"I am the Founder" interprets the entrepreneurial version of ice and fire: Which is more likely to create wealth, high IQ or high EQ

We are experiencing the largest entrepreneurial boom in human history. Data shows that in 2015, an average of 11,600 new companies were registered in China every day, with an average of 8 companies being born every minute.

With the participation of some Internet celebrities such as Papi Jiang and Ma Jiajia, the word "entrepreneurship" has become more fashionable. However, at a time when reality shows are everywhere on the screen, entrepreneurial reality shows are still rare. "I am the Founder", jointly created by Tencent Innovation Space and Zhejiang Satellite TV, has become the world's first reality show to show the intergenerational struggle of founders.

The two generations of powerful guest lineup, the teaching-learning competition system, 11 real and cruel entrepreneurial tasks, and the real-time interaction across the Internet and TV are unique among many reality shows. In the show, Dong Mingzhu, Wang Xiaochuan, Ren Quan, Zhang Liang and Wang Kai form the front wave team to return to the original intention of entrepreneurship, while 15 new founders form the back wave team to compete fiercely for the championship award provided by Tencent Maker Space, Hainan Ecological Software Park and Tencent Social Advertising.

Six key words to read "I am the Founder"

Founder of the Front Wave Team: Pattern, Vision, and Integrity

In his sharing, Lin Songtao, vice president of Tencent and producer of the program, summarized his views on founders: pattern, vision, ethics, innovation, responsibility, and growth.

In the first episode of "I am a Founder", the new founders of the back wave team are more concerned about the results of the competition, while the successful entrepreneurs of the front wave team are conscientious and perform their duties. Sogou CEO Wang Xiaochuan smiled and "passed the towel"; Star VC co-founder Ren Quan served as the "order taker" and learned "squeezing shrimp paste" on the spot; Kaishu Storytelling founder Wang Kai served as the "receptionist". The front wave team is united and cooperative, respects their positions, and can not only manage large enterprises with tens of thousands of people, but also do every ordinary job well, showing the pattern of a big entrepreneur.

During the competition, Wang Xiaochuan calmly faced the criticism from the overbearing female president Dong Mingzhu that he was "not a clear-headed captain". Zhang Liang, chairman of Luzhou Laojiao, put customer value first and did not hesitate to "serve the dishes" for his competitors. Dong Mingzhu gave up winning or losing and insisted on the market pricing principle, conveying to the public the vision and integrity of a senior entrepreneur.

The Houlang team: innovation, responsibility, and growth

Although they are not as experienced as big entrepreneurs, the Houlang team also showed their vitality. In the second episode of the program, when the Houlang team was lagging behind, Wei Zhicheng, the founder of Friends Impression, proposed the "ring game" to drive the sales of physical products with value-added services. The new generation of founders is more innovative and good at adapting to adversity; the three captains of the Houlang team: Xu Dandan of Lagou.com, Li Haichuan of Amy Reading, and Yan Yan of Tiaotiao, reflected the unique responsibility and rapid growth of the new generation of founders with practical actions.

What do the entrepreneurial leaders think?

The current entrepreneurial group includes not only those born in the 1970s and 1980s, but also those born in the 1990s and 2000s. Especially those born in the 1990s and 2000s, they can be said to be the natural "first generation of entrepreneurs". They were born in the Internet age, have independent personalities, are adventurous, have high education levels, and are more receptive to new things.

However, the low threshold for starting a business does not mean that everyone can succeed. Statistics show that the failure rate of Chinese start-ups is about 80%, the average life span of a business is less than 3 years, and the failure rate of college students' start-ups is as high as 95%.

Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric Appliances, said, "Whether you are against young people starting businesses or support them, in the end, it is their choice that is most important. However, every entrepreneur should be prepared for failure in order to truly start a good business. If we think everything is perfect and we can succeed as soon as we do it, we may fail the most miserably. I think entrepreneurship itself is a process of tempering for people."

When talking about the qualities required for entrepreneurship, all the seniors present attached great importance to the factor of "emotional intelligence", believing that the founder's emotional intelligence directly affects the success of the business.

Ren Quan, founder of StarVC, believes that "today we are discussing emotional intelligence because of many factors, but I personally think that young people, in particular, have both advantages and disadvantages. Those who can succeed really care about the feelings of others, the feelings of their employees, and the feelings of their partners. Among the projects I have invested in, there are really many people with high emotional intelligence who succeed very quickly. When it is really difficult to communicate with them, their business development will have problems. Many of those successful capabilities and technical models cannot be helped by others, but I think this aspect of emotional intelligence can be strengthened."

At present, the domestic entrepreneurial atmosphere is actually too impatient. Entrepreneurs are basically the best among their peers, and the difference in IQ is not particularly obvious, but some people are greedy and greedy, and their character flaws cause mistakes in the entrepreneurial process. However, in European countries such as Germany and Switzerland, there are many small companies that are very focused on doing small things, such as a certain part of a watch that can be the best in the world. Entrepreneurship does not necessarily have to take IPO as the ultimate goal. In fact, doing something to the extreme is success, and it also hones the entrepreneur's personal will and judgment of things.

Starting a business is painful and joyful. Founders are tempered and grow in a difficult environment that is half iceberg and half fire, but they regard sacrifice as their own happiness. The program "I am the Founder" not only hopes to show the audience the courage, hard work and intelligence of the founders, but also hopes that more forces in society will care about founders, because they are the backbone of this society.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.