English articles

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Robin offers five observations on institutional investors' time pressure. First, funds must dispose of holdings at maturity, so investors need growth to generate high returns quickly; founders may feel time differently. Second, institutional investors and unicorn startups generally want more than linear growth. Without exponential growth within a certain period, unicorn status is unlikely and returns may be limited. Third, do not rush to institutional investors while still refining the product or seeking product-market fit (PMF): they will often demand exponential growth and greater market spending instead. Fourth, time pressure is not necessarily bad. If you are building the next big thing, the opportunity window may be short, and investor capital can help establish your position before giants enter. Fifth, corporate venture capital (CVC) and evergreen funds have their own financial pressures. As the fourth point suggests, a time-constrained VC may actually be the better choice.

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Robin's late-2022 view of startup fundraising over the next one to two years: pandemic-driven remote demand and quantitative easing fueled capital markets and startup investment in 2020–2021. In 2022, the continuing Russia–Ukraine war, inflation following a decade of easy money, tightening and rate hikes in Europe and the United States, and spending shifting from electronics to offline activities battered technology stocks. Meta and Netflix fell over 70%; AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel over 60%; Zoom and C3.ai as much as 90%. Sequoia and Y Combinator warned of a funding winter. Startups must return to fundamentals: will customers pay for the product or service, rather than merely hoping VCs will? The era of burning cash for market share has passed. Be more focused and lean, and right-size the organization if necessary to weather the next one to two years. VCs assess investments over five to seven years, rather than being entirely driven by two to three years of volatility, but large portfolio write-downs create operating pressure and may require valuation adjustments. Stock declines are figures from 2022.

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Robin opens with his view that the hottest investment area of 2022 has returned to AI, especially the widely discussed topic of AI generation: the future is here. The reprinted 36Kr Shenyiju report describes a San Francisco generative-AI gathering organized by Conviction founder Sarah Guo, bringing together engineers, entrepreneurs, and financiers, including Hugging Face's CEO. Stability AI announced $101 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation; Jasper raised $125 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. Microsoft's Copilot and OpenAI's GPT-3 and DALL-E 2 fueled the excitement, with even Sergey Brin appearing at a related gathering. Investor Nathan Benaich observed considerable FOMO. Legal questions were emerging too: the boundaries of fair use for training models on copyrighted data were expected to be tested in court. Valuations and funding amounts are figures from 2022.

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Robin opens with points he has often made: practice continually, raise money while you still have money, and approach your most desired VCs later. The excerpt from Build explains how to get noticed through a compelling story and an understanding of your audience. Most Silicon Valley VCs are not technical, so focus less on technology and more on why. A 15-slide pitch must appeal to reason and emotion; that art takes practice. Do not begin with top-tier VCs, who share information. Start with friendly investors who will give feedback. Allow three to five months for fundraising, begin before you need money, and avoid desperate financing when cash runs out. Remember vacations in August, Lunar New Year, and Thanksgiving through New Year. The checklist: no games; listen to feedback while holding to your vision; specify the amount, use of funds, and milestones; link valuation to milestones; build a data room; confront risks; seek two equally influential investors to balance each other; and, as in chess, think two moves ahead.

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Robin opens by urging founders to think things through and prepare before fundraising. From Series A onward, VC capital demands rapid scaling and exponential growth, not leisurely product refinement and product-market-fit validation. VC has a sense of urgency. Ideally, everything is ready and only the east wind is missing; money is that wind. If nothing else is ready, do not rush to summon it—it could blow you over. The excerpt from Build asks what the money is for and the minimum needed. Your business may not suit VC. Large VCs are surprisingly risk-averse, scrutinize growth, signups, and cancellations, and answer to LPs. Alternatives include niche or regional VCs, angels, and corporate investment arms. A deal is about the person in the room who will become your director. Once you accept the money, you are tied to that investor: VCs can combine to fire founders, but founders cannot fire investors. Ask founders who have weathered difficult times with the partner what they are really like.

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This excerpt from the Chinese edition of The Power Law, translated by Professor Xuan Tian, describes VC as a bridge between dreams and reality, once called humanity's last hope by The Wall Street Journal. VCs find promising seeds among imaginative ideas, nurture them, and eventually hand them to more suitable owners before stepping back. The industry's pioneers, uncertainty, decline, and renewal intertwine with new challengers. Yet hidden corners remain: growth-driven governance failures and scandals at Uber, WeWork, Theranos, and FTX warn that our understanding is incomplete. Robin adds two comments. Taiwan's VC engine has stalled somewhat, but he is confident it can restart and accelerate to make up for more than a decade of stagnation. VC carries dreams: its few celebrated successes imply many failures, yet losses must not extinguish confidence or hope. Bruised investors carry on, learning from bad investments and missed opportunities. He closes by adapting a line from The Three-Body Problem, described as essential reading in China's VC community: “We will give civilization to time, rather than time to civilization.”

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An excerpt from The Power Law recounts Masayoshi Son's 2017 visit to WeWork. Arriving an hour and a half late, he offered only 12 minutes. After a tour, he invited Adam Neumann into his car. Their 28-minute interaction produced a proposed $4.4 billion SoftBank investment at a $20 billion valuation—more than fellow shareholder Benchmark Capital had raised in its entire 22-year history. Son's capital encouraged Neumann's hubris and global expansion, but also opened an exit window: T. Rowe Price sold as much as it could, while Benchmark sold about 20% of its holding and locked in a 15-fold return on its original investment. Robin adds six observations: Neumann's reality distortion field merits watching; after his downfall he soon secured backing from top Silicon Valley VC A16 for a new venture; a pitch's length matters less than winning attention and more time; effortless fundraising can hurt both sides, while constraints stimulate creativity; basic investment principles must be remembered; and the era of cash-fueled expansion may have ended with the Vision Fund's decline.

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Robin opens with the image of chained ships at the Battle of Red Cliffs: when one catches fire, the flames quickly spread across the fleet. Banks holding or issuing AT1 bonds immediately plunged. The reprinted Bloomberg Q&A describes roughly CHF 16 billion ($17.3 billion) of Credit Suisse AT1 bonds becoming worthless. Contingent convertible bonds, or CoCos, emerged after the European debt crisis as banks' lowest-ranking debt: high-yielding in good times but first in the path of a banking “tsunami.” As UBS acquired Credit Suisse in a government-brokered deal, FINMA said extraordinary state support would trigger a complete AT1 write-down. Investors were furious because shareholders ordinarily absorb losses first, yet Credit Suisse shareholders would receive CHF 3 billion while AT1 holders were wiped out. The departure from capital-structure seniority conventions dealt a blow to the $275 billion AT1 market, where average prices were just 82% of face value, among the deepest discounts on record. This is the context of the March 2023 Credit Suisse event.

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These notes argue that VCs should invest in the next big thing and next-generation products. Investing ahead of the curve creates a chance for monopoly, high market share, and uniqueness; a business generating current profits and regular dividends does not fit the VC mindset as well. Consumer businesses often have simpler models, can reach profitability quickly, and have near-zero marginal costs for advertising. B2B involves sales, presales, after-sales support, consulting, and implementation; each dollar of revenue carries meaningful marginal costs, and low initial gross margins are difficult to improve. Investors should examine net dollar retention (NDR) and customer acquisition costs. SaaS margins of 70–80% are presented as evidence of switching costs and uniqueness; customized-service businesses earn 20–30% because customers will switch if margins go higher. The notes cite Buffett's three elements—a good business, a good team, and a good price—with the business first. Robin concludes: invest in the future, monitor NDR, acquisition costs and lifetime value, and seek product businesses with high margins, reflecting competitiveness and switching costs.

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Robin proposes a hypothetical: you are a retired corporate executive who worked for 40 years and saved 100 million dollars, then became a startup adviser and angel investor. A sincere founding team puts in 1 million, while an angel club contributes 10 million. Each side holds 50% and receives 100,000 shares. Angels pay a premium nine times the team's cost, at 100 dollars per share. The same 100 dollars could buy a liquid stock such as 91APP in the secondary market, be sold for emergency cash, and perhaps still deliver a good return multiple over ten years. How would you invest? Robin adds that fundraising should follow a sequence. Do not necessarily raise externally so early; first build the minimum viable product (MVP) and refine it. Seeking a high valuation without results may bring repeated disappointment and complaints about an unfriendly environment. These figures are hypothetical; 91APP is a comparison, not a recommendation or assessment, and this is not investment advice.

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This book excerpt discusses fundraising practice: planning cash runway, addressing major risks before raising, interpreting investor interest through feedback, building fundraising momentum, and preparing alternatives. Robin's brief recommendation is to consult an experienced investor.

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According to reports at the time in 2020, €1.9 billion in cash on Wirecard's books could not be confirmed, and two Philippine banks denied holding the money. On June 22, 2020, the company said the cash probably did not exist. It filed for insolvency proceedings on June 25, becoming the first DAX constituent to do so. Passages in the original post match UDN Global's Zhuanjiao Shuo report of July 4, 2020. This page records contemporary news, not the latest developments in the case.

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Robin surveys routes to a US listing: besides a traditional IPO, there is direct listing. Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) were popular again in 2020, with examples including electric-truck company Nikola and Virgin Galactic, and he saw potential opportunities worth studying. He also offers a practical reminder: if annual earnings are below $5 million, set aside thoughts of a US listing for now. Underwriting, accounting, and other fees together start at $5 million.

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Bezos's 2017 shareholder letter opens the discussion: customers are never satisfied, and today's “wow” soon becomes tomorrow's routine. Focus on customers rather than competitors. Robin connects this with personal experience. After Xiaoshu Pharmacy's IPO, people asked about its operations and listing process, hoping to follow. Yet it became a public issuer in late ROC year 103 (2014) and listed on the OTC market in March ROC year 105 (2016), giving it a six-year head start after listing; pre-IPO preparation took another two to three years. Before joining the crowd because someone else is doing well, consider the time required and the gap to close. His conclusion: think carefully before trying to overtake others on the same track. Rather than trying to be better, create different value.

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Robin argues that material information announcements on the Market Observation Post System should be factual and restrained. If a company wants to celebrate how wonderful it is, he suggests buying media space: Taiwanese readers and investors cannot distinguish a journalist's reporting from a company's promotional copy, and media outlets need advertising budgets to survive. Announcements on the exchange-supervised disclosure platform, however, must take the regulator's approach and standards into account. In the example, passive-component manufacturer YAGEO issued a September 26 announcement titled “YAGEO Group AI Summit Concludes Successfully, with Every Seat Filled.” On October 7, the Taiwan Stock Exchange imposed an NT$200,000 contractual penalty because material information announcements must not contain advertising-like statements. It reiterated that such disclosures must not provide unconfirmed information, expound management philosophy, or serve as an advertising platform.

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Drawing on The Great Game, this note describes Wall Street as both a foundation for and a driver of America's transformation and prosperity. It financed the Civil War, supported westward development, helped build a nationwide railroad network, and fueled the first major expansion of heavy industry. During the two world wars it became a global financial center; afterward, it helped incubate at least two new economic transformations, in automobiles and the internet. Adam Smith's “invisible hand” is the thread: securities dealers pursued their own interests while also providing a reliable mechanism to supply industrialization with working capital. Robin's opening argument is that Taiwan must not casually weaken or marginalize its capital markets. The most open capital markets support the strongest environment for innovation and entrepreneurship.

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As Appier's Japanese listing drew praise, Robin urged readers not to overlook the significance of another case: 91APP chose to list in Taiwan. He called for appreciation of this opportunity to set an example. A homegrown SaaS company's listing in Taiwan can influence more than its own share price; it can support digital transformation, the startup environment, and investors' understanding of the software industry. Capital markets need success stories to build confidence, and confidence takes time and accumulated examples. This is a short commentary from April 2021. The IPO valuation and events described at the time have not been externally verified and do not constitute investment advice.

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Commenting on 91APP's IPO, Robin notes its post-listing market capitalization of about US$1 billion. Although that differs from the definition of an unlisted unicorn, he emphasizes another significance: by choosing to list in Taiwan, 91APP set an example for the transformation of Taiwanese SaaS businesses and for the capital markets. Software companies have long lacked success stories in Taiwan's capital markets. Every company willing to stay and establish itself opens a path for those that follow. He uses the example to encourage startups to grow through difficult challenges. The market capitalization and assessment reflect June 2021; its value as an example is not a guarantee of current valuation or returns.

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Entrepreneurship brings difficult problems with no clear path; considering only your own preferences will never untangle them. One useful approach is to build an “inner board of directors”: imagine people with different perspectives sitting in your mind, and examine the problem from their viewpoints. A Shi, who leads Dedao's Listen to a Book Every Day team, imagines six decision-makers: a current paying user, a user ten years from now, an ordinary person without specialist knowledge who has a tribune's veto, a producer, a publisher, and an author. Another approach is to ask versions of yourself in different circumstances: if you had nothing, if you were leaving tomorrow, or if your future self ten years from now were beside you, what would you choose? Robin adds that this resembles Amazon's empty chair representing the customer in meetings.

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The reprinted article explains a listing as discounting a company's expected future profits into its present market capitalization. Once shares have a public price, equity itself becomes acquisition “currency.” Focus Media listed in the US first in 2005, then acquired Target Media six months later with cash and newly issued shares: listing first and acquiring a rival with equity created an overwhelming advantage. Tudou missed its window after its founder's shares were frozen. When it listed in 2011, its market value was less than a quarter of Youku's, and it was eventually acquired, even though the revenue gap between them was under 50%. Timing was critical. Robin closes with his frequent argument that people in the internet world remember only the leader, so companies must use capital effectively to secure first place. This is his strongly held personal view.

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On Gogoro's planned US listing through a SPAC, Robin compares it to Chien-Ming Wang and Chin-Feng Chen challenging Major League Baseball: top talent wants to compete on the world stage, and Taiwan should wish them well. He also raises three sets of questions. Are Taiwan's capital markets ready for companies with large accumulated losses, low equity, or even negative equity? Companies understandably choose the listing venue that suits them best; raising more money abroad to develop in Taiwan can be positive. And maintaining visibility in US markets requires a sufficiently large investment theme, a top-three position in a regional market, and sustained rapid growth. His concerns about Gogoro include the potential of electric scooters, revenue concentrated in Taiwan, limited international visibility, and slowing growth. The financial figures are hypothetical scenarios based on market rumors in 2021, not actual financial statements.

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Robin considers why people start businesses: earning a living and supporting a family, realizing a dream, pursuing an interest or passion, or changing the world. Goals differ. Some founders aim to exit through an acquisition; others want to run a lasting enterprise. Neither is right or wrong, but founders need a clear understanding of their venture and agreement with their partners. He emphasizes that capital markets are not a cash-out tool. They provide the provisions and ammunition to pursue an ambition and build a company that changes the world; a business run solely to cash out cannot achieve that. Nor does every venture need financing, unicorn status, or a place in capital markets. Some can stay small and be excellent, carefully crafted businesses. Do not let the outside environment dictate your choices. Not every venture must serve VCs or meet their expectations.

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Robin believes Luckin Coffee's business journey deserves books by management thinkers. First, it took only 18 months from founding to a US listing. Second, exposure of financial fraud gave it the record for the fastest delisting of a Chinese company. Third, it began closing stores and cutting staff while facing enormous litigation from the US SEC and investors; everyone thought it was nearly finished. Fourth, after changes in senior management, it found turnaround strategies, including its hit coconut latte, and seemed to regain its footing. From capital-market darling to fraud case to comeback, the story spans almost every corporate-governance lesson. The “comeback” is an interim observation from September 2022, not a final verdict.

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Robin observes that Taiwan had about 970 TWSE-listed companies, more than 800 TPEx-listed companies, and 300 Emerging Stock Board companies. Excluding other public issuers, these markets together had over 2,000 companies, with another 40–50 applying for TWSE or TPEx listings each year. His point is that Taiwan's overall capital market is not particularly large, and most trading is concentrated in large index heavyweights. New companies without distinctive qualities may be ignored just months after listing. The conclusion is the same as for startups: develop clear, differentiated advantages and ideally ride a visibly rising trajectory, rather than peaking in the listing year and deteriorating afterward. The company counts reflect October 2022.

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Using Perfect's prospectus, Robin explains why a company using an overseas fundraising structure can have negative shareholders' equity. After the original shareholders, each financing round involves preferred shares, which are classified as liabilities under IFRS because of their special terms. Before listing, Perfect had US$93.83 million in assets and US$252 million in liabilities, including US$231 million of liability-classified preferred shares. At the closing share price at the time, it was at unicorn scale. First-half 2022 revenue was US$23.38 million, with an 86% gross margin. Estimating full-year revenue at about US$50 million against a US$1.3 billion market capitalization gives a price-to-sales ratio of about 26. Listing expenses alone reached US$48.66 million, about NT$1.5 billion. These figures reflect the 2022 prospectus; the sales multiple is Robin's estimate.

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Robin compares the markets: the Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Market listed its first 25 companies in July 2019 and reached 500 in just over three years, raising RMB759.4 billion through IPOs with a total market capitalization approaching RMB6 trillion. Taiwan's Taipei Exchange had 808 listed companies worth NT$4.428 trillion, making STAR about 5.8 times larger by market value. STAR attracts hard-tech companies and supports investment in early-stage, small, technology-focused businesses. Nearly 90% of its companies had private-equity or venture-capital backing before listing. Market capitalization plus revenue can qualify a company without profitability; investors need two years of experience and at least RMB500,000 in their securities accounts. Robin hopes that after three to five years of development, Taiwan's Innovation Board can reach one-tenth of STAR's scale and significantly advance innovation investment in Taiwan. Figures reflect year-end 2022.

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Facing an egg shortage, Robin offers a policy view. Extreme weather and avian influenza reduce laying rates, but structural problems include poor conditions at traditional poultry farms, an guaranteed off-take system that provides little incentive to upgrade, and aging smallholders unable to scale. His proposed response is policy support for automation, branding, and improved henhouses. Personally, he favors allowing large egg farms to conduct IPOs, raising capital for upgrades and expansion that can reduce environmental and disease risks. It is a concrete application of using capital markets to address industry problems. This is a personal policy commentary from January 2023.

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This reprint from Hulianwang Jinhua Shi recounts Netscape's August 9, 1995 IPO. The offer price rose at the last minute from US$14 to US$28. Demand was so strong that trading could not begin at 9:30; Charles Schwab even added a phone message saying, “If you are interested in Netscape's IPO, press 1.” The first trade, around 11 a.m., was at US$71, and the stock closed at US$58.25. A company only 16 months old, with US$17 million in revenue and no retained earnings, ended its first trading day worth US$2.1 billion. The Wall Street Journal said General Dynamics took 43 years to reach US$2.7 billion, while Netscape took about a minute. Barefoot on Time's cover, 24-year-old Marc Andreessen became a starting point for Silicon Valley dreams. Historical figures follow the reprinted source; original records have not been checked.

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An excerpt from Tony Fadell's Build identifies three kinds of board failure. An indifferent board sees obvious CEO problems but avoids solving them because that would create too much work. A dictatorial board intervenes and controls so much that the CEO becomes like a chief operating officer, responsible only for execution. An inexperienced board does not understand the business or ask incisive questions; its companies are always short of cash, and it blames the market. Yet companies still need boards even when they are imperfect. Even the best CEO cannot act unilaterally: everyone needs accountability and a pressure-release valve. A CEO who gets this right can shape the board; the board under Jobs differed from the one under Cook. Robin recommends seeking directors with expertise you can consult and proactively asking for guidance suited to each stage.

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An excerpt from Tony Fadell's Build argues that the best board members are mentors first, giving as much as they take. It identifies four useful kinds of directors: well-connected mentors who have done it before and can recommend talent, such as Nest's Randy Komisar; suitable investors who understand the hardships of building a business and whom you would want to have dinner with; operators who have been CEOs and can explain operational realities when investors criticize; and specialists, such as the Gap CEO Apple recruited when entering retail. Incentives involve more than stock. Bezos even advises against joining other people's boards. Robin closes with a personal observation: average director compensation at Taiwan's listed companies is painfully low. This is a subjective impression without supporting data.

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Robin reviews a landmark acquisition: cloud data company Databricks announced a US$1.3 billion acquisition of MosaicML, an AI startup less than three years old. Founded in 2021 with just 62 employees, MosaicML had disclosed only one financing round, at a US$220 million valuation; the acquisition represented a sixfold jump. Founded by a group of former Intel executives, its team enables enterprises to train and deploy AI models in secure environments. Automated training optimization promises training speeds two to seven times those of traditional methods. Databricks plans to combine its Lakehouse platform with MosaicML so enterprises can train generative AI on proprietary data at low cost. Robin's judgment: technology giants' acquisitions of generative AI startups are only beginning. Figures reflect company statements from June 2023.

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Robin starts with the documentary Monopoly, whose conspiracy-theory elements he personally dislikes, then turns to a corporate-governance observation: looking after investors helps protect management control. Professional managers with small ownership stakes can still have secure positions if they manage foreign-investor and broader investor relations well. Can major shareholders, including foreign and institutional investors, exert influence even without voting rights? In his understanding, voting rights bring influence, but buying and selling shares can also create influence without votes. If Buffett invites Coca-Cola's CEO to dinner, it is easy to imagine the invitation being difficult to decline. Such influence accumulates little by little.

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Robin reviews Nintendo's April–June 2023 results. Even near the end of the Switch's product cycle, quarterly hardware sales reached 3.9 million units, up year over year, helped by The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom selling 18.51 million copies in under two months. The Super Mario Bros. Movie also generated US$1.357 billion in worldwide box office from a US$100 million budget. In simple terms, hit games lift hardware sales, while movies reconnect adults and introduce children to the intellectual property. His added market-value comparison is striking: Nintendo at ¥8 trillion, Sony at ¥16.36 trillion, and Panasonic at ¥4.03 trillion. Panasonic was worth only half as much as Nintendo. Times really are changing. Market values reflect August 2023.

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Robin explains a common puzzle: why do many offshore companies have negative equity? A startup's Series A, B, C, and subsequent financings involve preferred shares because of their investment terms. Even when they are not redeemable, anti-dilution provisions, liquidation preferences, and other special terms can cause future share counts to change. Under IFRS accounting principles, accountants classify these preferred shares as liabilities rather than equity. For a Taiwan listing, the company converts all previously issued preferred shares into common shares at once. The amount moves from liabilities to equity, turning equity positive. He also recommends consulting a professional accountant for the details.

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Robin's personal assessment of Gogoro's (GGR) third-quarter 2023 results: battery-swapping revenue rises as the electric-scooter fleet grows, and should have a relatively high gross margin. The quarterly loss narrowed to US$3 million, while operating cash inflow for the first nine months was US$31.5 million. However, revenue declined 10% year over year, gross margin was flat, and 95% of revenue came from Taiwan, making overseas expansion the biggest concern. Short- and long-term borrowings totaled about US$300 million. If lender concerns constrain refinancing, the company would need alternatives such as a cash equity offering to strengthen its finances, although the share price at the time made that awkward. This is a personal view from November 2023. Financial figures should be checked against official announcements; it is not investment advice.

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This reprint presents Alibaba's management philosophy of empowerment: the higher someone's position, the more their success depends on helping direct reports succeed first. Management means achieving results through others. It requires the generosity to give up the stage, the ability to build a stage for others, and restraint over the desire to monopolize it. Managers should play three roles. As a resource hub, coordinate resources inside and outside the company, supporting funding requests and introductions. As a coach—potentially more important than a mentor—roll up your sleeves, help, identify potential, and act as a mirror revealing blind spots. As an adviser, quickly identify the variables in a reported situation, rank and assess them, and offer sound judgment at critical junctures. Throughout, make clear that direct reports retain primary responsibility, so they develop accountability and grow.

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This reprinted article, with an original WeChat link, considers self-development for startup CEOs. Team, product, sales, and cash flow always seem to come first, while personal growth comes last. Yet reflection accelerates learning, and entrepreneurs cannot afford inefficient learning. The article offers three levels of daily reflection. “It” covers today's tasks, goals, achievements, and tomorrow's plans and schedule. “We” concerns the quality of relationships: did each interaction give others knowledge, energy, goodwill, or understanding? “I” concerns your daily state and attitude, and how you manage energy and emotions. The self is the foundation of leadership; if exhausted, you cannot help others. Startup executives often overemphasize “It” at the expense of “We” and “I.” Burnout means more than feeling tired: it erodes creative thinking. The proposed change is to do fewer things, but do them exceptionally well.

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This reprint of Wu Bofan's weekly business commentary examines Amazon. There are no ready answers about the future: users do not state them directly, and only extraordinary attention reveals signs of latent needs. The depth of your understanding of needs determines how far your product can reach. In 26 years, Amazon experienced more than ten major failures and billions of dollars in direct losses, but its apparent hesitation was really iteration. Bezos emphasizes repeatedly taking detours through nonfatal failures to approach success. Capabilities accumulated through hardware failures later combined with new needs to underpin Alexa and its voice platform. Everyone understands “fear standing still, not moving slowly,” but without supporting culture and processes, principles become slogans. The article uses Parkinson's Law to explain organizational entropy: more people require more coordination, consuming resources without creating value. Bezos's Day One approach puts as many people as possible directly in front of customers, solving concrete problems with the obsession of the company's first day.

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Based on a Dedao book-listening program, the original post summarizes executives' circumstances in Peter F. Drucker's The Effective Executive: others easily consume their time; daily operations keep them busy; their results matter only when others use them; and an inward organizational focus can obscure the outside world. These four points can be compared with “Executive Realities” in the publisher's preview. Executives should consciously learn effectiveness. The post extends “executive” to “entrepreneur” and emphasizes contribution rather than appearing busy. The Dedao speaker, installment, and Chinese retelling version remain unconfirmed. This is not an official Chinese translation authenticated by this site.

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These excerpts from Greg McKeown's Essentialism argue for doing only what most deserves doing, making “less, but better” an inviolable rule. The contrast with nonessentialism makes the idea clear: nonessentialists treat everything as important, indiscriminately pursue more, and become exhausted; essentialists recognize that few things matter, pursue less with discipline, and retain control. For life and work, it resembles organizing a closet. It is not an occasional trim of the task list, but purposeful, strategic elimination of the nonessential, including some good opportunities. Why is it hard? Success creates more opportunities and distractions, undermining the original focus. Social trends also favor nonessentialism: exponentially growing choices produce decision fatigue, information overload disrupts thinking, and the promise that “you can have it all” misleads. Three pillars support essentialist thinking: choice is a power; discernment separates the vital few from noise; and there are trade-offs rather than perfect solutions. The closet metaphor also illustrates three practical steps. Explore: ask not whether something is useful but whether it contributes most to your goal. Eliminate: ask what you would pay for it if you did not already own it. Execute: create concrete mechanisms for regular clearing and apply the rule at every decision.