Xue Cunhe's investment team was tasked by the headquarters to conduct due diligence on Alibaba.

It was this time that Xue Cunhe was able to officially meet Lao Ma. After returning from the investigation, he submitted a report to the headquarters of SoftBank in Japan, in which Xue strongly suggested that if SoftBank wants to invest in the domestic Internet industry, the first choice is the e-commerce industry, and if you choose e-commerce, you will only invest in Alibaba.

It was Xue Cunhe's report, and his full support, that changed Alibaba's fate!

Without SoftBank's $20 million investment, it's hard to say what Alibaba's future would look like, and perhaps Taobao wouldn't have been born......

You must know that Alibaba at that time was not the Ali empire in the future!

At that time, the Internet environment was not very good, and in the cold winter, Internet companies of all sizes were struggling to survive and could go bankrupt at any time.

At that time, there were four major B2B e-commerce companies in China: MeetChina, 8848, Sparkice, and Alibaba.

In fact, before Son's trip to China, by chance, Sparkice founder Zeng Qiang had already met Son in Japan, and Sun promised him that SoftBank would invest in Sparkice.

Alibaba is clearly just a runner.

In the venture capital industry, when choosing an investment direction, there has always been a saying of "gambling players" and "betting on the track".

Xue Cunhe's point of view is that only one company of the same type will be invested, and if there is really a difference, it will be another matter.

How to discover entrepreneurs from high-growth, high-tech and potential industries? Xue Cunhe said that in the final analysis, it was human beings, and from many possible companies, they were only willing to support Alibaba, and there was only one reason: Ma Yun and his team were more reliable and credible, and Zeng Qiang, the person in charge of another project at that time, was "too capable of blowing."

With the support of Xue Cunhe and several other domestic investors, Sun stopped his previous investment cooperation with another Internet company, and in January 2000, more than two months after the "6 minutes" statement, Sun invited Ma Yun to Japan and directly proposed his decision to invest in Alibaba.

In 2000 and 2003, SoftBank China Fund invested a total of US$23 million in Alibaba and Taobao.com, and as the largest investor in the early days, it not only proved the sharp vision of the earliest discoverer, but also allowed SoftBank to reap a high return of more than 1,000 times.

A more intuitive and shocking figure is that in 14 years, this part of the investment has appreciated from $23 million to $24 billion, making it the most successful investment case in the history of VC in the world.

In fact, SoftBank China's investment philosophy is quite simple, generally speaking, it is to invest in projects that make a large contribution to society, that is, to solve a certain social problem and improve social efficiency. This is fully reflected in Alibaba.

"The so-called investment success is actually a measure of the company's contribution to society, when you do a little 'good deed' for the society, a reasonable society will give you a little 'tip', therefore, whether the company or investment, it will be successful. Xue Cunhe once said.

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If you talk about the outstanding alumni of Modu Jiaotong University in the investment banking circle, then you have to mention one name, Shen Nanpeng! This is even more of a legend!

Whether it is the Internet industry or the VC circle, everyone knows it!

He is the character prototype of Tan Zongming, the perfect male god in the TV series "Ode to Joy", and it is said that his circle of friends is worth 2.6 trillion.

Shen Nanpeng's status in the domestic Internet circle and investment circle is also unimaginable to outsiders!

Ma Huateng once said: Shen Nanpeng is one of the most successful investors in China's venture capital industry.

In Forbes magazine's 2019 "World's Best Venture Capitalists" list, Shen Nanpeng once again topped the list, defending the title of the world's No. 1 venture capitalist.

In 2018, Shen Nanpeng topped the list for the first time, becoming the first Chinese venture capitalist in the world to win this crown.

Forbes cited the selection as follows: "Few people are more qualified to be known as the 'golden hand' than Shen Nanpeng, who is a key investor behind China's leading tech companies such as Alibaba, JD.com and Pinduoduo." ”

There is such a joke circulating in the VC circle:

The four masters in the world, Yan Yan of the West Poison, Shen Nanpeng of the East Evil, and Jin Haitao of the Southern Emperor......

As for the northern beggar, he has not been determined who it is, and he is probably still fighting for the throne......

He is also the Chairman of the Board of Governors of Yale China Center, Chairman of Heung Kong Technology Entrepreneurship Platform, Director of China Entrepreneurs Forum and Rotating Chairman in 2015, Vice Chairman of the Venture Capital Fund Committee of Asset Management Association of China, Director of Asia Society, Founding Director and Rotating Chairman of Future Forum in 2016, Director of Beautiful China, Vice President of Capital Equity Association, Director of the Board of Directors of Modu Jiaotong University, Executive Vice President of Shanghai and Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce.

Shen Nanpeng has received numerous honors: Forbes 2012-2016 World's Best Investors list ranked No. 1 Chinese investor, ranked first in the "2016 Financial Times Best Investors in China Venture list", Fortune 2015 "China's 50 Most Influential Business Leaders" and 2015 and 2016 "China's 30 Most Influential Investors", People 2015 China's "Faces of the Year" Investor of the Year, "Chinese Entrepreneur" In 2014 and 2015, he was named "25 Most Influential Business Leaders", "2010 Venture Capitalist" by Asian Venture Capital Magazine, "Top 10 Chinese Economic Figures of CCTV2006" in 2007, and "Top 10 Chinese Economic Leaders of 2010" in December 2010.

In 1982, at a computer competition held in China, 15-year-old Shen Nanpeng and 14-year-old Liang Jianzhang met for the first time.

These two ignorant teenagers would not have realized that 17 years later, they would join forces to create a miracle in China's Internet industry. ”

Liang Jianzhang and Shen Nanpeng are about the same age and have similar experiences. In 1999, Shen Nanpeng was 32 years old and Liang Jianzhang was 31 years old.

In 1982, they both won the first National Computer Competition for Middle School Students, and later both went to university in Shanghai, and in 1989, they went to study in the United States at the same time, and after graduation, one worked at Citibank and the other entered Oracle's Silicon Valley headquarters. One day in 1999, they met by chance in the magic capital, and this time they met, Ctrip and Homeinns were born.

In 1999, just in time for the first wave of the Internet, Shen Nanpeng, Liang Jianzhang and Ji Qi chatted while eating in a restaurant in the magic capital, discussing how to make some articles on the Internet.

They talked about Sina, NetEase, Sohu, thinking about what other industries can be combined with the Internet to produce sparks, Liang Jianzhang first put forward the idea of transforming the traditional tourism industry, and in this way, Ctrip was then born, in order to make up for the shortcomings of the business, Liang Jianzhang pulled Fan Min and formed the "Ctrip Four Gentlemen".