Robin Li talks about entrepreneurship: Once you have made up your mind, you won’t be afraid of failure!

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On October 11, Baidu founder, chairman and CEO Robin Li was a guest on CCTV's "Let's Talk" yesterday, expressing his views on studying and starting a business, and answering questions from the audience.

In response to questions about his decline in the ranking of tech figures and Baidu's market value, Robin Li said that as a high-tech, high-growth company, it is very common for its stock to go up and down. It is not so good recently, but what does not mean by not so good? It is still 160 or 170 yuan. Our true value will be reflected slowly, and short-term misunderstandings are okay. "I am a person who will do what I have decided, and I will not follow the crowd or waver. It doesn't matter what others think, what matters is what you think."

When asked whether Baidu needs to strengthen e-commerce and other aspects, Robin Li said, "No matter how many other ways to make money there are, I think they should be opportunities for others, not for myself. I think the opportunity I am looking at is big enough, and there are still many areas that need to be improved. People will benefit more in the future because of the progress of our technology, so I still hope to move forward in this direction."

Regarding the entrepreneurs who left Baidu, whether Baidu would face the embarrassing situation of "teaching the apprentice and starving the master", Robin Li said that if they want to compete with me, they will definitely not be able to compete with me, and they can only do something different from me. "To succeed in something, you must first have luck. Around 2000 was the right time to do a Chinese search engine, and it was likely to succeed." If you still want to do a Chinese search engine now, no one can succeed.

The following is the full text of Li Yanhong's speech:

I was very interested in computers very early. I remember that was in 1984, when I was in Yangquan City, Shanxi Province. My school bought a few computers. There were more than 400 students in our grade, but there were only a few Apple computers, so only a few students had the opportunity to learn how to use computers. At that time, the school used a method, which was to take an exam. Whoever had good math scores would be selected to learn computer science. At that time, I was full of confidence to learn computer science. After one year of study, our school held an exam and selected the top three. The top three were selected to participate in the National Youth Programming Competition. I remember that the team leader took the three of us to Taiyuan by train. On the train, the teacher told me that if one of the three of you could make it into the top ten in the province, my teaching would not be in vain. I said, "Teacher, don't worry, we will definitely bring honor to you." The next day we took the exam in Taiyuan. After the exam, I did one thing. I went to the Xinhua Bookstore in Taiyuan to look at the books there. I was stunned when I entered the Xinhua Bookstore because it had several bookshelves full of books about computer programming. There is also a Xinhua Bookstore in Yangquan, and I often go there to look for books. All the computer-related books I could see were the textbook I used in class.

Later, none of the three of us made it into the top ten, and I knew very well why we couldn't make it, because we were too unequal in terms of information and resources. Of course, this failure actually had a big impact on me later. I was in the first year of high school at that time. When I was in the third year of high school and had to apply for college, I actually liked computer science, but I felt that I couldn't apply for this major because I knew that too many people were in bigger cities, such as Taiyuan or even Beijing, and they had more resource advantages than us. I wondered if there was any major that could be applied to many computers, but not completely pure computer science, and could have an application field. I looked through all the relevant majors in various universities and finally found a major, which is today's Department of Information Management at Peking University. Now I think about it, this is why I was able to do Baidu later and make it so easy for people to find the information they want to find, because I had such a seed planted in my heart since I was a child, to let everyone, to let people all over China, no matter how remote you are, be able to obtain information and find what they want conveniently and equally like the professors at Peking University.

But I soon discovered that such a major had relatively few computer-related courses, and the courses were relatively shallow and easy to learn. What's worse is that this major has no corresponding major in the United States. As we all know, the United States has always been ahead in science and technology, especially in our time, the United States was far ahead of China.

If you want to learn better and better science and technology, the best way at that time was to go to the United States. But when I found that there was no corresponding major in the United States, I was at a loss. I needed to make a new decision. What should I do next? I did two things. The first thing was to hope that I could understand my field more deeply than others. As an undergraduate, I went to the library of Peking University every day to read the papers published by the most famous people on my major. The second thing was to apply for the computer major in the United States. Later, I was admitted to the computer department of the State University of New York at Buffalo. When I first arrived in the United States, I was particularly uncomfortable. On the one hand, it was very cold there, and it snowed for six months a year. The homework was very tight. For example, I didn’t learn some courses in my undergraduate studies. I didn’t understand what they were talking about in graduate courses. After listening, I was confused. After coming down, I asked the classmate next to me that I didn’t understand what Flip-Flop was. My classmate said, "You don’t even know this. This is a trigger." I said, what is a trigger? Because I didn’t learn these hardware things in my undergraduate studies.

So it was very difficult to study in ***, but I had the pressure of survival, and I wanted to earn money as soon as possible. One time, I saw a professor outside our department who was doing computer graphics and wanted to recruit an assistant graduate student, which we call RA, and he would pay me, so I wanted to give it a try. I sent my resume to him, and later he asked me to go for an interview. He asked me a few questions about computers and computer graphics. I guess I didn’t answer them well, very badly. *** He asked me a question that I still remember very clearly. He asked, “Do you have computers in China?” What does it mean? ?

He didn't mean "Do you have computers in China?" Because at that time, no Chinese could afford a computer. He asked "Do you have computers in China?" What would I say to him? I would say that I want to build a global search engine in the future. I want to make it easy for hundreds of millions of people, everyone, to find whatever they want. I want to buy a lot of computers to do this...

Thank you for your applause, but I didn’t say that at the time. I just said “yes” and then left his office silently.

More than 20 years later, I think neither the professor nor I could have imagined that today in China, the number of smartphones owned is twice that of the entire population of the United States.

The CEOs of chip manufacturers also told me when they met me, "What kind of chip do you want? I can customize it for you. What are the requirements for your computer? Just tell me and I will make it for you." When they said this, I really remembered the question that the professor asked me at that time: Do you have computers in China? Sometimes I also wonder what happened in the past 20 years, what caused these changes, and how I became the person that everyone is interested in today step by step.

Actually, I think it is nothing more than every choice in life. If you choose the right one, the world will be yours. If you choose the wrong one, it will be full of thorns. So how can we make the right choice? I think there are actually three conditions: First, the person cannot be too stupid. None of you who can sit here today is stupid, so everyone meets this condition; second, you must have a strong interest. If you want to make a correct judgment on this matter, you must be interested in it. Only when you are interested will you spend time and think deeply; third, actually the third is the most important, that is, there is a rich source of information.

After talking to that professor, I began to realize that I was not good at computer graphics, but I had my strengths. I was interested in information retrieval. I first entered Wall Street and worked on a real-time financial news retrieval system. The retrieval system used by the Wall Street Journal may still be the one I wrote at that time. Later, I realized that Wall Street was not my true home. Because Wall Street really thinks that the most valuable people are not programmers, but those who do stock trading, so I decided to go to Silicon Valley.

I joined a search engine company at that time and made up my mind: As long as I was in this company, I would make sure that this search engine would be the most used one in the world. I did apply the most advanced technology to that search engine at that time, but I had no say in many things. Because I had no say, my suggestions were not adopted. After my suggestions were not adopted one after another, I realized that one day I needed to do something that I had the final say in. This was how I decided to leave the United States at the end of 1999 and return to China to start a business. This was the opportunity for the birth of Baidu.

We went public in 2005, and this year is exactly the 10th anniversary of our listing. On August 5, when we were 10 years old, the CEO of Nasdaq sent me an email and two photos. These two photos were taken in Times Square in the United States, with "Happy 10th Listing Anniversary Baidu" written in Chinese and English in a loop. When I saw these photos, I remembered the professor's words, "Do you have computers in China?" It is like this. When you face opportunities one by one, when you face choices one by one, if you make the right choice and you are sure of it, you will not be afraid of failure, setbacks, or rejection. You will persist, not follow the trend, and not waver until you succeed.

Thanks!

The following is the question-and-answer session for the audience:

Audience question: Your ranking has dropped in the recent rankings of technology figures, and Baidu’s market value has not been very good. What do you think about this?

Robin Li: As a high-tech, high-growth company, it is very common for its stock to go up and down. Baidu has been listed for ten years. It should be said that the most severe decline in Baidu's stock was in the first six months after Baidu went public. At that time, it fell by 70%. Everyone was not optimistic about it, or did not understand it. But later our market value came back. It is not so good recently, but what is the concept of not so good? It is also 160 to 170 yuan. Slowly, our true value will be reflected. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it in the short term. My personality is to do it once I have made up my mind, not to follow the trend and not to waver. It doesn't matter what others think, what matters is what you think.

Audience question: Baidu has been making progress, but its market value has never been as high as Tencent and Alibaba, but its search technology is still relatively solid in the industry. Baidu has also tried e-commerce, but it has not been successful. I think this is an area that needs to be strengthened in your business layout?

Li Yanhong: No matter how many other ways to make money there are, I think they should be opportunities for others, not for myself. I think the opportunity I am looking at is big enough, and there are still many areas that need to be improved. People will benefit more in the future because of the progress of our technology, so I still hope to move forward in this direction.

Question from a former Baidu employee: Hello, Director. I am an entrepreneur born in the 1980s. I remember the day I resigned, I took my resignation certificate and posted a circle of friends saying, "I am leaving to pursue my dream." I left Baidu not because of the salary, not because of the platform, not because of promotion, but because I still have an unfulfilled dream in my heart.

Li Yanhong: I know that many people from Baidu have gone out to start businesses, and many of the companies they later founded have also inherited Baidu's culture, which is something I feel particularly gratified about. If someone comes from Baidu, I can tell that he or she is a Baidu person after just a few words.

Host: But there is an old Chinese saying, "Teach your apprentice and starve to death the master."

Li Yanhong: If they want to compete with me, they will definitely not be able to compete with me. They can only go out to do something different from me. To succeed in something, you must first have luck. Around 2000 was the right time to do a Chinese search engine, so the possibility of success was high. No one can succeed in making a search engine now.

A question from a former Baidu employee: I left Baidu two years ago to start my own business, and there were many hardships and difficulties. I would like to hear what advice the factory manager has for us entrepreneurs?

Li Yanhong: I can't tell you the answer, because everyone's situation is different. But I can only tell you the method. When you are faced with a choice, how do you make the right judgment? You must have a strong interest. You say you are engaged in smart hardware. Are you really interested in this thing? Can this thing be done? You need to analyze from different angles and from various sources of information to make the right judgment. Baidu is a big platform, and you can move up step by step. If you leave, the risk may be greater, but if you really succeed, the return will be very high.