Yiming Zhang
张一鸣
Yiming Zhang is the founder of ByteDance, the company behind Toutiao, Douyin, and TikTok. Born in 1983, he started ByteDance in 2012 out of a four-bedroom apartment on Zhichun Road in Beijing — his fifth startup attempt after stints at Kuxun, Microsoft, Fanfou, and 99fang — with the idea of letting machines, rather than search, match people with content; the first product was Toutiao . In 2025 he became China's first self-made post-80s richest person . Former colleagues describe a "classic Wudaokou IT guy" obsessed with extreme efficiency — he would mutter through 10-second compile times about how to optimize them away, a habit they now read as an early sign of ByteDance's later app-factory, A/B-testing methodology, as one colleague put it to 十字路口Crossing, "deep thinking and fast execution, with results to match" . He has also been an LP of Source Code Capital since its early days, part of its "Code Club" alliance of internet CEOs .
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Coverage
An Objective Look at the Agent Battle Between ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent
Sis Dou killed your little Dou-shark.
Three-Hour Interview with Juanjuan: From Douyin to AI 3D, the Rollercoaster of Entrepreneurship, Ambitions to Become Manufacturing OS, and Why Foundation Models Won't Swallow Everything!
The Full Story of Alibaba's Investment in Moonshot AI
Game Changer.
Liblib, what's your dream?
Here's to hoping we can keep winning.
The Next Stop for Agent Startups: Reimagining the "Human-Agent" Relationship | Hands-On With Bloome
A group of people, a group of AIs, all playing together.
Hello, the Great Age of AI Entrepreneurship — Pony Ma, Yiming Zhang, and the Day 0 Moment of 21 People
The era rewards those who bravely take half a step forward through the fog of Day 0.
The True Story of Huadong Wang
"He's the Haruki Murakami of China's investment world."
2026 AI Year-Opener: The Year of R | A Conversation with Yusen Dai of ZhenFund
History rewards those who take the first small step into the fog.
Leaving ByteDance to Go All-In on AI: Why Jinqiu Fund Isn't Called "Jie Yang's Jump" | AI Deadlock
Don't overgeneralize.
AI Is Here — Play the Infinite Game of Entrepreneurship | A Conversation with Cong Guangle, Founding Member of Toutiao and Founder of Piaoquan Video
A Successful Entrepreneur and His Three New AI Bets
Managing $7 billion in annual ad spend, the person who understands global traffic better than anyone just built an AI agent
What happens when we treat data as a living organism?
Not Chasing Trends, But Backing the People Who Create Them: From Jumei to ZhenFund, Yusen Dai Has Navigated Cycles and Stepped Into the AI Era
Hongshan's Seed Fund Backs New Startup Building an AI-Powered LinkedIn
Can AI connect people with one another?
ByteDance Proves with Coze: Agents Can Only Be Engineered
An AI Development Platform Can't Go B2C
We attended this year's MiraclePlus Demo Day, and we think only these seven AI projects are the future.
Six Dimensions for Gauging Real-World Disruption
"Five Poisons in One," Using AI to Stoke Fights: He Says, Flaming Each Other Is Gen Alpha's New Social Entry Point | A Conversation with Cao Tong, Founder of Splat
Twenty Years of the Internet, and the Demand Still Waiting to Be Unlocked
A Scientist's Attempt to Become a Better CEO | WAVES
Starting another company.
10 Facts About 1,000 Chinese Billionaires
The currents of the era, all contained within the sequence.
Source Code Capital at Ten | Venture Capital Is the Art of Balancing Reality and Optimism
Right now, we need confidence — but even more, we need resilience.
BosonAI's Mu Li: If There's Something You're Meant to Try in Life, Start as Early as Possible | Oasis Vitality
Counselor Vitality
Li Mu: "Starting a company is about defying fate — what exit strategy are you even thinking about?"
One year in AI is three years on Earth.
Code Brain | How Do Founder-CEOs Understand "Courage"?
Code View | *China Enterprises* Exclusive Interview with Xingshi Wang, Managing Partner of Source Code Capital: Finding Certainty in an Uncertain Era
The criteria for what makes a good company have become more diverse, making it harder for investment firms to evaluate them.
"You're only 36. You can be anyone you want to be."
Never stop moving forward.
In an Age of Impatience, Long-Termism Matters More | Oasis Signal
Choose a Path of Cultivation
The Secret Gardens of China's Ultra-Wealthy
By Chen Zhiyan Edited by Jing Liu The Convex Lens of Human Nature In late August 2016, the sale of the DoubleTree by Hilton London finally closed:
Farewell to a Year of Inflection Points: Will 2022 Be Better? | Li Feng's New Year Outlook
Where the heart leads, steady steps take you far.
How to Build Your Corporate Brand Strategy from 0 to 1 | FreeS Talk
"Different" beats "better."
Talk to Future Founders: You Can Practice Deliberately Like This
Curious enough to ask, diligent enough to find the answer.
Niu Technologies IPO Lands on Nasdaq; 3 Companies Close Funding Rounds; Code Brain Issue 8 Mines India | Code Brain Newsletter · October
【Source Code Capital Newsletter】Here we record the small steps forward taken by our team members, share the joy of growth, and look forward to an even brighter future.
5 Companies Raise Funding, Several Make China's Top 100 Unicorns List | Code Meet Journal · March
【Source Code Capital Chronicle】A place to record the small steps forward of our team members, share the joy of growth, and look toward an even brighter future.
Ma Hui: Entrepreneurs' 2017 and 2018
The Founder's New Year's Intellectual Marathon
3 Companies Secure Additional Funding, 1 Lists on NYSE, 6 B2B Firms Win Multiple Awards | Source Code Capital Monthly · October
**Ma Hui Journal:** A place to record the small steps forward of our community members, share in the joy of growth, and look toward an even brighter future.
Ma Hui Ecosystem in August: Funding, Upgrades, and Honors | Ma Hui Chronicle
**Source Code Capital Chronicle**: A place to record our team's small steps forward, share the joy of growth, and look toward an even brighter future.
Yiming Zhang: Avoid the Arrogance of Rationality as CEO | 2017 Source Code Capital Annual Meeting
At Source Code Capital's 2017 Ma Hui event, Yiming Zhang, founder and CEO of Toutiao, shared heavyweight management insights with attendees from different cohorts: a CEO must avoid the arrogance of rationality.
World Internet Conference Opens; Source Code Capital Named New Investor of the Year
Source Code Capital was named to the "Top 30 Emerging Investment Firms of 2016" list in Wuzhen.
Yi Cao Named to ChinaVenture-FT China Top 100 Investors of the Year 2016
On August 15, 2016, ChinaVenture held its "2016 China Investment Annual Conference" in Shenzhen, where it also released the "ChinaVenture 2016 Best Chinese Investors" list.
"Ma Hui 2016": Xiang Li on CHJ Automotive for the First Time — Reshaping Urban Mobility
On the second day of the Ma Hui event, Source Code Capital LP Xiang Li shared for the first time his new entrepreneurial venture: he's building cars. From R&D and manufacturing to sales and service networks, Li is redefining the future of the auto industry.
"2016 Source Code Capital Summit" — Yiming Zhang: Why I Don't Agree With Controlling Headcount Costs
From April 21 to 23, 2016, the Source Code Capital "Ma Hui" community gathered at Gubei Water Town — a "Jiangnan-style waterside town" at the foot of the Great Wall. At the event, ByteDance CEO Yiming Zhang shared his insights on the talent challenges facing growing companies, covering recruitment and human capital management in comprehensive detail.
Source Code Capital Named to 2015 China Best Foreign Venture Capital Firms Top 50
From April 11 to 13, 2016, ChinaVenture hosted the "2016 China Investment Annual Conference" in Shanghai, where Source Code Capital was named to the "2015 Top 50 Best Foreign VC Firms in China."
[Wuzhen] Source Code Capital's World Internet Conference Trip
The Second World Internet Conference opened on December 16 in Wuzhen, a waterside town in Jiangnan. Yi Cao, founding partner of Source Code Capital, was invited by the organizers to attend the event. Meanwhile, *Beijing News*, the conference's sole officially designated publication, named Source Code Capital the "Best Emerging Investment Firm of 2015."
【Source Code Capital Exclusive Video】Joining Source Code Capital in 2015, Entering the Inner Circle of the Internet
Source Code Capital hopes to be a growth partner for more founders. Wishing every entrepreneur ever-greater courage and fresh fortune in the new year!
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