Clarify Why You Want to Start a Business: What Company and What Life Do You Want?

Originally published 2021-10-17Compiled by Robin (original source not yet confirmed)

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Collected in Robin Shen’s Field Notes · Content type and attribution are shown above

English translation of the Chinese post originally published 2021-10-17. Translated 2026-10-30 with AI assistance. Historical figures and claims have not been updated or independently verified. 中文原文

Reading guide

Before starting a business, clarify your original motivation: what kind of company do you want to build, and what kind of life do you want to lead? Someone else’s template will not be yours. Entrepreneurship offers countless possibilities. Do you want to keep running a small company, have the opportunity to run a large one, or look for a chance to exit along the way and hand it over to someone else?

Key points

Clarify why you want to start a business and the life you want to lead.
Someone else’s template will not be yours.
Running a small company, running a large one, and exiting along the way are different paths.

One clear path continues into the distance among several branching routes, suggesting choice and focus. — Entrepreneurship & strategyThematic illustration · AI generated

Full text — English translation

Clarify why you want to start a business, what kind of company you want to build, and what kind of life you want to lead. Someone else’s template will not be yours. There are countless possibilities along the entrepreneurial path. Do you want to keep running a small company, have the opportunity to run a large one, or hope to find a chance to exit along the way and hand it over to someone else???

These articles are personal notes, book excerpts, and collected reprints. Figures and events reflect the time of the original publication, are not current information, and do not constitute investment advice.

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