Baidu Founder Robin Li'S Entrepreneurial Experience

Maybe you don't pay attention to current politics, pay no attention to financial stock market, nor care about entertainment and fashion, but as long as you have access to the Internet, you must have used it Baidu. As the most powerful Chinese search engine in the past ten years Baidu Experienced from scratch, from small to large growth and expansion process. Now let's listen to Baidu founder Robin Li about his entrepreneurial process.

Make sure you do it.

There are more than 400000000 Internet users in China, and 90% of them are Baidu customers. Baidu can achieve today's success. Robin Li The unique vision and firm belief in his words is: "recognize it and do it!" ten years ago, he gave up the preferential treatment of the US "Silicon Valley" and chose to go back to business and set up a Chinese search engine. According to the international and domestic environment of China at that time, he felt that the Chinese search engine would develop greatly. But many people around him are not optimistic about this project, and some even object to it. But he did not give up easily because others did not understand. He said that the reason why he chose this project was based on in-depth investigation and analysis of the market. It was because he had not noticed the potential market before he would do it. "Now that you have recognized it, you can not easily turn around, let alone give up. "He laughed.

When I first returned home, Robin Li was somewhat disappointed with the situation of China's technical personnel, especially in the process of recruiting talents by Baidu. At that time, he drafted job advertisements in person, asking for more than five years of work experience, C++ and programming, but he found that there were few qualified applicants in his resume. He admitted that at that time, China's environment was not very optimistic about technological entrepreneurship, so there were very few companies that were serious in technology. Many multinational companies usually only did sales (before and after sales support). When I met some students of science and engineering, many of them wanted to do some technology first, then they sold to sales, and they thought sales were more promising. So it's really hard to find someone with five years of technical experience. Although Baidu will also recruit some experienced people now, Baidu chose to recruit fresh graduates ten years ago, when many people did not understand it. Robin Li explained: "although the graduating student has no experience, his learning in school is very new. Compared with many people who have worked for several years, he has not learned anything from the new company, but he has forgotten what he learned in school. "

　　 Entrepreneurship It's a high risk and high reward thing. It's like the Bermuda Triangle. It's mysterious and charming, but wants to go out with luck and technology. This process is always accompanied by hardships and obstacles, and nothing ever goes smoothly. Baidu has also experienced difficulties and hardships. In 2001 and 2002, all Internet companies were very difficult. Facing the global bubble economy, many enterprises chose to turn around or cut costs to make profits, which limited the development of those companies and did not grow long afterwards. Robin Li said: "until 2001, we were still investing in large scale, and there was no rush to make profits. But not eager to make profits does not mean that it has never been profitable. If enterprises do not pursue their interests, then they will do charity. "

At the same time, Robin Li always adhered to the principle of less commitment and more cash. Baidu's first financing was 1 million 200 thousand, and Robin Li told investors that he needed 6 months to make the best search engine in the world. Unexpectedly, the other asked him if he could invest more money, could he finish it in a faster time? Robin Li could not. It turned out that Robin Li's honest answer pleased the other party. And it took him only 4 months to do it. It is his honesty that has helped Baidu accumulate credibility.

A successful person should have independent thinking and judgement.

In the process of entrepreneurship, we must have independent thinking and judgement. Robin Li's two abilities were cultivated in the University, and influenced him deeply in the future. For example, in 2005, Baidu went public; in 2008, Baidu searched for operations in Japan and began to try to internationalize; in 2010, the stock split was influenced by his independent thinking ability.

In August 5, 2005, Baidu was successfully listed on NASDAQ (NASDAQ), and ranked the first Chinese net in Alexa ranking over Sina. Robin Li remembers the day when Baidu listed on the Nasdaq market, the issue price was $27 per share. The opening price doubled to $66. Then it rose steadily and ended the first day of trading with us $122.54, achieving a 354% increase. Many people were impressed by the sharp rise in the first day of Baidu's stock price. Robin Li said that this increase has not been surpassed in the Internet bubble period of 1999 and 2000. But he stressed that Baidu's similar high rise in 2005 was not optimistic. "I think Baidu listed in August 5, 2005. The US media is very concerned about it. CNN and CNBC have asked me to interview. I have some arguments with some stock experts about what the Baidu stock market has gone up so badly. Robin Li recalled, "I was arguing with another stock expert from Florida. He said that in the past many years, when a company was listed, once the day rose more than 200% or 300%, after three years, all of these stocks fell through the circulation, not to mention that today is 100 dollars. After three years, your stock will be below 27 US dollars. I told him not so. Baidu is a profitable company, and China's Internet development is just beginning. "

Soon after the launch of Baidu, various voices appeared. Some people said that Baidu had sold the stock cheap, and even had a conspiracy theory. Baidu's underwriter Goldman deliberately lowered the price of Baidu shares in return for more business and profit margins. In my view, Goldman Sachs is a brand undertaking. "Robin Li said," for Baidu, we were still very small in 2005. Why was the price fixed at that time lower? I think the price is appropriate according to the growth rate of the Chinese search market before. If we go forward according to the inertia, we will be worth 27 US dollars at that time, according to the current comparable price, it is 2.7 dollars. "

For the subsequent split share, Robin Li always insisted on her own independent thinking and judgment. In May 13, 2010, Baidu formally implemented the split share plan according to the 10:1 ratio, but there were many internal disputes over whether 6:1 or 10:1's share splitting plan had been debated: should it be so radical to dismantle shares? Baidu and investment banks discussed how to split up stocks, and the investment bank's proposal was 1 shares to split 6 shares or 1 shares to dismantle 10 shares, but the investment bank believed that the 1 shares were to be demolished and 6 shares were more stable. "At that time, the investment bank said that it might fall down in the future, so it should be conservative. "We want to think about it. Based on the comprehensive judgement of China's Internet market, China's environment and Baidu's future high-speed development, we finally choose to dismantle 10 of the 1 shares. "Robin Li said," on the day of stock split, Baidu's stock price rose 6.79 US dollars, and a few days before the actual demolition took off, so investors are still very optimistic about our development. "

Just as he answered for a freshman girl who was preparing for a successful career in college, he said, "you must have independent thinking and judgement, so you won't trust others." Starting a business requires a lot of capabilities, and these two should be a must.

Baidu is only 30 days away from bankruptcy.

As a company leader, Robin Li has been thinking about what Baidu can do and what opportunities can he provide for himself. After thinking, he has developed cooperation with super rabbit, omnipotent five pens, bit elves and so on. This has also broadened Baidu's search scope. Later, he gradually realized that Baidu actually built up a platform to enable all kinds of information technology to reach users faster and provide users with convenience. This is also his ideal when he founded Baidu.