preface
Liu Jin
Professor of Accounting and Finance, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, Associate Dean of Chuang Chuang and DBA Program
The year 2018 is almost over.
This year, especially as we entered the second half of the year, there was a more anxious and pessimistic atmosphere among entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs than usual. The macroeconomic situation this year is indeed not optimistic. Trade tensions, rising interest rates and slowing global economic growth have made China, which has experienced 40 years of rapid economic development, begin to face new challenges. Rising production costs, resource shortage and insufficient innovation capability have put enterprises under unprecedented pressure.
In the startup and innovation community, there is often a lot of focus on financing, valuation and size. Yes, these are important, and Changjiang Chuang Chuang has been working to help people get more growth and financial support. However, we always believe that more important than valuation is value. It is to constantly examine your original dream and future direction, and constantly ask yourself whether you have created real value.
I once discussed with my classmates at Cheung Kong Chuang Chuang what characteristics entrepreneurs have to be successful. We talk about optimism, physical strength, toughness of character, but as I've always said, it's always the founder profile that matters. Pattern is constantly thinking about how to do something for others and society.
At the end of a very difficult year, I would like to share with you the stories of a few Chuang Chuang students. The criteria for selection is not their size and performance, but their ability to demonstrate the characteristics needed in this era -- perhaps promoting the alignment of global values, improving people's lives with technology, demonstrating women's power in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation, or narrowing urban-rural and regional differences and improving people's lives...
Zweig wrote in his book When the Stars of Man Shine: "Even at the end of civilization, there is only one way for man to cope, and that is to seek refuge in high ideals, great actions, and immortal causes." I am proud that Chuang Chuang students continue to do great things.
The future is not just yours. It will be yours to make.
Happy New Year.
Story One
"Our mission is to empower education and enlighten the future."
Mi Wenjuan, founder and CEO of VIPKID
From 200 Changjiang Seed users to 500,000 paying students in 63 countries and regions
VIPKID
In Chuang Chuang, there are also 121 students who are helping to connect the global value and realize the global responsibility.
His/her Story:
Determined to start her own business in 2013, Mi faced fierce opposition from those around her. She found her tutor in the Yangtze River, Professor Liu Jin.
"You owe it to yourself," Professor Liu Jin told her.
That day, Mi Wenjuan cried. For this rare trust and affirmation.
After detailed industry research and a year of intense preparation, in 2014, Mi Wenjuan founded the online English education company VIPKID first experimental class welcomed 4 young students.
In the spring of 2015, the first project of Changjiang Chuang Chuang Community, the first class of Qingteng - Future Business School, which cooperated with Tencent, officially opened. Mi Wenjuan took VIPKID to study in Yangtze River again, and became the first batch of students together with more than 40 other entrepreneurs. Since then, Mi has planted a big dream: "Our mission is to enlighten and empower every child to walk freely on this planet."
Five years ago, today VIPKID has more than 500,000 paying students, overseas students covering 63 countries and regions around the world, and 60,000 high-quality North American foreign teachers. As the first Chinese Internet enterprise to go overseas in education, VIPKID has been upgraded from a provider of online English education for Chinese children to a "one-stop" English learning service provider for teenagers around the world.
Mi Wenjuan's next dream is to build VIPKID into a cloud-based super school and contribute to the spread of Chinese culture through the cross-border "overseas Chinese classroom Lingo Bus". By helping the rural public welfare project "VIPKID, North American Foreign teachers enter the classroom", we take a share of responsibility for the education of rural children. In this school, the flow of educational resources will not be limited by time and space, and all children in the world, no matter where they live, will have access to quality educational opportunities.
In Chuang Chuang, there are also 121 students who are contributing their energy to global value alignment and global responsibility. The Yangtze River Chuang Chuang, that is.
Story 2
"Science and technology are developed to make people healthier and make the world a better place to live in."
Liao Guochun, founder and CEO of IDbyDNA
AI is used to improve the efficiency of metagenomic detection, turning the problem of diagnosis into a computational problem
IDbyDNA
In Chuang Chuang, there are 74 students who are changing the world with the power of scientific and technological innovation.
His/her Story:
In 2014, the human genome was sequenced 13 years ago. The market for genetics, which has digested the froth of the early years, is moving in a brighter direction. Although there is still a long way to go at the application level, fierce market competition has made many technology applications at widely acceptable prices.
This year, Guochun Liao, a PhD student in genetics and bioinformatics at the University of California, Berkeley, decided to make some new attempts in this field, combining his technical background in biology and computer science with his more than ten years of genetic accumulation. So, together with two University of Utah professors, he founded IDbyDNA, which uses a suite of search methods developed at the university for years to locate pathogenic bacteria and help hospitals and doctors more accurately detect the cause of an infection.
In the traditional test for infection, doctors now make a hypothetical diagnosis based on symptoms and experience, and then confirm the hypothesis by testing a patient sample. This method is not only time-consuming, accidental, but also very limited. IDbyDNA's core technology is based on the clinical metagenomic analysis platform on top of a proprietary DNA search engine, which uses metagenomic analysis to turn a diagnostic problem into a computational problem -- by analyzing the sequence of large amounts of genetic material from all the microbes in a patient's body to identify the virus, bacterium, fungus or parasite that causes the disease.
IDbyDNA currently takes 36 to 48 hours from obtaining a patient sample to producing a clinical test report, but this will be increased to 24 hours in the near future. The detection accuracy is over 90%. IDbyDNA's microbial assay platform is capable of simultaneously identifying more than 50,000 microorganisms, including more than 3,000 human pathogenic agents, as well as detecting emerging viruses and other previously unknown microorganisms.
This approach breaks the bottleneck of the traditional model, points to a new direction for the rapid detection of infectious diseases, helps clinicians overcome the various obstacles in applying metagenomic knowledge to develop clinical solutions to diseases, and helps public healthcare structures to respond more quickly when infectious diseases break out.
Human imagination is constantly driving the progress of science and technology, and technology needs to rely on conscience and down-to-earth actions to truly empower human beings. Thank all the pioneers of technological innovation for building the world of our dreams.
In Chuang Chuang, there are 74 students who are committed to changing the world with the power of technological innovation. The Yangtze River Chuang Chuang, that is.
Story Three
"The world has made me black and blue, but wings are growing out of the wounds."
Wen Wei, founder and CEO of Tuanche
Eight years, from a team of 3 people to the first stock of automobile new retail listed in the United States
Group car
In Chuang Chuang, there are 349 students running on the long journey of entrepreneurship, swallowing wind and kissing rain without hesitation.
His/her Story:
On November 20, 2018, the eight-year-old group Car was successfully listed on NASDAQ.
Wen Wei, founder and CEO, wrote in a letter to internal employees: "I hope you will hold yourself to a higher standard, stay true to your original intention, and be the friend of time."
Many people do not know that this year is the 18th year of Wen Wei's business. He is an entrepreneurial veteran to the core.
In the ten years before he founded the group car, he had done four projects, "basically changing one line after two or three years, which is in line with the law of small and medium-sized enterprises in China closing down." "He laughed.
When it was born in 2010, the company had just three employees -- he and his two co-founders. At that time, Wen Wei himself was responsible for running the shop senior "head", known as "news group". In order to get in touch with users directly and know their real thoughts, Wen Wei personally led a group to visit all 4S shops in Beijing every weekend.
Shortly after the company made a profit, Beijing began to implement the number restriction policy, which forced the group car began to expand to the whole country.
"Although there is a lot of pressure, but I have a good attitude, because I think, finally met the right person to do the right thing with me, people and things are right, just carry on."
This sense of faith has paid off for Wen Wei and his team. Now, Group Car has nearly 1,000 employees, covering more than 130 prefection-level cities across the country, accumulated to help nearly one million group members successfully buy cars, and in the winter, upstream, become "the first car retail stock listed in the United States in China".
This is certainly not the end of the story. Veteran Wen Wei will welcome the next 18 years. As he said in the hearts of his employees: "Look up at the stars of the sea, will still bow their heads to overcome difficulties and forge ahead."
In Chuang Chuang, there are 349 students running on the long journey of entrepreneurship, swallowing wind and kissing rain without hesitation. The Yangtze River Chuang Chuang, that is.
Story 4
I can meet interesting people and do what I love every day when I open my eyes.
Headstart CEO Nick Shekerdemian
Talent is more than just two pages on a resume, connected by smart algorithms between job seekers and recruiters
Headstart
At Chuang Chuang, there are 25 other entrepreneurs under the age of 30 who are writing legends with courage and vision beyond their years.
His/her Story:
Nicholas Shekerdemian, 20, came to China from Oxford University in 2014 for a one-year exchange.
That year, he started his first entrepreneurial experience, linking professors at Oxford and Cambridge universities to provide online English tutoring for Chinese students. The biggest significance of this experiment is that Nick found the life he most yearns for -- "Every day I open my eyes to meet interesting people and do what I love. It was one of the best times of my life and made me determined to start my own business."
Unlike veteran entrepreneurs who have been working in vertical industries for years, post-90s entrepreneurs like Nick often lack rich industry experience and accumulation. Their advantage lies in their innate intimacy with new information infrastructure and their passion for breaking the rules and reshaping the world of the future.
The inspiration for Headstart came from Nick's own experience. When Nick applied for an internship at university, he found it cumbersome and inefficient to fill in the same personal information over and over again in various job applications. Why not create a system to improve the accuracy of matching talents to positions? That's how Headstart started. Nick and his team set out to design an AI-powered system to assess a candidate's personality, interests, abilities, etc. Their goal is that HR can get to know and evaluate candidates in just 15 minutes and spend 80% of their time with the top 20% of talent.
"We wanted to change the way companies think about talent, moving away from an over-emphasis on qualifications and experience to embracing broader situational psychological data that really explains who a person is and what they are capable of doing, which is most important to us." Nick says.
In 2018, Nick was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list -- in Chuang Chuang, there are 25 other entrepreneurs under the age of 30 who are writing legends with courage and vision beyond their years. "Young people" is an exciting concept. Behind it lies boundless energy, imagination and possibility. And it is true that young people of this era are increasingly surprising the world with their innate sensitivity to the new world.
Come on, young people. The future needs brave you.
Story 5
"People only have a lifetime, don't rush too wasteful."
Joy Tang, founder and CEO of Markable
Based on video search technology, to do content platform and e-commerce bridge
Markable
In Chuang Chuang, there are also 49 women entrepreneurs, demonstrating the "she" power of entrepreneurship and innovation to the world.
His/her Story:
After graduating from mathematics at MIT, Joy Tang became a Wall Street high-frequency trading modeler, making high-frequency hedging quantitative trades in front of global futures trading data displayed on seven big screens every day.
Seven years later, she gave up her million-a-year job and decided to start a business based on video recognition technology to help users identify fashion products in photos and videos, and direct users to e-commerce platforms to realize the connection between content platforms and e-commerce.
Markable's core technology is "high-speed and accurate multi-object recognition" of video content. While most video search on the market is frame-by-frame recognition, which is essentially image recognition, Markable's video recognition mimics the human eye and "tracks" products. Users can use the Markable extension to search for celebrity photos and click the "Similar products" button to see the same products from e-commerce companies. When watching videos, click and hover over the products they are interested in, and they can get visually similar product results within 0.5 seconds. There are already about 5 million fashion items available in Markable's database.
Markable has had tens of millions of searches in the United States since its launch in 2014, with a click-to-buy conversion rate of about 15 percent in the case of short video apps. In 2018, Markable officially entered the domestic market, and has reached cooperation intention with some of the largest content platforms in China.
Joy's ultimate goal is to disrupt the advertising industry: "Advertising is so rudimentary in the marketplace right now. I want it to be a feature, not a nuisance, where people interact with it on their own, rather than an electronic trash can."
People like to label female entrepreneurs as "beautiful" and ask them how they balance family and life, but Joy feels she doesn't need to be labeled as "beautiful, overachiever" and that all entrepreneurs are the same -- willing to take risks for what they love. After all, people only have a lifetime, don't waste too much. In Chuang Chuang, there are also 49 women entrepreneurs, demonstrating to the world the power of women in entrepreneurship and innovation. The Yangtze River Chuang Chuang, that is.
Story 6
"Let everyone have access to the highest level of medical imaging diagnosis."
Wingspan Medical co-founder and CMO Yunlong Gao
The innovation model of medical image is rooted in the primary medical care of the whole country
Wingspan medical
In Chuangchuang, there are 168 students who are committed to narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas and regions and improving people's lives.
His/her Story:
South Tibet lies on the southern side of the Himalayas. Because the land is so vast and sparsely populated, with mountains and valleys, there are few grassroots doctors here. Medical equipment supported by the State, for lack of expert guidance, remains idle for a long time.
Southern Tibet is not alone. In China, 80% of quality physician resources are concentrated in big cities, and the comprehensive misdiagnosis rate of primary medical care is as high as 60%.
In 2016, Wingspan reached pilot cooperation with Qamdo Regional People's Hospital to implement the "1+1+10" model, namely a private cloud of data, a regional imaging center, and support from 10 county-level hospitals and imaging doctors.
Through a small wingspan box, the primary hospital connects to the external network, takes pictures and uploads them to the Wingspan Yunying diagnosis platform. The imaging doctors of Qamdo People's Hospital carry out diagnosis and online remote experts give quality control guidance, which radiates to dozens of primary medical institutions in Qamdo region of Tibet. This service can fundamentally solve the problem of grassroots doctors reading films.
In August 2017, the first remote imaging diagnosis center in Ningxia, built by Wingspan Medical, was established in Yinchuan First People's Hospital, connecting with first-class experts in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, and serving tens of thousands of poor patients in counties and townships. Within one year, a total of 62 hospitals and institutions were connected, and 52,000 cases of remote diagnosis were completed, which truly improved the problem of "difficult and expensive medical services" for people at the grassroots level. Premier Li Keqiang of The State Council spoke highly of it after visiting and conducting in-depth research.
After nine years of accumulation and precipitation, Wingspan Medical has cooperated with nearly 2500 hospitals at all levels in more than 20 provinces and cities across the country, covering more than 100 million people annually. Wingspan plans to export China's image diagnosis model to the world, to become the world's largest "virtual imaging department", to export high-quality diagnosis to more people in poor and backward areas of the world, Wingspan has undertaken the national Belt and Road medical remote diagnosis support, to the Belt and Road countries.
At present, the annual growth rate of the demand for medical imaging is about 30%, while the annual growth rate of the number of radiologists is about 4.1%. The growth rate of the number of radiologists is far less than the growth of image data. Moreover, it takes a long time for doctors to graduate and become experienced in clinical diagnosis. This means that radiologists will be under increasing pressure to process image data in the future. To this end, Wingspan Medical relies on the huge cloud diagnosis network, the use of big data launched the exploration of artificial intelligence field, so that data to create more value, leading the new commercial civilization.
"From the initial design of imaging system for medical imaging equipment, to cloud diagnosis platform, doctor group, layout AI, and establishment of AI open collaboration platform, Wingspan Medical has been actually doing one thing, is to root the innovative and efficient diagnosis mode of medical imaging into the national medical system -- this thing, Wingspan has been doing for ten years." Gao Yunlong said.
Business model is value, a good business form should have public welfare and universal. To enable everyone to enjoy a high level of medical imaging diagnosis is Wingspan's eternal original aspiration and constant pursuit.
For Gao Yunlong, this is a career that truly gives meaning to life: "Give time to a story, give time to a story, this is life. I'm lucky to do something worthwhile like this."
In Chuangchuang, there are 168 students who are committed to narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas and regions and improving people's lives. The Yangtze River Chuang Chuang, that is.
Story 7
"The often forgotten majority, we should do something for them."
Deng Jinhong, founder and CEO of One Mu Field
It has helped 793 impoverished counties across the country and set up a dream stage for tens of millions of new farmers
One mu of land
There are 38 other students at Chuang Chuang, serving the silent majority, doing the hard but right thing
His/her Story:
Eight years ago, Deng Jinhong, who was still working at Baidu, took over a rural informatization project. No one was optimistic at the beginning, but he completed Baidu's most successful public welfare project in two years. No one knew it would change the course of his life.
The project gave Mr. Deng extensive exposure to China's vast rural areas. China has a rural population of 570 million, distributed in nearly 700,000 natural villages, of which 30 million are poor. As a large number of young rural workers left the village to go to the city, only the elderly and children stationed in the countryside, the empty nest phenomenon is very serious.
"It's like they live in a forgotten space and time where we don't hear their voices and nobody pays attention to their living conditions." "I want to connect the static countryside with the changing world," Deng said.
He left Baidu in 2011 to start Yimu Tian. Experienced such as the roller coaster of the "great test of life and death", also tasted the unknown world cold and warm. Over the past seven years, Yimu Tian has become a leading e-commerce platform for agricultural products, with more than 13 million users covering more than 2,800 counties and more than 200,000 villages across the country.
The source of agricultural products of one mu field covers 95% of the key counties in the national poverty alleviation and development work. Through the "Village Hui Action", we have reached cooperation with more than 60 governments at all levels to solve or alleviate nearly 100 cases of unsold agricultural products, saving tens of millions of yuan of direct losses for farmers.
Many of Yimu Tian's employees also come from rural areas, and Deng designed a benefit-sharing system for them so that all employees' shares become the third largest shareholder of the company. He hopes that these people from the countryside can achieve economic freedom in one mu of land through their own struggles, and then return to their hometown, so that those who are silent and forgotten can be remembered and paid attention to again.
There are 38 other students at Chuang Chuang, serving the silent majority, doing the hard but right thing. The Yangtze River Chuang Chuang, that is.
Story 8
"I hope you never use easy chips in your life, but if you do, the world is here to help you."
Yang Yin, founder and CEO of Easy Chip
The number of users exceeded 550 million, covering 183 countries and regions around the world, helping 2.53 million families with serious diseases raise more than 25.5 billion yuan.
Easy to raise
In Chuangchuang, there are also 5 students who are empowering public welfare through innovation and making kindness more powerful.
His/her Story:
In the angel round of easy chip investment, Yang Yin did not think he would go so far on the road.
Back then, her idea was simple: through the power of technology and the Internet, she could pool her money and achieve her dreams. In 2014, the team encountered a bottleneck, so they went to Yang Yin for discussion. Unexpectedly, Yang Yin decided to directly participate in the entrepreneurial journey of the company, as the CEO to join the easy chip.
That year, Yang Yin was 40 years old. On her birthday, she sat in a cafe thinking about life and said to herself, "If I am lucky enough to live to be 80, I have moved on from the first half of my life. For the second half of my life, I want to live a completely different life. Easy to raise, is the beginning of a new life."
Yang Yin led Easonchou.com to create an Internet charity based on social networks. At that time, the company around whether to do personal rescue this direction launched a fierce debate, Yang Yin felt unprecedented pressure. Suddenly one day, she found a reason to persist -- since this thing is intrinsically right, it should not be frightened by the temporary difficulties. There is no fear in the heart.
Since then, it has embarked on its own path of public welfare innovation. They took the lead in the industry to launch a four-fold health security system, which consists of serious disease relief, easy mutual assistance, easy public welfare, easy e insurance to form a complete security system covering both before and after the event, so that easy Chao successfully transformed from a serious disease fundraising platform to a national health security platform.
With the help of technological means and innovative models, Easonchao has also launched an AI-based "Zhiai" audit system and a "Sunshine public welfare Alliance chain" based on blockchain technology to create an open and transparent public welfare environment, ensure accurate and true public welfare information, accelerate the audit of public welfare efficiency of loans, and make public welfare truly efficient, transparent and reliable.
"In the visible future, I believe that seeing a doctor is no longer a process of a single person or a family fighting against illness, but a process of stepping toward health step by step under a complete medical security system. And we're willing to walk with you and help you light your way. That's the mission of a tech company that aims to kill itself." Yang said in a public speech.
In Chuang Chuang, there are also five students who are empowering public welfare in innovative ways. The Yangtze River Chuang Chuang, that is.
