Retiring after success at the age of 41, what inspiration does the success of Pinduoduo founder Huang Zheng give to ordinary people?
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March 17, 2021, at the age of 41 Huang Zheng wrote a letter to shareholders, officially announcing his resignation as chairman of Pinduoduo. This letter revealed two important pieces of information:
First, Pinduoduo has become the second largest player in the e-commerce industry, surpassing JD.com in terms of user size, activity and transaction volume and approaching Taobao.
The second is that after resigning, he will do what he has always wanted to do as a child and devote himself to research in the fields of food science and life sciences. At the same time, he will invest US$100 million in scientific research at his alma mater, Zhejiang University, to prepare for the future ten years later. Pinduoduo explores new space for high-speed, high-quality and in-depth development.
From a grassroots man from an ordinary family to becoming the second richest man in China with a net worth close to that of Ma Huateng, this is definitely a model of diaosi’s counterattack. What enlightenment does his life experience have on us ordinary people? Can his success be replicated?
1
How important is it to get into a good university
In 1980, Huang Zheng was born in an ordinary suburban family in Hangzhou, just like our ordinary rural areas The family is the same. He went to a very ordinary suburban primary school, but Huang Zheng's math scores were particularly good. Because he won the Mathematical Olympiad, he was admitted to Hangzhou Foreign Languages School. He originally liked mathematics, physics and chemistry and did not want to go to Hangzhou Foreign Languages School, but under the guidance of the principal After repeated persuasion, he still went to this middle school, which opened up Xiao Huangzheng's second line of Ren and Du.
In this middle school, there are many outstanding students, most of whom are the second generation of rich people or officials, and the probability of being admitted to university is 80%. Entering this middle school is equivalent to getting a recommendation to be admitted to Zhejiang University. A key.
After graduating from middle school, Huang Zheng was successfully recommended to Zhejiang University, and entered a mixed class with more resources, opportunities and freedom.
The most effective way for us ordinary people to completely change their class is to enter a good university, because in an excellent university, the perspectives you see will subvert your cognition, and the things you are exposed to in university Resources will also help your future career.
After graduating with an undergraduate degree in computer science, Huang Zheng successfully applied to study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was about to meet the person of his life.
2
On the road to success, you need noble people to guide you
Why was Huang Zheng appreciated by NetEase CEO Ding Lei, and why did Ding Lei introduce him to big names in the investment world? Duan Yongping, this fate came from an unexpected encounter on an Internet forum.
In 2001, with the advent of the Internet bubble, NetEase's stock price fell to freezing point. NetEase's boss Ding Lei urgently needed to find a breakthrough to bring NetEase out of bankruptcy. At that time, he was fortunate enough to meet Duan Yongping, who was also from Zhejiang. , the boss pointed out NetEase's weaknesses and suggested making games to build its own moat. Later, he bought 2.05 million shares of NetEase at a price of less than 1 US dollar. As NetEase's stock price soared, the boss Duan Yongping also made a lot of money. The bowl is full.
Ding Lei found a breakthrough, but technical problems also needed to be solved. As a technician, he saw Huang Zheng's technical articles on the forum, which were expected to solve his own search algorithm problems.
So Huang Zheng’s MSN was added. Huang Zheng thought he was a liar at the time, but after final confirmation, he decided to help Ding Lei solve NetEase’s technical problems.
Only by helping others solve their problems and creating value can you win the appreciation of others and be willing to build bridges and guide you.
From then on, Ding Lei felt that this young man had a formidable future. When he was in the United States, he introduced Huang Zheng to his former nobleman Duan Yongping. Unexpectedly, the two chatted very happily and became friends year after year. In 2006, Duan Yongping photographed Buffett. I also brought Huang Zheng with me for lunch.
When Huang Zheng graduated with a master’s degree, he didn’t know whether to go to Microsoft or Google for an internship? Consulted Master Duan Yongping.
The boss gave clear advice: go to Google and work for three years. Huang Zheng also followed the boss's advice. After working for half a year, Google went public. The original options that Huang Zheng had accumulated at work soared, and he achieved financial freedom by the way.
Luck is also a part of strength. Huang Zheng entered Google at the right time. After working for three years, he chose to leave his job and return to China to start a business.
3
Entrepreneurship training relies on Pinduoduo to become famous in one fell swoop
After leaving Google, he started his own business and successively founded mobile e-commerce, e-commerce agency operation and Game company.
In 2015, Huang Zheng started his own business again and established Pinduoduo using the social e-commerce platform model of supplier settlement and third-party logistics cooperation. At that time, Taobao was the dominant player in China’s e-commerce market, while JD.com was still growing wildly. However, the channel for e-commerce platforms was close to being closed, and no one took the inconspicuous Pinduoduo seriously.
Jack Ma once said: Many people lose because they cannot see, look down on, understand and are too late for emerging things.
This sentence also applies to myself. Before everyone understood why Pinduoduo could carve its way into the fiercely competitive e-commerce Red Sea market, it had already risen rapidly and it took three years. It was listed on the market within a short period of time.
Why Pinduoduo can seize food from the prosperous Taobao and JD.com is because he saw the opportunity to sink the market.
While Taobao is busy upgrading its consumption, building Tmall, producing high-quality products, and competing with JD.com, Pinduoduo is using social e-commerce to surround cities from rural areas, dividing the world with Taobao and JD.com.
He put his original idea of "turning capitalism upside down" into practice, allowing ordinary people to get better products at lower prices. He grasped the idea that even though the times are changing, things remain unchanged. It is because of people’s consumer psychology that they like high-quality products at low prices, and they succeeded in one fell swoop. With Pinduoduo, they completed their counterattack from workers to billionaires.
4
Money is a tool, not a purpose
The ancients once said: One is fate, two is luck, three is feng shui, the other is accumulation of yin virtue and five is reading
Huang Zheng once said in his public account when looking back on his middle school and university experience: He was very, very lucky to be able to enter the mixed version of Hangzhou Foreign Language University and Zhejiang University. It is a small probability event for a golden phoenix to fly out of a ravine. Some rich second generations, especially the second generation officials, are very good.
But ordinary people can counterattack through Tian Ji's horse racing method: they can create local advantages when integrating resources at a disadvantage, and then have the opportunity to win the "entire battle". From this, ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things.
When I was in elementary school, the teacher would ask a cliche question: What is your dream when you grow up?
Xiao Huangzheng answered without hesitation: I want to be a scientist.
It is no longer realistic for the 41-year-old Huang Zheng to become a scientist, but it is no problem for him to invest in scientific research and contribute to the cause of science.
So he donated US$100 million to his alma mater, Zhejiang University, to devote himself to research in the fields of food science and life sciences.
He wants to make a protein robot that can solve brain diseases in the human body. He wants to develop a kind of synthetic meat that can make people eat healthily and safely. After success, he has not forgotten his childhood dream. , now, he wants to be an ordinary person and do what he likes.
And now how many people have been ravaged by time, and the distance between dreams and reality has long been blurred.
From Huang Zheng’s case, let us understand that only by achieving ourselves first can we achieve our dreams.
May you be away for half your life and still be a young man when you return.