In March 2000, Yang Dong joined Softbank China as the investment director and director. Management teams such as Yan Yan, Zhou Zhixiong and Yang Dong achieved independence by raising a second fund on the basis of the original Softbank Asia Information Infrastructure Fund, and the name of Softbank Asia was immediately replaced by Safran Investment. Saifu's independence is actually the career of Yan Yan, Zhou Zhixiong and Yang Dong, but they are in the business of money.
After Safran became independent, Yang Dong became a partner of Safran, gained the investment decision-making power, and was responsible for the growth investment in Greater China with several partners. Yang Dong enjoys this partnership system. "You can give full play to everyone's advantages and rely on each other." . In his view, the partnership system is to eat the same pot. "Real success will always belong to entrepreneurs, and investors will always be worthy of a small head. If we successfully invest in a company, the main return is the investor's return to the fund. Fund managers only get a small percentage of returns from the overall return of the fund, and also consider successful companies and failed companies together. " In Yang Dong's view, the partner's task is to make the whole pot of rice high and full.
Yang Dong admires his "boss" Yan Yan. "He has extremely rich experience and strong business judgment. To face the investors of Safran, we have to deal with 30 or 40 top investment institutions and manage investment projects, which is under great pressure. "
Although different from most VC's preference for high-risk and high-profit enterprises, Yang Dong believes in the traditional value investment concept. Look from the manner, Yang Dong is more like a banker, and the investment projects should see the development within 5 to 10 years. For emerging industries with relatively high risks, Yang Dong takes a tentative attitude.
Yang Dong has ten projects in his hand, including Moby Antenna, blog China, Taimai Music, Perfect Time and Space, etc. Besides being a partner, Yang Dong is also the general manager of Safran China Growth Fund. Yang Dong just smiled helplessly at the rumor that he had gone to work in blog China. "I am a director of so many companies. How can I read several project books every day if every company manages it personally? "
"The investment blog China and 58 City itself are trying." Yang Dong revealed that China's seed investment on the blog has achieved a return of more than ten times. In August, 2005, Safran invested in the blog China with four funds, with a total investment of 654.38+million US dollars. "Although the development of blog China is not satisfactory, it has increased many times because of the early investment". "
This is also an emerging Internet concept. 58 Tongcheng is a classified information website, which ranks among the best in the field of classified information. "Through the intervention of capital, 58 cities can expand rapidly."
In the fields where the concept of web2.0 has been heated up, such as video and community, and in the previous SP field, Yangdong even Safran did not invest. "I'm more embarrassed. I really need so much money, I really need so much money, I will vote. " Yang Dong deliberately stressed that he could not see the future company in 5 to 10 years, and he could not attract him at all. Take video as an example. "Looking at the same picture with the same eyes, the advertising value in the United States is eight times that in China. At the same time, the domestic bandwidth cost is not lower than that of the United States, and the problem of network north-south interconnection has not been well solved. At present, the homogenization of video websites is very serious, and it is very risky to make videos. It is necessary to invest a lot of money until the market matures. "
But Yang Dong is not particularly picky about the business model. "Integrity, concentration." Yang Dong has the same requirements for the enterprise as for himself.