Four years, from debt to billions, Zhang Lei: If you don't have three axes, don't start a business.

A friend, after graduation, joined a foreign company and stayed until the 20th year, when he became a small leader.

But it is difficult to "go up" again, let alone raise wages.

So, just start your own business. But who wants to do the same thing makes friends very upset: "I have accumulated a lot of experience and contacts over the years." What's the problem? "

Indeed, it is a good choice for middle-aged people who are frustrated and want to start a business to change their lives.

Once it is done, the quality of life will be greatly improved.

But after all, middle-aged entrepreneurs are no longer young and have poor ability to resist risks, so they must be "stable" when starting a business!

Then how can we "start a business steadily"?

Zhang Lei, the founder of Gaochun Capital, gave me a lot of inspiration.

As the name implies, Zhang Lei's background is very ordinary.

His parents are ordinary wage earners in Zhumadian, Henan. He was so playful when he was a child that he almost didn't even get into junior high school.

But in the second year of high school, he failed, not only admitted to the finance department of the National People's Congress, but also went to Yale to study after working for three years.

In 2005, Zhang Lei, who returned from Yale, founded Gaoying Capital. Adhere to the "heavy position in China", and achieve 500 billion yuan from 0, with an annualized income of 39% and personal worth10 billion.

The most risky investors are entrepreneurs.

"Find the best company to hold for a long time, and help entrepreneurs to give full play to their abilities" is a phrase that Zhang Lei often talks about.

Especially in the book "Value", which contains the essence of his investment wisdom, I found that he once painted a portrait of an excellent entrepreneur: middle-aged entrepreneurs are not afraid of big risks, as long as they do three things well, they can get steady returns!

If you happen to have the idea of starting a business, or are struggling on the road to starting a business, it is better to start adjusting from these three suggestions of General Zhang. Maybe things will turn around soon!

Why is Zhang Lei so powerful?

Has he never failed?

Of course there is!

Gao Ling is not his first venture. As early as the age of 27, Zhang Lei once returned to China to start a business in partnership with two college students.

In 2000, the Internet economy was in the ascendant. Three young people firmly believe that China's "Yahoo" and "Amazon" will be born in the next few years, and all they have to do is become the catalyst of this revolution!

China Venture Network, that's it.

They help domestic enterprises grow in many aspects, such as capital, talents and technology. And organized China enterprises to visit and exchange abroad.

At the most glorious time, Zhang Lei's website had more than13,000 member companies and more than 200 investors, representing a capital of more than10 billion US dollars, and was praised as "the most influential investment brand in China".

Zhang Lei has been making a high-profile appearance in the mainstream media in the world, becoming a well-known news figure.

As a result, just after starting a business for more than half a year, the Internet bubble burst, and the China Venture Network was beaten to extinction.

Zhang Lei tried his best to save it, but he still failed.

Once a smash hit website, just one year after its establishment, it collapsed.

This failure made Zhang Lei understand that there is really no need for a startup to let the whole world know how awesome you are in the A round. Even tell everyone what kind of person you want to be in the future and what kind of vision you want to achieve.

If you start with a high profile, it will easily make people lose their minds and sow the seeds of failure.

That's the truth.

There is a saying in the Art of War: "Make a decision before you move, and Zhi Zhi will get it."

In other words, only after accurate and thoughtful planning, knowing the destination and stopping at the right time can we gain something.

Starting a business is like fighting. Only think twice before you act can you "win without a fight."

Then how can we "decide before moving"? There are two keys-

For example, a knife suddenly falls from the table, and that impulse will make you subconsciously grab it, and the result is injury.

And "planning" allows you to see the urgency of this matter, and then sink down to find a way.

Like dodging your feet first, you can protect yourself from the knife.

Think about it before doing it, instead of spreading it around and finding your own supporters.

When you succeed, there will naturally be people to support you.

In the early stage of starting a business, doing things well first is more important than anything else!

Zhang Lei said: "Entrepreneurship is not to find a moat, but to create value for users through continuous crazy innovation."

In his view, the essence of entrepreneurial success is to constantly create new value.

So where does "new value" come from?

The answer is: two innovations.

What do you mean?

First of all, you should have the core technology.

This technology is not available to everyone, or not everyone can do it.

If there is no technology drive, it is difficult to form barriers, and it is easy to be imitated and fall into vicious competition.

In other words, everyone is "rolled up"

Like Baidu, Tencent, and Meituan, at the beginning, they only made innovations in business models, and there was no substantive technological innovation.

It was not until Zhang Lei invested that technological innovation was introduced, creating a "moat that will not disappear". As enterprises grew bigger and bigger, investors also made a lot of money.

Secondly, it is difficult to expand business only with technological innovation and without advanced business model.

As we all know, Kodak was the first company to master digital camera technology, but it just fell behind in digital photography.

Google is not the first company to invent search engine technology, but it has become the largest search engine company in the world.

Similarly, Apple and Tencent are the original creators of their core technologies.

The so-called "business model" is like a sound channel, spreading your voice all over the world.

And the source of this sound is your core technology.

Therefore, only if your technology is valuable, and then through the high-quality business model, it will continue to amplify and spread, in order to maximize success!

And my friend, he just started cooking.

Whether there is a signature dish or not, and whether it can keep the guests is his core technology.

At the same time, the cost of offline customer acquisition has become higher and higher in the past two years. Whether the market can be opened through online channels is the innovation of business model.

If you can do both, are you worried that there will be no repeat customers?

In Zhang Lei's view, entrepreneurs still have a challenge, that is, they tend to overestimate their abilities and underestimate the external difficulties before starting a business, but once they are hit, they will be disheartened and devastated.

Boxing champion Tai Sen once said:

Every entrepreneur is prepared. Whether you can go to the end depends largely on your response to the challenge.

Then how can we face the crisis calmly?

The method given by Zhang Lei is: take your eyes back to yourself and stick to your original heart boldly and intently.

In terms of value, he specifically mentioned the experience of "Iron Lady" Dong Mingzhu.

Since 1990 entered Gree, Dong Mingzhu started as a salesman, and then took on heavy responsibilities repeatedly, leading Gree in deus ex, the most competitive white goods market.

During this period, no matter what kind of problems he encountered, Dong Mingzhu always adhered to the core principle of "Don't let Gree get hurt" and regarded the enterprise as his own child, which made him step by step into today's glory.

Even his own brother said that he wanted to use Gree to get some benefits for his family, but Dong Mingzhu flatly refused. So that he was expelled from the genealogy and did not contact his brother for 20 years.

People who can achieve great things will always see things that are constantly developing.

There may be some things in development that will stop when they encounter bottlenecks.

So some people think that this matter is hopeless and can only be done in this way.

And qualified entrepreneurs will only think about how to go beyond the bottleneck and strive for greater development space.

It may be too sad or exaggerated to describe the daily situation of entrepreneurs with "born to die".

But they are really meeting the challenge with "consistent" courage. They have no regrets, no hesitation, and are willing to devote all their energy to the right cause.

The so-called "dream" is the sunset under the forest.

You think there is no light, but it is there.

But when you chase it, it hides in the forest, leaving a dark space.

Entrepreneurs are a group of people who keep moving forward in the dark.

They don't just want to earn more money, but want to have a new way of life!

Even if the whole world is eliminating middle-aged people, we still have to go against the current and go forward bravely.

On the way, you might as well take Zhang Lei's "three axes", so that you can clear more obstacles and go further and further!

The world gave me cold eyes, and I gave it a miracle ~