Jiayuan CEO Gong Haiyan: The Most Grass-Roots Female Entrepreneurs

If there is no accident, Gong Haiyan It should be the only female founder of the listed companies outside China in 2011 and the youngest female CEO among these listed companies (born in 1976). She had a rough life. A rural girl in Hunan went back to school after work. She was admitted to Beijing University. She founded a marriage and love web site during her study in Fudan University and led the company to be listed successfully. Unlike most successful women, she is not a husband and wife entrepreneur. The family she was born was not even well-off. She was not beautiful enough to be married to the rich and powerful. She stood up from the corner of the society with her indomitable struggle. Pyramid Cusp.

In addition to tenacious and hard working with many entrepreneurs, she is still astute. keen The entrepreneur, following the user, leads the market, rather than subjectively to start a business. She did three things right:

First, start with solving a small user demand. Gong Haiyan started his own business by solving his personal needs. When she found her partner in Jiayuan, she even prepared to switch off the website. In contrast, many entrepreneurs began to think about how to please VC and IPO while ignoring the most fundamental thing - the needs of users.

Second, find your own business model. When many China Internet Corporation did not know how to turn the dazzling business model into a real profit model, Gong Haiyan found the way of survival of the century Jiayuan - micro payment; moreover, on the eve of IPO, she soon abandoned Internet Co's traditional profit model advertising.

Third, the right time, the right marketing. Winter marketing is the usual practice of Jiayuan. Many remember that after the financial crisis in September 2008, when everyone was shrinking, when the online advertising disappeared, Jiayuan launched a large number of advertisements, and drew the distance of all competitors at once. Jiayuan in the 2008 Top50 Internet advertisers even surpassed China Mobile and Lining. In the late November of 2011, when the advertising of the public was disappearing, Jiayuan's advertisement appeared.

Perhaps lucky, perhaps her stubborn and stubborn, from a pile of not optimistic, rushed out and stood there. Just now, she has many identities: a CEO of a listed company, a mother, a wife, a daughter... She has a long way to go, but she has reflected another value concept for this increasingly secular society. A woman, no matter how poor she is or how beautiful she is, can also achieve success through her own struggle through reading and entrepreneurship. This alone is enough to enable her to surpass many women and win the honor of being an entrepreneur of the year. This vote is for her. It's worth it.

Starting state: what is the biggest feeling of going public for half a year?

Gong Haiyan: the biggest feeling is that as a start-up enterprise before going public, we consider more about how to survive. After the listing, we have enough cash on hand, and the company has more popularity and reputation, so it can consider the development problem more calmly. {page_break}

Venture capital: do you think American investors really understand China's marriage and love market now?

Gong Haiyan: I think the Chinese marriage and love market is very unique. The Chinese people face many challenges in their marriage and love problems, which are quite different from those of Americans. For example, the attitude of our schools and families to love young people, the high degree of concern of Chinese families for their children's marriage and love problems, the fact that there are many men and women in Chinese society, the fact that A women and D men are left helpless, and the whole social urbanization process, have led to the fact that the traditional introduction of friends and relatives is basically ineffective. Young people can only look for the other half through the Internet, while the Chinese character is more implicit and introverted than Westerners, which exacerbates their difficulties in choosing their spouse. It takes time for investors to understand and understand this market. We need to keep communicating with investors in the future to help us understand our marriage and love market.

Entrepreneurial state: what changes do you think have taken place in the habits of Internet users in China over the years?

Gong Haiyan: at the very beginning, after 70, it was the mainstream of the website. Later, it became a post-80s generation. Now, the Internet has started after 90. And from urban to rural areas, from well-educated high-end users to blue collar or migrant workers, more and more people have become Internet users, making use of the Internet to make their life or work easier. On the website of marriage and love, from the original never believe to hesitation, wait and see now more and more bold use, and from the original only accept free lunch until now willing to pay for some value of their own advantage, from the initial run the bank, post office to remit money to us now through online banking credit card payment, from the initial use of computers to the Internet now to use mobile phones or tablets at any time online...... China's Internet has changed so much that we are constantly adapting to these changes and benefiting from it.

"Entrepreneurial state": many Internet Co in China started by copying American companies. Do you think this kind of imitation will continue to be effective in the short term?

Gong Haiyan: I think imitation is becoming more and more difficult. Ten years ago, copying some Internet mode in the United States and copying it to China, the forerunner may have a priority in timing because of the asymmetry of information. Now it is very different that there are more and more good English people, and more and more people are going abroad to study and travel. What new things are there abroad? For the first time, many people in China will know that they will imitate each other at the same time. At that time, the competition will be quite intense. So I think future simple replication will be more and more difficult to succeed. Future success will not be simply determined by mode, but more on individual entrepreneurs.

Start up state: now business is becoming more and more particular about the connections and resources. The entrepreneurial environment is very different from what you did then. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Gong Haiyan: I think this is a good thing. I didn't find the money to start my business, and the whole business environment was immature. Now a lot of people are making angels, good projects and reliable entrepreneurs, so they can easily get the money, so that they can start running their own company. But at the same time, the cost of starting a business is much higher. For example, the salary of technical personnel, office rent and the fierce competition in the market, these challenges are more cruel than I was then. But in any case, more and more people are awakening to their sense of entrepreneurship, hoping that their lives will be different. This great environment and atmosphere are the biggest support for entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurial state: do you think there is any possibility of being a platform company in China's traditional Internet Co?

Gong Haiyan: I personally feel that Qihoo 360 has certain opportunities. As a platform based company, first of all, the demand for traffic is particularly large, with hundreds of millions of active users.

Business state: Why did Chen Zhiwu (micro-blog) enter the board of directors as an independent director at that time? What role did the economist play?

Gong Haiyan: chatting with Professor Chen, he found that he was very concerned about the Chinese marriage and love, so he invited him to join our board of directors, and he and I were fellow townsmen in Hunan. Professor Chen is also very helpful to us, mainly in corporate governance, as well as financial audit. In addition, in view of his personal popularity, he has a certain publicity role for the company's brand.

Entrepreneurial state: what are the strengths and weaknesses of being a female entrepreneur?

Gong Haiyan: a woman has made a marriage website. Her gender advantage is very obvious. Our grasp of love and affection is more in place than men, and the understanding is more delicate. Marriage and emotional life are absolutely the most important part of women's life, and a large number of Chinese men also regard their careers as the most important pursuit in life. At the same time, women have a great advantage in communication. Whether they are users or employees, the gentle, delicate and flexible character of women can help us solve difficult problems in many cases. I think the disadvantage is the sensibility of women's bones, but being a love and marriage website will not make a big mistake. If you do something, if you are too emotional, you may have a bigger impact. {page_break}

"Entrepreneurial state": in Beijing's Internet business, it is very important to pay attention to circles or "rivers and lakes", who is the boss, and whose brother is. As a female entrepreneur, have you ever met this problem?

Gong Haiyan: I don't seem to have encountered this problem, nor do I feel that way. But when you first start a business, only your family and friends are willing to believe you. After the company has grown bigger, you should employ more people who can complement themselves, but not necessarily classmates, friends or relatives. A company should be a group of like-minded people who have their own strengths to stay together and retain people in their career, culture and interests, not just relying on the personal relationship and personal connections of entrepreneurs.

Start up: how do you balance your business with your family after you have kids?

Gong Haiyan: balancing family and career is easier said than done, because people's energy and time are always limited, and they spend much more in their careers than in their families. For me, after having a career and children, I can only squeeze more personal space. If my husband and I only went to see a movie for three or four years, we visited the street for the whole time, and all the spare time outside work was placed on the top of the family and children instead of myself. Before, all of the hobbies of personal petty bourgeoisie basically gave up. The other is to work harder and take care of the two aspects. I am sorry that I spend too little time on my children.

"Pioneering state": now you are the second largest shareholder. Mr. Qian Yongqiang is the largest shareholder. As a founder, did he hesitate when he gave up the largest shareholder?

Gong Haiyan: no hesitation. I didn't care that I was the first or second largest shareholder or the third largest shareholder. Even for me, even if I was the smallest shareholder, I would devote myself to this happiness business. After all, the child was brought up in his own hands and had deep feelings in it. Moreover, as entrepreneurs, I am less concerned and more grateful, which is more likely to make this thing bigger and stronger. I am very grateful to Professor Qian Yongqiang, and he will never have my day without him. He occupies a lot and is also caused by various objective reasons. I can understand and accept it very well. I will always thank him for his trust and support in my life.

Entrepreneurial state: what do you think of the behavior of some US institutions in the air? What are the problems of Chinese enterprises?

Gong Haiyan: hustle and bustle are all for profit. No one is free to do anything. All actions are purposeful. I think they also have their own interests, hoping to make profits through short selling. Just as many Chinese companies have been challenged by a more severe test, they have been hit by guns. American institutions questioned the integrity of the stock issue, but I do not think the overall problem of Chinese enterprises, I think the United States also has a dishonest business, I believe that most Chinese companies should be able to withstand the test, but there are very few part of the troubled waters companies, suddenly investors filled their own pockets. But I believe that all the truth will stand the test of time. If there is a fox tail, it will reveal itself sooner or later.