Kathy Xu of Capital Today describes the initial venture deal she worked on at Peregrine in 1995 backing Chinese beverage company Wahaha.
Opinion
Xu: JD moved ahead of Amazon by building proprietary distribution centers
“He's doing e-commerce, but he's one step ahead than Amazon, because when JD started the business, when we give him the money, he did two things. Number one, he expand the category. Number two, he build the distribution center. Amazon didn't have distribution c…”
Insight
Xu: Traditional VC fund lifespans force premature exits from winning investments
“So I think the biggest mistake, if you ask me, is that we're not able to hold on to the winner because the fund has limited life. And the once and all solve this problem is just have this evergreen structure that enable us to hold on to a winner for a long, lo…”
Insight
Xu: Consumer subsidies fail to build e-commerce loyalty against supply chain excellence
“You burn so much money used for subsidy to the customer. Do you think the customer is going to be royal to you? Of course not. They will choose whoever is the cheaper, better. So at the end of the day, it's a competition of supply chain, competition of logisti…”
Opinion
Xu: Venture capital firms relying on global investment committees will fail
“First of all, I think venture capital is a very local business, because you have to fill the market, not only you meet the entrepreneur, then the consumer, the competitor, it has to be a local decision. Whoever has a global decision, you know, I see city in Ne…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Xu: Capital Today beats Sequoia China on three out of five deals
“We come across Sequoia quite often in deal sourcing. And I was saying so far, We have win maybe three times out of five times.”
Insight
Xu: A great business model matters more than founder capability
“If you ask me, if you force me to choose one among which was more important, I would say the business is more important than the founders. I have seen a lot of very smart founder struggling in a mediocre business. They will never get it. But if you have a very…”