Ms. Kathy Xu，President of Capital Today is Visiting Lingnan College to Share How to "Build a No. 1 Brand for China"
On February 7, students from International Business Programme started a three-day company visit in Shenzhen. In the afternoon, Ms. Kathy Xu, President of Capital Today, visited the Shenzhen campus of Lingnan and gave a lecture for the students entitled "Build a No. 1 Brand for China." Professor Liu Heng, Academic Director of International Business Programme, Ms. Denise Egan, Associate Dean of the Career Service of University of Virginia, Ms. Ibana Larrubia, Associate Dean of ESADE Career Service, were present at the lecture. The session was hosted by Professor Fang Ying, visiting professor of Finance of Lingnan College.
Kathy Xu, President of Capital Today, is a professional investor who has been engaged in Chinese venture capital and direct investment for 23 years. She has led and participated in the investment of many famous companies including JD, NTES, CHINAHR, Tudou, Dianping.com, Yifeng Pharmacy, City Beauty, and Wahaha. Four of the entrepreneurs she invested in have become Forbes' 100 richest people. Capital Today was founded in 2005, and President Kathy focuses on supporting the growth of Chinese enterprises. Prior to that, Kathy was a former investment partner of BaLing Investment in China. From 2008 to 2015, she was named "China's best venture capitalist" by Forbes. Also in 2004, she was named one of the 25 most influential people in Asia by Business Week Magazine ("Star of Asia 2004"). At the same time, Kathy is a director of the China Equity Investment association and honorary director of Nanjing University.
In her lecture, Kathy described her vision of building Chinese companies, and elaborated on the strength of brands and the power of compound growth. Then she talked about how her current strategy is to focus on middle-class consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises. She also discussed about the importance of brand construction, team construction and cultural construction. She analyzed current customers’ characteristics, customers’ behavior, and changes in sales channels. She argued that a company should be evaluated in terms of market size, key problems and the timing of the breakthrough.
Later on, she shared some successful cases, such as the investment case on JD.com. When she first met Mr. Liu Qiangdong, founder of JD.com, there were only 50 employees in the company. Through her in-depth understanding of Liu Qiandong, Xu Xin saw the development potential of him and JD, thus strengthening her determination to invest in this company. In the end, she invested $10 million in JD.com, far more than what Mr. Liu had expected. In addition, Kathy also shared investment case of Ganji.com and 58.com.
Subsequently, Kathy shared that successful entrepreneurs should have ‘killer’ instincts, quick learning ability, good executive ability, lofty ambition and strong will. She also talked about some characteristics of a successful team and suggested career options for students. She mentioned the famous law of "ten thousand hours," highlighted in Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success: "The genius of people's eyes is remarkable, not the superhuman being, but the continuous effort. With 10,000 hours of exercise, anyone can turn from mediocrity to greatness.” If one spends five hours a day dedicated to do one thing, 25 hours a week, 10000 hours is equivalent to ten years. Ten years of focus can make someone grow from ordinary to extraordinary, and Kathy has been especially focused on doing one thing for 20 years. Perhaps this is one of key factors for her successful career, which is also a great lesson for students.
In the Q&A session, students actively interacted with Kathy and discussed topics including valuable experience in venture capital, and development of the Chinese culture and entertainment industry. After taking a group photo, the event came to a successful conclusion.
