Gan Jianping, the managing partner of Qiming Venture Capital, was on the list again this year, ranking 30th. Gan Jianping has invested in Meitu's series A starting point in 2013.

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Qiming Venture Capital's managing partner Gan Jianping is on the list again this year, ranking 30th. Meitu's successful withdrawal is an important reason for Gan Jianping's rise in ranking this time. Gan Jianping has invested in its B and C rounds since Meitu's A round in 2013. In December 2016, Meitu successfully landed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

This time is Gan Jianping's second time on The Midas List, the first time in 2016. Dianping and Meituan merged to form New Meida at the end of 2015. With the successful exit of Dianping investment, Gan Jianping ranked 38th at the time.

In addition to Meitu and Dianping, Gan Jianping also has a string of unicorns in his hand, including Zhihu, Mogujie (now Meili United), Mobike, Tujia, APUS, VIPABC. There are also those who are still in the growth stage, including Bilibili, Mafengwo, Yihi Car Rental, Century Jiayuan, Tuhu, Beaver Home, Taomi.com, Wacai, etc., as well as PPS acquired by iQiyi.

In fact, the investment project that initially made Gan Jianping famous in the investment circle was Ctrip . At that time, he was still in Carlyle and invested in Ctrip's third round and became famous in one battle.

If you browse Gan Jianping’s investment portfolio, you will find that these projects cover multiple consumption scenarios. It seems difficult to summarize the investment areas he focuses on, and it is also difficult to find his investment clues from this.

, and Gan Jianping himself has a classic summary of his portfolio, iLovs, "image image, location, voice sound, sensor sensing". In an interview with Gan Jianping, he said that the reason for focusing on iLovs is that they are important technologies that migrate and convert traffic from PC to smartphone mobile Internet. The application of these technologies has various possibilities for monetization. He believes that VC investment is not easy to accurately predict how the project will develop in the future at the beginning, but you can invest in these possible opportunities, which represent the space for growth.

Below is our recent interview conversation with him.

investment in iLovs is to grasp the technology of converting PC to mobile Internet

Q: You use iLovs to summarize the investment areas you are concerned about, such as images, sounds, locations, and sensors. Can these be summarized as information transmission technology? Why are these items? What you did right is to foresee that the application of these information technology will bring efficiency improvements to the industry, and have you seized these opportunities?

A: From 2009 to 2010, with the launch of smartphones, we summarized iLovs. These special things are that they are several key functions or technologies that are different from smartphones and PCs.

i is an image picture, and there are pictures on the PC, but you can't take a picture with your PC, especially when the second generation of Apple phones appeared, high-pixel and high-quality lenses appeared, which we felt very clear that Apple phones and smartphones will replace all point-and-shoot machines.

At that time, we thought that pictures or videos would definitely increase explosively in the future, so later we had Snapchat, Instagram, and beautiful pictures in China. Mogujie also started with the image sharing community as the starting point.

The second is Location geographical location. PC does not need to be positioned, but mobile phones can. Dianping was originally a restaurant review website on PC. When they moved to the mobile terminal, we rushed to vote. We spent a lot of time talking with them about how to transform from PC to mobile Internet. Of course, there is Mobike, which is also because of the lock with GPS function.

The third one is voice sound. WeChat has one step better than previous text messages, which is that it can use sound. It is more convenient to communicate with each other than words. We also have companies related to sound like logical thinking.

The last s is the sensor sensor. The phone will automatically adjust the screen when it turns around, and various bracelets are connected to the sensor. There will be more in the future, such as connecting smart hardware to your mobile phone to measure your blood pressure and heartbeat. Maybe you don’t need to go to the hospital for a check-up if you have diabetes, you may just take a few drops of blood.

Q: Your idea is very similar to the current strategy of Snap. When Snap was recently launched, it positioned itself as a camera company, believing that computers transmit information through typing, while on mobile, shooting is the starting point of information input. Therefore, its future development strategy is betting on investing various technologies to improve the shooting experience, rather than making social tools as the outside world thinks. But can we survive simply by relying on technological improvement?

A: As long as there is traffic, there is always a possibility of monetization.

I think as long as Snap can catch the attention of young people, its future advertising revenue will be very good, and advertising is currently its biggest source of income. It is still working on hardware and has great opportunities. In the future, you can also do pan-entertainment aspects such as games, movies, and TV, as well as e-commerce, which are all very imaginative. Entertainment is a big market worth trillions.

Now more and more American TV companies are worried that they will not be able to find young people. Young people do not watch TV and spend a lot of time on their mobile phones, and Snap can reach young people.

So the day Snap was listed, Meitu's stock also rose, and Meitu also had a similar idea.

Q: What are the differences between Meitu and Snap, and what will it be like in the future?

A: Meitu is the first company to say that it is a camera. Meitu mobile phone mainly features camera functions and is a selfie artifact designed specifically for selfies.

hardware itself can allow Meitu to obtain good income and profits. What's more, in advertising, Meitu's mobile phones are all young female urban users, who are keen on buying and buying, and the advertising value is very high.

images will be the most important function of smartphones. If you have an application related to images, it will bring a lot of users and traffic.

is not the end of the mobile Internet era, but the end of the rapid growth of users

Q: iLovs is an opportunity based on the migration of mobile Internet traffic, but venture capital circle Many people believe that the dividends of the mobile Internet era have ended. Entrepreneurs in the Internet era start businesses again, and it seems that they can’t find so many opportunities. What do you think? If the era of mobile Internet-driven driving is over, then where does the new driving force come from?

A: I think it may not be correct for everyone to say that the mobile Internet era is over. To be precise, it should be the end of the rapid growth of mobile Internet users.

Now, the shipments of smartphones, both in China and the world, are beginning to slow down, or decline. What is still growing is in some third world countries, such as Indonesia , India. There are basically all smartphones, and more and more people are already using the second, third, or even the fifth and sixth ones. This bonus is gone.

However, I think there will be many opportunities in the mobile Internet, which can be seen from several aspects.

First, people spend more time on their mobile phones, and second, they spend more money on their mobile phones, including games, live broadcast rewards, order takeaways, music video reading, etc. paid subscriptions. We invested in a company called Linqu, which is a specialty to help people line up and run errands.

Third, the market we Chinese entrepreneurs may face is wider. We used to be in China, but now many entrepreneurs go overseas and bring their products overseas. For example, we invested in APUS, a company that develops Android mobile desktop applications. It is now doing very well in India and Southeast Asia, and there are also Musical.ly, beautiful pictures.

and smartphone connection offline traffic is also related to the mobile Internet. For example, Mobike is closely connected to mobile phones because it finds bicycles through GPS. It is a smart bicycle. Other bicycles are not smart, without any high-tech content or innovation.

Q: Since the dividends of user growth have stopped, is the current traffic pattern of the mobile Internet determined? In the Chinese market, WeChat, QQ, Taobao , and Alipay have become big players in the mobile Internet era.If new players come in, it will become increasingly difficult for them to obtain user traffic and the cost is getting higher and higher. Will they rely on giants in the end?

A: produced BAT in the previous PC era. In the process of traffic migration in the mobile Internet era, WeChat is undoubtedly the biggest winner. In terms of traffic, it is definitely the overlord, regardless of the number of users or duration. There are also many companies that squeeze into the traffic pattern of the mobile Internet and occupy a position, such as the new Meida, Didi Kuaidi, which merged by Dianping and Meituan. The pattern has basically been formed, but someone will always squeeze out a little share in the gap through the new model. How to cast

to a unicorn?

Q: But even if you grasp the big opportunity points, there are still many uncertainties. For each specific project, how do you observe its potential?

A: is a very simple truth, but I don’t think everyone thinks so. I often hear people talk about many other things, but the most important thing is to survive in a competitive environment, you must first make your product well. For a good product, users will love this product, so that they can have traffic and live.

The essence of things may be just one thing or two, but there may be many people paying too much attention to some noise later.

Q: Everyone will be curious about why you can invest in so many unicorns. It is unlikely that it is just luck. When you look at the project, will you consider its potential to grow into a unicorn? What are the characteristics of a unicorn project?

A: In our early stages of investment, we are most concerned about the products and its existing user base. Is the product good? What problems have you solved for your users and what pain points? Is it a better way for their lives? This is the most critical.

When we go in, we will find that there are a small wave of users who especially like this thing, and then they are seed users. We will interview and analyze why they like this product, and speculate whether these users will spread their word-of-mouth. This is the thing we are most concerned about.

Q: Many investors prefer monopoly, platform-oriented, and large-scale projects, and they spend money to subsidize and quickly increase the scale. This seems to be one of the characteristics of many unicorn projects. It may not simply solve user needs, but it seems that after expanding the scale, many problems can be solved.

A: I think the first question is whether your product is good or not. Next, I will focus on the future business model, that is, where are you in this food chain? Third, how to expand the scale is actually an execution matter. Some products are not good and very garbage. Over a period of time, you may use various means to make good traffic, revenue and profits, but it is impossible in the long run.

Q: How good is the product to be able to grow into a unicorn?

A: I think if a product in China can attract tens of millions of users and millions of daily active users, in the current market environment, its valuation can reach the valuation level of a unicorn of US$1 billion.

When we invest, a company may be relatively small, with only hundreds of thousands of users. Our VC investment is to help them grow from hundreds of thousands of users to millions or tens of millions of users through investment. When we invest in a project, we will estimate its market space and the possible user scale.

If the market space of a project is too limited, even if the profit model is good, we may not invest. The capital market is more suitable for operating something that is easy to scale.

Zhihu has reached its current scale, which is really an unexpected surprise.

Q: I found that you have participated in the four rounds of A, B, C, and D in Zhihu. Starting from the A round, are you investing in every round? The projects you invest in seem to have a characteristic, that is, they invest in every round? So are beautiful pictures.

A: Almost yes, so is Mogujie.There are several reasons. First, if we have been working with this company for a while, when I invest in the first round, I will become a director and a shareholder, and I will have a lot of contact, communication and understanding with the management of this company.

When he is in the second round, the valuation of the second round is usually higher than that of the first round, which means that he has made progress. We all see his progress process, and we will trust him more and add additional funds for this. Instead of investing in some new projects, I might as well bet on a group of people who already know and trust very much, and then know their abilities. In the capital market, things that are certain are always better than those that are uncertain.

Q: So you have participated in the entire growth trajectory of Zhihu. What did you think of when I invested in Zhihu at that time? Is Zhihu's development now beyond your previous thoughts? What kind of imagination do you think Zhihu has?

A: To be honest, it is really unexpected that Zhihu has reached its current scale, and it is really a surprise.

At that time, I felt that I was more optimistic about this platform for learning knowledge. At least I thought I was an intellectual and read a lot of books, so I was very optimistic about this platform that could share knowledge. I also think that at least a portion of young people may have a need for this kind of knowledge.

and this kind of Q&A platform, we think it is a very novel and innovative way to obtain knowledge and share knowledge.

Then this team is all journalists. One of their co-founders is Zhang Liang, who was the deputy editor-in-chief of Global Entrepreneur magazine back then. They made a list called "Business Elites Under 40" that year, which was also introduced from Forbes Global. I was 34 years old and was 35 years old and was the first time I was on this list. I had a lot of communication with him during the whole process. I think this team is still very good, including Jixin, including Zhouyuan . I think it makes sense for the reporter to do this. The reporter is very good at Q&A.

In addition, I have always been optimistic about the community, that is, the community on the Internet is one, and if it is done well, it will easily be spread by word of mouth. When you have a lot of word of mouth spread, it is easy to scale it, and the investment and cost of this scale are relatively low. You see, the most powerful companies are community-based, whether it is Facebook or Snapchat.

But the biggest question at that time was how big the community was? Do Chinese people love to learn knowledge? Our internal discussion at that time felt that it might seem like a niche group. But no matter what, even a niche group in China will definitely have tens of millions of people.

thinks its product is good, its atmosphere is also good, and it is easy to form word-of-mouth spread, so we all invested. The valuation at that time was indeed quite low and quite cheap. I really didn't expect it to be able to achieve the scale of hundreds of millions of users now, and the daily activity reaching tens of millions of dollars is indeed beyond imagination.

, and its content production efficiency is very high. For example, after the United Airlines incident that day, someone from Zhihu immediately published an article. This person is really amazing. He took out every detail of the US aviation regulations and said that according to this regulation, it is like this.

Q: All Internet projects may need to solve some problems to improve efficiency, so where is the most efficient place for Zhihu?

A: There is a saying that wisdom is among the people, which means that many wise and knowledgeable people in the people, or those who are particularly familiar with a certain industry and something, have used the abilities of some non-professional experts, and provide them with a platform to share with everyone.

It turns out that the right to speak is in the hands of elites or some celebrities in society, and Zhihu democratizes knowledge.

The activity of Zhihu also shows that our young people in China are also passionate about games, online dramas, and live broadcasts. Anything valuable will be released. Zhihu also provides a gathering place for those users who love learning.

Q: I saw that you have a Zhihu account, but you are not very business-oriented. I answered some questions very short. If you don’t manage it, you will be a Zhihu big V?

A: is too busy. Actually, I used to do diving on Zhihu, but because of Zhihu's D round, I verified my real name.

I used to ask a question when I was diving, saying that Teacher Kaifu attended meetings every day, wrote books every day, and still had time to do projects? Then I wanted them to delete it, but later they refused to delete it.

Gan Jianping has an official account on Zhihu, but his answers are not many, and most of them are simple. The longest answer is an answer when Zhihu received its D round of financing.

I have always been optimistic about the direction of the Internet community. Community is the Internet product that best reflects the network effect.

A good community, once the atmosphere is formed, it is a self-reinforcement system and a virtuous cycle. When the content screening mechanism is reasonable, the more people participate in the discussion, the higher the possibility of high-quality content being generated. The better content will attract more participants, and the more participants themselves will also give the producers of high-quality content the most incentives.

A good community will inevitably bring good income in the long run. Whether it is advertising, games, or value-added services, maybe everyone will pay for content?

is more optimistic about projects for young people in the future

Q: What projects have been invested in recently?

A:Musical.ly, I think you already know.

We also voted for a social platform called "rightmost", a young man, a post-95 social platform. There are pictures and UGC content, which is a bit like an Weibo that is specifically targeted at young people, or a Weibo plus Toutiao .

It is UGC, there are many posts, many barrages, and many god comments. God comments may become a content that is spread again.

Maybe people of our age can no longer understand it, but we must try to understand them. We have to learn from them because they may lead the future of the Internet industry.

We cast a call called Luo Tianyi . Don’t you know Luo Tianyi? You are really not a post-90s.

Luo Tianyi is the most popular virtual two-dimensional singer on Bilibili. She is a Vsinger and a virtual image, singing and dancing. For example, Hatsune is from Japan, and Luo Tianyi is our China virtual idol. We are investing in an IP team.

We also voted for an apartment called Anxin. A very traditional industry, it provides dormitories for employees in the catering industry or hotel industry, and provides a standardized and well-managed living environment.

Urbanization is a trend, and cities are becoming increasingly strict in managing group rentals. Many companies are willing to outsource accommodation solutions, and some existing property space needs to be renovated. Business models are easy to be standardized and scaled. What is the experience of entering The Midas List by

?

Q: has been on The Midas List for the second time. What should I say?

A: I have made various lists, including those who invested in, Qingke, Forbes China, including the Global Entrepreneurs I just mentioned, Yicai Weekly, etc. I didn't pay much attention to Forbes' global VC list before. For various reasons, I decided to participate in this list for the first time last year. At that time, I was not sure whether I could be shortlisted, because after all, you are competing with other top VCs in the world, including Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, Israel, and India. I wasn't too sure about their return performance and how many success stories they had before.

I think this is a recognition of my personal achievements in investment in China, and it is also a recognition of our entire Chinese VC industry. More and more Chinese VCs are entering this list.

Now the venture capital industry in the world is actually two major centers, one is Silicon Valley in the United States and the other is China. Other places have much less funds and investment projects, whether it is Israel, India, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, it is not on the same order of magnitude as China and the United States.

The Chinese venture capital circle is creating more and more value, so the talents who do this can get more achievements from it, and the influence of the Chinese venture capital circle is being exported to other markets.

Just talked about going to sea, this is the phenomenon. Shared bicycles are, white-hot, naked, white knife goes into red knife. After experiencing this kind of competition, we Chinese entrepreneurs are not afraid of wherever we go. In China's high-pressure competitive environment and complex ecological environment, there are also various opportunities to go to other places.

order one fruit, which can be delivered to you in one hour. There is no way to imagine this in the United States. There are also products like WeChat that are diversified and multi-level in the United States. On WeChat, you can order takeout, buy movie tickets, borrow money, manage finances, and do whatever you want. Paying water and electricity bills is simply a great product.

From a technical perspective, China's big data, cloud computing, facial recognition, artificial intelligence, the same thing, China and the United States may have been ten years apart, but now I think it is completely on the same starting line. There are many Chinese entrepreneurs who are top scientists and top engineers in the United States, and then they return to China to start a business.

The Chinese market is very large. People are diligent, hardworking and smart, and then they have money and financial support, so this distance is shortening.

Finally, the interface will give a summary of how Forbes calculates the list?

Forbes will first invite VCs to submit their portfolio data, and will also compare them according to the Dow Jones VentureSource database. Not all projects will be counted. Forbes counted that the projects that were withdrawn in the past five years, and the valuation reached US$200 million when they exited. In addition, projects that have not yet been withdrawn but have a valuation of more than US$400 million are also within the statistical scope.

Then, Forbes will count the number of qualified projects based on the transaction income, project valuation, and calculate the index. Moreover, those projects that have successfully exited, traded transactions took place sooner, investment participation rounds earlier, and investment multiples were included in more proportions.

For example, after receiving the invitation from Forbes, the financial department of Qiming Venture Capital cooperated to give the project data of each of their investors that year, including the project investment amount, pre-investment valuation, valuation or market value when they successfully exited, etc., and submitted it to Forbes. See here for the complete description of

.