goals.
This year's itinerary continued our hiking tradition — both a physical test and a forging of team cohesion and morale. Over five days from October 11 to 15, we traced our explorations along sweeping coastlines and lush, quiet mountain forests. We took in the grandeur of mountains and rivers, encountered waterfalls plunging straight down, observed the texture of ancient towns, and ventured into primeval forests.
In walking, we found healing for body and mind, grasped something of life's tenacity and poignancy, and reaped the gift that outing brings: recalibrating ourselves to set out anew together.
Vol. 1
The Road Beneath Our Feet, Hearts Toward the Distance
Scenes from Our Outing
On the path to any goal, unexpected challenges arise. When you can fight shoulder-to-shoulder with like-minded partners, overcoming difficulties together, traversing valleys, scaling peaks, sharing hardships and joys — the steps forward grow only more resolute. However far, the journey can be completed.
This kind of partnership is not merely spiritual comfort but a solid backbone along the way forward. When team members cultivate this atmosphere, seemingly distant goals draw near, and the scenery along the route grows more stirring.
01 Hiking
7-Kilometer Ancient Trail
Trees lush and green, light and shadow dappled. Moss-covered stone steps and towering ancient trees seem to speak of time's passage and life's continuity.
02 Waterfall
133-Meter Vertical Drop
A waterfall shooting straight toward the sky, columns of water cascading down, cool mist rising. Faced with such overwhelming grandeur, three male colleagues spontaneously performed a ritual.
03 Rock Formations
Magnificent Landscape of ~40 Rock Varieties
An 850-meter stretch of rock columns, eroded by waves until only the hardest sections remain, standing like pillars. Sunlight on our faces sent the already vibrant team's looks to new heights.
04 Cliff Vistas
50-Meter Sea Cliffs
A spectacular cliff face formed by undersea volcanic activity hundreds of millions of years ago, composed of three distinct rock types: igneous, sedimentary, and collapse rock. Climbing high to gaze afar, merging one's mood with the open ocean, letting thoughts soar.
05 Coastal Rock Flats
Four-Hectare Rock Platform
Because the rock here is exceptionally soft, years of relentless wave erosion carved this unique landscape, its layered form resembling thousands of tatami mats stacked upon one another.
06 Beach
White Sand at Sunset
Strolling the shore, watching the sun sink below the horizon, feeling the mild, pleasant sea breeze and the fine white sand beneath our feet.
Vol. 2
Precise Allocation and High-Efficiency Collaboration
The Two Sides of a High-Performance Organization
In today's complex business models and highly uncertain external environment, tasks have grown too intricate to be completed by exceptional individuals alone. Faced with fierce challenges, only by harnessing team strength can truly outstanding achievements be reached.
Dalton Venture today faces simultaneous pressures: internal demands of organizational growth and external market adjustments. How to build unified organizational culture and atmosphere, how to achieve more effective collaboration, how to help every person on the team meet challenges with sustained high performance over the long term — these have become especially critical at this juncture. To find answers, this year's outing included a special workshop, offering deep deconstruction and forward-looking discussion on these topics.
"In the past, we rode certain waves through trend judgment and industry focus. Back then, our culture was open, management was flat, and individual charisma and capability were more easily expressed and highlighted. The environment we face today has shifted somewhat, and our team has welcomed new partners. How to get a group of people aiming more precisely and going farther is a question worth pondering at this stage. That is why we are gathered here today: to have sincere dialogue with ourselves, to have deep exchange with the partners beside us, and thereby foster an upward-striving atmosphere within the team and a shared sense of calling to fight and strive together." At the workshop's opening, Qi Sun, Founding Managing Partner of Dalton Venture, shared his perspective on the retreat's purpose.
In any organization, different positions naturally bring differences in information access and function. How to optimize resource allocation and personnel deployment will profoundly affect organizational effectiveness — this point emerged repeatedly in small-group discussions. "Not setting limits for ourselves is Dalton Venture's cultural DNA. The underlying logic of 'no limits' is being able to give 100% in your own role while also having the courage to accept challenge from others. When work meets resistance, you can confidently put your back in the hands of someone on the team who is more skilled in that area. This consensus should hold internally and externally alike. When our goals and actions are highly aligned, every member of the team is filled with a sense of responsibility and honor, and development from the individual to the company will achieve qualitative improvement." Zoe, who plays a forward-striker role in the organization as IR, depends on close coordination with the investment team and portfolio management department in her work. Her remarks captured the essence of cross-functional collaborative spirit.
Vol. 3
From Selective to Proactive
The Self-Evolution of Information Ownership
John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends, once said: "The new competition is not between companies but between different modes of organization — and the winning mode will be the one that can mobilize the intelligence of every man and woman in the enterprise."
Dalton Venture has always encouraged open, egalitarian communication, adhering to the principle that whoever holds information bears responsibility for its transmission. Selective sharing actually hinders team communication and erodes company value. Investing is a cognition-driven industry, imposing especially stringent demands on the timeliness and accuracy of information. Because markets shift in the blink of an eye, only by maintaining thorough, high-frequency information flow internally can we discuss and dialectically examine external situations in the shortest time, ultimately making correct decisions.
"At Dalton Venture, there can be many different voices within the team, because our backgrounds are diverse, our ideas collide, and we approach the same problem from different angles — sometimes the discussion gets quite intense. False politeness is not genuine respect or recognition of another's viewpoint. Only by speaking freely internally and reaching consensus can we truly present a unified voice externally." Analyst Chen Zhang shared his sense of the unchanging elements in Dalton Venture's culture.
Vol. 4
Pursuing Excellence
Being a Creator of Value
When we speak of excellence, what are our requirements and standards for it? The retreat's closing returned to a value Dalton Venture has always practiced: the pursuit of excellence. What things are worth doing? What outcomes can be called excellent? From everyone's perspectives, we found some common ground. We believe that things worth doing tend to be:
- Creative
- Efficiency-enhancing
- Cognition-elevating for the industry
- Opportunity-generating
Excellence manifests in output that exceeds expectations and breaks new ground. A person who pursues excellence is not satisfied with simply completing tasks but strives to find superior solutions and acts to realize them. Excellent work is typically characterized by high quality and high efficiency, bringing tangible value to the team and organization.
"The pursuit of excellence, the creation of value" is a beautiful seed, and each year's retreat is like nourishing rain, silently nurturing the continuous upward growth of excellence.
Written at the close of this outing, and as a message for the journey ahead:
Run down the hard but right path, maintaining focused and enduring passion.
Together, we can go farther!
END
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