Editor's note: Upon graduation, they embarked on different life paths from the same starting point, government institutions, schools, financial institutions, media organizations, and enterprises.... What changes have they made since they stepped into society? What new insights do they have in the workplace? How has their knowledge gained at the undergraduate level helped them in their work?

Henceforth, the University of Waikato Joint Institute at Hangzhou City University (NZUWI) will launch a series of alumni return-visit reports, aiming to point out the future direction for current students, provide a platform for alumni to communicate and contact one another, and provide a channel for parents to learn about our graduates.

On the evening of November 14th, Jiang Lili, a 2012 graduate of Hangzhou City University (HZCU), was invited to NZUWI to give a talk on the theme of “Making Peace with the Ordinary Self”, in which she shared experience from her transition after university graduation to studying overseas, and to her decade-long career in the investment industry.

Jiang Lili, Assistant General Manager of Qiantang Venture Capital, has been engaged in the equity investment industry for 10 years. After graduating from Hangzhou City University with a major in Financial Management, she went to the United States to study and work, engaged in early-stage venture capital in Silicon Valley for three years, and then returned to China in 2018, where she has worked in industrial investment at the Yingshi Fund for five years.

Part 1

Jiang Lili mentioned that on her path to growth, “Alumni Networking” has always played a highly valuable role. Over the past ten years, the “Alumni Networking” created by “Patience, Trust, Mutual Assistance and Altruism” has brought a compound interest effect in her development path.

Part 2

Jiang Lili describes herself as a person who can't stay idle. From a part-time job in her freshman year to an internship in her senior year, she has been focusing on practical application since she started her undergraduate studies. She believed that by linking theory to practice, she could better understand the knowledge learned from books. The extensive practical experience laid a solid foundation for her future employment.

It is enviable that during her undergraduate studies, Jiang Lili not only excelled in her studies, but also harvested love. Her perseverance and hard work, along with the mutual encouragement and growth with her husband, allowed them to receive offers from universities in the U.S. at the same time. She also provided some advice on postgraduate applications and scholarship applications to the students during this talk.

During her graduate years, she always held the mentality of “give it a try if you have a chance”, and she was appointed as an assistant successfully. She recalled submitting her résumé without expecting to get a highly competitive position; however, finally she was surprised by the results.

She always told herself, “Just go for it and do it”. Such instances have happened to her many times. These results, seemingly unexpected, were not possible without her execution and willpower. These have allowed her to accumulate practical experience during the school year. “Seize opportunities when you can”, she interpreted this saying with her actions.

Part 3

Jiang Lili recalled her experiences of participating in campus recruitment after she returned to China. She went through various promotion meetings, mass interviews, written tests and interviews with her dream companies; however, the results of her applications were not satisfactory.

After analyzing her unfavorable factors in campus recruitment, she adjusted her strategy in time, trying to participate in recruitment, and finally got her first job after graduation due to her rich practical experience.

She mentioned that in the interview interactions at that time, many ideas were derived from her previous practical experience, which deeply impressed the interviewers.

Part 4

On the question of how to learn quickly and accumulate investment experience, she cited the example of her first entry into the venture capital industry in Silicon Valley, learning by “referencing”, summarizing the underlying logic of many investments, and transforming it into her own thinking methods.

In this way, she filled three notebooks with work notes and, even now, she often looks through them. This way of learning has benefited her a lot, and she has paid less “tuition” on the road to growth.

In Silicon Valley, she paid more attention to benchmarks in science and technology, such as Musk of Tesla, Jen-Hsun Huang of Inventec, and Sam Altman of OpenAI, to understand their views and insights of cutting-edge technology.

She believes that following their investment ideas can help her greatly reduce the probability of failure, just like following Warren Buffett in buying U.S. stocks.

Part 5

Jiang Lili shared her personal investment philosophy- “Investment comes from life”. She cited examples from her time in the U.S.: When she wanted to buy something, the first place that came to mind was Amazon; When she wanted to look for a job, she would think of LinkedIn; When she found a Mexican fast-food restaurant chain that was very tasty.... These life scenarios provided her with a lot of high-quality stock choices. From these observations, she encouraged her students to develop their investment horizons from life.

For students who plan to work in the investment industry in the future, Jiang Lili summarizes the following five key elements:

(1) Professional ethics

Professional ethics is the most important point, as investment is a job closest to the money. Investors should be conscientious and principled.

(2) Access to information

Investment decision-making is based on the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of information. Information is not limited to financial data, but also includes market trends, industry dynamics, technological advances, and political and economic conditions. Effective information collection and accurate judgment are the keys to successful investment.

(3) Continuous Learning

Markets and technologies are constantly changing, investors need to learn continuously and efficiently, update their knowledge base, and improve their cognition in order to keenly identify new opportunities or potential risk points.

(4) Cooperation and Communication

Investing is not just about trading, but also involves long-term cooperation and communication with entrepreneurs, industry experts, other investors, advisors, and other parties. By building trust and a network of relationships, investors have access to unique information and resources, which in turn gives them an edge in a complex market environment.

(5) Strong Physical Fitness

Investment is a mental labor, but also a physical labor. Having a healthy body and abundant physical strength are the basic elements for investors to engage in the investment industry.

At the end of the lecture, Jiang Lili patiently answered students' questions on study planning. In addition, she encouraged students to develop a correct understanding of employment, face up to the challenges and rise to the occasions.