Robin argues that government has long protected living costs through electricity, fuel, and water subsidies, while resource-limited Taiwan imports almost all energy. Rather than single out milk, compare overall price changes with other countries. Taiwan cannot expect everything to be cheapest while wages match global standards. He considers its combination of strong growth and controlled prices enviable and urges appreciation of those advantages.
Key points
Government subsidies have long protected electricity, fuel, and water prices.
Taiwan has limited resources and imports almost all energy.
Compare overall price changes internationally rather than milk alone.
The cheapest goods and world-level wages are difficult to combine; appreciate existing advantages.
Robin applies Bill Gates’s observation—“we always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next 10”—to company value. A company may overestimate its present value yet underestimate what it can become over a decade. Hypothetical reflections on ASPEED’s 2013 listing and Kaori’s 2006 listing support the conclusion: face today’s valuation rationally, do not pull future value forward, and build value step by step.
Key points
Gates said we overestimate change over two years and underestimate change over ten.
Robin analogically applies that observation to present and long-term company value.
ASPEED’s 2013 listing at NT$110 and Kaori’s 2006 listing illustrate the hypothetical reflection.
Face today’s valuation rationally and do not pull future value forward.
Robin’s commentary (personal views, not investment advice)
Reading guide
Investment performance depends on finding good teams and on when investments are held and sold. For a good company, the entry price is relatively less important; a fund’s finite life can create pressure to sell. These are personal views, not investment advice.
Key points
Performance depends on investing in good teams.
Holding periods and exit timing affect outcomes.
The entry price of a good company is relatively less important.
Taiwan’s venture capital ecosystem has five elements: capital providers, investment institutions, entrepreneurs, medium-sized and large companies, and accessible, efficient capital markets. Robin proposes the phrase “Venture Taiwan,” bringing together innovation, entrepreneurship, investment, and Taiwan.
Key points
Five elements: capital providers, investment institutions, entrepreneurs, medium-sized and large companies, and capital markets.
Channel long-term, patient capital into technological innovation.
Book excerpt attributed by the post’s tag to 于剛’s 激情創業 (CITIC Press,2019); closing commentary by Robin
Reading guide
Shared values, an equal partnership, and candid communication are three conditions for mutual success. Robin hopes Taiwanese entrepreneurs and investors can understand and support each other.
Key points
Share the same values.
Treat one another as equal partners.
Communicate candidly.
Robin: entrepreneurs and investors should understand and support each other.
Opening section reprinted (original author not identified); the seven points under “Robin’s Turn” are Robin’s commentary
Reading guide
The opening text contrasts corporate venture capital (CVC) and financially oriented VC in funding, incentives, and strategic objectives. Robin adds seven trade-offs for founders, including strategic orders, investor labels, equity-method disclosures, and combining strategic with financial investors.
Key points
Compare CVC and VC funding sources, incentives, and strategic objectives.
Robin offers seven considerations for entrepreneurs dealing with CVC.
Consider strategic orders, investor labels, equity-method disclosures, and financial co-investors.
The comparison is a generalization; practices differ among institutions.
Compilation of the original post (see the notes for source and verification limitations)
Reading guide
The post identifies 春澗資本 and 陳慶森, but its WeChat link currently indicates an account migration, and the same original text was not obtained for comparison. The full approved post is retained; limitations concerning sources, figures, and quotations appear in the body note.
Key points
Preserve the original post’s arguments and examples.
See the body note for limitations on original-source, numerical, and quotation checks.
Translated from Steve Blank’s 2009 blog post “Lessons Learned: A New Type of VC Pitch”; opening paragraph by Robin
Reading guide
Cafepress’s founders focused on what they had learned from customers rather than promoting a methodology. Their pitch covered the market, three lessons, and why they were there. Robin’s takeaway: concrete experience gives you a better chance of standing out.
Key points
Cafepress’s founders replaced methodology talk with customer experience.
Pitch structure: market, three lessons, and why we are here.
Robin’s takeaway: the more concrete your practical experience, the better your chance of standing out.
Book excerpt tagged #矽谷創業課, with Robin’s commentary
Reading guide
Investors care about a market’s ceiling. Early-stage companies should not force market-size estimates into a spreadsheet. The US and Taiwan have different fundraising environments: neither is inherently better; the question is fit.
Key points
A market’s ceiling affects fundraising.
Early-stage market size cannot simply be estimated through a spreadsheet.
The US and Taiwan have different environments; fit is what matters.
Chinese translation of Bezos’s shareholder letter (translated by Vinchent)
Reading guide
In 2002, Amazon lowered prices while taking efficiency to its best level yet: net sales rose 26% to US$3.9 billion, and free cash flow turned positive at US$135 million. Low prices came from efficiency rather than sacrifice.
Key points
Net sales rose 26% to US$3.9 billion.
Free cash flow reached US$135 million, an improvement of US$305 million.
An in-store comparison of 100 bestsellers found 72 cheaper at Amazon.
Customer service contacts per order improved by 13%.
Robin’s commentary, followed by #BillionDollarLoser #得到聽書 (reposted book summary)
Reading guide
Robin opens with two points: founders must tell a complete story, and venture capital peers must assess its credibility rather than buy it blindly. A summary of Billion Dollar Loser follows: investors were drawn by WeWork’s story of disrupting US$15 trillion in office real estate and by FOMO; it rewarded them with breakneck expansion, then received further encouragement from Masayoshi Son. The closing warning: the faster you charge ahead, the more alert you must remain.
Key points
Venture capital seeks an “alternative approach”: redefining competitors as a much larger market
FOMO can mean investors fear missing the next giant rather than firmly believing a company will succeed
Breakneck expansion conflicts with the original aim of building a community
Bezos shareholder-letter translation (Chinese translation by Vinchent), with Robin’s introduction
Reading guide
Bezos offers an unusually detailed look inside Amazon’s technology: random forests, gossip protocols, eventual consistency, and more. Invention is everywhere; service-oriented architecture provides the foundation for scaling it.
Bezos shareholder-letter translation (Chinese translation by Vinchent), with Robin’s introduction
Reading guide
A collection of empowerment stories: KDP gives authors 70% royalties, FBA helps small sellers double their business, and AWS supports an app with 500,000 fans. Platform-based invention is the most thorough form of self-reinvention.
Key points
KDP royalties of 70% versus the traditional 17.5%
S3: over 900 billion objects and 500,000 requests per second
Thirty AWS services
More than 1,000 KDP authors sell 1,000 books a month
Bezos shareholder-letter translation (Chinese translation by Vinchent), with Robin’s introduction
Reading guide
Services improve on their own when the drive comes from within: cutting prices proactively 27 times and inventing things customers have not yet imagined. The ending returns to 1997: a voting machine in the short run, a weighing machine in the long run.
Key points
Internal versus external motivation
AWS: 159 new features and 27 price cuts in seven years
Fifteen million Prime items—a fifteenfold increase
Bezos shareholder-letter translation (Chinese translation by Vinchent), with Robin’s introduction
Reading guide
A white paper on high standards: they can be taught and vary by domain. Recognition and expectations must be explicit—a handstand takes six months of daily practice, not two weeks.
Key points
Eight consecutive years at No. 1 in the ACSI
Six-page memos instead of PowerPoint
High standards are teachable and domain-specific
Handstands: a two-week fantasy versus a six-month reality
Bezos shareholder-letter translation (Chinese translation by Vinchent), with Robin’s introduction
Reading guide
The power of wandering: efficiency can be planned; invention requires exploration. Third-party sellers grew from 3% to 58%, “beating us badly,” while AWS reached a US$30 billion annual revenue run rate.
Key points
Third-party sellers: 3% to 58%, with 52% compound annual growth
