Heroes do not ask about origins

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1. Due to Amino's business spanning globally, we have been committed to making the online collaboration of this international team smoother and more efficient. With the outbreak of the pandemic, remote collaborative work has become a trend for the future. Over the past two years, I have been leading the team in developing an internal investment and management platform for the company, which has brought some exciting changes to our fund. As our development plans unfold completely, we need to further expand the software development team. Therefore, I have been communicating with various candidates since a few days ago.

Among the diverse candidates, I found that some of them did not come from prestigious universities with a halo, nor did they have work experience in well-known companies. Their resumes may not seem outstanding at first glance. However, upon closer examination, I discovered that several of them have extensive experience and strong capabilities, making them very high-quality talents.

This discovery has touched me, reminding me of the familiar saying "Heroes do not ask about origins." This seemingly cliché phrase has been proven by many successful entrepreneurs. For example, the "Two Horses" who have stirred up the Chinese internet, one graduated from Hangzhou Normal University, which was once unheard of, and the other graduated from Shenzhen University, which was only a second-tier university at the time. Their teams also had few graduates from top-tier universities like Tsinghua and Peking University. Their alma maters did not shine on their resumes, but their abilities and foresight allowed them to go far and establish business empires worth trillions.

As someone who has met various founders, I have similar stories happening around me.

In December 1991, during the winter, a child named Vlad boarded an international flight bound for the United States. At the time, he was only 9 years old. Along with him on the plane were his parents, five siblings, and the few belongings the family could pack and bring along.

 Just 20 days after the plane gradually faded into the night, the Soviet Union, a federal state that had been a central player in the Cold War for over forty years, influencing the global political and military landscape, saw its president, Mikhail Gorbachev, announce his resignation. The next day, the highest echelons of power passed a resolution officially declaring the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The superpower, which had stood for 69 years, collapsed in a dramatic turn of events.

To escape to the United States as quickly as possible, Vlad's family did not have time to sell their house and other belongings. Therefore, when the family landed at San Francisco Airport, they were greeted with a harsh reality of poverty. Due to the language barrier and lack of legal status, Vlad's parents had to rely on odd jobs to support the family.

At the age of 9, Vlad's future seemed as dim and uncertain as the now non-existent homeland. If life were a game of cards, Vlad seemed to have been dealt a bad hand from the start.

Over the next 9 years, there wasn't much of a turnaround in the storyline. Despite working hard, in 2000, at the age of 18, Vlad only managed to attend a local, unremarkable university to study computer science. However, after just one semester, he decided to drop out and pursue art at another equally ordinary school because his dream was to work in animation at Pixar.

Interestingly, while studying art one day, Vlad's Quickdot crashed while chatting with his friend. So, he picked up a programming book, attempted to develop a clone software himself, and named it ChatterFox. This was his first venture into entrepreneurship and it revealed his passion for programming.

A year later, he returned to his previous university to pursue a bachelor's degree in computer science.

In 2006, after a series of twists and turns, Vlad finally graduated from college and began working at a design company for a wage of only $7 per hour. When he saw the company charging high fees to clients and making hefty profits, he conceived a new entrepreneurial idea—using technology to lower the barriers and costs for users to design websites and thus generate more income from the new users. This idea was simple, but he kept halting action for various reasons. Eventually, when Vlad finally founded his company, 5 years had passed. During this time, he paid close attention, observed, learned, and accumulated a wealth of experience and skills.

When he shared his product ideas on Hacker News, it attracted 20,000 registrations. However, as with most products, when the product finally launched, only 30 out of the 20,000 people became paying users. 

Vlad created a communication group to keep in close contact with these 30 people, to promptly understand the product's issues and user needs, and to continuously develop and adjust accordingly. This was his only option at the time. However, it was from these 30 people that his product began to iterate, upgrade, and improve step by step. With word of mouth gradually accumulating, coupled with the influx of personal website design demands from social media, the company's user base gradually increased, and the product became more robust and powerful.

In October 2020, Vlad posted a photo on Twitter with the caption: "Feeling so lucky and grateful under this bright sunshine." In the picture, he is smiling brightly with a massive Webflow advertisement in the background against the backdrop of the Silicon Valley blue sky. The advertisement reads: "Designers use Webflow for development."

In the earliest stages of Webflow's development, I invested in it, and it successfully joined the unicorn club in 2021. On March 28, 2022, Webflow completed a Series C funding round of $120 million, with a valuation of $4.1 billion.

This refugee child from the former Soviet Union has finally achieved a magnificent transformation in life.

Vlad didn't have a good starting point, but with his efforts, resilience, and never-say-die spirit, he turned a bad hand into the best. This is the spirit of an entrepreneur.

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2. In today's era, the advancement of technology and societal development have made business one of the best vehicles and tools, offering people the opportunity to strive for a better life and make their mark in the vast world. For example, entrepreneurs like Musk and Huang, who took root and flourished in the United States despite coming from foreign lands, have become influential figures shaping technological progress worldwide.

In early-stage venture capital, human factors play a decisive role. Early investments are often referred to as the "art of judging people." Nevertheless, "heroes do not ask for origins" has been one of the fundamental principles guiding our AMINO team's investment decisions over the years.

Not asking for origins is because we value not the simple words on a founder's resume. We do not consider backgrounds or past professions.

Perfect World founder Chi Yufeng graduated from the Department of Chemistry at Tsinghua University, Sohu's Zhang Chaoyang holds a physics PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Yuan Zheng, the founder of ZOOM, studied applied mathematics at Shandong University of Mining and Technology. Microsoft founder Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard Law School, Google CEO Pichai studied metallurgical engineering in India, and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina majored in medieval history and philosophy.

Numerous examples lead us to believe that for true entrepreneurs, the starting point does not determine the future height, and past professions should not become constraints on the path forward.

Because entrepreneurship is both complex and exciting, these factors have become established facts that cannot be altered in the future and do not play a decisive role in the success or failure of entrepreneurship.

So, if we don't ask for origins, what should we ask? The answer varies for each investor. What I value most is the changes demonstrated by founders through different experiences, and then asking about their growth, integrity, and character within those changes.

Growth involves observing whether founders are constantly advancing through each experience, accumulating expertise, and accumulating energy for future success through rapid learning.

Integrity entails examining whether founders possess unwavering resilience and perseverance, whether they have the determination and courage to keep going despite setbacks, and whether they have the audacity and courage to challenge the impossible.

Character involves assessing whether founders can become convincing leaders, responsible entrepreneurs, and dream pursuers whom investors can believe in.

The ability to learn quickly, tackle challenges with courage, and uphold integrity and reliability are the three fundamental requirements I have for entrepreneurs. Among the unicorns we at AMINO captured in the earliest stages, founders like Larry Liu of Weee!, Parker Conrad of Rippling, and Vlad of Webflow are excellent examples and proof of these qualities.

Recalled a summer day in 2021. I met Vlad, who had already become a unicorn founder, at a restaurant. Accompanying him were his wife and son. As we exchanged greetings, his son asked, "Dad, who is this?" Vlad bent down, hugged him, and said with a smile, "This is our friend who supported and helped us."

There are countless answers to investment in this world, and none are right or wrong. However, it is the abilities and character of entrepreneurs that ultimately determine the future.