盘点从百度走出的知名投资人The Investors Who Came Out of Baidu

"There's no question that, at this juncture, Baidu has dropped out of the top tier. The old BAT has become AT — NetEase's quarterly profit is now close to double Baidu's. But when it comes to producing a strong crop of investors, Baidu's ferocious, wolf-pack corporate culture gives up nothing to anyone."

Baidu's famously ferocious culture has bred a strong "Baidu mafia": of the "Seven Swordsmen" who founded the company, all but Robin Li himself have since turned to entrepreneurship or investing; and a steady stream of other Baidu alumni has since flowed into the venture world, making waves across one field after another.

Wang Xiao: Founder of Unity Ventures

Bio: Wang Xiao, one of the "Seven Swordsmen" of Baidu's founding team, joined in 2000 and left in 2011. Along the way he worked on the first generation of Baidu's search engine, ran the architecture of Baidu's back-end server systems, led the key-account sales team, headed the enterprise-search business unit, and built out the client-software division and later the wireless business unit. In 2011 he founded Unity Ventures (Jiuhe), backing early-stage internet, mobile internet, and social e-commerce companies and teams.

Investment style: (1) the direction fits a major trend; (2) the team's ability — is the team's research into and grasp of the project deep enough; (3) data — cumulative early users, user quality, and the like. A project that hits two of these three is a pretty good one; a project that satisfies all three has a very high success rate.

Focus areas: mobile internet, service O2O, community and social, cloud computing, smart hardware, logistics, finance, healthcare, and more.

Deals: 36Kr, Xiachufang, 51shebao, 91jinrong, Butter Camera, Lanxiniu, Jikexueyuan, Xingkong Qinxing, Duitang, Meican, and others.

Xiao Min: Partner at Matrix Partners China

Bio: Xiao Min, a vice president at Matrix Partners China, has ten years in software and the internet. From 2000 to 2004, Xiao held roles including channel director and sales director at Langchao Jiaruan, a company focused on developing and selling enterprise-management software. In late 2004 he joined the founding team of Pinyin Jiajia — then one of the market-leading pinyin input methods — as general manager. In 2006 he joined Baidu's alliance-development department, leading a team that managed website-alliance partnerships while also serving as product manager for Baidu TV. In 2008 Xiao joined Yesky, running the IT vertical-media business unit and leading an internal startup. His rich industry experience helps him understand the internet deeply, and two turns as a founder have given him a real feel for entrepreneurial spirit, a founder's mindset, and all the hardships of the journey. Xiao currently handles investments in internet, e-commerce, wireless, and software. He loves road trips, and has made many long solo journeys by car.

Investment style: (1) First, look at whether there's the capacity for thought — above all, thought about the very thing you're doing. A founder should have a clear line of thinking about the industry, the rivals, and the trajectory. (2) Next, look at the team. A strong founder with a weak team is a general — he can charge into battle; a founder surrounded by heavyweights may, by comparison, seem less conspicuous. But the one who can gather that crowd around him is a field marshal. (3) Most important of all is luck. When a market takes off, plenty of people will notice and rush in waving cash — but in the end only a few succeed. A thousand horses may gallop; that comes down to an eye for it, and even more to luck.

Focus areas: O2O, matching/transaction platforms, internet finance, enterprise services, mobile smart hardware. He argues there's still blue ocean in O2O — many O2O projects have developed slowly, and the market is gradually filling out, but the user pain points are still there, so it's worth staying attentive and continuing to dig for pockets of market growth.

Deals: Zhiguoguo, 91zhengxin, Jiuguo Technology, Meiweibuyongdeng, Yunniao Peisong, e Daixi, Liepin, Fenqile, and others.

Zhu Tianyu: Partner at BlueRun Ventures

Bio: Zhu Tianyu holds a bachelor's in economics from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and joined BlueRun Ventures' China office in 2009 as investment director. He has more than ten years of experience in venture investing, business development, and management consulting. His focus includes the internet, mobile internet, new media, and e-commerce. Zhu led the first-round investments in Meilishuo and Changba. Before BlueRun, Zhu was a senior investment manager at Baidu, where he initiated and completed a series of strategic investments in the internet space. Before that, he advised education and media clients on strategy and business processes at a management-consulting firm. Zhu had also served as a corporate-development manager at NetEase, wearing multiple hats across strategic partnerships, M&A, and business incubation.

Investment style: "steady, precise, ruthless" sums up Zhu's approach. Once he's sure about a project, his reaction and decision speed are very fast. He tends to look for certainty within uncertainty, using it to build the framework and direction of an investment.

Focus areas: internet, mobile internet, big data, AI, IoT, autonomous driving, and more.

Deals: Qudian (formerly Qufenqi), Changba, Meilishuo, Lvwan, CHJ Automotive (Chehejia), and others.

Wang Mengqiu: Managing Director at Crystal Stream Capital

Bio: Wang Mengqiu, managing director at Crystal Stream Capital and former VP of technology at Baidu. She was invited back to China to join Baidu in November 2002. As a senior engineer in search and networking, she led and took part in the design and development of a great many projects, rising through the ranks — project manager, technical manager, senior technical manager, technical director, senior technical director — while also taking on extensive management responsibility on the user-product and marketing side. In January 2011, she was promoted to VP of Baidu, overseeing the work of the search R&D department, the vertical & community search product-marketing department, the user-experience department, the community-search department, the web-search product-marketing department, the Tieba business unit, the Baidu Music business unit, and the operations department. From June 2001 to October 2002, Wang was a software engineer at ABAQOS Communications in California, working on R&D for routers, LAN switches, routing protocols, and other networking areas. She holds a master's in computer science from UCLA and a bachelor's in computer science from Peking University. Before joining Crystal Stream, she served as VP of technology at Baidu, where over 11 years she took overall charge of user-facing products and technology — essentially everything you could see across Baidu's web pages.

Investment style: Crystal Stream doesn't focus purely on the internet; it studies internet-adjacent verticals fairly deeply and will invest wherever there's an opportunity. The firm's goal is to understand these niche markets deeply, then use its own grasp of the internet to spend post-investment time helping these companies grow fast. Wang has stressed more than once that Crystal Stream's philosophy is to unearth long-term value, aiming at projects that solve fundamental problems in their industries. She says Crystal Stream currently favors opportunities along four lines: (1) vertical transaction markets — many verticals still haven't moved their transactions online, e.g. Douguo and Zhuqu; (2) O2O — there's a huge stock of idle offline resources to be integrated online, of which PP Zuche and Aixianfeng are examples; (3) new forms of community — post-85s and post-90s, for instance, will bring new ways of playing with community.

Deals: Aixianfeng, Yuanchuangpai, Kuaile Xue, and others.

Wu Shichun: Founding Partner of Plum Ventures

Bio: Wu Shichun, founding partner of Plum Ventures (Meihua), COO of Lehe Interactive, former founder of Kooxoo, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. He worked at Huawei and Baidu in succession. In 2004 he and Sun Zhiqiang founded Shangzhixun, focused on enterprise IM. In 2006 he co-founded Kooxoo with Chen Hua. In 2008 he left Kooxoo to become an angel investor. In 2010 he joined Beijing Jidiao (Basetechs) as senior VP, in charge of marketing, business, product, and strategy. He then co-founded Lehe Interactive with Jidiao CEO Chen Chaoren, pivoting into mobile internet and launching the polished apps "Shishen Yaoyao" and "Wanyou Zhushou."

Investment style: as long as the founding team is good, we're willing to bet on the person and invest, even if the track and direction are a bit off early on. For us, investing rests on three principles: (1) early-stage investing is investing in people; (2) invest in products with positive social value — we won't back products that might grow explosively but carry negative energy, like "Secret"; (3) genuinely help founders — pitch in, don't get in the way.

Focus areas: investments in niche segments such as e-commerce, internet finance, and O2O consumption. He also sees several kinds of opportunity: (1) the internet remaking traditional industries — e.g. internet agriculture, online healthcare, online education; (2) consumption upgrade — e.g. the boom in film and entertainment, outbound travel, Niu electric scooters; (3) globalization — e.g. Solo, Mico, Bellabuy.

Deals: Qufenqi, Zhuba.com, Dazhangmen, Kuaikuaiyu, Dong Huoguo, and others.

Li Yinan: Partner at GSR Ventures

Bio: Li Yinan joined Huawei immediately after graduating in 1993. He was made a Huawei engineer within two days, a principal engineer within half a month, deputy general manager of the Central Research Department within half a year, and Huawei's chief engineer / president of the Central Research Department within two years — taking the vice-president's chair at Huawei at 27. In 2000, Li headed north with 10 million yuan of equipment obtained from Huawei to found Harbour Networks. As the company grew rapidly, it became a Huawei rival. In June 2006, Huawei acquired Harbour Networks and Li returned to Huawei as chief telecom scientist and vice president. On August 18, 2011, Li joined GSR Ventures as a partner, effective that day. In April 2015, Li announced his new venture — electric bicycles.

Investment style: Li has accumulated deep operating and management experience across telecom, the internet, and wireless and other high-tech fields, with strong relationships and resources, and an especially keen judgment on technological innovation and the direction of market development.

Focus areas: early-stage innovative companies in the internet, telecom, and software fields.

Deals: Yunniao Peisong, Moonbasa, Jiapin.com, Lashou, LightInTheBox, Kuaikuaiyu, Haiwan.com.

Wu Bingjian: VP at Legend Star

Bio: Wu Bingjian, investment vice president at Legend Star. He joined Legend Star in 2013, focusing on investments in mobile internet and innovative hardware. Before Legend, he worked in Baidu's strategy department on strategy and competitive research, giving him a deep read on the internet landscape; before that, he was a product manager at Baidu, with hands-on experience shipping mobile internet products.

Investment style: in his first year in the business, Wu set himself three rules: (1) focus — break through at a single point in one or two areas; (2) accumulate — talk through a large volume of projects to build a feel for them; (3) review — reflect often, and forge your own logic. He allocates his energy by a "1 + 0.5 + 0.5" formula: 1, focus on smart hardware; 0.5, focus on education; the other 0.5, opportunistic projects in other areas.

Focus areas: mobile internet and innovative hardware.

Yao Yaping: Executive Director at Highland Capital

Bio: Yao Yaping, founding partner of Boiling Point Capital (Feidian) and former executive director at Highland Capital, based in Beijing, focuses mainly on early- and growth-stage investments in Chinese internet companies — especially in the internet, mobile internet, online gaming, new media, and new consumption. Before Highland, Yao was a vice president at KTB Ventures (Kaixuan), where he led investments in companies such as 7k7k, Gupiao Leida, and Qingmangguo. Before KTB, Yao worked in Baidu's investment and M&A department, helping shape Baidu's investment and acquisition strategy and executing strategic investments and acquisitions across internet segments; in that stretch he took part in deals including Qunar (NASDAQ: QUNR), Anjuke, HYLink, and Heimi Network. Before that, Yao worked at AGC Capital, handling cross-border M&A, private financing, and strategic advisory for internet, media, and telecom companies across Asia-Pacific — during which he helped names like SK Telecom, News Corp, and Dow Jones with strategic acquisitions, and companies like Lianjia with private financing. Yao began his career at IDG's Computerworld media group, as one of the founding team members of CFO magazine and Ccw.com.cn.

Investment style: "We can stand to make just one deal a year, or even none — but once we pull the trigger, it has to be a clean hit. It's like sniping: study the terrain, the weather and wind speed, the target's habits and patterns in advance, hold your breath, and the moment the best window appears, squeeze the trigger — one shot, one kill." That's how Yao sums up Highland's sniper approach.

Focus areas: early- and growth-stage Chinese internet companies, especially internet, mobile internet, online gaming, new media, and new consumption.

Jiang Yujie: Partner at Xintian Capital

Bio: Jiang Yujie, partner at Xintian Capital, was co-founder and CTO of Motu (later acquired by Baidu and renamed Baidu Motu). In 2014 he took part in setting up Xintian Capital.

Investment style: focused on enterprise services, where he has built out a great deal — for instance Meiweibuyongdeng, Shandian Baoxiao, Fadada, Yichuang Hulian, xberts, and others, with a combined valuation reaching into the billions of yuan. He also believes "unicorns" will emerge in consumer finance, quantitative investing, agriculture, SaaS, and B2B trading platforms.

Focus areas: enterprise services, lifestyle-service O2O, and internet finance.