iAsk x China Daily | Was it the best choice to leave Alibaba?
本文章刊登在CHINA DAILY-艾問專欄
衛哲，1970年出生於上海，1993年上海外國語大學畢業，學的是翻譯，受當時電影《華爾街》影響，對投行特別感興趣。那時深滬股市剛成立不到兩年，很多地方都需要借鑑國外的資料。
Wei Zhe (David Wei) was born in 1970 in Shanghai. In 1993, he graduated from Shanghai International Studies University with a degree in Translation. He was very interested in investment banking from watching the movie “Wall Street”. Back then, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges have been established for less than two years, and a lot of areas needed to use foreign theories and practice as references.
終於有一天，衛哲爭取到了萬國證券的實習機會，幹了不到兩個月，就被中國證券教父管金生點名要走了，原因是他做事太討人喜歡。
And finally one day, Wei Zhe go tan internship opportunity at Wanguo Securities. After two months of his internship, he was appointed to work for Guan Jinsheng, the godfather of China’s securities industry, because of his pleasant and outstanding working style.
後來他成為普華永道高階經理，東方證券投資銀行總部總經理，2002年出任百安居中國區總裁，帶領管理團隊，在五年中發展成中國最大的建材零售連鎖超市，2006年11月正式加盟阿里巴巴，擔任阿里巴巴公司總裁。
Later, he was a senior manager of KPMG, the general manager of the investment banking division at Orient Securities. In 2002, he was appointed as the president of B&Q China. Under his leadership, B&Q became the biggest home-improvement retailer in China in 5 years. On November 2006, he joined Alibaba Group as the CEO of Alibaba.com.
故事一：
Story No.1:
訪問衛哲之前，去百度搜尋“衛哲”，排在前面的依然是“阿里CEO衛哲引咎辭職”的數篇報道。每每提到衛哲，阿里巴巴註定是個繞不開的話題。
Before interviewing David, we searched “Wei Zhe” on the internet. The top stories are still reports about “The CEO Alibaba Wei Zhe took the blame and resigned”. Alibaba is an inevitable topic for Wei Zhe.
2006 年 11 月，在馬雲的盛邀下，衛哲出任阿里 CEO。衛哲說，他不是要創立這個企業，而是帶領它逐漸壯大，走向世界。一年後，衛哲帶領阿里巴巴在香港主機板上市，並在之後的幾年時間裡，將阿里的營業收入從2006年的13.6億元增長到2010年的55億元。
On November 2006, Jack Ma invited Wei Zhe to take the CEO position of Alibaba.com. Wei Zhe said, he did not found this company, but he wanted grow with it, and brought it out of China to the world. One year later, Wei Zhe brought Alibaba. com to be listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Exchange. In the subsequent years, Alibaba’s revenue increased from 1.36 billion RMB in 2006 to 5.5 billion RMB in 2010.
在馬雲眼中，衛哲是最勤奮、最努力的一個人，無論曾經，還是現在，馬雲從未改口衛哲是一位好兄弟、一個好人，他是真的非常喜歡衛哲。
For Jack Ma, Wei Zhe is the most diligent and hard-working person.No matter in the past or now, Jack Ma has never changed his mind about Wei Zhe and called him “a good brother, a good person”. Jack is really fond of Wei Zhe.
但喜愛不代表對錯誤的縱容。2011年，阿里B2B平臺上的商家欺詐問題大規模爆發，衛哲主動辭去阿里巴巴CEO職位，選擇了離開。
However, being fond of someone does not mean tolerating one’s mistake. In 2011, when it was released that the merchants on Alibaba’s B2B platforms were selling fakes, Wei Zhe resigned the CEO position and chose to leave.
艾問衛哲：離開阿里是最好的選擇嗎？
Was it the best choice to leave Alibaba?
艾誠： 2011年，為什麼離開阿里巴巴？
Gloria Ai:Why did you leave Alibaba in 2011?
衛哲：離開，七年前已經報道很多了，真的很少有人相信，所報道的就是最真實的，那我再重複一遍。 真的是為了捍衛阿里巴巴的價值觀， 當今天中國很多網際網路公司出現了很多問題，產品質量、服務質量，甚至影響到使用者生命安全的很多問題。今天沒有CEO再辭職，那可能社會一直不能原諒這個公司。
Wei Zhe:There were lots of articles about me leaving Alibaba seven years ago. People rarely believed what was reported was the truth, so I will restate it here once again. It was really to protect the value of Alibaba. Nowadays, many internet companies in China experience problems regarding product quality or service quality, or even problems affecting customers’ life and safety. If the CEO does not resign, then maybe the society will never forgive this company.
阿里巴巴當時所面臨的誠信和各方面的問題遠遠沒有到死人的程度，從絕對影響的金額來說也是很小，但我相信，就是在阿里巴巴歷史上會留有一筆的事件，不斷在警醒今天的景賢棟、今天的張勇，還真的叫Don’t be evil，不作惡。 真的要把誠信的底線堅守住，價值觀的底線堅守住。
The problems back then Alibaba faced regarding trust and other issues were not that severe, and the monetary amount affected was also quite insignificant. However, I believe, this was an important milestone for Alibaba’s history. It still keeps reminding the people who are leading Alibaba today, Jing Xiandong and Zhang Yong, “Don’t be evil.” It is important to keep the bottom line, to be trust worthy and hold on to the fundamental values.
艾誠：那您辭職的這個決定是不是一個最好的選擇？
Gloria Ai:Then was the decision to resign the best choice for you?
衛哲：我對人生走過的每一步，我覺得都是最好的選擇，不後悔。阿里巴巴有今天，我相信當時馬雲的這個選擇也是對的，因為2012年以後，就開展了整個阿里系，包括淘寶大量的自查自糾，抓出了這麼多問題。
Wei Zhe: Every step I made in my life was the best choice for me. I do not regret. Alibaba is very successful today, so I believe Jack Ma also made the right choice back then. Because after 2012, the whole Alibaba group, including Taobao started a round of internal inspection process and they found many problems.
所以 我覺得離開以後，能夠觸動整個阿里集團內部這麼大規模的“Self-Cleaning”， 自淨門戶的行動，才會有後面整個阿里集團的第二次上市，才會有整個平臺，跟這麼大幾萬億的交易額，我不能說阿里絕對沒有問題。但還能夠保持一，增長；二，不出現重大的社會問題，可能11年的這個決定，還是有一定的作用。
So I believe, only because of my departure that triggered this large-scale “Self-Cleaning” inside of Alibaba Group,the whole Alibaba Group was able to go public listed again, to have the whole platform and trillions Yuan worth of transactions. I cannot say that Alibaba is perfect right now, but firstly, it is still growing, and secondly, it has not caused any significant social problems. Maybe the decision back in 2011 was helpful in this regard.
故事二：
Story No. 2:
2011 年，離開阿里的衛哲成立了嘉御基金，進入風險投資領域，馬雲和李澤楷一同入股，為其站臺。
In 2011, Wei Zhe left Alibaba and founded Vision Knight Capital, entering the venture capital industry. Jack Ma and Richard Li Tzar Kai were both his investors.
作為嘉御基金的掌舵人，衛哲始終圍繞著網際網路、電子商務、零售這三個熟悉的行業進行投資。
As the commander of Vision Knight Capital, Wei Zhe has always been investing in the three areas he is familiar with – internet, E-commerce and retail.
衛哲說，“我們是免費諮詢開路，再創造投資機會，不去追隨。 我們在投資之前，願意先提供服務，包括在戰略上、運營上、人才人力資源上。 把管理諮詢和戰略諮詢放在投資前，這是我們一直堅持的，市場上非常獨特的打法。”
Wei Zhe says: “We provide free consultations to break the ice, then we create investment opportunities, and we do not follow others. Before investing in a company, we are willing to provide services first, including strategies, operations, and human resources. Putting management consulting and strategy consulting before investment is what we have been insisting on doing, and is also something very unique on the market.
秉持著他自己的策略，嘉御基金已經成功投資了幾十個專案，併成功退出了包括 PPS、91 助手等專案。
Vision Knight Capital has successfully invested in dozens of projects following its unique strategy and successfully exited projects such as PPS or 91 assistant.
不喜歡和別人搶專案，不喜歡為融資者“雪中送炭”，喜歡為創業者提供諮詢服務，喜歡說服不差錢的創業者做“plus輪”融資，從企業家轉型投資人的衛哲總給人一種另類投資者的印象。
Does not like to compete with others for deals, does not like torescue the founders with “desperation funding” , likes to provide consulting services to founders, likes to convince well-founded entrepreneurs for additional “plus round” of financing, the entrepreneur turned investor, Wei Zhe always gives people an impression of an alternative investor.
艾問衛哲：你投資的套路好使嗎？
Does your investment thesis work?
艾誠：你在投企業的時候，先做免費的企業顧問，看我能給你提供很多幫助，然後我再投你？
Gloria Ai:So when you invest in a company, you first provide free enterprise consultation, to see how much help you can provide, and then you invest in this company?
衛哲：對，別人是說我投了你再給你做增值服務，你投了萬一不做呢？萬一做得不好呢？所以我們的方法是你先試試看，反正免費試用。 網際網路就是先免費。
Wei Zhe:Yes, other people say I will first invest in you and then I will provide some additional services. What if one just invests and afterward does not provide any additional help? What if the additional help isn’t useful? So our way is to ask you to try first, trying is for free. In the internet business, most things are free at first.
艾誠：這套好使嗎？
Gloria Ai:Does this work?
衛哲：越來越好使。經濟不好的時候好使，成功案例多了好使。一個行業中有一個企業被你輔導好了，那整個行業口碑都非常好，我可以說過去6、7年來是越來越好使。
Wei Zhe: It works better and better. It works well when the economy is bad, and when there are many success cases.If there is one firm in the industry which you mentored turned out well, it helps to gain a good reputation among the whole industry. I could say that, for the past 6-7 years it is getting better and better.
我們經常說不以結婚為目的，先談戀愛比較純潔，就你並不衝著拿我錢，我也衝著不見得要投你，這時我們做諮詢，雙方的動機都特別純，願望都一樣。
We often say that one should date because they want to date, not because it is time for marriage. Similarly, you should not just focus on getting money from me, and I also do not necessarily have to invest in you. At this point, we just do some consult ation work together, both of us have no other motivations and just the same wishes.
故事三：
Story No. 3:
衛哲對企投家有著自己的描述，“我經常比喻說， 企投家是一輛車裡邊坐在副駕駛位置的人， 他既不應該繼續去操控方向盤，那是企業家，也不應該坐在後排座椅上，那是投資家。要做好一個企投家，就想想你坐在副駕駛位置上，一個好的副駕駛應該給予司機（企業家）很多指導，但也要永遠想清楚，在副駕駛位置上，你不要再去碰那個方向盤。”
Wei Zhe has his own understanding about the entrepreneur-turned-investor: “I often make an analogy that, the entrepreneur-turned-investor is a person who sits in the passenger seat. Neither should he try to control the wheel – that is the task of the entrepreneur, nor should he sit in the back – that is the seat for the investors. To be a good entrepreneur-turned-investor, just think about you are sitting in the passenger seat. A good front-seat passenger should give the driver (the entrepreneur) a lot of guidance, but he should also be clear that being in the passenger seat means he should not touch the wheel again.
在前兩期《艾問企投家》的節目中，何伯權把企投分為兩端，十年樂百氏，十年天使投資人，他給自己的人生劃定了清晰的路線；傅盛則是在將獵豹移動帶上市之後，從容開啟了投資之路，企投並行，回報豐厚。
In the first two episode of “iAsk Entrepreneur-turned-investor”, He Boquan divided his entrepreneur-turned-investor journey into two parts – 10 years as an entrepreneur with Robust, 10 years as an investor, he drew a clear roadmap of his life; Fu Sheng started his investing career after bringing Cheetahs Mobile to the stock market, with a rewarding career being an entrepreneur and an investor at the same time.
艾問衛哲：如何判斷企投的時機？
How to judge the best timing to become an entrepreneur-turned-investor?
艾誠： 您怎麼理解企投家這個概念？
Gloria Ai:How do you understand the notion of entrepreneur-turned-investor?
衛哲：我經常比喻說 企投家，是一輛車裡邊坐在副駕駛位置的人，他既不應該繼續去操控方向盤，那是企業家，也不應該坐在後排座椅上，那是投資家。
Wei Zhe:I often make an analogy that, the entrepreneur-turned-investor is a person who sits in the passenger seat. Neither should he try to control the wheel – that is the task of the entrepreneur, nor should he sit in the back – that is the seat for the investors.
要做好一個企投家，就想想你坐在副駕駛位置上，一個好的副駕駛應該給予司機（企業家）很多指導，但也要永遠想清楚，在副駕駛位置上，你不要再去碰那個方向盤。
To be a good entrepreneur-turned-investor, just think about you are sitting in the passenger seat. A good front-seat passenger should give the driver (the entrepreneur) a lot of guidance, but he should also be clear that being in the passenger seat means he should not touch the wheel again.
艾誠：您是企投家嗎？是哪一種？
Gloria Ai:Are you an entrepreneur-turned-investor? Which kind?
衛哲：我是。如果我們把一個企業的成長，比喻為幼兒園、小學、中學、大學。我們比較擅長的是中學，跟我媽媽做了一輩子中學老師可能有點關係。她是一個非常優秀的中學老師，但她輔導不了我小學的功課，就像一個幼兒園老師非常優秀，也教不好大學一樣。術業有專攻， 那我們就給自己選擇了一箇中學階段的企業，作為我們輔導、提升、諮詢和投資的階段。
Wei Zhe:I am. If we compare the growth stages of a firm to the stages of life, from kindergarten to primary school, high school, and college. We are good at the high school stage, this could be because my mum was a high school teacher. She was a very good high school teacher, but she could not help me with my primary school homework, just like an excellent kindergarten teacher cannot teach college. Every subject hasits own experts. We pick the firms who are at the high school stage to mentor, consult and invest in them.
艾誠：企投的時機其實很難選，什麼時候對於一個企業家和一家企業，是說我除了經營主業之外，可以投資了？
Gloria Ai:It is hard to pick the right time to become an entrepreneur-turned-investor. As for an entrepreneur and a company, when would be a good timing to say, aside from running the main business, it is also time to invest in other companies?
衛哲：我給很多企業的建議，說 企業做所謂的戰略投資，你是不是行業前三？ 第一，你自己的行業還沒做到行業前三，你對自己行業沒信心，你為什麼要分散精力？第二，經常說企業做戰略投資，賦能別人，你都不是行業老大，你怎麼賦能別人？你想搭別人船吧？那別人又問了，我為什麼讓你搭我的船？
Wei Zhe:I give advices to lots of companies, and tell them before they consider strategic investments, they should first ask themselves whether they are already the top 3 of their industry. Firstly, if you are not yet the top three of your segment, if you arenot confident about your own segment, why splitting your attention and get distracted? Secondly, often people say companies can do strategic investments to empower others, but if you are not at the top of your industry, how can you empower others? Or do you want to leverage others’ power? Then why would the others let you?
現在做商業都喜歡打造“爆款產品”，投資整天想著去投一個超級明星的企業。所以你想不出巴菲特是哪個專案，哪個公司一戰成名的，可能我們也是這個風格。所以我們並沒有去定位嘉御基金，要去找下一個阿里巴巴。 下一個阿里巴巴是撞著的，不是找到的。
Right now, people in business all want to make a “best-selling-product”, and invest in some unicornfirms. However, you cannot remember which project or company made Warren Buffet famous. Maybe we have a similar style as him. So we do not want to position Vision Knight Capital to find the next Alibaba. The next Alibaba may bump into you by accident, but it cannot be found.
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