Duan Yongping’s Thoughts Over the Years
Duan Yongping is virtually synonymous with China's Warren Buffett. After leaving entrepreneurship, he turned an initial investment of 2.2 million RMB into hundreds of billions today.
Here are some selected excerpts.
When doing anything, first make sure it’s right in the long run. This requires you to be able to see the impact 5, 10, or even 20 years ahead. When you’re feeling lost, try looking further into the future. Looking 10 years ahead is often much easier than looking 1–2 years ahead, and looking 1–2 years ahead is easier than looking just 1–2 days ahead. Having a goal keeps you less swayed by emotions—especially anxiety—and prevents you from being tempted by short-term gains. Finally, the thing must interest you, so you can persist. When you spot mistakes, correct them promptly and cut your losses to reduce costs.
Here’s a deep-thinking insight: the opportunity cost of capital tied up over time is an extremely high cost. Even if you haven’t lost money—or have made a tiny profit—once you factor in the time involved, the hidden cost can be enormous. What returns could that capital have generated elsewhere?
So, think things through clearly, do the right thing, and do it well—and keep at it. This is crucial. Great investors move slowly. People aren’t too worried about missing opportunities; the most important thing is to avoid踩雷 (landmines).
A good track won’t settle for low margins. Low-margin businesses tend to have poor models and products with little differentiation. Innovation isn’t necessarily about being first; it’s about finding something you have the capability to execute better than anyone else—and then excelling at it.
Insisting on doing the right thing means stopping the wrong thing as soon as you realize it’s wrong, no matter the cost—because, relatively speaking, that’s still the smallest cost. Maintaining a “stop doing” list (your prohibitions) is also vital.
Boosting team cohesion with money alone is useless, but reducing pay has a显著 (significant) destructive effect. The real motivators for cohesion are usually unrelated to money—they’re the things that make working together genuinely enjoyable. You could call these pursuits beyond profit.
Don’t let important things become urgent things.
If you’re going to take risks—after all, profits come from risk—make sure you only take risks you can afford to bear.
Whether the price you pay for an investment is a good one should be judged retrospectively from the future. Buying stocks is buying companies; buying companies is buying their discounted future cash flows. The strongest guarantee for those future cash flows (discounted) is the business model, and within that model, the strongest asset is the moat. The fact that something can raise prices indicates it has a moat. Recognizing this is a rare talent in itself.
Eventually, you’ll become the person you were meant to be.