Xiaohongshu Is Looking for Five Young "Self-Styled Visionaries" — Here's What They're Offering

Be ambitious, be hungry, think you're destined for greatness.

👦🏻 Author: Koji

🧑‍🎨 Layout: NCon

On Saturday, August 2, I walked into Xiaohongshu's office in Shanghai's Xintiandi. Though the company had abolished its alternating six-day work week, the building was packed with employees — because today was Xiaohongshu's 12th anniversary.

Xiaohongshu's celebration was unlike any other company's. They invited Qiren Zhou, Zhiyuan Xu, Defeng Wang, and Zhangke Jia to host masterclasses; they held a summer sports meet reminiscent of university days; and they capped it all off with a massive Evening Breeze Music Festival that got everyone hyped up, followed by an all-out water fight.

This company, twelve years in and with over 350 million MAU, radiated upward energy and youthfulness. Xiaohongshu is becoming a cross-generational hub for lifestyle and interests: over 50% of its users are post-95s, 35% are post-00s.

But Xiaohongshu isn't satisfied. It wants to be stronger, more energetic, younger.

The water fight after Xiaohongshu's 12th anniversary music festival

So beyond joining the anniversary festivities, I had another mission on this trip — Xiaohongshu is about to launch its highest-caliber recruitment program ever, called PGM (Product General Manager). They want to find five ambitious young people and cultivate future leaders with "top-of-industry compensation, no ceiling" salaries and resources.

They invited me to brainstorm: How do we find these young people?

Honestly, after learning about the program, if I'd had a special package like this, a special track like this back in the day, I would've jumped on it without hesitation.

What does PGM offer? First, mentorship.

From founders to C-level executives, everyone is personally involved as a mentor to the PGMs.

Let me repeat that, with emphasis: from founders to C-level, the entire leadership team is mobilized, and each person will personally mentor PGMs.

PGM is a two-year intensive program. Xiaohongshu's C-level executives and core product/business leads will rotate as each PGM's mentor, spending 6-12 months per person.

My first job was working with Xing Wang as a PM on Fanfou. We were in a residential building on Wudaokou's Huaqing Jiayuan — Xing and I shared one office (a second bedroom probably under 10 square meters, barely fitting two desks). His desk was by the door, mine was in the corner. Every day, coming and going, I could "sneak" peeks at Xing's screen and openly see the books and magazines on his desk.

The Fanfou office at Room 805, Building 13, Huaqing Jiayuan

When you're starting out, there's so much to learn from your mentors and bosses: how they run meetings, how they gather information, how they ask questions and make decisions, how they handle people... These subtle influences became muscle memory for my future career.

In 2025, looking across all of China's internet giants and near-giants, I believe only Xiaohongshu offers this kind of direct access: the top leader leaves their door "open and exposed," and you can observe and learn to your heart's content.

Ambitious young people should understand the value of this opportunity.

What's even rarer: the stage

More scarce than up-close C-level observation and learning is the "stage" Xiaohongshu can provide.

Just as without the 2004 Super Girl stage, there'd be no Li Yuchun or Jane Zhang; without Hong Kong's golden age, there'd be no Four Heavenly Kings.

During the rise of Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, and ByteDance, many young people were given stages. But stages are "limited-time, limited-quantity." Exceptional young people emerge every year, yet top-tier stages are few and far between — you have to identify them, fight for them, cherish them.

PGM is spearheaded internally by Feite, Xiaohongshu's head of strategy and investment.

I met Feite in 2008, when we were both interning at Baidu. In her first month, Feite was assigned to be the PM for Baidu Maps (and the only PM), while I was placed in the Phoenix Nest project team, building from zero to one.

At the time, it seemed ordinary. Looking back, the training opportunities and expanded horizons we gained were incredibly rare.

Feite said: "I was once fortunate enough to get a top-tier stage, and I know its value and meaning. Now, with Xiaohongshu's rapid growth, such stages still exist. So I want to find ambitious young people and put them on that stage."

Xiaohongshu is growing fast — whether in community or commercialization, its social flywheel is spinning furiously, making it a company that both reaches for the stars (full of imagination) and keeps its feet on the ground (full of opportunities for doers).

In 2025, looking across all of China's internet giants and near-giants, I believe once again only Xiaohongshu offers such a stage. And perhaps this is because, right now, only Xiaohongshu still has such a stage to offer.

Are you willing to bet two years?

PGM is looking for five young people with less than five years of work experience. Xiaohongshu's requirements for these five are straightforward:

You must believe you were born to accomplish something extraordinary.

In other words, you need ambition, you need hunger, you need to think you're destined for greatness.

You need to be an Outlier.

Outliers don't fit in, they just stand out.

During your two years in PGM, you'll be thrust directly onto the battlefield.

In year one, you'll choose two core areas — such as user product, commercial product, AI Lab, strategic investment, or international expansion. You'll spend six months in each, with clear objectives, independently driving a real project. Seven words will hang over your head the entire time: "You need to finish it. Make it happen."

In year two, you'll choose a main track you truly care about and want to go deep in, taking on a company-level mandate. Defining the problem itself, coordinating resources, influencing upstream and downstream stakeholders, owning the results.

Starting year three, you won't be assigned a pre-defined role. You'll find your own battlefield, then bring resources and judgment to create a new growth point.

As you can see: this isn't a clearly mapped management trainee rotation, but a 24-month, high-density leadership bootcamp.

The biggest difference from management trainee programs: you're not learning how the company operates — you're personally deciding how it moves forward.

One more bonus: you'll have the opportunity to be based at Xiaohongshu's offices in New York and Silicon Valley.

Are you willing to bet two years? — If you lose, it's growth; if you win, it's also growth. — Actually, I'm playing a word game. What I mean is:

For ambitious young people, this is a bet you cannot lose.

Photo taken from the high-rise windows of Xiaohongshu's Xintiandi office: the city is pulsing with life, and you're no longer a bystander — a subtle, restless excitement rises within you.

I asked a few questions on your behalf...

Here are the answers from Feite, Xiaohongshu's head of strategy and investment.

👦🏻 Koji:

Why is Xiaohongshu launching PGM? Why now?

👩🏻 Feite:

Xiaohongshu is in rapid growth — the community flywheel keeps spinning, while e-commerce, advertising, AI, international expansion, and other fronts open simultaneously.

Opportunities abound, but talent that can actually turn opportunities into results is always scarce.

We're launching PGM to throw open the stage and resources to "young people willing to break the mold," letting them grow rapidly at the company's most critical breakthrough points; while also building Xiaohongshu's next generation of business leaders and partners.

Why now? When a company's direction is fully set and its organization massively complex, young people often end up spinning their wheels on local optimizations.

Right now, Xiaohongshu has enough scale while still preserving abundant open questions, flat enough hierarchy, and a culture of rapid experimentation

— this is the golden window for cultivating "general-type product leaders."

👦🏻 Koji:

Why is PGM designed this way?

👩🏻 Feite:

Because we've all experienced the extraordinary growth that comes from "young people + big stage."

Early in my career, I was lucky to catch China's internet acceleration.

Interning as a senior, I independently owned a product; at 22, I faced hundreds of millions of search queries; at 26, I rode the mobile internet wave to grow a product's market share from single digits to industry leader — opportunities like these would never fall on a newcomer's head at a mature American tech giant.

At the same time, I've benefited from having access to exceptionally talented people from a young age, gaining higher, more holistic perspectives and ways of thinking. When I first became a PM, the team was small enough that I could directly get guidance from product legend Jun Yu; later, I had opportunities to participate in product strategy discussions at the company decision-making level; after that, in VC, I could exchange ideas daily with the most impressive founders and think at the board level.

This continuous sparring with top minds kept expanding how I see problems.

My own background has also kept switching across domains: from computer science undergrad to product manager, then to business school, then VC investing. This multidisciplinary experience gave me more diverse thinking patterns and more complete perspective when analyzing a company or business.

Recently, discussing this with our COO, Ke Nan, she had similar reflections — like how large models work, "generalization is intelligence, compression is everything." While young, build generalized, universal capabilities by changing environments, domains, and hard problems, broadening your experience and practical expertise.

Having solved sufficiently complex problems, fought sufficiently hard battles, endured sufficient tempering — that's what gives you the courage and ability to begin creating and innovating.

👦🏻 Koji:

The most elite young people often have the most options. What makes PGM attractive to them?

👩🏻 Feite:

Big impact + real problems. Getting company-level projects in year one, solving problems with "no standard answers" — this kind of influence is hard to manufacture externally.

Unlimited opportunities. Free combination rotations across user product, commercial product, AI, international expansion, and strategic investment — stretching the breadth of your vision and experience.

C-level & business lead mentor team. Actually sitting in C-level offices discussing strategy, dissecting business — your cognition gets rapidly refreshed.

Top-of-industry compensation. No need to calculate trade-offs between "living vs. growing."

In one sentence:

PGM lets you, at your youngest and most explosive stage, do things that are hard to do elsewhere but have real impact on the world.

👦🏻 Koji:

Why does Xiaohongshu have the conditions to run a program like this, rather than other major tech companies?

👩🏻 Feite:

Right timing: Xiaohongshu is still in an expansion and exploration phase, with many open questions. A company doesn't stay in this state forever. Once strategy enters a convergence phase, exploratory opportunities for new things diminish.

Right stage: Xiaohongshu's current business and organizational scale means sufficient resources, without being so large that you can only be a "cog." Fewer organizational layers, shorter decision chains, faster execution.

Founding team deeply involved. C-level executives and business leads will personally serve as mentors; PGM projects go directly into company-level decision-making view.

👦🏻 Koji:

Some worry "it sounds beautiful but hard to deliver." How would you address that concern?

👩🏻 Feite:

Top-level backing: PGM communication channels go straight to C-level; mentors are business leads themselves. Resources, decisions, and opportunities are all assigned to specific people.

Projects as evaluation: Expect deliverables from each rotation, with clear goals and transparent retrospectives.

Only five seats: Small and elite means the company can invest sufficient time and resources; "promises" don't get diluted.

For young people who truly dare to break the mold, the biggest risk is not jumping on stage. What PGM can do is build the stage; the rest is up to them to create their story.

So, are you ready to jump on stage?

If you've read this far and felt even a flicker of fire inside, perhaps PGM is for you.

Don't extinguish that thought too quickly. Don't talk yourself out of being someone willing to take risks.

Xiaohongshu's official account published "Xiaohongshu Is Looking for Outliers | PGM Talent Program" — visit for application details. Deadline: 12:00, September 12.

Finally, a quote I've been loving lately:

You don't start because you're already great; you become great because you start.

See you on stage.