Wang Qiang's Talk at the ZhenFund Training Camp

Source and verification limitations (2026-11-02): This is an excerpt from a talk by Wang Qiang at a ZhenFund training camp; the source includes information about the institution's activities and resources. Statements such as “there is no failure in Silicon Valley” and “complete information” are rhetorical expressions and opinions, not empirical laws. Retaining the original text does not establish their universal applicability. Sources and reference links (see the explanation above for the scope of verification): https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/HrdqzpGM9QCvWwis7cA9cg ---- Entrepreneurship is a long, arduous struggle. It requires you to forget everything and begin in the present. Founders therefore need an exceptionally long time horizon: the ability to step beyond current reality, see much further into the future, and dare to start acting now. ---- Whether you can succeed as an entrepreneur depends on whether you dare to take the first step. · Entrepreneurship has become “flat”: with the spread of the internet and the global flow of capital, entrepreneurship has become “flat” wherever you are in the world. This “flatness” means that information is fully connected. All you need to do is boldly take that first entrepreneurial step when information flows freely and the market is very clear. This is a necessary condition for ultimate success. · Entrepreneurial success and failure are both by-products of successfully taking the first step. Failure after you start a business is only temporary failure. In Silicon Valley, there is no such word as “failure,” only the idea of “not having succeeded yet.” · Your original purpose needs adjustment. Early on, it may be hasty or unclear. You can keep your venture alive only by continually changing that original purpose, because a true original purpose is about arriving, not departing. · The entrepreneurial journey from departure to arrival involves constant detours. Along the way, you must keep getting out of the car and adjusting your GPS. At intervals, you must rest at a way station, or readjust your products and services, or even your entire original purpose. In the end, you will discover: so this is how my dream was finally realized. ---- As the head of a company, a founder needs to understand perspectives on time. · Understand this era's perspective on time. People's perspectives on time are an important dimension in constructing their worldview. A worldview capable of accomplishing everything and encompassing all of human nature grows ever more expansive. · Step beyond current reality. As the leader, you must step beyond current reality and look both to the past and to the future. Everyone is looking only at the present, which is an increasingly narrow approach. · Get clear about your dream. If your thinking is not clear, deep, or long-term enough, and your determination is not firm, you will struggle to move yourself forward, let alone attract a group of like-minded people. At the moment you set out, you must be able to articulate your dream clearly. Others must be able to see the future you want to create and, at the same time, be willing to put everything aside to join you in pursuing this rare opportunity in life. ----- Seize the opportunity to pursue your dream and connect it with the business world. · The ZhenFund “planet” brings together people in science and technology who are talented, forward-looking, independent in their thinking, and passionate about entrepreneurship. Becoming an entrepreneur means effectively grafting the scientist's genes onto another set of genes, connecting a technological perspective with the business world. If a scientist cannot develop an entrepreneur's mind as well, their science will remain in the laboratory forever. Their technology will never be commercialized. · Successful founders in technology share a characteristic: they have gone through the painful process of moving from unconscious to conscious awareness, transforming from a scientist into a “scientist + entrepreneur,” and growing into maturity. · Opportunities always exist. Avoid letting temporary, localized conjecture shape your choices and actions. If your dream works for the market and is useful to it, it is worth a try. Have firm faith that the sea of a community with a shared future for humanity will one day become an unbroken expanse. When the waves have all disappeared, a magnificent scene will still rise above the horizon. · Do not let anything obstruct the true essence of action. Shed every psychological burden. Do not let external bubbles or imaginings block real action, because only action can give you the answer. Especially when the world is turbulent, unpredictable, and full of black swan events, the ability to make a firm choice means that you have reached maturity in life. · Valuation is relatively subjective. Valuation may look objective on the surface, but in practice it is subsequently driven by subjective judgments. Founders must not quibble over their initial valuation, nor think too highly of themselves. Every future financing round is, in fact, a dilution of the value you will ultimately realize. Instead, understand financing as a means of helping you reach intermediate goals. ---- Forget everything. Act now. · Reasoning from first principles means repeatedly asking: what is the ultimate cause of something's existence? What is its initial cause? What is the ultimate driving force? What is the fundamental cause of its formation? It is, in fact, the simplest thing, and something founders must learn. What is the first principle of entrepreneurship? Action, starting this moment. · First principles are often correct but non-consensus. First, they must be correct: in other words, they are the most fundamental and foundational things. But precisely because they are so fundamental, many people struggle to see through to them. People therefore often choose what they can readily see through. By the time you penetrate deeper, the leading companies in the market may wipe out your original time or technological advantage in an instant. So when you truly see through to that final point, you are in territory where others do not share your view. · Entrepreneurship requires an endgame mindset. Only when you see the ultimate “change” and place that change within today's seemingly “unchanging” situation can you remain calm when change arrives. Then you can truly pause, remain steady, and grasp the “correct but non-consensus” path you hoped to reach when you set out. · Everyone in this world knows what they should do, but only truly intelligent and wise people know what they should not do. So if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, first unlearn everything, shed your past glory, and learn anew about the market and technology. Only then might you find a breakthrough. ---- Use our experience, capital, and all the resources in our ecosystem to help technological talent turn dreams into reality, working together to reshape humanity's future. To change the future, dare to experiment, step beyond the confines of the era, seize opportunities, and begin now. Original: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/HrdqzpGM9QCvWwis7cA9cg