Investing in 50 AI Companies in One Year; What Was I Thinking When None of Us Knew the Answers? | A Conversation with Jie Yang, Founding Partner of Jinqiu Fund

🚥 This week's guest at the Crossroads is Jie Yang, founding partner of Jinqiu Fund.

Jinqiu has emerged as one of the most closely watched new forces in China's venture capital scene over the past two years: a 12-year fund with over $500 million under management. Since its founding in 2022, the firm has invested in more than 70 companies, with an especially intensive burst of 50 deals in a single year. Notably, over 90% of its portfolio consists of AI-related companies.

In this episode, Jie shares the story of building Jinqiu Fund from scratch: how she raised capital, how she built an "AI Native" fund, how she finds investment opportunities, how she competes against giants like Hillhouse and Sequoia, and as a leader, how she guides her team through the ever-present FOMO, insecurity, and information silos of early-stage investing.

We hope this conversation offers fresh perspectives for AI founders and investors navigating their own crossroads.

(Note: The figure of 50+ companies reflects completed deals as of the podcast recording date, excluding follow-on rounds. The numbers have since been updated, with further revisions expected by year-end 2025.)

🎬 Our video podcast is here! Now live on Koji Yang Yuancheng's channels on WeChat Video, Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, and YouTube.

📒 The transcript will be published shortly on the CrossingCrossroads WeChat official account.

🟢 01:11 Lightning Round: Age, alma mater, MBTI and zodiac sign, pre-founding experience

🟢 02:02 Betting on AI Winter: The Birth of a 12-Year Fund

"We could see clear signals: AI was supplementing productivity, replacing labor."

When the AI industry looked bleak, what gave you the conviction to start a new fund against the tide?

What was the story you told LPs?

Why design it as a 12-year fund? — "This isn't an industry cycle, it's an infrastructure-level variable. With a 7-year fund, we probably wouldn't dare invest in 70-80% of our current portfolio."

Why $500 million in size? Large enough to continue doubling down in later stages, yet not so large that you're forced to chase certainty in mega-deals.

🟢 07:47 "We're an AI Company, Investing in AI Companies"

Jinqiu is also an "AI company."

How does Jinqiu use AI in its internal workflows?

The sourcing system's "secret weapon": beyond analyzing paper authors and award rosters, it can identify deal opportunities from WeChat official account posts.

How do you use Claude Code and ChatGPT to design team-building events?

How do you use AI in a typical day? How much money would it take for you to agree to a month without AI?

🟢 17:44 How Do You Evaluate People?

"Everything else can be learned. Can't code? Open Bilibili and learn. But 'resilience' is, to some degree, innate."

Ranking founder traits in the AI era: Why does "resilience" rank first, even above learning ability and execution?

Missing the chance to invest early in Manus — what was the biggest lesson? — "We over-evaluated the plugin product and misjudged the founder's core capacity for anti-fragility and creating order from chaos."

An all-INTJ partner team — how do you assess something as subjective as "resilience"? — "Break down what we value into concrete elements, then look for traces of each one."

🟢 21:51 How to Raise Capital?

"At the darkest moment of fundraising, we chose to stop looking at the spreadsheet."

What did it feel like when Jinqiu faced its first wave of concentrated rejections during its first fundraise?

An effective method against anxiety: when the progress tracker becomes painful, stop looking at it. Focus your energy on what you can actually move forward.

"We're just a small fund, but there's plenty of capital in the market that wants to invest in primary markets. Getting rejected by some people doesn't matter — we'll get it raised eventually."

🟢 26:13 The Grind of VC, FOMO, and Security

"I want people to work out of love, not tension."

How do you face the "grind" of the VC industry?

How do you break down the team's "information silos"?

How do you combat the team's "FOMO" (fear of missing out)?

How do you build the team's sense of "security"?

🟢 43:58 What Matters in Investing

If you could only invest in one direction next year, what would it be?

Why did you explicitly decide not to invest in large model companies starting in 2023 — and why don't you regret it?

Do you care about valuation? Ownership percentage? Have investment amounts risen this year?

A few interesting investment stories.

🟢 50:14 How to Compete?

"Not every founder needs to take their money (Sequoia and Hillhouse). People are still looking for the right fit."

Where does your opportunity lie in competing against Sequoia and Hillhouse?

Jinqiu's core value proposition to founders: "Fast and certain." How do you deliver this seemingly contradictory combination?

Founder profiles are diversifying: beyond the elite school / Big Tech pipeline, how do you discover independent developers and atypical founders from "the mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas"?

🟢 55:45 Outlook for 2026

Prediction one: Capital markets will get livelier, with large model companies and embodied intelligence companies potentially heading for IPOs.

Prediction two: Capital will become more abundant, with once-dormant mega funds making their return.

What's unique about AI entrepreneurship: it's a "Shangri-La" where founders can temporarily ignore macroeconomic conditions, exchange rates, and interest rate fluctuations.

Opportunities exist for the long term, but the window isn't infinite: as more people flood into this "Shangri-La," late entrants will face stiffer competition.

🟢 58:02 Ten "I Am..." Sentences

I am an entrepreneur building a VC firm.

I am an AI builder who wants to turn investing into a product.

I am someone who believes resilience matters.

I am someone who maintains objective judgment yet optimism about AI's future.

I am the owner of 6 cats, 1 turtle, and 1 lizard.

...The last 5 are confidential — tune into the podcast

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🚦 Crossroads is Steve Jobs's metaphor for Apple — standing at the intersection of technology and liberal arts, where great products are born. AI is transforming every industry. We seek out, interview, and bring together a new generation of AI founders and active participants in the AI era. Together with them, we explore and embrace the new changes, the new possibilities.

👦🏻 Host Koji: I founded Crossroads, launched AI Hacker House — a community space for the new generation of AI entrepreneurs — and serve as Venture Partner at ZhenFund. I believe technology, especially AI, represents the greatest value-creation opportunity of our generation. Koji on Jike, Koji's website

👧🏻 Host Ronghui: I co-founded Crossroads, worked at a dollar-denominated VC, and spent five years as a Silicon Valley correspondent, tracking technological development and business stories. Feel free to reach out and chat. Ronghui on Jike