Dachang seems to be no longer the destination of young people at present, and even a group of Internet users who entered Dachang earlier are quietly “fleeing” to start businesses.
Author | Chen Xiao
Editor | Fang YuPhoto source | photo networkThe former big internet factory is the place where the post-80s and post-90s have to squeeze their heads. Behind it are the platform potential, high salary and welfare, bright resume and other weights. However, with the general environment of the epidemic and the overcast tide of layoffs, the Internet companies with the peak of traffic and growth have entered the cold winter.Dachang seems to be no longer the destination of young people at present, and even a group of Internet users who entered Dachang earlier are quietly “fleeing” to start businesses.The rumor that “35 years old is the retirement age of Internet companies” has a long history. No one can verify its authenticity, but there are a number of “middle-aged people” who are leaving. Some of them see the ceiling of their careers and want to see the world; Some want to challenge the age limit and escape the company’s management mechanism; Some have basically achieved financial freedom and began to pursue spiritual prosperityFinally, they all chose to start a business. Chuangyebang chatted with several former Dachang people around 35 years old, and their entrepreneurial life after escaping from Dachang.When Zhang Qiumen, 30, faces the age of 30 in 2021, his anxiety is more from the workplace.He has worked in a big internet company for more than seven years, jumping from LeTV to JD.com. He is experienced, but has always played the role of a screw. The ceiling of the position is within reach.“At that time, I was responsible for all video advertising work in JD Technology Group. After working for three and a half years, I soon saw the ceiling of my position and felt that the marginal effect of my growth was diminishing. In the first year, I made rapid progress in all aspects, but later I accumulated less and less. It was like exchanging time for money.” Zhang Qiumen said that after the birth of such an idea, she often asked herself, what do you want?Later, she got an answer, as many people wrote in their resignation reports: I want to see more world and explore more possibilities.The idea of leaving has sprouted, but the future career direction has not been well planned. Zhang Qiumen once expressed her intention to leave in a talk with her college classmates. Her classmates with entrepreneurial experience encouraged her to start a business together. The two hit it off and decided to become entrepreneurial partners.The direction of entrepreneurship is probably video advertising, but there is still no clue how to cut in. The two people sat together for the first meeting, took out a piece of paper, and listed what they are good at doing and what they like to do, combined the same items, and took the largest common denominator, which determines the entry point for future entrepreneurship: providing the annual frame service of commercial video advertising to large companies.In July 2021, Zhang Qiumen officially resigned from JD.com and joined the studio of Beijing Skylight Cloud Studio, a venture partner. Within one month after leaving, the studio still received no business. “We have heard that entrepreneurship is a near death, and we will experience a lot of ups and downs. We are prepared for it and have a relatively peaceful mind,” she said.At the time of being at a loss, the contacts accumulated in the big factory played a role. After the introduction of friends, Skylight Cloud Studio ushered in the first order.“I have to admit that the work experience of Dachang and the endorsement of JD.com have a positive impact on both cooperation and customer trust.” Zhang Qiumen admitted that although Dachang’s work is not the end of her career, it is more like a good vocational training camp.Such positive effects are not only reflected in business, but also in working methods and efficiency. “I think the most rewarding point is that the large factory has a very systematic work process, pays special attention to efficiency, and has also cultivated my good work habits, thinking logic and problem-solving methods, which have continued to the current entrepreneurial work.”In addition, relying on the familiarity with JD’s business and the precise grasp of its needs, Skylight Cloud Studio has become the supplier of the old JD,It has won the annual frame service of commercial video advertising provided by JD. Its business includes a complete set of solutions in the early, middle and later stages, such as TVC, promotional films, short videos, documentaries, CG special effects, etc.With the support of major customers, Skylight Cloud Studio, a small and beautiful independent studio, has officially entered the right track of entrepreneurship, from the initial few months of its establishment to the annual growth rate of 60% of its business volume. Their works are also seen by more and more people, and their customer groups are also gradually expanding. From JD.com to Baidu, Tencent, Huawei, BYD, Taikang Life, CCCC and other large companies, their businesses are also increasingly extensive, covering television advertising, film and television special effects, animation film creation, short videos, documentaries and other fields, providing strategic creativity, shooting, editing, tuning, matching Full-process image production services such as music.Less than a year after leaving JD.com, Zhang Qiumen succeeded in breaking the ceiling of his previous career and finding more possibilities in life with the help of his previous accumulation and perseverance. But she is not a radical in her attitude towards entrepreneurship.“I think entrepreneurship is a way of life, not suitable for everyone, and entrepreneurship is really a near death. If you are not fully prepared, it is recommended not to try.”Zhang Qiumeng also disagrees with the long-rumored “retirement age of Internet companies is 35 years old”. She believes that it is not age that limits the development in large factories, but core values. “Many people retire from Dachang at the age of 65 and will be hired back as consultants. If they have irreplaceable value, they are not afraid that the company will give up.It’s just that some people have reached a certain age and are not willing to “roll” any more.Wen Yu (Huaming) is one of those people who have reached a certain age and are not willing to “roll” in the big factory. He has set a life goal for himself, which is to challenge his 35 years old, can he break away from the company’s management environment and become a unique person in the society.Before that, he had worked for Alibaba and Ant Financial Services for seven years, and his annual salary was very high, which was also a small achievement.But Wen Yu was not satisfied. Seeing that he was getting closer to the age of 35, he also took steps. He was born as a technician and has studied in the field of AI big data for many years. He has participated in cross-division gambling projects and CEO projects for many times.“In the seven years of Alibaba, I have grown from big data to artificial intelligence to Java development, and become a full-stack engineer, which makes me feel capable of starting a business in the Internet and doing something from 0-1. In addition, the business lines in the Alibaba system are very rich, which makes me have the opportunity to understand the logic behind user operation, business operation, product design, etc., and have a certain sensitivity to the business model, which is very rare,” said Wen Yu, He felt that it was time for him to go out and wander.So at the beginning of 2019, Wen Yu and several partners began to develop a project part-time. Because of their love for children’s education and their optimism about the future development of STEAM education, their first product is mainly aimed at online children’s programming education. In terms of the market situation at that time, it was not too late to enter the track, but the team were all part-time, and the misjudgment of resources led to missed financing opportunities and the best stage of business development.Later, after the introduction of the national double reduction policy, the future of children’s programming education is full of uncertainty and has lost its competitive advantage. “Although the first project failed, it still accumulated entrepreneurial experience and provided a reference for future entrepreneurial directions,” said Wen Yu.After a small trial, Wen Yu did not give up his entrepreneurial dream and still explored the path of early education. On Alibaba’s intranet, he published a vision of the child growth assistant project, describing a blueprint for enabling children’s early education and parenting through AI and big data technology from a technical perspective. Internet technology can help more people in need.This brilliant entrepreneurial blueprint soon became a hot post on the intranet, which was hotly discussed by colleagues and even superiors, and finally reached the ears of Peng Yijie, president of Ant Public Welfare. Soon, Peng Yijie made an appointment with Wen Yu, listened to him report the idea of starting a business at the same time, and approved it. He also discussed the possibility of cooperation with ants in the future, which further strengthened Wen Yu’s confidence in starting a business.“I think Alibaba is very special. They will accommodate many possibilities, whether they accept innovation within the group or want to leave innovation, they will support it.” Wen Yu said that in addition to intranet communication, Alibaba also has alumni groups, which have many former entrepreneurs who have left the company, some of whom have raised funds for two or three rounds or even listed, and they will provide direct guidance to future generations, And recommend investment institutions and resources.Now, Wen Yu has officially left the company for eight or nine months, and he is developing a new product with his first entrepreneurial team – the personal growth assistant. He hopes to help parents, teachers and society understand children better and further realize personalized early education for each child through the evaluation and data of children’s growth, interests, psychological status and other aspects through artificial intelligence and other technologies.According to his introduction, at present, the personal growth assistant has entered the final public beta stage, and is ready to start the next step of commercialization when it is successfully integrated into the Angel Wheel.During the eight or nine months of product research and development, Wen Yu and his team had almost no income, and needed to invest a lot of money to develop products and polish knowledge content, which was far from the treatment in Alibaba before. Wen Yu said that he gave the project a period of two years. If it is not successfully commercialized within two years, he will completely disclose the product to people or institutions in need, and it will run as a public welfare project for a long time.“If I don’t meet my expectations after two years, I should also see if I can return to the big factory or join other startups.” Wen Yu said that it is still a challenge after all.If Jiang Jiang has not been to Latin America and has seen colorful gems, she may continue to work as an executive in Huawei, with an annual salary of more than one million yuan, and lead a life beyond the reach of ordinary workers.Jiang Jiang’s experience is not complicated. After graduating from university, he was accepted by Huawei and sent to the Overseas Marketing Department. In the past 10 years, she has traveled almost all over South America, contributing her youth to Huawei, and gradually becoming the senior management of Huawei. In the past 10 years, she has seen the world and walked through the prosperity. The customer group she is responsible for directly connects with the senior government of various Latin American countries. She was invited by the President of Venezuela to take the presidential special plane “Air Force 1” to do television coverage. As a senior interpreter, she accompanied Ren Zhengfei’s boss to have tea and chat with the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim. She skillfully switched Spanish, and talked with customers and friends around the world in English.In 2014, Jiangjiang had an annual salary of more than one million, and should have lived a comfortable life. However, during a business trip, she was deeply attracted by the rich gem mineral resources and beautiful jewelry in Latin America. Her heart began to move, and she was ready to build a career of her own, a career related to beauty.Before that, Jiang Jiang had no contact with any work related to jewelry, but just because of her love, she decided to deeply understand the origin and types of gemstones. Her years of overseas work experience made her quickly have many resources of gem mines. She even went down to the mine to exchange and learn with the mine director and select gems, thus establishing trust with many mine directors.It is dangerous and hard to go to the mine. Few people are willing to do business in the mine. Jiang Jiang said that the hard work of people who have been tempered by Huawei is nothing. What she valued was to deal directly with the mine owner and get the first-hand resources.Soon, Jiang Jiang founded his own high-end jewelry brand, Angie Bella Xuan Jewelry. According to its introduction, Angie Bella’s concept is M to M, that is, From Mine To Market, which is a direct link from the mining area to the market. Because of the rich mining area cooperation resources, all the gem circulation links and premium links are eliminated, making their jewelry very close to the cost, with a high performance-price ratio, which can enable ordinary people to have a real jewelry at the price of gold and silver jewelry.Today, Jiang Jiang has set up a small and beautiful Angie Bella Xuan jewelry studio in Beijing. In her team, there are not only designers who are familiar with western jewelry modeling, but also designers who are fond of Chinese jewelry. She often takes her design team and works to participate in design competitions around the world, and she herself won the Macau regional champion of the Global Madame Contest in 2019, realizing another peak in her beautiful career.“People are beginning to pursue higher quality of life, higher quality of life, and higher spiritual enjoyment. Jewelry is also my career in my life. I don’t have to retire, and can become more and more valuable and professional.” As Jiang Jiang said, she broke the original life track, retreated from a high point in her career, found the meaning of life pursuit, and harvested another different life experience.Unlike many stories about escaping from large factories, the three entrepreneurs we mentioned today, on the one hand, chose a new direction before they were 35 years old, but on the other hand, their previous experience in large companies has also become one of the cornerstones of their future entrepreneurship.This may prove that there is no road in life in vain, and every step counts.Find reliable business opportunities and pay attention to the video number of Chuangyebang! Venture State, like ninety-six
