WI Harper Group | January 8, 2020
On January 7th, the 2020 Peking University Youth CEO Club Annual Conference was held in Beijing’s Zhongguancun Exhibition Center. The conference gathered nearly a thousand young entrepreneurial alumni of Peking University. They reported and shared entrepreneurial achievements and stories. Sean Peng, Managing Director at WI Harper Group shared the “10 Pitfalls Startups Should Avoid” as a speaker of the conference. Earl Yu, Vice President at WI Harper Group, was awarded the gold award of “Uprising Entrepreneurial”.
Under the guidance of the Alumni Association of Peking University, Peking University Youth CEO Club (PKUYCC) was established by outstanding young entrepreneurial alumni of Peking University. It aims to gather outstanding young entrepreneurial alumni of Peking University, collaborate and make a difference together, build bonds between alumni, gather resources, and promote the development of alumni.
This year’s PKUYCC conference gathered nearly a thousand young entrepreneurial alumni of Peking University. They reported and shared entrepreneurial achievements and stories. Sean Peng (Managing Director), Earl Yu (Vice President), Shuai Li (Senior Associate), and Gang Yang (Associate), all alumnus of Peking University were invited to attend the conference. Sean Peng, Managing Director at WI Harper Group and Advisor of PKUYCC was invited to share entrepreneurial experience.
Mr. Peng pointed out ten mistakes that startups often make in the keynote speech titled “10 Pitfalls Startups Should Avoid”, and emphasized the importance of team composition, industry insight and corporate governance.
Mr. Peng suggested: (1) Investors and the team should reach an agreement in the corporate governance of the start-up company, so as to avoid over involvement by the investor in the management of the company. (2) To avoid having founding team of the same nature, unable to complement one another, unable to complete product development, and has no collaboration experience. (3) R&D is not the same as product commercialization. (4) Avoid follow suit and start a business without barriers to entry, market differentiation, or core competitiveness. (5) Don’t assume you understand the customer’s needs. (5) Don’t underestimate your competitors. (6) Early-stage success and think you’re omnipotent. This will become the stumbling block of the future. (7) Avoid CEOs who only care about business, products, and expansion but don’t pay attention to cost, cash flow, and financial statements. (8) During the growth stage of the business, avoid failure to adopt institutional management in time. (9) Avoid unreasonable board composition and decision-making mechanisms.
He also pointed out ways to avoid these pitfalls: (1) Learn from your predecessors’ success and failure. (2) Seek experienced team and consultant. (3) Be rational, logical and empathic thinking to create win-win situation. (4) Search for experienced investors and partners who can add value.
The conference announced the “Uprising Entrepreneurial”, which aims to encourage young people to strive for innovation and welcome the next decade together. Earl Yu, Vice President at WI Harper Group, was awarded the gold award of “Uprising Entrepreneurial”.
Translated from: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/SzihhjZBgZr_hQdSXmrCdA
