Editor View
On July 30, Ideal Auto officially landed on Nasdaq under the stock code of LI. The ideal car’s opening price was 15.5 US dollars, and the closing price rose 43.13% on the first day of listing, with a market value of 13.92 billion US dollars. This is the third IPO of Future Capital: since its establishment in 2014. Starting with Mavericks Electric (NASDAQ: NIU), each Future Capital has led investment from the angel round.
“Be the first person to believe in his dream. Even more than his family believe in him” is the first rule of Huang Mingming’s investment guidelines, whether it is Li Xiang or, on the eve of listing, as the only angel wheel institution investment in Ideal Auto Huang Mingming, the founding partner of Future Capital, published a handwritten letter entitled “Believe in Li Xiang, Realize Ideal” on Future Capital’s official account. In 2004, Xue Manzi’s Egyptian hand changed his plan for returning to China to start a business. Since then, various experiences and rumors have made Huang Mingming possess a sense of innocence and reckless mix and match, just like the style of this letter. Just like him, he does his best.
The full letter is as follows.
Click the picture to view the Chinese version
In a few hours, the ideal car (NASDAQ: LI) will be listed on NASDAQ. As the only angel wheel institutional investor of Ideal Auto, on behalf of Future Capital, I would like to extend my warm congratulations to Li Xianghe Ideal Team. Congratulations to you for creating a historic moment in this extremely special period in 2020.
Believe Li Xiang
This is the third IPO of Future Capital’s 6th anniversary, and it is also the second time in my investment career that I have invested in Li Xiang as an early investor. Fortunately, I can accompany him to knock on Wall Street for the second time.
The smart electric car track where Ideal Auto is located gathers top players in the world. It is an industry that emphasizes funds, compares technology, strengthens execution, fights for beliefs, and has the most comprehensive competition. From the first day when the ideal car was born in July 2015, it was destined to experience the process of being noticed, questioned, and even bad-mouthed, and gradually accepted by users. In the past 5 years, whether the ideal car is an idea that stays in my mind, or the difficult moment of adjusting the product to overturn the production line and come back, and the financing link has repeatedly hit a wall and is not recognized, Future Capital has always been the firmest supporter of Li There is only one reason for the investment institution I think: “I believe Li Xiang!”
Future Capital has once again fulfilled its promise of being the “first believer in the dream of entrepreneurs” and becoming a “long-term firm escort for technology entrepreneurs” in the ideal car project. I am extremely proud of this! Many friends have asked me why Future Capital only chooses to believe in Li Xiang in the smart car track, and has firmly supported it for 7 consecutive rounds?
“Choose to believe” means stick to it. As a long-term investment institution in the field of technology, when we choose to believe in an entrepreneur, it means that we have chosen to fight back to back with him for more than ten years. When we choose to believe in an entrepreneur, it means that we are ready to become a “minority” with him, and may endure the pressure and huge uncertainty of not being recognized by the mainstream market for a long time. When we choose to believe in an entrepreneur, it means that we must use the same courage, perseverance and wisdom to deal with various short-term fluctuations and even the darkest moments of the industry and the company. In a sense, choosing what kind of entrepreneurs to believe in defines what kind of investment institution we are. Whatever you choose to believe, you will see what kind of world.
Realize the ideal
We believe that the high-tech companies that change the world must be established by a group of Think Different and courageous Be Different entrepreneurs. Li Xiang is a person who looks at the essence of things with a unique perspective. His past experience is full of many bold and maverick choices.
When the Internet first appeared in China, he was still in high school and he dared to drop out of school and set up Paobao.com; when other people’s children were still busy going to college and looking for work, he had already established China’s largest automotive vertical website-Auto Home; when the car home successfully landed on Wall Street and the market value reached tens of billions of dollars, he chose to start from scratch, regardless of the opposition of almost everyone around him, devoted himself to the devil’s track of smart electric cars without hesitation; They all choose to make pure electric vehicles. When telling the story of “China Tesla”, he chose to adopt extended-range electric, a product technology path full of controversy and not understood by the mainstream market.
I asked him: “Do I feel lonely every time I choose?” Li Xiang’s answer was: “I didn’t deliberately care about being the same or different from others, but more concerned about what is the truth.” In the field of smart electric vehicles The truth is that more than 80% of households in China do not have fixed parking spaces, so they do not have the conditions to install charging piles like users in the United States. Today everyone can make an electric car, but how to use technology to solve the problem of electric car users’ mileage anxiety? This is the biggest difference between an excellent company and an ordinary company.
In the experience that I was fortunate to accompany Li Xiang to start a business, we have been able to firmly support them in the countless painful moments that were not recognized by the outside. Because we are deeply aware that all disruptors were lonely and unrecognized in the early days. From ideal cars, Mavericks electric, Shence data, to cloud whale robots, there is no exception. Because of the profit-seeking nature of capital, the fear of the unknown, and the anxiety of becoming a minority, most people follow the crowd. If we want to become an investment institution that can invest in these great companies, we must become their kind. To be Think Different and have the courage to Be Different. This is a principle set and practiced by Future Capital since the first day of establishment.
We believe that those who push humanity forward are those leading entrepreneurs who can turn personal insights into the ideals of everyone around them. Li Xiang once said that the reason why he likes Jobs is not that he likes Jobs in the era of the incomparably smart personal hero. What he likes is Jobs after his return. He has grown into a wise leader and made everyone around him stronger. Extremely.
Looking back over the past five years, from the time when Li Xiang described the ideal blueprint for travel to me at the coffee shop in Wangjing SOHO alone, he gathered the earliest co-founders Kevin, Lao Ma, Li Tie, and Hao. Yu……under his leadership, a team of thousands of people turned the early ideas from sketches into sludge models, EP1, EP2, and EP3 prototypes. To this day, his The team allowed Ideal ONE to go to the north and south of China.
We have witnessed a founder who has deep insights and extraordinary “thinking” in the travel industry, and step by step has turned his own ideal into an ideal shared by teams, partners, investors and other top entrepreneurs. Come and realize this seemingly impossible task with him. In the future, Li Xiang will definitely summon more people to realize his ideals with him.
As an investment institution focusing on technology, we think about finding industries that are at the tipping point of technological change and are about to produce disruptive changes, but we are more concerned about the super entrepreneurs behind these technological innovations. As the first investor who believes in the ideals of entrepreneurs, we are willing to help them: “Turn one’s insights into the ideals of a team; accompany them to find answers and realize the impossible.” This is our belief and ours mission.
Think this moment is extraordinary
More than a hundred years ago, when Henry Ford started producing cars that ordinary consumers could afford, the streets of the world were eventually filled with cars. Human travel methods and urban design have been completely changed. Ten years ago, Jobs led Apple to release the epoch-making iPhone 4, which is not only a new communication tool, but also completely changed the way humans interact.
The development of technology is endless. Ideal car’s extended range electric solution accelerates the popularity of electric vehicles in China, the world’s most populous country, and helps create a greener world; with the continuous development of ideal software and hardware integrated vehicle systems and autonomous driving technologies, it It will definitely redefine our way of travel and urban public transportation.
The Best Way To Predict The Future Is To Create It! As a venture capitalist, my responsibility is to spare no effort to find and do my best to support those entrepreneurs who have the lofty ideal of changing the world. It would be a blessing if I can leave even a small mark on the world.
