Zuo Zhijian: Business is something that caters to human nature

At 11:30pm on August 14th, Zuo Zhijian and I were about to go to Jinxianlu’s “Volunteer Crayfish”, which was opened by his friend and Zhang Jiajia. He started the crowdfunding twice and heard about the opening. At that time, I swept the circle of friends in Shanghai's literary and art circles.

Zuo Zhijian often came to this day and night to meet people of all kinds and talk about things that have nothing to do with the work. After spending nearly 20 years in Shanghai, although he thinks there is no difference between the city and the city, he still points to the stout French indus and the roadside shop, saying: “There is a tone here.”

Before the meeting, his friend told me that Zuo Zhijian was very good. Those who did not have a literary career started to have a thorough understanding of business. When I described this assessment, Zuo Zhijian did not respond, but smiled and continued to smoke.

In the dialogue, Zuo Zhijian seldom made long speeches. Right and wrong were judged to be direct and almost unbearable. In addition, when he spoke, his tone was extremely low. In the case of “small wine with entrepreneurship every day”, it is hard to imagine why he would feel excited or anxious.

However, when others talked about their entrepreneurial experience, saying "how could not sleep at night, stare at the dawn, distance from the medication only one finger", the left said: "I'm particularly familiar with this state."

"The first venture can be ended in this way, very good."

At the end of 2012, Zuo Zhijian, who was in his early 30s, has been a reporter for 10 years in the 21st Century Business Herald. In his own words, he said, “In the industry, I’m in a small position and my income is at the top. I can easily handle my job. , living in a miserable life, etc.".

But that year, the App boom broke out in China, and Zuo Zhijian, with limited space for self-realization of promotion, stated that “it is a normal man who wants to start a business”. As for how to choose a business direction, he now believes that “it should be in terms of personal interests and business prospects. Take an intersection between."

If this standard is adopted, the project of thumb reading cannot withstand scrutiny, and the commercial part is seriously missing. In Zuo Zhijian's view, "This is beyond his own (at that time) cognition," which also caused him to be unable to embark on the early days of entrepreneurship.

Thumb reading is a reading social product. According to Zuo Zhijian's idea, it should serve the highest-level people in China. “The idea was to accumulate high-frequency users through social connections and then lead to books and other high-margin cultural goods, similar to the Eslite Bookstore model.”

This model has not been demonstrated by the Internet so far, so when Zuo Zhijian took the initiative to find investment, he did not get a penny.

In mid-2013, thumb reading was not yet on the line. Funding bottomed out and continuous financing failures left Zuo Zhijian aware that there was no future for this product and whether it would sell the house for life.

The latitude and longitude also found a door at this time.

"This project is really responsible for the consortium. At the angel stage, they are investing people." But with the same concerns as the same issues, thumb reading has not been recognized by the majority within the latitude and longitude. In Zuo Zhijian's self-reported statement, Jing Wei and Zhang Ying also had a dialogue before they finalized the investment. He said: "I cannot do this anyway, and others cannot do it."

In the end, before the money in the latitude and longitude were burned out, the performance of thumb reading made Zuo Zhijian realize: “There is no need for reading in the topmost people in China. There is really no culture and no culture. The advanced content is still lacking in the current market. Demand, in the words of intellectuals, is that this era is not worthy of her."

Without too much psychological construction, Zuo Zhijian began to consider how to read the thumb.

In fact, from the beginning of the upline, there have been industry giants wanting to buy thumb readings. Ali, Amazon, Dangdang, and JD have contacted deep or shallow at different times. However, Zuo Zhijian and the rest of the team think: “Only Selling a project does not sell people. Even if you don't get a penny, you don't get back to the big company."

This left the candidate list with only Jingdong one, and the two parties reached an acquisition after supplementing many terms. As soon as the news came out, Zuo Zhijian sent Weibo and said, “Nothing is fortune. This money really looks down on it. It is not for the sake of making a fortune but for realizing your ambition.” Asked whether or not he had regrets, he suddenly raised his volume: "It's good to be able to sell. The first time you start your own business can be ended in this way. It's very good."

"I will do my project sooner or later"

At the end of last year, Zuo Zhijian participated in the WISE 2.0 conference as a round table chairperson. He throws up the question: "I have done ten years of content (still have not found a good business model) because I have not caught up with this wave of dividends?" East Hui: "(That's because of you) did not make the head content. So that the contents of the waist can be enough. If you do the bottom will certainly lose money."

This issue has not been started, but Zuo Zhijian disclosed that he is a leader. “There is nothing that can't be done at the conference. In fact, I have a very comprehensive answer to this matter.”

At that time, Zuo Zhijian already had two projects that could easily realize the contents.

At the beginning of this year, Zuo Zhijian, as the co-founder of the "Getting Started" public number, together with many WeChat Big Vs, went on a Lu Yu contract and was awarded the temperature-related media worthy of attention in 2016. When the host asked about the 2016 plan, what Zuo Zhijian talked about was basically unrelated to the public number:

“Because I (starting crowdfunding) is a completely commercialized organization, this month (December 2015) has estimated that the crowdfunding amount can be 15 million, and then the company will be profitable. Our target for next year should be 10 Billion."

This is Zuo Zhijian's second venture project, a crowdfunding website. The project has grown rapidly and completed four rounds of financing within one year, with a valuation of more than US$100 million. Zuo Zhijian’s expectations for it are: “I hope to achieve $1 billion in mid-2017 and one unicorn in two years.”

But on that day, Zuo Zhijian already devoted all his energy to the next project - good fortune. Because he is just "co-founder" for starting crowdfunding, and he knows from the first day of occupation, "I still want to start my own business."

After two entrepreneurial ventures, Zuo Zhijian learned two things: “Thumbnail reading tells me what I can't do, I start with crowdfunding telling me what I can do.” So on the road to content entrepreneurship, he has to choose a more Near the runway.

Nothing will be closer to financial than money.

“The difference in financial management between domestic and foreign countries is too significant. Foreign insurance and funds are very popular and popular. Then there are very few people who stock themselves. You go to see the A-share market. 80% and 90% of Chinese are retail investors. Foreign countries are In turn."

According to Zuo Zhijian, there are two main reasons for this situation. On the one hand, people's concepts are different. “As in many places in China, family property insurance is mandatory, homes are flooded, or theft occurs with insurance. Many Chinese do not understand why this thing is still insured.”

On the other hand, China’s financial products have not kept pace. “China’s insurance reputation is particularly poor. Everyone says that insurance is a pyramid scheme, that is, a fraud. This is a product issue. The Chinese have to spend a lot of money on research to buy a thing.” He does not trust."

But the future is uncertain. The opportunity to take a step is a self-evident thing for Zuo Zhijian. “How do you know where this point is without going in?” However, he remains optimistic about uncertainty: "The financial industry is not the same as other industries. There is no chance of an outbreak at this stage. You are serious and patient."

As for the infrastructure that cannot be controlled, he believes that as the demand grows and the market competition becomes more intense, everything will gradually move toward standardization.

"Still feelings, just hide it."

Media people, entrepreneurs, intellectuals, elites, literati, businessmen, Zuo Zhijian do not exclude all the labels, and people do not feel the conflict that these labels have on him.

Three years ago, when a friend saw him do a thumb reading, he wrote: “Seeing the thumb reading, (Zuo Zhijian) all the changes are natural, as a media person, a reader, what kind of Is the entrepreneurial project more suitable to him?” The same sentence is actually suitable for Zuo Zhijian today, even more suitable, and he himself will also sigh: “Toss for a long time, actually, went back to doing financial media.”

On the way back, perhaps the roar of the taxi was too loud, Zuo Zhijian in the back seat raised the volume again:

"There are still feelings, but they are hidden. This is the solution to the basic survival. Books, arts, these things will certainly have a big market in the future, but it will take 5 to 10 years. The average person is definitely Say I'm full before you wear it and look good. If you're traveling, it's natural to have a bit of money. Business is something that caters to humanity."

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