Although Sequoia Capital is a VC company from Silicon Valley, it doesn't exactly follow the way things are done overseas. "We focus on China's macroeconomic environment and national development stages, and invest in products with practical value," Zheng said.

The practical value of the product of an enterprise is not the sales volume of the product, said Zhang. "It is the confidence index of customers toward the product-whether the product will still have practical value in 10 or 20 years? Our objective is to create great enterprises and not to focus on how to exit them. We hope to create more companies like Asia Media."

Asia Media is a professional technology company specializing in TV program listings. It was the first investment project of the Sequoia Capital China Fund. Asia Media was successfully listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on April 26, 2007, and became the first Chinese mainland company to go public on the Japanese stock market.

"The product of Asia Media is very forward-looking and compliant with the characteristics of its market development stage," Zhang said. "The space for market development is enormous. Going public was only the beginning of its long-term growth. In the next several decades, it will achieve extraordinary performance."

"I have always believed that instead of focusing on the short-term profitability of an enterprise, we should look for long-term development. We can create long-lasting enterprises only by doing this. And only this kind of investment can bring the best returns."

Apart from Asia Media, Zhang believes 51.com is a product with high practical value. 51.com provides users with safe and stable personal space on the Internet and an excellent exchange platform among users. Registered 51.com users can enjoy photo storage, blog publishing, and music upload services, as well as making friends among 51.com users all over the world. As of the end of June, 51.com had more than 70 million registered users and is growing at a high rate of 160,000 new users per day.

Casting a wide net

"There are products with practical value in all industries, the key is whether you can accurately predict the future development of the enterprise," Zhang said.

Zhang became serious when talking about the overall deployment in China. He gave an example: Investing is like panning for gold in the desert. It depends on your insight in finding the lustrous gold. Sequoia is determined to find gold-at least 10 pieces per year. But, it won't trade investment standard for speed. Sequoia focuses on the future development of an enterprise, not its fleeting glory.

"In the United States, Sequoia Capital mainly invests in the components, systems and software sectors and each partner only focuses on two-to-three domains," said Zhang. "But in China I don't plan to do it this way. We'll focus on all high-growth industries. Sequoia China will cast a wide net."

Zhang is completely confident about expanding his business to cover all sectors. This requires the venture capitalist to fully comprehend the current status, market space, consumer groups and development trends of each industry.

Facilitate enterprise development

Zhang likes to learn and he shows curiosity for many things. All kinds of books pile up in his office.

In particular, Zhang enjoys biographies, as well as Chinese and foreign history. "When I read something that is crucial or emotional, I always think, if I were him, what would I do at that moment?" said Zhang. "In reality, in my work, I hope to become the participant in the most crucial moment of an enterprise-someone who can make a difference in its development."

Similar philosophies brought Zhang and Shen together. They said unanimously, "the philosophy of Sequoia China is to be the supporter behind the entrepreneur. Our goal is not only to provide capital to the enterprises, but also value-added services such as financing and strategies for development so that they may stand out in the industry."

And that is what they have done. Each of the 30 or more enterprises invested in by Sequoia China have shown promising growth momentum. Greatdreams Cartoon has become the biggest animation production company in China. Asia Media successfully went public. Fujian Linong has transformed into a renowned tea seedling base. Sequoia was instrumental in the growth of these enterprises and Zhang was the person with the biggest influence.

At present, there are two funds under Sequoia China: Sequoia Capital China Venture Fund II-$250 million, and Sequoia Capital China Growth Fund I-$500 million. The lifecycle of both funds is 10 years. From the names of the funds we can see that one invests in enterprises in the early stages and the other in enterprises in the mid-and-late stages.

"The two funds have different evaluation standards and investment principles in order to better leverage the effect of Sequoia in the development process of the enterprises," said Zhang.

(Xinhua Finance)