Zhou Kui is the first employee of Sequoia China. Besides Shen Nanpeng and Zhang Fan, he has the deepest qualifications.

His projects include: Siwen Innovation, Skye Network, NetQin, Ganzhao Optoelectronics, maiden voyage energy saving, Qinchuan Machinery, Halo New Network, contact interaction, registered network, medical treatment, beauty theory, Boya Technology, singing bar, Rong 360, pp car rental, Dada distribution, honey bud baby and so on.

Give the impression that he is not strong. According to an intern of Sequoia, he looks very gentle and basically smiles. Zhou Kui always wears a plaid shirt, which is introverted and friendly, which is quite different from the usual impression given by investors.

In 2005, Zhou Kui joined Sequoia. Zhou Kui has been a partner of Sequoia Capital China since June 2007. This year, Zhou Kui was selected as the business elite under 40 by Global Entrepreneur in 2007. Shen Nanpeng commented on Zhou Kui like this. "On the surface, you may think that Zhou Kui is not the kind of person who is eager for quick success. However, as a venture capitalist, he has two characteristics. First, he is thoughtful and pays attention to details. When many investors are easily excited by appearances, he can remain rational. At the same time, he is very open. Will not lose the ability to seize opportunities. 」

Compared with most high-profile investors, Zhou Kui is different. He didn't make radical remarks or spread golden sentences.

He seems to be an honest man, and he invests seriously.

After entering VC, I only invested in one company in the first three years. In order to study this company, he studied all 50 companies in the industry, and the company went public after one year of investment, which was the first exit project of the institution.

Next, Zhou Kui became a star in the industry and constantly refreshed his investment performance. In less than two years after entering Sequoia, Zhou Kui was promoted from director to partner with good performance.

But Zhou Kui is still humble, which has something to do with his personality. He said, "You should take the time to clean up the spilled water when you are talking. 」

Today, Zhou Kui is the "second person" of Sequoia China. At the end of 20 10, Yang Haoyong went to Beijing Yintai Center. Here, he met Zhou Kui, and this is the first time to meet Shen.

Since Jiji.com officially launched the C round of financing, Sequoia has been releasing the signal of its intention to invest in Yang Haoyong. But Yang Haoyong hesitated. Sequoia has a precedent and expressed its willingness to invest, but it has not taken any substantive action. Six months and a year later, the entrepreneur said that he would not vote, and Yang Haoyong didn't want to be the protagonist of this escape. However, Yang Haoyong thought it best to meet once. It was this meeting that contributed to the final investment.

Sequoia's project will be pushed to Shen Nanpeng and Zhou Kui, and the final decision will be made.

The founder of mobile phone loan, another rear-projection enterprise of Sequoia China, also encountered a similar situation. Founder Yu Liang sent the business plan to Sequoia mailbox, and Shen Nanpeng and Zhou Kui received it. After spending half an hour introducing business and team, the two partners decided to invest at the same time.

Zhou Kui's investment trajectory: From the perspective of software outsourcing companies, it was later deployed in wireless operation, Internet and other fields, extended to energy, environmental protection and other fields, and finally covered TMT.

After joining Sequoia, his first investment was Siwen Innovation, a software service outsourcing enterprise. In 2005, Lenovo Investment and DCM*** invested US$ 6,543,800,000.

Sven Innovation was founded in 1995, and has a long-term cooperative relationship with IBM and Microsoft in 1997. 1998 signed outsourcing service contracts with HP, Oracle Bone Inscriptions and SGI.

In 2005, he was selected as "the best supplier of Microsoft" and set up R&D centers in Beijing and Shanghai. In 2006, Sequoia, DCM and Lenovo invested another $30 million in Pactera Innovation. On June 5438+February 65438+February 2007, Siwen Innovation landed on new york Stock Exchange.

Behind Windows 7 that people have used, there are innovative contributions from Sven, including the compatibility test of operating system software in multiple languages.

In 2006, Sequoia invested in Wanpu Century, a company that provides wireless Internet marketing platform. In 2006, it also invested in Levin Jiexun, which has many recharge services. Zhou Kui talked with the founder for a week and decided to invest.

In 2007, NetQin received $3.3 million from Jinsha River and Sequoia in the first round of financing. On may 5, 20 1 1, netqin was listed on the NYSE.

In July 2007, Sequoia also invested $3.5 million in Skye Network. 2010 65438+February 9, Skye network landed on Nasdaq. However, the market reaction was not satisfactory, and the first report closed at $6, down 25%. Zhou Kui's view is still positive. "We invested in Skye in 2007, with a monthly income of only 200,000 and only 20 employees. Now it has become a company with a market value of more than 300 million US dollars. I think its growth rate has been very fast. 」

In March 2008, Sequoia China invested10.22 million USD in Ganzhao Optoelectronics. Ganzhao Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. was established in February 2006. Is a professional manufacturer of LED epitaxial wafers and chips. After the investment, Zhou Kui served as the vice chairman of Ganzhao Optoelectronics.

Two years later, on August 20 12 10, Ganzhao Optoelectronics was registered on the Growth Enterprise Market of Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

In the first half of 2008, Sequoia invested $6.5438+million in gecko. Gecko's business is in-game advertising. Under the premise of not affecting the player's game experience, placing advertisements. After the investment, Zhou Kui entered the board of directors of Gecko.

In 2008, Zhou Kui entered the list of "Best Venture Capitalist in China" in Chinese edition of Forbes, ranking 43rd. The list survey covers the IPO/ M&A projects of venture capitalists in the past five years, and Zhou Kuizhong's IPO/ M&A projects: Zhongxun Software, Siwen Innovation and Shenxuntian; Other star projects: Kaitian, Jiexun Technology, NetQin Technology, Skye Technology and Gecko Software.

Finance and industry are inseparable in the end, as Zhou Kui proved. Zhou Kui has IPO records in China Growth Enterprise Market, NYSE and Nasdaq.

However, Zhou Kui has always been cautious. He once participated in an interview with People's Daily and said, "It is not easy to invest. After you invest, your mood will get heavier and heavier. If you invest more, it will become heavier. You should spend more time on the projects you invest, because your money was in your pocket, and now you invest. 」

20 10 Zhou Kui served as a judge in Suzhou Finals of Innovation China. Then came Milan founder Feng Ke. Com, went to the judge's bench to talk to Zhou Kui. At that time, e-commerce was not fully heated up, and Zhou Kui was very interested in overseas sales models. He felt that the previous companies were all engaged in foreign trade B2B, while Milan.com was engaged in foreign trade B2C, which was a bit ahead of schedule and a bit progressive. Finally voted for Milan. After the vote, Milan. Com has developed rapidly, but it is a little too fast, and the market has some ups and downs. Zhou Kui talks with Feng Wei. Don't be in such a hurry You should restore your rhythm.

Looking back on Zhou Kui's resume, for seven years, he had a bad job and watched it fail.

1989 graduated from Wuhan university of technology (now Wuhan university of technology) with a major in electrical automation. After graduation, I joined a joint venture in Shaoguan and worked as a smelter in the mountains. I started as a technician, then became an engineer, and then managed the workshop. The situation of the enterprise is not satisfactory, and Zhou Kui also went to various places to run projects and talk about cooperation.

After three and a half years, the company was badly run, and colleagues and friends had to go their separate ways. Zhou Kui is a person who values friendship. Seeing the scene before him, he was moved. The bank man went to the warehouse to pull the goods, and he shed tears.

Later, Zhou Kui went to Zhongshan and joined the company founded by the teacher. Chen Chunhua told a story that happened to Zhou Kui. 1995, a switch in a company is broken. The person in charge of the program-controlled switch in this unit took the broken switch to the company where it was purchased for maintenance, but the company was small, the technology was not good, and it could not be repaired for a long time.

The man said, forget it, you help me set up an environment and I'll adjust it myself. So he worked in this company for three days in their debugging environment and repaired the switch himself. The people in this company said, brother, the technology is good, let's stay and work together. The man said, I can't. The people at work still have to make a phone call, so they left with the switch. The person in charge of the unit switch is Zhou Kui. A very small company with poor technology is called Huawei.

But it is such a company that Zhou Kui followed with all his heart and failed. Zhou Kui concluded, "Although the company has strong technical ability, strength and position in the industry, it doesn't have a goal of bringing everyone together, which leads to employees being driven by speculation. Aim at an opportunity to make a product, make a quick profit, and then look for the next opportunity, which greatly affects the long-term development of enterprises. 」

The influence of these two work experiences on Zhou Kui is that pragmatism is very important, and the first priority of a small company is to survive. After witnessing the problems of the enterprise, Zhou Kui had the idea of finding a way to solve them. Zhou Kui decided to study again. He went to Tsinghua to study for an MBA.

The new career starting point is Lenovo. Zhou Kui worked in Lenovo's business development department for two years as the director of the development department, mainly responsible for new business development, investment management and internal operation tracking.

At that time, Lenovo was brewing a new direction, venture capital. Liu Chuanzhi clearly told Lenovo that this $35 million investment should only pay tuition fees, but no one dared to let Lenovo save the profit of 10.

Lenovo Investment was established on April 26th, 20001year, and invested in four fields: telecom network equipment, enterprise application software, IT services and semiconductor chip design. Liu Chuanzhi is the chairman of Lenovo Investment, and Zhou Kui, 34, is the investment manager.

When he entered the investment industry, Zhou Kui's initial idea was to see how the money was made, and to understand why the two companies he worked so hard for didn't develop in the end.

The past experience is deeply branded. Zhou Kui feels that money is hard to earn, and his hands are shaking when making investments. Once, Zhou Kui promoted a geographic information system company within the company. Liu Chuanzhi asked, can this company score 85 points? Zhou Kui summed up various factors and said that there was no 85 points, so the project was over.

In 2003, Lenovo's investment "seed fund" has been taken out, but the invested enterprises, including Joyo.com, have not improved, and even several invested enterprises have fallen to the bottom. Lenovo's investment performance is worrying when there is no emergency to withdraw from the project. In order not to cut off the second fund, Zhu Linan, president of Lenovo Investment, had to fly to Europe and America to look for investment.

Zhou Kui did not file a case. He is eager to take the first step, but he tells himself to be self-disciplined and honest. He got 85 points before he could vote.

From the end of 20001,Zhou Kui began to investigate the software outsourcing industry. Until 2003, he never invested in a project, devoted himself to research and saw the top 50 industries.

In the end, Zhou Kui thinks that Zhongxun is an enterprise worth investing in. Zhongxun was established in 1995, and its main business is overseas software development in 1997, and Japan Zhongxun Co., Ltd. was established in 1998. According to the company's website, Japanese companies choose China as their main software outsourcing area. In contrast, European and American companies send a large number of contracts to India. In 2002, we signed an LSP contract with Sun Microsystems to start IT technical service business.

Zhongxun was approved after many twists and turns, and it was passed after repeated meetings. Zhou Kui is under great pressure. So much for this project. He may not get along in this industry. In March 2003, Lenovo invested HK$ 24 million (US$ 3 million) in China News.

On April 30, 2004, Zhongxun Software was listed on the main board of Hong Kong, and Lenovo's investment received a 7-fold return. Zhongxun Software is of great significance to Lenovo's investment, and it is the first exit project of Lenovo's investment.

Zhou Kui followed the map and found the sky. In May 2004, Lenovo and Acer reached an agreement, and the two companies invested 6 million US dollars in Xuntian. In 2005, Index, the largest SP company in Japan, acquired Shenxuntian. In an interview with 2 1 Century Business Herald, Zhu Linan mentioned that the return on investment of Shenxuntian was about 3.5 times.

With outstanding investment performance, Zhou Kui became the senior vice president of Lenovo Investment. Zhang Fan, the founder of Sequoia China, commented on Zhou Kui, "When we found Zhou Kui in 2005, he did a lot of homework that others had not done, about the possible take-off points of each industry in the next three years, and whether the specific projects were cheap or expensive. 」

Be useful to users, if not, don't do it.

The basic value orientation of entrepreneurship is: it is useful to users, and if you can't do it, don't do it; Whether a startup can develop depends not only on the right direction, but also on skills and speed. Although big companies want to do everything, they also have neglected places and their own weaknesses, which are good starting points for entrepreneurs.

However, the temporary neglect of the giants does not prove that they will not do it in the future. Therefore, for startups, it is necessary to run hard, desperately occupy the market, and let users stay. In the end, users should make choices, so entrepreneurs need to make their products better than any competitors.

Three major pressures faced by startups

The pressure faced by startups mainly comes from three aspects: First, it comes from product capabilities. If users don't like what they do, there is no chance; Secondly, the marketing ability, whether the product can be quickly pushed to the target users, directly tests the marketing ability of entrepreneurs; The third is the determination, endurance or endurance of entrepreneurs. If you can't win the war, you won't fight? The battle is fierce. Should we still fight this battle? The answers to these questions require entrepreneurs to bear great competitive pressure.

Don't brag

It is common for entrepreneurs to talk big. Just because you get the money doesn't mean you are right. You should know what honesty means to your business.

Sometimes, in order to motivate the team and scare opponents, entrepreneurs say that their financing amount is high. I understand the behavior of entrepreneurs, but what you do is of little value. What you have to think about is what value you bring to your customers.

The threshold for bragging is very low. As long as you give me a microphone, I can blurt it out, but the cost of doing so is very high, and you may eventually lose the most precious thing-credit.

The circle of entrepreneurship and investment is very small. If you have no credit, no one will help you when you need support most. Money can't help you get your credit back.

There is a pattern

Nowadays, many entrepreneurs regard everyone as a competitor and live in anxiety every day. Of course, this is also a driving force, but this driving force is not sustainable psychologically, mentally and physically.

When two peers fight to the end, they are likely to come together, such as 58 and market, Didi and Uber. Excellent entrepreneurs should be both competitors and partners. Excellent entrepreneurs should have a very open spirit, strong empathy for competitors and consumers, and great views on the pattern.

Don't take unnecessary risks.

The basis of our investment and being invested is, firstly, trust under the protection of rules and contracts, and secondly, everyone uses various resources to support a new cause. Don't take any risks you shouldn't take. If a boss spends all his time on the enterprise, and so do investors, the two sides have a contractual relationship, the distribution of benefits is clear, and there will be fewer quarrels. If the boss misbehaves, he will be punished, and the punishment is career damage.

Or exquisite

The first expression of originality is concentration. There are countless opportunities in the market, so it can be said that none of them are yours, because the opportunities that belong to you are your own choice. If you are not attentive, you are unprofessional. Why be professional? Because professionalism can bring greater returns. This is my experience of more than ten years.

The second manifestation of originality is honesty. Honesty is an ability, not just an attitude. Don't respect facts, some facts are there but you can't see them, or more often, the facts are there but you don't want to see them.

The third manifestation of originality is self-discipline. Self-discipline is a constraint on oneself. In an organization, self-discipline includes respect for organizational IQ. Our industry is originally an era of artists and heroes, but you can see that what is on the table is an organization, a team and a brand, not a person's name.