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Ren Zeping's role in Rensheng Zefa Company is more like an investor - there are few major shareholders and founders of start-ups who hardly participate in the specific operations of the company's business.

Text | Hu Nannan, reporter of "Chinese Entrepreneurs"

Editor: Mina

Source of header image｜Interviewee

Ren Zeping is a real "roll king". Every morning he runs, does sit-ups and even aerobics, exercising for half an hour to an hour, and claims to be able to do 200 push-ups. In early June, in his office in Xicheng, Beijing, China Entrepreneur saw him just finished exercising, and he looked energetic.

Ren Zeping, 45 years old, does not want to lie down - he believes that "life is all about spirit", so he "rolls himself up every day"."I became famous very early. I could have just laid back at many stages of my life, but one has to pursue a career," said Ren Zeping.

Ren Zeping, who is very ambitious, now has multiple identities. In addition to being a well-known internet celebrity economist, he is also a serial entrepreneur. In May 2023, he founded Suzhou Rensheng Zefa Company and personally released a series of tweets for its hair growth products.

There are few internet celebrity economists who start their own businesses, but he is the first one to do it in a high-profile manner.Because of this, in January this year, Ren Zeping was pushed to the forefront of public opinion when he was fined for suspected false advertising of his products.

At this juncture, Ren Zeping conducted his first interview with China Entrepreneur. At that time, he realized that his influence and popularity were a double-edged sword for the startup company Rensheng Zefa. So he said that in the future he would slowly withdraw - reduce his influence on Rensheng Zefa, let the scientist team and the operation team stand in the foreground, and ultimately create real value through technology and products.

In the following months, Ren Zeping did the same thing. The reporter noticed that although he updated his Weibo daily, he never posted anything about Shengfa and Rensheng Zefa's products, and mainly posted his views on the macro economy.

In early June, when the reporter met with Ren Zeping for the second time and asked him about Rensheng Zefa, he turned on his computer and talked about "population issues" - "I still like to talk about macro issues. I am writing a book."He claims that he is not that interested in running a business and still sees himself as a scholar.

Since his original intention was still to be a scholar, why did he cross the border to do hair growth? In response to the reporter's question, Ren Zeping said that he wanted to truly help 250 million people solve their hair problems. "This is such a blessing for me." He sighed.

This is a typical answer.Ren Zeping likes to answer questions from the perspective of values. During the nearly one and a half hour interview, he mentioned the word "values" 26 times to reporters.Another word he likes to mention is "dream", which he mentioned to reporters 19 times.

Photography: Hu Nannan

Even at the Rensheng Zefa company's regular meeting held every Monday, he would repeatedly convey his dream to the company's employees present - "We want to become a great company and help 250 million people in China solve their hair problems." In his opinion,A good leader should first manage his dreams, which is very important at the company's strategic level.

"If you repeatedly tell your dreams to employees of start-up companies, will they think you are just empty promises?" the reporter asked.

"Don't think this is just empty talk. And if you insist on saying this,I think this society is just lacking in big pie, don’t you think?"Ren Zeping asked back.

Whether he is an economist or starts his own business,As long as you have the right values ​​and insist on doing the right things, what is meant to come will come naturally.——Ren Zeping has the natural optimism that is essential for entrepreneurs.

But his experience as an economist has also left a deep mark on him. During the interview, when the reporter talked to him about entrepreneurship, he would always unconsciously talk about social topics that people are concerned about, such as education, population, and culture. He is good at grand narratives and likes to express his views from the perspectives of trends, industries, values, and the overall situation.

When it comes to the company's management, he said he rarely intervenes in the details. In Ren Zeping's opinion, he doesn't understand R&D, so he should hire someone to do it and let professionals do professional things.

In fact,Ren Zeping's role in Rensheng Zefa Company is more like an investor and strategist - he lets his partners handle many of the company's specific operations, including e-commerce operations, offline store openings and other core businesses.He even felt that what he should do was to "help more and cause less trouble."

What he meant by helping more was giving suggestions. Ren Zeping would go to the company for a regular meeting every week, and the thing he did most was "giving a lot of suggestions" - like a product manager, he personally used the company's various products every day. In addition, he liked to repeatedly emphasize values: what should be done and what should not be done.

First start-up: Zepin Macroeconomics

In fact, Rensheng Zefa is not Ren Zeping’s first entrepreneurial venture.

According to Baidu Encyclopedia, Ren Zeping was admitted to Qingdao University in 1997 and received a doctorate in economics from Renmin University of China in 2007. After completing his doctorate at the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University in 2009, he joined the Development Research Center of the State Council, where he worked for five years and was promoted to director. He then "went into business" and became the managing director of Guotai Junan Securities Research Institute in May 2014.

Ren Zeping's career went smoothly. On September 2, 2014, he wrote an article titled "On the Last Battle Against the Bear Market", predicting that "5,000 points is not a dream". As the A-share market continued to rise and broke through 5,000 points in 2015, this article also made him famous.

At the end of 2017, Ren Zeping was hired by Evergrande Group as chief economist and dean of Evergrande Economic Research Institute with a high salary, which caused a sensation. In March 2021, Ren Zeping left Evergrande to start his own business.

After Ren Zeping left the Development Research Center of the State Council, he began to build his own media account "Zeping Macroeconomics". So at the beginning of his business, he set up a company using "Zeping Macroeconomics" as his base.

But just three months after he left Evergrande, Evergrande Real Estate collapsed.

"At that time, many people said that it was me who caused it, because I was the chief economist of Evergrande. Many people threw mud at me without knowing the truth, butWhen I was at Evergrande, I really advised against diversification and reducing debt. So I felt very wronged at the time. People wronged you, but you had no way to defend yourself.Besides, I worked at Evergrande for a very short time.” Ren Zeping told China Entrepreneur.

Ren Zeping was under a lot of pressure when he first started his business. He felt very wronged and couldn't sleep all night. "I even had a little mild depression. I had severe hair loss in 2021 and 2022."

But as an optimist, with the encouragement of his friends and the exercise, he soon came out of it. "I was reading Wang Yangming's autobiography at the time, and there was a sentence called 'This heart is bright', which touched me deeply." Ren Zeping said that his development was smooth afterwards.

According to him, this business venture was successful. Ren Zeping has been training his employees, guiding them on how to do research, write plans, and help them revise reports.As for Zepin Macroeconomics, he frankly said that he did not regard it as a job or a business, "This is my hobby, this is my dream, and the greatest happiness of a person is to turn his passion into a career."

In fact, he is still spending a lot of energy on what he is good at: macro research. The reporter interviewed him twice, also in the office of "Zeping Macroeconomics", which is still his main base. However, in the circle of economists, Ren Zeping seems a bit maverick - not only has a good sense of the Internet, likes to post on Weibo, and interacts frequently with netizens, and often jokes that he wants to be an emotional blogger and chicken soup writer. At the same time, he also likes to break the circle and constantly challenge himself.

From the outside,It is difficult to define Ren Zeping with a labelMany of his behaviors are also puzzling. For example, he is a good economist, but why does he want to engage in the controversial biotechnology business?

Second venture: Rensheng Zefa

In September 2022, Dr. Li Hui, CEO of Rensheng Zefa, met Ren Zeping at an event in Kunshan, Suzhou. At that time, Ren had almost no hair around the top of his head. His hair loss problem had lasted for a year and a half, and he even tried to go to several hair growth and transplant institutions for treatment.

Photography: Hu Nannan

Li Hui confessed to the reporter, "At that time, the part of his hair close to the scalp was still there." So Li Hui immediately recommended her hair growth product to Ren, a hair growth nutrient solution containing fullerene. Although the two had a pleasant chat, Ren Zeping, who had spent a lot of energy on hair care and hair growth before, did not believe what she said, "He thought it was all a lie."

In order to convince Ren Zeping, Li Hui asked him to go to their company for a test after returning to Beijing. It was this attempt that successfully impressed Ren Zeping. After using Rensheng Zefa products for four or five months, Ren Zeping said that "the hair has really seen an effect" and has grown significantly. On the day when the reporter first interviewed him, Ren Zeping said that the hair on his head (the amount of hair) had doubled.

Is this really the effect of this product? Ren Zeping has used different products in different institutions before. Could it be the effect of other products? How did Ren Zeping double his hair volume? This remains to be studied. But it is obvious thatMany companies in the hair growth industry have noticed the value of Ren Zeping's scalp.——Ren Zeping has a large number of fans and high-end members. These high-net-worth customers are exactly the customers that hair care and hair transplant companies want. Li Hui also told China Entrepreneur that before Ren Zeping used fullerene, many peer institutions were looking for him.

In the end, Ren Zeping chose Dr. Li Hui's team, which should be the result of weighing the pros and cons.

Tianyancha shows that the company to which Rensheng Zefa products belong is Beijing Rensheng Zefa Biotechnology Co., Ltd., which was established in April 2023 and is 100% owned by Suzhou Rensheng Zefa Biotechnology Co., Ltd.

Ren Zeping holds more than 80% of the shares of Suzhou Rensheng Zefa and is the actual controller of the company. Li Hui is the CEO of the company. Before that, Li had been developing fullerene technology for 18 years. Ren Zeping also invested in Beijing Funakang Biotechnology Co., Ltd., which was founded by a team of scientists led by Wang Chunru. This company also holds a 4.8% stake in Rensheng Zefa.

As for the source of funds, Ren Zeping revealed that he had some savings before, and he invested the money he earned from his first business venture into it, so he has been continuously entrepreneurial.

Alternative Entrepreneurs: It’s really not easy to run a business

Compared with other entrepreneurs, Ren Zeping is somewhat different.

In the division of labor within Rensheng Zefa’s internal management, Ren Zeping is responsible for “waving the flag and shouting” for product promotion and strategy formulation.Don't be too short-sighted, respect the rules, and plan to work for the company for more than 10 years. I have enough patience."Ren Zeping said.

What he meant by "waving the flag and shouting" was mainly to promote Rensheng Zefa on his personal Weibo. Starting from June 2023, Ren Zeping promoted Rensheng Zefa products on Weibo for the first time, and announced his entry into the beauty industry, focusing on scalp health management. According to incomplete statistics from "China Entrepreneur", Ren Zeping has posted at least 8 related Weibo posts about Rensheng Zefa.

But what he didn't mention is that any anti-hair loss and hair growth product has a use cycle and strict usage instructions. Li Hui told China Entrepreneur,Hair does not grow all at once. The principle of using fullerene technology to prevent hair loss and promote hair growth is to repair the scalp hair follicles and microcirculation system to create a better environment for hair growth., solve the problem from the root. For example, after using Rensheng Zefa's hair growth products, it takes at least several months to see the effect. Not everyone can stick to this process.

According to Li Hui, initially more than 100 of Ren Zeping's members tried the product, but in the end only more than 60 of them persisted.

Regarding the outside world's doubts about whether fullerene technology can be used to prevent hair loss and promote hair growth, Li Hui said that fullerene technology is actually very mature in the field of beauty and hair care.Many people in the industry believe that China's fullerene market is more mature than the collagen market, but there is no listed company in the fullerene sector yet."Li Hui said.

During the interview, Ren Zeping also responded again to the product promotion issue and the resulting 80,000 yuan fine from the Market Supervision Administration. He said that anti-hair loss products require a special certificate (special cosmetics registration certificate) to be promoted, which also exposed the company's compliance issues and shortcomings in promotion, and gave companies a reminder. In fact, the company had already started applying for a special certificate before being punished. The application cycle for this certificate is very long, but because of years of technical clinical effect verification, he is confident that he can apply for it.

Li Hui revealed that since Rensheng Zefa started operating independently in June last year, the team has started to be responsible for its own profits and losses. Offline, Rensheng Zefa hair care stores are also opening one after another, and more than 60 stores have been opened so far.

But Ren Zeping also realized that personal influence and popularity are a "double-edged sword" for the startup company Rensheng Zefa. Because of his identity as an internet celebrity economist, Rensheng Zefa has attracted much attention since its "debut", but the "side effects" are also obvious.

In an interview, Ren Zeping said, "More and more people are paying attention to Rensheng Zefa. In the future, we should let everyone pay more attention to our team of scientists and truly good products, and stop eating Mr. Ren's melons."

During the interview, Ren Zeping would unconsciously talk about his "old business" - how to boost the confidence of entrepreneurs, boost the private economy, etc. These economic research-related tasks still occupy more than 90% of his time.

However, this entrepreneurial experience made Ren Zeping realize that it is not easy to run a business. In the past, he has always advocated for the private economy and entrepreneurial spirit. After personally participating in the business this time, he has a deeper and more practical understanding of running a business.

The following is Ren Zeping’s own statement (abridged):

1. Values ​​are abstract, but they are especially important at critical moments

In Rensheng Zefa, I think we are more like a partnership. We start a business together and set up a joint venture. I am the major shareholder and he is the second largest shareholder. We work together. For example, in the field of fullerene technology, Professor Wang Chunru has been studying fullerene for 30 years, and our CEO Dr. Li Hui has been studying it for 18 years. So currently we are developing an exclusive cooperation in the field of fullerene cosmetics. I am equivalent to helping promote it, because I have a loud voice and can let more people know about such a good technology. The offline store opening is also managed by the partner. She used to be the CEO of a listed company.

I only recruit leading management, and they will recruit team members and build the team. Because I think that professional people must do professional things.If I were to do everything, I would not be able to accomplish anything. There are some areas that I do not understand, so I would leave them to people who do.I will help more and cause less trouble.

We were punished by the market supervision department some time ago because our products are special functional cosmetics. We are in the process of applying for the special license, but we are very excited to promote it before it is issued. Of course, every failure is a lesson for us, and it also reminds us. This license is indeed difficult to apply for, but we are very confident that it will be issued because our technology is strong enough and it should be issued in the second half of this year.

Another thing is to choose the right people.When I look for a partner, first of all, he must have the right values.For example, if you want to do something short-term, we will not cooperate with you.Although values ​​are sometimes empty, they are particularly important at critical moments. A person with good values ​​will not cheat or harm others. If a person has good moral character, it would be best if he has talent, but if he doesn't have talent, he won't cheat you.But if a person has talent but poor character, the greater his ability, the more miserably he will cheat you. We all have experience and lessons in this regard.

I make friends the same way. For example, when I play mahjong, I never complain about my opponent. Don't complain all the time. A master is someone who can raise questions and solve them.

So, first of allOnly by choosing the right person can you use him/her properly. Then you can let him/her take charge and give him/her full freedom.Another thing is to set up a mechanism, one is the upward motivation mechanism, the other is to keep the bottom line and say what can't be done. For example, you can't lie to people, you can't promise that your hair will grow in a week, etc.

At present, Rensheng Zefa's online business can basically support itself. The offline part is opening stores at a relatively fast pace. We have opened more than 60 stores and plan to reach 100 stores by the end of the year. Why open offline stores? Because the offline verification effect is better. For example, if you buy our products online, we don't know how you use them. But offline is different. After you apply for a card offline, you have to come and experience it frequently, and we will have someone to supervise your use, so the offline verification effect is better than online.

two,The system is for bad people, not good people.

My biggest experience from this entrepreneurial experience is that it is really difficult to run a business.It tests a comprehensive operational capability: team, regulations, technology, market, etc., all need to be done. And for me, it is entering a new field. I used to work in professional finance and knowledge education, and now I work in industry, biotechnology, which belongs to the field of science and technology.

Of course, we are already doing very well because we have a huge amount of traffic, which ensures that this company and this brand have become well-known from the beginning. And if I say that this thing is effective, it is equivalent to 10,000 or 1 million people saying that it is effective, which is a great empowerment for it. In addition, we have a strong accumulation of scientific research and technology, so everything is considered to be quite lucky.

People need to do business and inspire your fighting spirit. It is a wonderful thing to be awakened by dreams every day.I'm in my 40s now, so I can't lie down.If I want to lie down, I can lie down at many stages of my life., I was able to have the conditions to lie flat when I was working in government, securities companies, and when I succeeded in my first business. But, how happy is struggle, right?

Moreover, my previous career experience was of great help to this entrepreneurship. For example, I worked in government agencies, financial institutions, real estate companies, and also started my own business for three years. These experiences also precipitated some good methodologies, which allowed me to avoid many detours when doing this, because I had paid all the tuition fees I should have paid before.

People are like continuous advancement. Now if you are asked to do a primary school test paper, you will find it easy. But when you were a primary school student, did you find it difficult to do the test paper? So some things form your own circle of competence and accumulation of knowledge. This is the concept I want to talk about.

Source: Visual China

I have been thinking recently, what is a good leader like? He is not someone who knows everything. I thinkA good leader must first cultivate a dream, because most people don’t know where they are going, and you need to unite them through a dream and a vision.

I think everyone is smart, especially the young people nowadays are smarter than us, but why are they confused? I think it is because they lack a dream to stimulate their potential. I think everyone is a genius, but most people rarely awaken their dreams. So you have to manage a dream, and this dream must have good values.

For example, I do two things at Zepin Macro: first, manage dreams. Zepin Macro aims to use knowledge to promote social progress, and do professional finance with the spirit of scientists and a constructive attitude. We believe that as long as society develops, this society needs people like us. In recent years, we have called for the relaxation of birth control, new infrastructure, etc.; second, do research. Because I have expertise, I train them to do research, then help them revise reports, guide them to do research, and train batches of people. This is what I do.

Similarly, in Rensheng Zefa, I think the first thing is to manage the dream. I first formulate the strategy because I thinkStrategy is very important, and it will be very troublesome if the direction is wrong.

For example, we want to become a great company. Greatness does not mean a big company, but having correct values ​​and great dreams. For example, we want to help 250 million people in China solve their hair problems. This is our dream.

Don't think this is just empty talk. If you insist on saying this,I think this society is just short of big things. Most of our businesses, including many things, are too short-sighted. You can only achieve big things if you do the right things for a long time.

Once you have a big dream, you have to act in accordance with it. You need good technology and a good team. You need to raise your standards and motivate yourself. Then the spirit of your entire team will rise.

I tell my team this every week.In the weekly meeting, I would make a lot of suggestions, just like a product manager, but everyone in the company can express their opinions equally.I will never use my influence or anything to pressure others. We are very democratic and flat internally.

But there are some rigid things that cannot be touched. For example, our values, we must adhere to correct values; some of our institutional red lines are also rigid, and illegal things cannot be done.

Many people say that values ​​are vague and cannot be assessed. I think the key to this is to guide, not by assessment. For example, if you teach your child that he should become a happy person, a happy person, and that he should be confident, independent, self-reliant, self-respecting, and self-esteeming, how can you assess him? You can't assess him. But you can show him through words and deeds, for example, you can tell him "Mom loves you very much, you are the best", right? For example, if he makes a mistake, you say that his mistake is very interesting, isn't it? This thing can make him feel safe enough and feel infinite love.

Remember, the system is for bad people, not good people.

3. Do your own thing well, and what is coming will come naturally.

My original intention was to be a scholar.For example, if you write a book about population problems, it takes a year and a lot of work. Can this book sell? Professional books don't make money, but I think that in the process, many problems are studied. It is very interesting and valuable to promote social progress.

For example, Zepin Macroeconomics, you must not think that I started this business just to make a living. This is my hobby, my career, and my dream. I love doing this very much.The greatest happiness of a person is to turn his passion into a profession.I think the same is true for Rensheng Zefa. I want to truly help 250 million people solve their hair problems. What a great blessing this will be for me, right? How many people will thank us? Just thinking about this is very exciting.

Let me give you another example. If there are two of me: one is bored and does nothing, and goes out to bask in the sun every day; the other gets up every day, sometimes uses knowledge to promote social progress, and sometimes uses technology to help 250 million people solve their hair problems. Which me do you want to see? If you put yourself in their shoes, which one would you like to be? Definitely the latter.

I nowI exercise for half an hour to an hour every morning, doing 200 push-ups every day, and I roll myself up.I also do sit-ups, run, and recently started doing aerobics and body shaping.Why do I need to exercise every day? Life is all about energy and spirit.

Because it is very clear whether a person is positive or not, whether his energy is positive or not. Only when a person has fire in his heart can he have light in his eyes; if he has no fire in his heart, there will be no light in his eyes, and he will be lazy, and laziness will make people age faster.

For example, when Yu Donglai talks about those things, there is light in his eyes. He is not lying to you. What he talks about, he not only believes in himself, but also practices it every day. So you can deceive others for a while, but can you deceive them for a lifetime? Impossible. Or you can deceive others, but you can't deceive yourself.We should learn from Yu Donglai, especially in terms of business management, his level is much higher than mine.

I always have a point of view.When a person has power, wealth, and influence, it is actually a kind of trust given to you by society. You must use it in the right way.I believe that wealth should eventually return to society so that it can realize its value.

soI don't expect to make much money from the Rensheng Zefa project in the short term.I think as long as you have confidence in your skills, you should spend 10 years honing your skills, maintain full patience, don't be too short-sighted, insist on doing the right things in the long run, and what is coming will come naturally. Respecting the rules means planning for the company to be able to work for more than 10 years.

Source: Visual China

I have enough patience. Many businesses are bound to grow slowly at the beginning and quickly at the end. Things do not develop linearly. It is impossible for them to double or triple every year. The beginning is slow because they need to lay the foundation, build the team, and expand the market. So the beginning may be slow, but the end may double every year. This is all possible.

Some time ago, I visited a company in Dongguan, which was founded by Duan Yongping's disciples. Duan Yongping is very powerful - vivo, OPPO, Xiaotiancai, Jitu, and Pinduoduo were all founded by his disciples. Duan Yongping himself also founded Xiaobawang. Later, I asked, why is Duan Yongping so successful, including his disciples? They said that Duan Yongping has a very good methodology, and there is a sentence in it,Do the right things and do things right, and then keep a normal mind.First, you need to do the right thing and persist in doing the right thing for a long time; second, you need to do things correctly and do them in the right way. You need to believe that there is a cause and effect in doing things, and keep a normal mind. What is coming will come naturally.

soI think as long as the product is good, the team is good, more and more people recognize it, and it can help more and more people, the company will naturally grow bigger.

Many people say that the market for hair growth is very competitive. I ask, why do you care about those things?

My values ​​are not to surpass my competitors. I only care about users. It is enough to produce good research results and good products. If you see others become big and make a lot of money, you will be anxious and unhappy. There is no need to be.We just do our own job well, and what is meant to come will come naturally.

And the market is big enough. There are 250 million people in China and at least 1 billion people in the world who have this demand. We don't regard anyone as an enemy. We only have technology and users in our eyes, and everyone has different technologies.

We should not over-advertise it and say that what will happen after using it will happen. We are conducting rigorous clinical tests on fullerene products with the Department of Hair Science of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital. The hair science department's treatment plan for hair loss is 30% treatment and 70% care. Because a good mood and good living habits are also very important, these topical products can be used to improve them. In this way, we are also popularizing healthy living habits and allowing you to adjust your mentality. Isn't this also a blessing?