Fundraising

Reading guide

Secondary markets react quickly to company value. Netflix, a global streaming giant spending US$18 billion a year on production, was built by visionary founder Reed Hastings, who defeated Blockbuster, created a streaming industry, disrupted cable television, and influenced Silicon Valley through a distinctive culture. Even such a legendary company could lose 70% of its market value in six months. Why should private-market startups insist on last year’s peak valuation—or more? Robin adds that global inflation, monetary tightening, and rising interest rates would make fundraising harder in the near term than in the second half of 2021. To keep moving, founders need tangible results and compelling reasons for investors to support them. These observations date to April 2022.

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Robin notices a company openly posting its broker’s listing timetable on its website and offers two reminders. Brokers compete intensely, but should watch whether clients repurpose their plans, for example to promote fundraising by claiming an imminent listing. Protect reputation while seeking business. Investors should not get excited simply because a listing plan exists. One company signed an advisory agreement and paid NT$30,000 a month for broker staff to visit. The staff worked on other companies’ cases in a small room, while the company brought investors to look, exchange cards, and hear that listing preparations were actively under way. Their presence was the point, regardless of actual work.

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The second half of an interview with Shen Nanpeng. On an era dominated by leaders: the internet is winner-take-all, with perhaps two food-delivery companies and four or five e-commerce survivors. Mergers need clear commercial logic: no one wants 1+1=0.5, while everyone is eager for 1+1=5; investors act as advisers who articulate that logic. Three investment criteria have remained unchanged for fifteen years: the entrepreneur, industry size, and business model, including natural barriers to entry. Early-stage founder assessment remains an art. “Invest in the track rather than the racer” is a major misconception: the founder comes first, and confidence in values and ability can justify a “blind bet.” Long-term thinking requires resisting short-term temptations, intellectual honesty, and the courage to knock again on the door of a company you misjudged. Fund life matters more than size: how can you think long term with only seven or eight years?

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Three interpretations of long-term thinking: Luo Zhenyu describes compounding over time, with long-term certainty helping us withstand external uncertainty; Liang Ning describes meeting uncertainty with inner order; Harvard Business Review describes Amazon’s success as a victory for long-term thinking. The main text is a long essay by Zuoyebang founder Hou Jianbin: invest time, energy, and resources in lasting competitiveness, and ask whether each day’s work builds something or consumes it. If something can simply be bought, it does not distinguish you from peers. His examples include achieving 80% market share in photo-based question search, building an internal teacher-development system, and separating curriculum research from teaching. Milestones mean stronger core capabilities, not a listing or market share. Hiring weights culture six parts, ability three, and experience one. Written in 2020, before the subsequent upheaval in China’s tutoring industry.

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A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), also called a blank-check company, has no operating assets and promises to use its IPO proceeds to acquire a business. In 2020, roughly one-fifth of newly listed US companies used this structure. Compared with an IPO or direct listing, a SPAC skips many steps, has no lockup period, and can take a company public in weeks. Its sponsor, usually a private equity or asset management firm, covers listing costs, initially contributes about 5%, and receives 20% of the equity after listing. A private target must be acquired within two years of the IPO. For the target, it is effectively a backdoor listing through a clean shell containing only cash. Roadshows explain a vision rather than operations—“fundraising by slide deck,” in a sense. A record of the enthusiasm as of August 2020.

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Robin: “Do not start a business assuming you can depend on others. Face real-world problems and build a sustainable business from the outset to improve your chances. Fundraising can temporarily conceal problems, but if you have not reached orbit before the rocket’s thrust ends, gravity will bring you crashing down.” Rework challenges the startup myth of a magical place where spending is someone else’s problem and revenue need not spoil the fun. Market forces and economic rules still apply: solve real problems, deliver value, generate revenue, and either make a profit or close. A business built on “we’ll figure out how to make money later” becomes a joke. Without a path to profit, it is a hobby, not a business.

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Robin jokes that he may soon be removed from FITI’s mentor database after telling a team to revisit why they started: not every venture must keep growing, raising capital, and listing. A grand dream helps in a FITI competition, but is it the life you want? Another option is a lean software company with annual revenue of 50–60 million, twenty-some employees, annual profit of 15–20 million, good benefits, modest growth alongside customers, and several million in annual shareholder dividends. No endless pursuit of acquisitions, overseas expansion, and listings, nor investors interfering after financing or small shareholders watching after listing. Life involves choices: more people can build practical businesses, solve problems, create value, and serve stakeholders without immersing themselves in grand dreams.

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Many factors cause startups to fail; running out of funding is probably the main one. Watch cash flow constantly and prepare more than one script in which fundraising succeeds and problems disappear. Smooth operations plus smooth fundraising are rare; setbacks, harder fundraising, core-team departures, and giant competitors are more common. Prepare for varied and worst-case scenarios. Stable cash flow keeps you from losing in the short term; the right talent is what lets you win. Find a way to attract exceptional people, as Liu Bei’s three visits illustrate. Different talent models have trade-offs: Netflix’s high pay, top performers, strict removal of low performers, and “not a family” approach is harsh but effective; others favor a family atmosphere. Make your culture clear and find people who fit.

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A reprint of Vista magazine’s account of the documentary Monopoly: Who Owns the World? The article argues that the apparent competition between Pepsi and Coca-Cola, or Apple and Android, is an illusion: Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street, dubbed the “Big Three” in University of Cambridge research, are the largest shareholders of industry leaders across almost every sector and collectively manage more than $15 trillion. It goes on to describe how passive index funds separate ownership from control, BlackRock’s close relationships with the Federal Reserve and the White House, and concerns that concentrated share ownership could weaken competition. (A reprinted article; its figures refer to around 2021.)

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The first principle of early-stage fundraising is to secure the first term sheet quickly. Once you have it, you gain the initiative. Three guidelines follow. First, plan investor meetings as you would job interviews: do not meet your favorite first; practice with investors whose processes are simple and decisions quick, but do not leave your preferred investor until last either. Paul Graham suggests an expected-value calculation: probability of investment multiplied by the weight the investment carries. Second, only written terms count. Treat anything an investor says as a no unless the terms are written down for signature; investors have strong incentives to delay. Third, create a concentrated competitive process. Schedule fundraising within the same period. Once the first offer arrives, harsh terms may disappear, and firms previously too busy to meet may suddenly make every partner available.

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Wu Jun continues his discussion of John Doerr. The best time for venture capital is the stealth phase, when an industry and company are still young and most people have not recognized the opportunity. Risk is high and opposition inevitable, but by the time everyone agrees, the best entry point may have passed. VC therefore requires insight and risk-taking rather than committee-style democratic decisions. Reviewing a successful portfolio company, Doerr’s only concern was that its gross margin was too high. SGI had died that way: a 70% margin led it to ignore necessary but lower-margin opportunities, leaving it unable to endure hardship after the bubble burst. In Doerr’s era, KPCB limited each fund to $800 million–$1 billion, invested in fewer than 300 companies, took nearly 100 public, and generated returns of 40–50 times per fund. One secret was encouraging portfolio companies to help and acquire one another, creating a broad alumni network.

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Lei Jun’s fundraising advice: the worse your character, the harder raising money becomes. The first funding should be pooled from people you know. American angel rounds may involve twenty people contributing $10,000 or $20,000 each. The real question is not whether wealthy people are around you, but why they should trust you. Fundraising reflects credibility accumulated in work and life. If you cannot persuade parents, siblings, or close friends, why should Lei Jun invest? He openly invests only in acquaintances, extending at most to their acquaintances. He cites YY founder Li Xueling: a journalist who criticized him yet refused press-event travel allowances, had principles and ambitions, and loved technology. Ten years of interaction built trust. In 2005, Lei invested RMB 4.15 million and lent another RMB 4.15 million. Taking your conduct seriously is the first step toward credibility; begin looking for money close to home.

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When raising capital, your priority is not just to discuss the business but also yourself. First, you are the real competitive advantage. A Stanford survey of hundreds of investors found that founders, management teams, and their experience and passion were the most important investment factors. Introducing yourself reveals capabilities and values, helping investors assess company culture. Second, closeness builds trust. Baylor research involving 600 executives linked trust to leaders’ technical competence, conflict-resolution ability, and integrity. Share your background, inspiration, motivation, experience, and mission. A Harvard-administered global survey found all institutional investors valued ESG and how corporate purpose was communicated. Third, investors want to know whether you can withstand pressure. Nervousness may be read as an inability to handle difficult business decisions. Begin your presentation by speaking confidently about yourself.

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Xuan Tian’s empirical research, published in Review of Finance in 2012, examined more than 30,000 US startups founded between 1980 and 2005. Seventy percent received funding from at least two VCs, while 88% of VC-backed companies that went public had syndicate funding. The article uses Didi’s $4.5 billion Series F as a case: Apple, China Life, Ant, Tencent, China Merchants Bank, and SoftBank pooled resources that helped it evolve from a taxi app into a smart-mobility leader. A parenthetical note records its later market-value decline as a point-in-time observation. Syndicates create product-market value through complementary expertise, networks, and information, and greater willingness to fund risky innovators. In financial markets, multiple VC backers send a positive signal affecting IPO underpricing and valuation. But an informed investor with unusually strong conviction may exclude others to retain all the gains; in that case, solo investment could produce better exits.

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A Caijing article discusses the “one-person unicorn” in the AI era. Li Zhifei used AI to produce 40,000 lines of code in two days; Sam Altman described “one person plus 10,000 GPUs.” Pokee AI, associated with Zhu Zheqing, raised a $12 million seed round with only six people. A view attributed to Sequoia suggests hierarchical organizations are giving way to dynamic collaboration. Highly capable generalists and lean AI-powered solo businesses are emerging, while Chen Yiran comments on the employment market. Cal AI, built by high-school students including 17-year-olds, reportedly earns $1.12 million a month. Robin reminds venture capital professionals that they, too, must keep pace with the times.

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In his 1998 shareholder letter, Bezos emphasizes fearing customers rather than competitors: customers remain loyal only until someone offers them something better. Hiring involves three questions: Do you admire this person? Will they raise the team’s average level? In what area are they a superstar? Goals for 1999 include expanding distribution and systems capacity, building the brand, broadening product categories, and strengthening the bench and processes. The letter again attaches the 1997 letter to remind shareholders of the company’s original commitments.

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Cai Yu reviews Yang Haoyong’s battle between Guazi and Renrenche, where capital-driven momentum was a key weapon. A month-long stealth expansion into 40 cities and more thanRMB 100 million in advertising produced a gap of 1,700 versus 700 transactions. A Series A of over$200 million then constrained the rival’s fundraising options. Spending created barriers, and capital momentum drove the market toward a 9:1 split. Do not take comfort in “just do your own job well” or “the market is large enough for everyone.” Cai also cautions that capital is only the foundation; data and algorithmic moats form the deepest layer.

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There was no specialist venture capital industry in the late nineteenth century. Breaking with his usual practice, Morgan backed Edison's electric-light venture in 1878 despite his father's objections. At the end of 1880, he invested another US$1 million in a central power station in Manhattan. He also helped Edison restructure his board and remove dissatisfied investors. Their honeymoon ended in 1892: after discovering that Thomson-Houston's profit margin was more than twice Edison's, Morgan backed a merger. Edison learned that he was losing his company without having been consulted; his name disappeared from General Electric. With his stake down to 10%, he angrily sold out. From the founder's perspective, this was capital's ruthlessness; in hindsight, General Electric became one of the twentieth century's great industrial companies. Edison's stubborn opposition to alternating current also suggested that he was not the person to lead the electrical industry into the new century. Robin's takeaway: founders must recognize the limits of their abilities. Success need not be led by me, but I should have a part in it.

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These book excerpts explain the central idea behind a “small and beautiful” business: profitability first. Rather than pursuing expansion single-mindedly, do everything possible to become profitable. The author was Pinterest’s second employee. In 2011, he left before cashing out his equity to launch Gumroad, a platform for creators to sell their work online. It attracted more than 50,000 visitors on its first day, then raised over US$8 million from prominent Silicon Valley investors and recruited dozens of employees from internet giants in pursuit of a unicorn dream. Once the funding ran out, growth stalled. Nine months of fundraising attempts failed, forcing him to lay off most employees. After moving to a quiet small city, friends helped him recognize that Gumroad had actually remained profitable and was appropriately sized for its target market. Thousands of creators used it to sell courses, ebooks, and software to supplement their incomes. It might have been a poor investment for Silicon Valley investors, but it was a valuable platform for its customers. He realized that many businesses raise substantial venture funding early because they have not found a sustainable profit model, falling into a cycle of pursuing size for its own sake. Entrepreneurship is like sailing: relying entirely on fundraising is like jumping into the sea, treading water, and waiting for a lifeboat. The sustainable approach is to build your own boat—profitability. Robin urges Taiwanese startups to establish that their business models can generate profits before expanding. As in the Buffett view he had shared, making money is the only way to develop sustainably.

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Building on the three requirements for a good fundraising story—engaging, credible, and concise—this post explains its structure. The most suitable framework is the familiar confrontation between a hero and a villain, followed by a happy ending. That may sound overly simple, but its simplicity is precisely its fundamental strength. In an entrepreneurial story, the villain is not a particular person but a real problem: hunger, ignorance, disease, waste, inefficiency, or a poor customer experience. A business idea without a clearly defined villain cannot raise funding, because it does not solve a real problem. Google’s villain is the lack of ways to access information, its hero is its search algorithm, and its happy ending is the business empire built through tens of billions of searches. Uber’s villain is being unable to find a ride; its happy ending is a ride for everyone and income from otherwise idle vehicles. Great business stories, however, are never pure fiction. The next step is to substantiate the plot with examples and factual research. First, bring the villain vividly to life: an office worker leaving at 9 p.m., exhausted by clients and a boss, with no dinner arranged. Then introduce the hero—a food-delivery website—and explain just as thoroughly why it can win, whether through breakthrough technology or service innovation. A happy ending requires a reasonable market forecast: the market share to be gained, how long that will take, how much it will cost, how much will be earned, and the basis for every projection.

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Robin’s commentary begins: when a problem arises, solve it. KKT’s auction was suspended because there were insufficient qualifying lots, and the offering would switch to bookbuilding and allocation. The central issue was how to assign a reasonable value to companies such as KKT. Robin proposed revisiting the introduction of a cornerstone-investor framework: an IPO allocation mechanism for potentially promising startups whose valuation models are unfamiliar to the market. The issue had already been discussed in 2018. Then Financial Supervisory Commission Chair Ku Li-hsiung said the Taiwan Stock Exchange had been asked to collect international examples and study bringing in cornerstone investors before an IPO, within specified ownership proportions and price ranges, to strengthen a company’s investment value and stabilize its share price after listing. Discussions later stopped after GGR listed in the United States; supporting regulations and allocation fairness still needed work. The 2018 report discussed several related issues. Removing the profitability requirement for converting privately placed securities into publicly offered securities after three years could revive problems involving cheap allocations to selected investors and arbitrage opportunities. Unequal voting rights could undermine governance in a market where retail investors accounted for more than 60%. The exchange president had visited Gogoro to understand its needs: its large capital base made an auction unsuitable, and an IPO would require cornerstone investors to subscribe for a large amount. The securities dealers association suggested exempting IPOs of at least NT$2 billion from priority use of auctions, allowing cornerstone investors to subscribe for 40–60%, excluding company insiders and related parties, and imposing a six-month to one-year lock-up.

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On October 12, 2020, SoftBank’s Vision Fund disclosed plans to establish a SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company, within two weeks. Unlike acquiring an existing listed shell, a SPAC raises money from investors to create a new shell company. Its leaders then acquire an unlisted business, effectively bringing that business to the public market. Vision Fund CEO Rajeev Misra said the SPAC would give portfolio companies a route to listing amid high market uncertainty. It would target growth companies in later funding rounds, with capital coming partly from the Vision Fund and partly from market investors. The backdrop was the popularity of SPACs in 2020. Bloomberg Businessweek reported that SPACs had raised US$41 billion that year, more than in the preceding ten years combined, and accounted for 40% of U.S. IPOs. The Verge suggested that uncertainty in the stock market was a reason: traditional IPOs could be priced too high or too low, with increasingly unpredictable market reactions. SPACs reduced that risk to some extent by providing a predictable valuation range. Companies seeking a listing could avoid an IPO roadshow and dealings with numerous institutional investors, negotiating instead with the SPAC’s controlling party. A listing could be completed in as little as a few weeks. These are reports and claims from October 2020.

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Zhang Yiming wrote this guide to choosing an employer for technical talent when Toutiao was still a small company. He introduces the EC ratio—enterprise value divided by total funding. Google, Facebook, and Tencent had very high ratios. Maintaining a high EC ratio indicates organic growth capacity rather than dependence on outside funding; a low ratio combined with heavy fundraising can suggest a business fattened by capital. He recommends that first-rate technical talent choose leading technology companies, judging technical investment and technology’s contribution to business value rather than money spent on field promotion. Drawing on his rejection of an investment offer from a giant, he argues that bundled traffic and distribution can become stimulants, distort strategy, and force a company to take sides. Do not join a company marrying into a wealthy family; join an outstanding company and become a great one together. He also criticizes obsession with titles and management headcount: titles suffer more inflation than the ruble, while WhatsApp and Instagram had tiny teams. Companies made up of people concerned with how many they manage rather than what they do cannot have high talent density. Finally, early and late are relative; the scale of future potential is the absolute yardstick. Alibaba and Tencent still grew more than a hundredfold after their fifth year. Rather than speculate on a runner-up, choose the leader.

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Robin revisits earlier fundraising advice: an introduction from a respected industry leader improves your chances of attracting investors’ attention. Also work to secure a face-to-face discussion, ideally a pitch to someone who can actually decide. He notes that pandemic conditions at the time—July 2021—made meetings difficult and suggests waiting until the situation eases.

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Echoing the previous fundraising post, Robin urges founders not to begin with a mindset of dependence. Confront real-world problems from the outset and create a sustainable business. Fundraising and spending other people’s money may temporarily conceal problems, but if the rocket has not reached orbit before its thrust ends, it cannot ignore gravity and will ultimately crash.

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Robin offers practical fundraising advice: cold-emailing business plans is the least efficient approach. Sending them out indiscriminately may be no help at all and can even backfire. Go to events where you can meet investors and briefly introduce yourself and your venture face to face. Explain it clearly and spark interest within three minutes. Opportunities to meet investors can be created, so always have a three- to five-minute introduction ready. A recommendation from someone you know is another plus.

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Robin offers four suggestions for working with investors: communicate proactively and regularly rather than avoiding them; build trust for a long-term partnership; if you can make investors 100 times their money, you can make yourself 1,000 times yours (a rhetorical statement); and when fundraising is going poorly, first ask where you are not yet prepared instead of blaming everything on investors’ lack of vision.

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Robin observes that highly resourced, privileged teams and grassroots teams have roughly equal chances of success, with strengths and weaknesses offsetting one another. The former have more opportunities but higher costs and more escape routes, and may retreat more readily or raise and spend too much. The latter use resources carefully and persist through problems. He urges founders to clarify what problem they solve and what value they create for whom. Vague positioning can leave a team confused about its own direction. The closing Quibi excerpt warns against becoming dependent on the path of past success.

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The post first excerpts Lei Jun’s views: fundraising is a confidence game, easiest when you do not need money. Start raising when half the cash is spent; with no cash left, bargaining power is nearly gone. Robin then offers eight suggestions: the fundraising paradox is that money attracts money; begin the next round before half is spent; match burn rate to fundraising pace; investors who fear a difficult next round or a down round may discount or decline this one; cash gives negotiating confidence; win existing investors’ support, ideally with stable backers holding at least 30%; produce clear results that bring investors to you; and tailor the pitch to each investor.

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The main text describes how Google challenges rigid thinking by asking people to make an idea ten times bigger. It tests an idea’s maturity through three questions: could it affect hundreds of millions or billions of people; does it contain a distinctive technical insight; and could it become feasible soon? Robin comments that employees should pursue tenfold breakthroughs rather than 10% or 20% improvements. But the approach does not fit every situation: a small startup may struggle to find a narrow entry point if its scope is too broad. Fundraising in Taiwan tends to require concrete results, whereas this approach can help when raising internationally.

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Robin offers five points on fundraising prices: research the market first, with an asking price supported by evidence, comparisons, and calculations. Seeking investors means seeking partners—not demanding they pay your price because you think the company is wonderful. Investing is a confidence game; starting high and cutting repeatedly, for example from 150 million to 50 million, erodes confidence. Competitive investor demand may allow a modest increase, but otherwise investors tend to wait. Do not negotiate an investment when you have no bargaining chips left.

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The post first summarizes Bao Fan’s three priorities: understand your target customers and market; recognize that the hardest part of entrepreneurship is doing less; and keep gathering resources—money carries resources behind it, which founders must actively uncover. Robin then adds seven points: know what you want and will sacrifice, understand customers, develop a feel for the market, simplify and focus, identify the core rather than aim for everything, invest time in depth, and gather resources including talent. His “guns in hand, follow me” metaphor describes a leader who can rally followers.

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Bao Fan first describes Series A, B, and C: A validates technology or a product people use and explores the business model; B funds replication at scale; C approaches an IPO and supports formal systems or industry consolidation. Robin then outlines the stages: seed and angel rounds build the product and explore demand; pre-A and A find product–market fit and a profitable model; B rapidly replicates it, with exponential revenue growth but not necessarily profits; C and later deepen the moat, expand broadly, and prepare for an IPO. Lean startup means rapid, low-cost trial and error, then scaling once PMF is found.

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Lei Jun’s principles emphasize cash on hand for early startups: how long could you survive without revenue? At scale, focus on cash actually received, not receivables. Find the best people and prioritize getting them on board. Robin adds that broken financing is among the commonest causes of failure; do not prepare only for smooth fundraising. Business setbacks, difficult fundraising, departures of key team members, and giants entering are more common. Prepare multiple scenarios. Stable cash flow only keeps you from losing; winning requires talent. Netflix’s approach and a family-like culture each have advantages and disadvantages.

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The post recounts WeMo Scooter’s 2020 Series A led by AppWorks and a further investment of several million US dollars in February 2023 to support Southeast Asian expansion. Robin is a WeMo user and likes the founder’s ideas, but asks how it will compete or cooperate with local giants such as Grab and GoTo. Capital needs, customers, pricing, and the business model all matter. More fundamentally, has WeMo, founded seven years earlier, found a profitable model in Taiwan that it can export? Otherwise, burning cash on two fronts could exhaust the new money quickly.

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Robin discusses the considerations in choosing a listing venue. Taiwan offers a low listing threshold—roughly NT$30–50 million in after-tax profit—low costs, reasonable liquidity, and convenient access to capital. He uses GGR as an example: reports put its pre-listing fundraising at US$334 million before its US listing in April 2022, followed more recently by a US$75 million private placement. That provided over US$400 million in two years for a cash-intensive business model. Robin is cautious about whether it could have raised over NT$10 billion by staying in Taiwan. At this stage, he sees Taiwan as suitable for pre-listing raises of NT$100 million–1 billion. For entrepreneurs, listing should support the next phase of growth rather than a rush to cash out.

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Robin believes Gogoro’s decision to list on Nasdaq through a SPAC was reasonable in the context of 2021–2022 and should not be judged by its subsequent share-price performance. Reports put the capital raised at US$344 million, roughly NT$11–11.5 billion. Gogoro is fundamentally a capital-intensive undertaking; in Taiwan, raising NT$1 billion in a single IPO already counts as a large deal. Robin relays a securities executive’s remarks at a seminar: Taiwan’s IPOs may be relatively small, but follow-on offerings are easy to carry out and liquidity is reasonable. SMEs can raise additional capital every two to three years, advancing through small, rapid steps. A good company may have the opportunity to grow more than twentyfold over twenty years.

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Robin uses ASPEED as an example. Its IPO offer price was NT$110, raising about NT$224 million at a listing market capitalization below NT$2.5 billion. Thirteen years later, its market value had reached NT$352 billion, meaning roughly 99% of its value was created after listing. He sees an IPO as a new starting point. Startups should not become trapped by valuation; choosing good partners and raising growth capital quickly can matter more. He recalls a statistic suggesting that US-listed companies’ pre-IPO valuations averaged less than 4% of their current value. His two lessons are to advance IPO planning promptly and avoid obsessing over every pre-IPO fundraising valuation.

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The opening excerpts discuss Paul Graham and the YC model: make something people want, an internal benchmark of 10% weekly growth, an emphasis on frugality, and the scale advantages of an alumni network. Robin adds that many Taiwanese startups feel they cannot expand without more funding. Founders should nevertheless calculate each stage’s capital needs carefully. Money arriving too easily can be the beginning of disaster; concentrating on using every dollar well is a key to success. He also cites Frank Lloyd Wright’s observation that humanity’s finest building achievements came when constraints were greatest.

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The opening excerpts from Touzi Yilei discuss working with larger trends, drawing on remarks attributed to Lei Jun, Zhang Ruimin, and Huang Mingduan (黃明端), and caution against glorifying a CEO’s individual capabilities. Robin adds a founder’s perspective. Investors assess industry size, but founders can begin with a small niche, concentrate resources, and aim to dominate a specific segment. They should choose something they love enough to spend ten or twenty years building. There can be tension between that passion and choosing a large market. His advice: be yourself, build for your ideals and dreams, and do not start a company merely to raise money or please investors.