Vol.001 | A Conversation with Yuan Liu: One Week with Manus, Ten Years with Xiao Hong

Vol.001 | A Conversation with Yuan Liu: One Week with Manus, Ten Years with Xiao Hong

December 11, 2025

Writing about Liu Yuan had been a long-delayed plan.

At first, I wanted to wait for Momenta — one of his early investments — to go public. Then I said I'd do it when he hit his ten-year anniversary at ZhenFund. But things kept getting in the way. Until Manus, another of his investments, blew up, and he grew anxious once again: would this be celebrating too soon?

Those close to Liu Yuan know that this ZhenFund partner is a romantic, kind, and deeply emotional person. But 2025 has still been a year of considerable emotional volatility for him.

He's cried many times this year. I did a rough count: in my notes with Liu Yuan for elsewhere, the word "cry" appears 16 times. But so does "hahaha" — 43 times.

You'll hear the most complete account yet of the Manus story, Liu Yuan and Xiao Hong's nearly decade-long journey together, and an inner world that few investors would ever lay bare.

🎙️ Voices Liu Yuan | Partner, ZhenFund

Jing Liu | elsewhere

📀 BGM Under Pressure — Queen/David Bowie

📱 Socials @elsewhere 别处发生 across all platforms

WeChat Official Account | Channels | Xiaohongshu | Bilibili | Jike | Xiaoyuzhou | Apple Podcast | Spotify

⏱️ Timestamps

Part 1: This Was Not a Premeditated Spectacle!

  • 00:05:17 How the Manus video went viral
  • 00:12:29 "Blooming inside the wall, fragrant beyond it"
  • 00:17:41 Why they made invitation codes
  • 00:19:22 Never trying to ride DeepSeek's coattails

Part 2: Every Fairy Tale Has an Ending

  • 00:22:06 Xiao Hong was never a founder with a smooth path
  • 00:29:43 "Fear not the want of armor, for mine is also yours to wear"

Part 3: The Bullet Fired Nine Years Ago

  • 00:34:03 Manus's one week, Liu Yuan and Xiao Hong's ten years
  • 00:39:11 Nightingale, Monica, Manus
  • 00:42:49 Why was Xiao Hong's fundraising always so difficult?
  • 00:50:33 "I've been waiting for him to start a company"

Part 4: I Needed a Win So Badly

  • 01:05:23 My god, so many parrots here!
  • 01:10:53 The most vividly colored investment to date
  • 01:15:10 The long WeChat message to Teacher Xu
  • 01:24:24 The inheritance of magic
  • 01:28:30 The quiet, repeated beauty of peace
  • 01:34:46 How to maintain youthful curiosity
  • 01:37:24 "Oceanic"