No road is walked in vain

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1. In the projects we've invested in at AMINO, whether it's the fintech unicorn Chime Bank, the fresh food e-commerce platform Weee! serving numerous ethnic communities in North America, or Replit, which provides a web-based programming development environment, their products have undergone countless iterations and refinements to reach maturity. Only through this process have they been able to provide higher value to users and earn their recognition.

This is also a reality that founders must acknowledge: there are no inherently perfect companies, nor are there products that succeed overnight. Regardless of the size of the company or the experience of the developers, the journey from conceptualization to development, from implementation to market acceptance, is characterized by adjustments and compromises, which are the prevailing themes in most entrepreneurial stories.

On September 19, 2012, Apple released its own mapping software, Apple Maps. As a software aimed at replacing Google Maps within the iOS ecosystem, this mapping application received widespread criticism and ridicule from users due to its inadequate features, incomplete service content, and inaccurate road information.

Just 10 days after taking the helm as CEO of Apple, Tim Cook made a rare move by issuing a public apology regarding the quality issues of Apple Maps, pledging continuous improvement. He even went as far as to say, "While we're improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze." This action caused quite a stir. It's worth noting that when Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs was alive, Apple never exhibited such an attitude publicly. Under Jobs' firm and confident leadership, the only choice for Apple enthusiasts, or "Apple fanatics," was to adapt to Apple's product design. Thus, it was unthinkable for Apple under Jobs to publicly apologize.

Apple Maps, developed entirely independently after Cook assumed the CEO position and without Jobs' involvement in design, sparked controversy, leading to the peak of criticism against Cook. Terms like "weak," "inadequate for the job," and "unable to replace Jobs" became common descriptions amidst criticism and ridicule.

 However, as one of Apple's core products in the fight against Google's data dominance, Maps was never abandoned by Apple. Recognizing the complexity of mapping, Apple mobilized its entire workforce. Since then, Apple Maps has undergone frequent iterations and upgrades, with continuous improvement. The development team has grown from a small group to several thousand employees. Apple even changed its software development approach for the Maps app. In order to "make users around the world feel satisfied," Apple began offering beta versions of iOS system software to the general public.

Just three years later, in 2015, the usage of Apple Maps within the Apple iOS ecosystem had already reached three times that of Google Maps. Today, Apple Maps stands as the biggest competitor to Google Maps in many years and is considered one of the best map apps on the market, alongside Waze and TomTomGo.

There's an old saying, "You can't eat a whole elephant in one bite," which holds true. Truly viable products and services, without exception, start from a single point of entry, gradually refined and corrected, thus approaching infinite perfection in quality.

Therefore, successful entrepreneurs need to stay grounded, attentively listening to users' needs to provide genuine value. Taking one step at a time, daring to make mistakes, is the epitome of true idealism.

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2. As one of the most exhilarating endeavors in the world, entrepreneurship inherently carries a high level of risk. For the vast array of entrepreneurs and startup companies, achieving success is a rare feat, with failure and setbacks being the reality and ultimate outcome for most. This is the harsh reality that both entrepreneurs and investors must acknowledge.

Failure and setbacks are inevitable, and they are the paths that almost all entrepreneurs must traverse. When faced with failure and doubt, how one handles the blow is crucial in determining the fate of both the entrepreneur and the startup company.

The weak collapse at the first stumble, readily giving up; the strong draw lessons from failure, growing stronger with each challenge.

That's why as an early-stage venture capitalist, I prioritize the abilities and mindset of the founders and teams, rather than fretting excessively about the company taking missteps. When founders and management teams possess sufficient capacity for learning, adaptability, and unwavering entrepreneurial passion, more attempts can help broaden their horizons and perspectives, ultimately feeding back into the company's development. Just as travelers discover more scenery by taking a few detours, embracing setbacks can lead to greater insights and opportunities.

In the tumultuous two decades that Elon Musk has stirred in Silicon Valley, founding several remarkable companies and multiple times ascending to the title of the world's richest person, he is viewed by most as the epitome of a successful entrepreneur. However, behind every highlight moment of his numerous feats lies a path he forged through countless failures, driven by unwavering determination and formidable execution. For instance, SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket experienced 5 explosions in 11 launches over a span of 2 years, nearly bankrupting SpaceX before achieving the monumental feat of rocket reusability, marking an epic disruption in the aerospace industry.

Before founding ByteDance, Zhang Yiming experienced four failed entrepreneurial endeavors. In the midst of life's most bewildering moments, he often engaged in self-reflection and introspection, sharing some of his thoughts on his Weibo account. Countless brief insights, like pieces of a puzzle, reflect the evolution of Zhang Yiming's ideas over the years. From the direction of corporate development to management methodologies and team building, he was able to extract the most valuable aspects from each experience and refine them. When Douyin and a plethora of other products under ByteDance serve millions of users domestically and internationally, their most solid foundation stems from Zhang Yiming's continuous accumulation and growth.

Zhang Yiming is known for his low-key demeanor, rarely appearing in the public eye. He once evaluated his entrepreneurial experiences, saying, "It's like eating steamed buns, you eat the first few to eventually have enough to fill you up."

Similar sentiments have been expressed by others. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, now Meta, remarked during a conversation with YC's CEO at the time, Sam Altman, "Before I really started building Facebook, I probably built about 10 similar pieces of software. It was the combination of those things that eventually led to Facebook."

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3. Drawing from past experiences and journeys can be categorized into two types: one comes from external sources, learning from history and using others as mirrors, reflecting and seeking insights from their stories; the other comes from internal sources, through one's own firsthand experiences and deep contemplation, aiming for self-improvement and growth.

There's no superiority between the two; they are equally rare and equally important for entrepreneurs.

At the age of 30, Jensen Huang, in order to fulfill a promise he made to his wife when proposing, founded a company dedicated to manufacturing chips that could make graphics faster and more realistic. The company was named NVIDIA.

Reflecting on the early days of the company, Jensen Huang once described, "NVIDIA was infamous for being doomed to fail from the very beginning." This was because Jensen Huang, leading the team, chose a rendering technique called forward texture mapping. At that time, there were already many companies in the market focusing on 3D imaging, such as the veteran giant Silicon Graphics and well-funded startup 3D Effects. NVIDIA was the only company that chose this technique. However, it turned out that Jensen Huang and his team were completely wrong. Reverse texture mapping was the correct choice.

Therefore, in the first four years of NVIDIA's establishment, the two chips released depleted the early investments due to betting on the wrong direction, pushing the company to the brink of bankruptcy. In order to survive, Jensen Huang had to lay off most of the employees, retaining only a core team of around 30 people. But Jensen Huang also promised that when the company succeeded in the future, he would rehire them.

Through retrospection, Jensen Huang discovered that NVIDIA's unique architecture did not conform to mainstream standards. Therefore, he changed strategies, directly communicating with software developers and game developers, gradually accepting their viewpoints: while technology is important, its ultimate goal is to create interesting and beautiful graphics. From then on, NVIDIA no longer saw itself as a chip or technology company but as a company at the intersection of technology and art.

Despite becoming one of the last companies to adopt reverse texture mapping for 3D graphics after the company's pivot, NVIDIA's focus shifted away from chip design to assisting developers in artistic creation fueled by imagination. This became NVIDIA's greatest differentiation from other companies and directly led to the birth and creation of numerous valuable products.

Since then, NVIDIA has experienced rapid growth and has become the world's only chip manufacturer dedicated to visual computing. It is the most successful computer graphics company in history and the most valuable chip company in the United States, with a market capitalization of $800 billion, four times that of veteran chip manufacturer Intel. In the 28 years since the release of NVIDIA's first chip, the complexity of computer graphics scenes has increased by about 500 million times. Moore's Law predicts that chip performance doubles every two years, but without better chip designs, this value could only increase by 100,000 times.

Reflecting on these years, Jensen Huang, now widely recognized as a pioneer in graphics and artificial intelligence technology, once remarked, "The reason NVIDIA is where it is today is because we initially chose the wrong technology, because we have failed before."

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4. In the world of entrepreneurship, success and failure are not achieved overnight, but often hinge on the slightest difference in mindset. This mirrors the twists and turns of every individual's life journey.

Whether from a personal or entrepreneurial perspective, the present self is a culmination and accumulation of past experiences. We cannot regret the past, nor should we dwell excessively on right or wrong decisions in the present. Instead, we must always remember that every decision made in the past and present subtly points towards our future selves.

I believe we need not expect life or entrepreneurial journeys to be smooth sailing without any detours. Rather, we should cherish every step taken and make the best decisions in the present. There's no need for regret; simply do what needs to be done, and then patiently await the blossoming.

Just like the words of Jonathan Lee in his 2016 self-narrative short film:

"Life's path is never walked in vain; every step counts."