Text / Huang Zhuxi

As you can see, this generation of entrepreneurs are undergoing a large-scale migration: from the aftermath of the Internet and mobile Internet to a harder core technology track; Transition from “model innovation” to “bottom innovation”.

We believe that a number of new entrepreneurs are emerging and have emerged in China. Last November, 36 krypton launched the “x · 36under36” solicitation plan. Based on this premise, we aim to explore possible great entrepreneurs earlier and on a larger scale.

Since the launch of the solicitation plan, we have received more than 450 applications from entrepreneurs, covering 20 + segments such as artificial intelligence / robot, new consumer brands, medical health and so on. Our registration is still in progress. Click the registration link. Thank every entrepreneur for their trust in 36 krypton.

In order to consolidate and enrich our understanding of entrepreneurs, in this “large-scale social experiment”, we will invite more people to share their understanding of entrepreneurship and even China’s business ecology. They may be professors from well-known universities, entrepreneurs who have become famous abroad, or investors who have read thousands of mountains.

In the second interview, we invited Mr. Zheng Qingsheng, partner of Sequoia China, to talk about “what waves are superimposed behind the track migration?” “At the fork of time, how will Sequoia China, which has successfully crossed many fog cycles, update its map of looking for great entrepreneurs” and “what is the current investment methodology?” And other questions, he answered them one by one.

Zheng Qingsheng, partner of Sequoia China

Zheng Qingsheng is currently one of the partners of Sequoia China seed fund. This early-stage fund, which was “listed separately” by Sequoia China in June 2018, has continuously managed two phases of funds by June 2021, with a total management scale of 5 billion yuan. In three and a half years, Sequoia seed has invested in more than 200 projects, of which the proportion of entering as the first institutional investor is as high as 70%, and more than 70% of the invested enterprises have successfully obtained the next round of financing.

In terms of investment scope, Sequoia China seed fund comes down in one continuous line with the main fund, focusing on the fields of science and technology, consumption and medical health, but paying particular attention to some cutting-edge layout: chip / semiconductor, AI pharmaceutical / synthetic biology, new energy / dual carbon, ev industrial chain, innovative medical technology, basic software, general and platform SaaS, network security, robot, etc.

The following is the oral statement of Zheng Qingsheng, edited by 36 krypton:

Two waves and three innovative forces -- the change of Founder’s portrait

Reviewing the development history of science and technology in the United States and Japan in the past 1960s and 1970s, especially their post-war industrial development history, the rise of Silicon Valley / industrial migration and other processes, it is of great significance to benchmark China’s innovative development.

From the perspective of large cycle, the previous cycle from science and technology accumulation to technology explosion in China is the wave of Internet innovation, which appeared from the late 1990s to around 2010 - this is also the starting stage of the first wave of VC in China. Sequoia China was founded in 2005. At present, we have entered another 30-year cycle in the future, just at the beginning of the next explosion of scientific and technological accumulation. It can be clearly seen that this generation of entrepreneurs are migrating to the “hard technology section” in the field of innovation as a whole.

I think there is the superposition effect of two waves——

First, from a global perspective, the information technology revolution has undergone 40 years of evolution and development from the 1970s to 2010, especially from the outbreak of PC Internet around 2000 and the outbreak of mobile Internet around 2010 to now, and finally completed the commercial revolution of mobile Internet. It is clear that we have entered the stage of science and technology accumulation of the next commercial revolution, and the speed of science and technology accumulation will be accelerated and the outbreak time will be shortened - maybe not 40 years, but 15 or 20 years.

Second, there is a fairly obvious trend of domestic substitution limited to China. In fact, there were similar technology substitutes in the last wave of innovation, but the main substitutes occurred in Japan and the four Asian Dragons - they constantly replaced European and American technologies and completed changes in production, manufacturing and industrial design. TSMC is a typical example of its rise in this wave. At present, China is going through this process, from “not original” to “original”. This alternative process is just superimposed with the wave of worldwide innovation in the first point.

Of course, on the basis of the merger of these two waves, there is the rise of China’s local consumption. The blending of these three innovative forces has led to considerable changes in the current founder’s portrait, making the “original” force in the field of science and technology and brand occupy a dominant position. In this case, the correlation between founders and entrepreneurship will become higher and higher. For example, they will have higher education, relevant work experience and so on, and their industrial experience will become richer and richer.

Nowadays, the content of “hard technology” among entrepreneurs has increased significantly, and the concentration of “bottom innovation” is increasing, but “model innovation” is still developing. History is rising in cycles. In the next stage, when a new generation of computing platform and a new generation of human-computer interaction mode appear, a new generation of mode innovation will emerge, which is consistent with the previous laws of mobile Internet and PC Internet.

The “intuitive insight” characteristics of investment are reduced and tend to systematic research and industrial combing

With the phased reduction of model innovation, the characteristics of investment in “intuitive insight” into people and things will be reduced, the degree of brain opening and story telling will not be so great, and the investment will become more industry-oriented.

In the past 10-20 years, when the business models represented by the US, mass comment, tiktok and so on have just appeared, it is difficult for us to find the enterprises that are fully benchmarked in the international market. It is also hard to imagine that their “model innovation” will eventually develop into the present situation, but at last these companies have become great business and social innovations. Now, investment in alternative technologies, chips / semiconductors, AI / robots, etc. can be benchmarked with foreign countries through the company’s own research results, and can be combed up and down the value chain. The industrial relevance in the middle is very high.

If the conditions for successful entrepreneurship are roughly divided into two categories: one