Investor and former chairman of Chinese video game company Dalian Zeus Entertainment Andy Zhu (Zhu Ye) speaks on entrepreneurship in a new interview with SVYEP. In 2015, Zhu was the winner of the Warren Buffett charity lunch auction, where he paid $2.35 million for a lunch meeting with Buffett.
Who is an entrepreneur?
There are two sides to being an entrepreneur: the subjective side and the objective side. Subjectively, I believe most entrepreneurs are born with a love for business; we simply cannot be satisfied with stillness. But objectively, entrepreneurs get where they are often because they seek to change their place in life.
What did you seek to change?
I wanted to lift myself from poverty. It's as simple as that. Not every entrepreneur has to change the world. If you have no understanding of the world, why would you try to change it? For me, it's about finding an opportunity, thinking about how you want to make use of it, and then taking action. Focus on what's in front of you.
How did you get started? How did you choose your industry?
It's all about looking at the statistics and identifying the right areas. As soon as you identify areas of growth in an industry, enter the market. When I see that an industry has room for improvement, and the data backs it up, then that's a great opportunity right there. Entrepreneurship, in summary, is just a game of supply and demand.
How did you build your team?
First, you need to have faith in what you're doing. Entrepreneurs are fundamentally optimistic. Your team will mirror your attitude as a leader; if you are motivated, your team will be motivated. More practically speaking, you have to take advantage of team building to cover your own weaknesses. Learn to find strong partners. Set common goals, long term, but don't neglect the details either. You need to be very clear about how you want to win.
Which skills are most necessary to being an entrepreneur?
Everyone has their own skills and a "right path" for them. My expectations for myself are to be clean, reliable, and diligent. These are the fundamentals. Often you'll find you don't need much more these to succeed because most people can't even fulfill the basic three.
What's it like being an investor on top of an entrepreneur?
I am an entrepreneur to begin with, not an investor. All of my investments were based on my own experience as an entrepreneur. After all, I already know the industry I work in, and so I have a good sense of what might succeed. In reality, what's far more important than what you're investing in is when you invest.
Give your advice to aspiring young entrepreneurs:
Read first. Get the foundation. Then, find people like yourself or like me to work with you and guide you. If you do that, you will find your business.
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