On July 3, Chang Jing, a post-80s entrepreneur who has successively succeeded in starting a business, founder of Stone Technology and Jishi Automobile, was a guest on the "Dialogue" column of CCTV Finance and shared his experience and lessons in his continuous entrepreneurial journey.
After working in a large factory for five years, Chang Jing founded Motu Genie based on his insights into the field of smartphone image recognition, and was successfully acquired by Baidu for US$12 million. After that, he foresaw the prospects of smart home appliances and founded Stone Technology, becoming a global leader in the clean home appliance industry. Chang Jing's third venture was Jishi Automobile. He emphasized that the core of entrepreneurship is to find the right direction and create value, and shared three entrepreneurial suggestions: guard against arrogance and impetuosity, maintain enthusiasm, and improve cognition. He believes that although entrepreneurs in the new era face more challenges, they still have the opportunity to start from scratch through fanatical ideals and rational judgment. Chang Jing also shared strategies for financing and encouragement of innovative spirit, emphasizing that entrepreneurship is not only a commercial pursuit, but also a process of continuous exploration and value creation.
Jin Qiang (CCTV host): In the eyes of others, your first two entrepreneurial ventures, especially Stone Technology, were very successful. What made you decide to build a car?
Chang Jing: I am actually a very enthusiastic car enthusiast. I like to travel everywhere, and I like to take my family on self-driving trips. However, I found that there is currently no particularly good car that can support me to travel all over China. Play. I am also a product manager myself, and I am actually quite interested in creating new products. I think the car of my dreams is still difficult to find on the market.
may be a belief originating from the heart, life is endless, and the tossing is endless. In fact, how sure am I that I can succeed in this thing? I can't find a probability, but I will definitely keep moving forward. I think this process is the most interesting, turning the impossible into something possible. Maybe, keep thinking of ways and solving problems.
Jin Qiang: You have started a business three times in a row, and at the same time you can still maintain a strong entrepreneurial enthusiasm. You must have the mentality of a mature business manager, and at the same time continue to do entrepreneurial work. Do you think these two mentality are contradictory?
Changjing: I feel that my mentality has not changed much over the years. I have always asked myself to always be one day. Many people think that after you succeed in starting a business, your life will undergo some changes, such as having a driver to pick you up and staying in a better hotel. I don’t have a driver now, so when I go on business trips, I stay in express hotels like everyone else. So my current situation is actually almost unchanged from when I first started my business.
My investor also gave me such feedback. He felt that he had seen many entrepreneurs, and they might change more or less after success, but he felt that over the years, including listing, including the stock price, When it was very high, including when the stock price fell back later, I didn't seem to see much change.
Jin Qiang: After many entrepreneurs achieve great success, their mentality will be a little "drifting". Have you ever had such an experience? How do you maintain an entrepreneurial mindset?
Changjing: In 2013, I drifted once. The app I made at that time became a hit. It must have been recognized by many people for the first time in a secular sense. It became the center of attention and even held a big press conference for me.
But then someone next to me reminded me that I felt that I was different from before, and I became less polite and arrogant when talking to others. In fact, I couldn't feel it at the time. Later, I also found that I was drifting, and slowly began to make adjustments to calm my mind. After that experience, I feel that when I encounter some big achievements later on, I will feel calmer.
I think this is the case. It's normal to drift, because drifting is human nature. When a person succeeds for the first time, it's abnormal for him not to drift. But after drifting, it will affect two things. One is that it will affect the crisis awareness, and you may not be so sensitive to risks. The second is that it will affect empathy and you will not have so much respect for people. I actually reflect on
because there is feedback. In fact, what I am most afraid of is that there is no feedback.I now meditate basically every day. In addition to calming myself down, I am also introspecting and scanning my entire behavior to see if there is anything inappropriate? I think introspection is important.
Jin Qiang: From the beginning as a worker in a large factory, to a struggling entrepreneur, and now as a corporate manager, what do you think is the biggest difference between these three identities?
Changjing: I feel that there is no obvious change in myself among these three roles. When I was working in a large factory, I also positioned myself as an entrepreneur. I approached things with this entrepreneurial mentality. I didn’t say how many levels I had to reach in the workplace, so at that time I was focused on finding solutions. Do what I'm doing well.
Jin Qiang: I heard a saying that some people say that you are the "most leisurely" entrepreneur. What do you think of this statement?
Changjing: I think this caused me a lot of trouble at the time. A reporter once said that I am the easiest entrepreneur to start a business. This is definitely a lie. At that time, we had an investor. Every time he asked me to go to dinner, (out of respect) I went to eat immediately. He came to the conclusion that I was a very idle entrepreneur. You said the investor asked me to go to dinner. You can't not go, right?
Jin Qiang: Some people say that starting a business depends on talent. Do you agree with this view? What do you think is the most important thing about starting a business?
Changjing: I partially agree. I think there are two stages to entrepreneurship, one is from 0 to 1, and the other is from 1 to n. If we just go from 0 to 1, I think almost everyone can start a business. But if you want to go from 1 to n, the talent requirements may be higher at this time. Especially from 1 to n, its difficulty will increase exponentially.
I feel that I am actually not that talented when it comes to starting a business. The key is to find the right direction. For example, when I first started my business, I was definitely thinking about how to make money. At that time, my family was not particularly wealthy. I must have had a strong driving force. I wanted to make my family’s life better. , but you can’t just think about making money, because if you just want to make money, you may put the cart before the horse.
In addition to thinking about creating wealth, I should be thinking about how to create value. There must be some problems that have not been properly solved. After discovering the problem, can I find a solution to solve the problem?
For example, when I started my own business for the first time, I thought that in the era of mobile Internet, there must be a demand for picture editing, including beautifying faces when taking photos, so the product we made at that time was to help make photos beautiful. . When I started my second business in 2014, I was thinking about how to help my family solve the problem of sweeping the floor, because sweeping the floor is a problem that every household basically encounters, and now the solution seems not that complete. , which is equivalent to me creating a kind of value and creating a solution to make the entire sweeping more efficient, cleaner and more comprehensive, and to find the pain points of the market.
Jin Qiang: When you started your business more than ten years ago, you started from scratch. Do you think it would be more difficult to start from scratch at that time? Is it still possible to start from scratch like you now?
Chang Jing: It is definitely very difficult, mainly because of the big environment. Around 2000 and 2010, there were big waves of the Internet and mobile Internet respectively. The entire environment was actually driven by such big industry trends. To start a business at that time, you only needed to solve some problems in a specific track. , may become a relatively large company.
But in the AI era, I think it will be more difficult to start a startup company from scratch without the huge waves like the mobile Internet era in the past. The power of the times is very important, because the wave of the times will push our entrepreneurship forward. If there is no such wave, it will be very, very difficult for us to create a wave. It’s not that it’s impossible, but compared to before, I think the probability of it may be lower. Although there are still some waves, they are not like the huge waves in the past.
Jin Qiang: Many entrepreneurs dream of creating an era. What do you think of this problem?
Chang Jing: The vast majority of companies are companies called the Times. Only extremely rare companies create the Times, but the vast majority of companies are followers of the Times, so I think it is not shameful to be a follower of the Times.
I think entrepreneurial rationality is very important. In addition to this kind of fanaticism, in fact, it also requires the interweaving of fanaticism and rationality. It may be different at different stages. For example, in the early days, fanaticism must be dominant. If you are particularly rational, it may be difficult. Take this step. In the process of starting a business, you may slowly adjust your state. After you have started a business for many years, you may not be so enthusiastic anymore and only be rational. At this time, you need to find ways to adjust and make yourself more enthusiastic. . But ahead, you need to pour more cold water on yourself to make yourself less fanatical and more rational.
Jin Qiang: As a serial entrepreneur, what advice do you have for entrepreneurs who don’t have resources? Do you have any tips for finding investors?
Chang Jing: The difficulty of finding investment is different at different stages. For example, now I may have a halo when looking for investors. I have some successful entrepreneurial experiences in the past, so investors will not have too much doubt about my personal ability. So in the past, when people didn't know me very well, it was actually more difficult. If
wants to give you some advice, I think we need to answer three questions clearly. First, what is the problem you want to solve at the moment? Second, how do you solve this problem? Third, why you? If you answer these three questions clearly, getting investment will be a matter of course.
Jin Qiang: You said that the biggest KPI for a startup is to survive. Is this assessment standard a bit low? What do you think of KPI assessment?
Changjing: In fact, being able to survive a business is a very, very high standard. For example, Stone Technology, in fact, we have always had no KPI for senior executives. Our only KPI for senior executives is to seek truth from facts and whether they have made the most correct decision at the moment. People outside will think that we are more Buddhist. In fact, I don’t want the company to become short-sighted because of KPI. Sometimes it is easy to do some short-sighted and short-term things for KPI and lose long-term growth. I am more concerned about it. of these.
For example, Stone Technology, in fact, we have abolished business lines several times. Probably in 2022, we spent a lot of money to build a very critical product, and it was done by the core team. However, in the end, due to some factors that were not taken into consideration, this product could not be mass-produced. It was a huge blow and very painful. But because that project was a relatively innovative project, we also made a spare tire, which is equivalent to having another backup version. However, for colleagues working on this project, it will still be more painful because they may have spent two years on it. Time, in the end, yielded no results. But are you saying it's their fault? It's not their fault, I think it's my fault, because I didn't think clearly at the time, and maybe I was too optimistic about this product. In the end, I gave a bonus to the entire team.
Don’t judge heroes by success or failure, because if you judge heroes by success or failure, no one will be willing to innovate, because innovation has a high probability of failure. I think others may not be willing to scrap a dozen projects like us, because scrapping a dozen projects is really painful.
Jin Qiang: I think your overall state is actually very relaxed. How do you maintain this sense of relaxation?
Changjing: I am very relaxed on the outside, but very nervous on the inside. In addition to handling some daily affairs of the company, I also have to go to business school and study brain science, because these will help me improve my cognition. Only after I improve my cognition can I be better able to work. Make judgments.
Because for an enterprise, the biggest cost is the cost of decision-making. If a judgment is made wrong, the impact will be very large. For example, if a person's judgment accuracy is 80%, and another person's judgment accuracy is 70%, his final results are completely different.
Jin Qiang: I heard someone say that the end of working is starting a business. What do you think is the end of starting a business?
Changjing: The end of entrepreneurship. I feel that entrepreneurship is a road of no return and has no end. Because for entrepreneurs, I believe that once you start a business, you may not be able to stop. I feel that I am still on the road, so I still need to keep fighting and working hard. I think entrepreneurship is actually a means, and its essence is to make every day exciting, because what I want is to make my life more exciting.
Jin Qiang: From the beginning as a worker in a large factory, to a struggling entrepreneur, and now as a corporate manager, what do you think is the biggest difference between these three identities?
Changjing: I feel that there is no obvious change in myself among these three roles. When I was working in a large factory, I also positioned myself as an entrepreneur. I approached things with this entrepreneurial mentality. I didn’t say how many levels I had to reach in the workplace, so at that time I was focused on finding solutions. Do what I'm doing well.
Jin Qiang: I heard a saying that some people say that you are the "most leisurely" entrepreneur. What do you think of this statement?
Changjing: I think this caused me a lot of trouble at the time. A reporter once said that I am the easiest entrepreneur to start a business. This is definitely a lie. At that time, we had an investor. Every time he asked me to go to dinner, (out of respect) I went to eat immediately. He came to the conclusion that I was a very idle entrepreneur. You said the investor asked me to go to dinner. You can't not go, right?
Jin Qiang: Some people say that starting a business depends on talent. Do you agree with this view? What do you think is the most important thing about starting a business?
Changjing: I partially agree. I think there are two stages to entrepreneurship, one is from 0 to 1, and the other is from 1 to n. If we just go from 0 to 1, I think almost everyone can start a business. But if you want to go from 1 to n, the talent requirements may be higher at this time. Especially from 1 to n, its difficulty will increase exponentially.
I feel that I am actually not that talented when it comes to starting a business. The key is to find the right direction. For example, when I first started my business, I was definitely thinking about how to make money. At that time, my family was not particularly wealthy. I must have had a strong driving force. I wanted to make my family’s life better. , but you can’t just think about making money, because if you just want to make money, you may put the cart before the horse.
In addition to thinking about creating wealth, I should be thinking about how to create value. There must be some problems that have not been properly solved. After discovering the problem, can I find a solution to solve the problem?
For example, when I started my own business for the first time, I thought that in the era of mobile Internet, there must be a demand for picture editing, including beautifying faces when taking photos, so the product we made at that time was to help make photos beautiful. . When I started my second business in 2014, I was thinking about how to help my family solve the problem of sweeping the floor, because sweeping the floor is a problem that every household basically encounters, and now the solution seems not that complete. , which is equivalent to me creating a kind of value and creating a solution to make the entire sweeping more efficient, cleaner and more comprehensive, and to find the pain points of the market.
Jin Qiang: When you started your business more than ten years ago, you started from scratch. Do you think it would be more difficult to start from scratch at that time? Is it still possible to start from scratch like you now?
Chang Jing: It is definitely very difficult, mainly because of the big environment. Around 2000 and 2010, there were big waves of the Internet and mobile Internet respectively. The entire environment was actually driven by such big industry trends. To start a business at that time, you only needed to solve some problems in a specific track. , may become a relatively large company.
But in the AI era, I think it will be more difficult to start a startup company from scratch without the huge waves like the mobile Internet era in the past. The power of the times is very important, because the wave of the times will push our entrepreneurship forward. If there is no such wave, it will be very, very difficult for us to create a wave. It’s not that it’s impossible, but compared to before, I think the probability of it may be lower. Although there are still some waves, they are not like the huge waves in the past.
Jin Qiang: Many entrepreneurs dream of creating an era. What do you think of this problem?
Chang Jing: The vast majority of companies are companies called the Times. Only extremely rare companies create the Times, but the vast majority of companies are followers of the Times, so I think it is not shameful to be a follower of the Times.
I think entrepreneurial rationality is very important. In addition to this kind of fanaticism, in fact, it also requires the interweaving of fanaticism and rationality. It may be different at different stages. For example, in the early days, fanaticism must be dominant. If you are particularly rational, it may be difficult. Take this step. In the process of starting a business, you may slowly adjust your state. After you have started a business for many years, you may not be so enthusiastic anymore and only be rational. At this time, you need to find ways to adjust and make yourself more enthusiastic. . But ahead, you need to pour more cold water on yourself to make yourself less fanatical and more rational.
Jin Qiang: As a serial entrepreneur, what advice do you have for entrepreneurs who don’t have resources? Do you have any tips for finding investors?
Chang Jing: The difficulty of finding investment is different at different stages. For example, now I may have a halo when looking for investors. I have some successful entrepreneurial experiences in the past, so investors will not have too much doubt about my personal ability. So in the past, when people didn't know me very well, it was actually more difficult. If
wants to give you some advice, I think we need to answer three questions clearly. First, what is the problem you want to solve at the moment? Second, how do you solve this problem? Third, why you? If you answer these three questions clearly, getting investment will be a matter of course.
Jin Qiang: You said that the biggest KPI for a startup is to survive. Is this assessment standard a bit low? What do you think of KPI assessment?
Changjing: In fact, being able to survive a business is a very, very high standard. For example, Stone Technology, in fact, we have always had no KPI for senior executives. Our only KPI for senior executives is to seek truth from facts and whether they have made the most correct decision at the moment. People outside will think that we are more Buddhist. In fact, I don’t want the company to become short-sighted because of KPI. Sometimes it is easy to do some short-sighted and short-term things for KPI and lose long-term growth. I am more concerned about it. of these.
For example, Stone Technology, in fact, we have abolished business lines several times. Probably in 2022, we spent a lot of money to build a very critical product, and it was done by the core team. However, in the end, due to some factors that were not taken into consideration, this product could not be mass-produced. It was a huge blow and very painful. But because that project was a relatively innovative project, we also made a spare tire, which is equivalent to having another backup version. However, for colleagues working on this project, it will still be more painful because they may have spent two years on it. Time, in the end, yielded no results. But are you saying it's their fault? It's not their fault, I think it's my fault, because I didn't think clearly at the time, and maybe I was too optimistic about this product. In the end, I gave a bonus to the entire team.
Don’t judge heroes by success or failure, because if you judge heroes by success or failure, no one will be willing to innovate, because innovation has a high probability of failure. I think others may not be willing to scrap a dozen projects like us, because scrapping a dozen projects is really painful.
Jin Qiang: I think your overall state is actually very relaxed. How do you maintain this sense of relaxation?
Changjing: I am very relaxed on the outside, but very nervous on the inside. In addition to handling some daily affairs of the company, I also have to go to business school and study brain science, because these will help me improve my cognition. Only after I improve my cognition can I be better able to work. Make judgments.
Because for an enterprise, the biggest cost is the cost of decision-making. If a judgment is made wrong, the impact will be very large. For example, if a person's judgment accuracy is 80%, and another person's judgment accuracy is 70%, his final results are completely different.
Jin Qiang: I heard someone say that the end of working is starting a business. What do you think is the end of starting a business?
Changjing: The end of entrepreneurship. I feel that entrepreneurship is a road of no return and has no end. Because for entrepreneurs, I believe that once you start a business, you may not be able to stop. I feel that I am still on the road, so I still need to keep fighting and working hard. I think entrepreneurship is actually a means, and its essence is to make every day exciting, because what I want is to make my life more exciting.
