大疆創新科技有限公司的沈南鵬

As I follow Neil Shen into the head office of DJI, the largest drone company in the world, its staff greet him with bowed heads. Wearing a black shirt, grey slacks and black Italian-made loafers, the 47-year-old is no stranger to this kind of reception.

沈南鵬身着黑色襯衫、灰色長褲，腳上穿一雙意大利製造的黑色平底皮鞋。我跟在他身後走進全球最大無人機制造公司——大疆創新科技有限公司(DJI)的總部，員工們低着頭向他致意，而他顯然已經習慣了這種打招呼的方式。

Shen is one of China’s most successful investors — Forbes magazine puts his personal fortune at $1bn — and head of China operations for the Silicon Valley venture capital outfit Sequoia Capital. At home his rise at a western firm is widely seen as emblematic of the country’s growing status.

現年47歲的沈南鵬是中國最成功的投資者之一，《福布斯》(Forbes)估計他個人財富有10億美元，他也是硅谷風險投資公司紅杉資本(Sequoia Capital)中國業務的負責人。中國國內普遍認爲，他在一家西方公司身居高位，也象徵着中國地位的上升。

Indeed, some believe it to be only a matter of time before Sequoia Capital China produces more returns than its parent. But on the day of our meeting, in early July, the volatile Chinese stock market is in meltdown (it will fall eight per cent on that day alone). Although he has “only” $6bn under management in his China funds, Shen has, according to a recent estimate from Chinese state television, stakes in companies with a market capitalisation of more than $400bn. The downturn means this figure will have taken a substantial dip.

實際上一些人相信，紅杉資本中國基金(Sequoia Capital China)創造的收益早晚超過其母公司。但就在今年7月初我們見面的那一天，跌宕起伏的中國股市大幅下跌（僅在當天就暴跌了8%）。儘管沈南鵬旗下中國基金所管理的資金“僅”有60億美元，但據中國國家電視臺最近的估計，沈南鵬持有的上市公司股票總市值超過4000億美元。股市下跌意味着該數字會大幅縮水。

Shen, who has a reputation for coolly machine-like calculation, seems unperturbed. Though he admits to carrying three smartphones — to monitor the various service-providers, he says — he hardly glances at the screens.

沈南鵬對此很淡定，他有着像機器一樣冷靜計算的名聲。儘管他坦承自己隨身帶着3部智能手機——他說這是爲了緊盯各個服務提供商——但實際上他很少去看這些手機屏幕。

“Things have not settled yet,” he says. “We need to wait for a few weeks. At the moment, the situation is not market-driven. There are thousands of companies that need money and only five per cent are public. If the valuations come down, that is good for us. The expectations of entrepreneurs were too high.”

他說：“現在還沒有穩定下來，我們需要等待幾周。目前的形勢並不是市場驅動的。千萬家公司需要資金，上市的只有5%。如果估值下降，那對我們來說是好事。創業家們以前的期望太高了。”

A decade ago, you wouldn’t have found many Chinese internet entrepreneurs on a list of global billionaires. Today, they are numerous, from Jack Ma, founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, and Pony Ma, founder of Tencent, which began life as a gaming site and is now a social media behemoth, to Robin Li of Baidu, the mainland equivalent of search engine Google, and Lei Jun of smartphone maker Xiaomi. And, while Shen is now primarily known as an investor, he, too — as one of the founders of Ctrip, the hugely successful Chinese travel website — was an internet entrepreneur.

十年前，在全球億萬富翁排行榜上看不到多少中國互聯網企業家的名字，如今卻冒出了一大批，比如電商巨頭阿里巴巴(Alibaba)創始人馬雲，先是做遊戲網站、後來發展爲社交媒體巨擘的騰訊(Tencent)的創始人馬化騰，“中國內地的谷歌(Google)”搜索引擎公司百度(Baidu)的李彥宏，還有智能手機制造商小米(Xiaomi)的雷軍。儘管沈南鵬主要以投資聞名，但他也是一名互聯網創業家，他是做得非常成功的中國旅遊網站攜程網(Ctrip)的創始人之一。

In a technology landscape more complex, concentrated and fast-moving than even Silicon Valley, one or more of the key players Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu has a stake in every one of the top 10 apps in China. Moreover, both of the Mas (who are unrelated) have large family offices that alternately co-operate and compete with investment firms such as Sequoia and its big rivals Hillhouse Capital and Tiger Global Management. So, in addition to the direct competition that exists between all of them, there are numerous proxy rivalries that play out through the companies that receive money from them.

在簡直比硅谷還要複雜、集中度更高而且日新月異的中國科技業，前十大App中的每一款App都得到了阿里巴巴、騰訊和百度三大互聯網公司中至少一家的參股。此外，馬雲和馬化騰（兩人並無親戚關係）都有龐大的家族理財室(family office)，這些理財室與投資公司——如紅杉資本及其主要競爭對手高瓴資本(Hillhouse Capital)和老虎環球基金(Tiger Global Management)——時而合作，時而競爭。因此，除了各方彼此之間的直接競爭以外，還有通過各自注資的公司展開的代理競爭。

There are about five private Chinese technology companies with a value of more than $10bn and many others with a value of more than $1bn. Shen is an investor in most of them. As a venture capitalist, his role is to get involved in the earliest stages of a company’s life, when the technology is still untried and the ability of a founder to execute on their vision remains uncertain. To use the analogy of another, admiring tech investor: “Neil Shen would have invested in [Chinese basketball superstar] Yao Ming when he was five, and I would not have had the courage to invest in him even when he was 20!”

大約有5家中國民營科技公司的價值超過100億美元，還有多家公司的價值超過10億美元。沈南鵬在這些公司大多都有投資。作爲一名風險投資者，他對一家公司的投資通常從最早期開始，在這個階段，技術尚未經過實踐證明，創始人落實自己的構想的能力依然不確定。一位對沈南鵬很是欽佩的科技業投資者比喻說：“沈南鵬會在（中國籃球巨星）姚明5歲的時候對他進行投資，而我即便在姚明20歲的時候也沒有勇氣對他進行投資。”

“You have to totally change your mindset when you are a venture investor,” Shen explains. “When you do private equity, you have so many reference points. The companies are basically static. In buyout investments, globally, you just improve the operating efficiency, put on a lot of borrowed money and you could make money. VCs in China can’t do that. The situation is much more dynamic. It is all about giving small and fast fish money so they can compete successfully with bigger, slower fish.”

沈南鵬解釋稱：“如果你是一名風險投資者，你就必須徹底改變自己的思維方式。當你做私募的時候，你有那麼多參考點，公司基本上是靜態的。如果在全球進行併購投資，你只需提高運營效率，投入大量借來的資金，然後就能賺錢。在中國，風投不可能這麼做。這裏的形勢更加變化多端。你要給規模小、行動快的公司資金，這樣它們就能成功地與更大型卻行動遲緩的公司競爭。”

Shen was the first outside investor in the drone company we are visiting. Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI), he tells me, is already making money (he estimates $200m profit this year) and is valued at $10bn. It commands 70 per cent of the world’s consumer drone market and is becoming omnipresent: the drone that crashed on the White House lawn in January was made by DJI.

沈南鵬是大疆公司的第一位外部投資者。他告訴我，大疆已經在賺錢了（他估計今年能有2億美元利潤），估值達到100億美元。大疆在全球消費者無人機市場佔據70%的份額，其產品正變得無處不在：今年1月墜毀在白宮草坪上的無人機就是大疆製造的。

Outside the conference room where lunch has been ordered in for us from the restaurant chain Spaghetti House, models of DJI’s latest drones, with names such as Phantom and Ronin, are being shown to a parade of visitors, both local and international. The room itself is sparsely furnished and decorated, save for one piece of framed calligraphy on a whitewashed wall. It reads: “Great Ambition Lacks Borders”: the last character — jiang (“border”) — is the same character as the “jiang” in the company’s title.

我們訂了連鎖餐廳Spaghetti House的午餐，預備在會議室用餐。會議室外面擺放着精靈(Phantom)、如影(Ronin)等最新款大疆無人機模型，一些來自國內外的訪客正在參觀。會議室內沒有多餘傢俱和裝飾，一堵白牆上掛着一幅裝裱好的字：“大志無疆”。

Shen lines his phones up on the table, where, for the next two hours, they periodically beep to the rhythm of plunging share prices. He tells me that he uses WeChat, the Tencent messaging app, far more than email. “Western companies don’t have the right mindset for China in many ways,” he says. “When you register for a western app, they always ask for your email address. But your mobile phone number is your identity in China.”

沈南鵬把三部手機依次擺在桌子上，接下來的兩個小時裏，它們不時隨着股價暴跌的節奏而響起。他告訴我，他使用微信（WeChat，騰訊的通信APP）的時間遠多於電子郵件。他說：“西方公司在許多方面都沒有正確理解中國。當你註冊一款西方APP時，它們總是要你的電子郵件地址。但在中國，手機號纔是你的身份。”

Shen’s success is a lot to do with understanding the local environment and adapting to it. He recently put money into LinkedIn and Airbnb, with plans to bring both into China. Last year he hired a CEO for LinkedIn China — he is on its board — and plans to introduce locally available products such as Red Rabbit, a networking app aimed at a less sophisticated audience than the wealthy English-speaking professionals who tend to use LinkedIn China.

沈南鵬的成功與他理解並適應國內這種環境不無關係。他最近投資了領英(LinkedIn)和Airbnb，並計劃將兩家公司引入中國。去年他爲領英中國(LinkedIn China)聘請了一位首席執行官——他是該公司董事——並計劃推出本土化產品，比如赤兔(Red Rabbit)，這款社交APP針對中低端人羣，而不是富裕、講英語的專業人士，後者往往使用領英中國。

Generally, Shen dislikes coming in at such a late stage of a company’s development. “I don’t feel as deeply involved,” he says. “When I come in early, it’s more of an adventure. I feel more like an entrepreneur again. Of course, you make more money, but you are so closely knitted. You say to yourself, ‘Hey! I identified this company when it had only 15 people camped out in some shabby office in Shanghai.’ You grow with them and they grow with you.” Just for a moment, the persona of a dispassionate investor seems to disappear.

一般來說，沈南鵬不喜歡在公司發展到後期才參與進來。他說：“我感覺沒有深度介入。當我早期進入時，更多的是一種冒險。我感覺更像又成了一位創業家。當然，你會賺更多的錢，但主要是你與公司緊密聯繫。你對自己說，‘嘿！在這家公司只有15個人擠在上海那間簡陋的辦公室裏的時候，我就發現它了’，你和它們一起成長，它們和你一起成長。”就是那麼一瞬間，一個冷靜客觀的投資者的形象蕩然無存。

Our lunch boxes have arrived, along with some cheap plastic utensils. Elegant porcelain cups, however, are produced for the hot coffee and steaming jasmine tea. The meal comes to us thanks to a service called (translated as Hungry!), in which, I am unsurprised to learn, Shen has also invested. The company, he explains, started in his home city, Shanghai, delivering food to university students who found their dormitory fare insufficiently appetising. It now operates in major cities across the mainland (an average order costs about $4, with restaurants paying the delivery service).

我們訂的午餐到了，一起送來的還有廉價的塑料餐具。不過，精美的瓷制杯子用來盛放熱咖啡和熱氣騰騰的茉莉花茶非常合適。我們使用了一款名爲“餓了麼”的訂餐服務APP叫餐——不出我所料，沈南鵬也是這款軟件的投資者。他解釋稱，“餓了麼”創辦於上海——他本人在那個城市長大——主要面向那些不愛在學校食堂吃的高校學生提供送餐服務。現在該公司的業務遍及中國內地各大城市（平均訂單金額大約爲4美元，餐館承擔送餐成本）。

It is also part of a chain of mobile internet companies that, in such an opportunistic environment, inevitably trespass on each other’s turf. This poses problems for investors such as Shen. “It isn’t that it starts out as a conflict of interest,” he explains, as DJI staff run around making sure we have everything we require. “It is that they converge because the borders between their models are often times vague.”

它也是一系列移動互聯網公司中的一部分——在這樣一個充滿機會主義的環境中，這些移動互聯網公司的業務領域不可避免地出現了交叉。這給沈南鵬等投資者帶來了一個問題。在大疆公司的員工忙着準備我們需要的各種東西時，沈南鵬解釋說：“並不是一開始就有利益衝突，而是它們逐漸趨同，因爲不同模型之間的界限往往隨着時間推移而模糊。”

Shen has chosen a lunch box that contains spaghetti with an unidentifiable meat sauce, while I am handed a suspiciously bright pilau rice with chunks of seafood and avocado in a cream sauce. We are both given another box containing a salad of cut tomatoes, eggs, olives, chunks of sausage and chopped ham. Since I don’t eat meat, I put that one aside. There are containers with soup with bits of meat as well. Shen, not known for a big appetite even when he is dining at Hong Kong’s fanciest restaurants, regards his box with a wary lack of enthusiasm.

沈南鵬選了一份不知澆了什麼肉羹的意大利麪條，遞給我的則是一份色澤亮得可疑的奶油醬汁海鮮鱷梨蓋澆飯。我們各自還有另外一個餐盒，裏面是西紅柿、雞蛋、橄欖、幾塊香腸和碎火腿做成的沙拉。因爲我不吃肉，便把這個放在了一邊。盛湯的盒子裏也有一些肉。即便在香港最高檔的餐廳，沈南鵬也不以胃口好聞名，看起來他對那份午餐也沒多大興趣。

Shen’s role at Sequoia is not the first time he has bridged east and west. Born in the province of Zhejiang, Nanpeng Shen grew up in Shanghai and attended Shanghai Jiao Tong University, where, according to friends, he was considered a maths genius. He ended up in the US at Yale School of Management and, after graduating in 1992, became one of the first people from mainland China to work on Wall Street.

沈南鵬在紅杉資本的角色是爲東西方牽線搭橋，這並非是他首次扮演此類角色。沈南鵬出生於中國浙江省，在上海長大，後來考上了上海交通大學，據他的朋友說，沈南鵬在校時被認爲是數學天才。他後來前往美國耶魯大學管理學院(Yale School of Management)留學，1992年畢業後成爲最早在華爾街工作的中國內地人之一。

“When I graduated from Yale, I spoke English OK, but at that time Neil Shen was not good at making pitches or presentations,” he says, momentarily slipping into the third person. “I needed a different angle. Because of my math, I had good analytical skills, so I could do derivatives. Lots of Chinese bankers on Wall Street started that way.”

他說：“從耶魯畢業的時候，我英語說得還不錯，但當時的沈南鵬還不擅長推銷或者演講。”他突然用了第三人稱。“我需要轉換角度。由於數學很好，我有着很強的分析技巧，因此我能夠做衍生品。在華爾街的許多中國銀行家都是這麼開始的。”

By the mid-1990s, the Chinese market was coming alive as people’s wealth grew and, for the first time, they had money to invest. Shen was among a group of so-called “sea turtles”, Chinese who, having studied overseas, chose to return home. “I only became a real banker when I went back to China,” he says, putting down his plastic fork. “There, the cultural disadvantages disappeared. I could pitch to the Bank of China and pitch to the Ministry of Finance. I didn’t have weaknesses any more.”

上世紀90年代中期，隨着中國人財富增加，並且首次有錢投資，中國市場開始煥發生機。沈南鵬成了所謂的“海龜”中的一員——“海龜”是指在海外留學，然後選擇回國的中國人。沈南鵬放下自己的塑料叉子說道：“回到中國後，我才成了一名真正的銀行家。在中國，文化上的劣勢消失了。我可以向中國銀行(BoC)推銷，可以向財政部推銷。我不再有弱點。”

By the end of that decade, when the first waves of the new tech economy reached the mainland, Shen was running China capital markets for Deutsche Bank. Internet companies such as Sina and Baidu were in the headlines and the race was on to create the Chinese equivalent of Google. Many of Shen’s classmates from high school, university and Yale were becoming involved, and he, too, decided to jump in.

到上世紀90年代末，新科技經濟的第一波浪潮刮到中國內地，當時沈南鵬在德意志銀行(Deutsche Bank)負責中國資本市場業務。新浪(Sina)和百度(Baidu)等互聯網公司出現在新聞頭條位置，爭當中國谷歌的競賽已經展開。沈南鵬的許多高中、大學和耶魯的同學都參與這股浪潮，而他也決定投身其中。

In December 1999, together with James Liang, whom he had known since they were both 15 and had been nominated by teachers to take part in the first Shanghai computer programming competition, and two others, he founded Ctrip. “There was no Lonely Planet for China,” he recalls. “We knew Expedia was doing well in the US and we thought, ‘There is no information about travel in China, and an internet application for information and online booking would do well’. The internet was the perfect tool.”

1999年12月，沈南鵬與樑建章(James Liang)及另外兩人一起創辦了攜程網——沈樑兩人15歲相識，當時他們均被老師推薦參加在上海舉辦的首屆計算機編程競賽。他回憶道：“那時還沒有《孤獨星球》(Lonely Planet)中國版，我們知道Expedia在美國非常火，因此我們想，‘現在沒有關於在中國旅遊的信息，開創一個旅遊信息和在線預訂的互聯網應用會很不錯’。互聯網是完美的工具。”

The contrast with his former corporate life was stark: “I went from sleeping in five-star hotels and meeting with bank heads to a very different life.” Some security came from the fact that his wife remained an investment banker, he says.

這與他以前的企業生活形成鮮明對比：“我以前住5星級酒店，與銀行高管會晤，那時的生活則完全不同。”他說，還算有些安全感的是，他的妻子依然是一名投資銀行家。

But, by 2005, with Ctrip valued at more than $1bn, Shen was beginning to realise that, “It was natural for me to combine the roles of investment banker and entrepreneur by taking the role of an investor.” When he received a call from Sequoia later that year, he was ready to listen. The summons came as the mobile internet in China was taking centre stage, and Tencent had recently listed. Shen decided to join, attracted by the promise of “independent investment decisions from day one”.

但到了2005年，隨着攜程估值超過10億美元，沈南鵬開始認識到，“通過充當投資者的角色，我可以將投行家和創業家的角色結合起來”。在那年晚些時候接到紅杉的電話時，他準備接受聘請。當時移動互聯網在中國正成爲大家矚目的焦點，騰訊也剛剛上市。被“從頭起就可以獨立作出投資決定”的承諾所打動，沈南鵬決定加入紅杉。

A decade on from that decision, Shen is as fiercely competitive as ever. During China’s traditional spring festivities, Shen often invites investors to the tropical island of Hainan, where he owns a mansion on the beach, adjacent to Jack Ma’s. Unlike his guests, however, Shen himself rarely indulges in golf or cards. Instead, according to guests, he is constantly on the phone to entrepreneurs: both because he can’t bear to lose a deal, and to stop rival investors getting through to those same entrepreneurs.

自做出那個決定以來已經過去了十年時間，沈南鵬依然同以往一樣極其好勝。在中國春節期間，沈南鵬通常會邀請投資者到位於熱帶地區的海南島度假——他在那裏有一座海濱別墅，與馬雲的別墅毗鄰。然而，與他的客人不同，沈南鵬本人並不沉迷於高爾夫或者打牌。相反，據他的客人說，他不斷地與創業家們通話：這既是因爲他無法忍受失去一樁交易，也是因爲不想讓其他投資者聯繫上那些創業家。

When I say to Shen that this quality of drive and competitiveness is something I more generally associate with people from China’s previous generation, those who endured the bitter hardships of the Cultural Revolution and are trying to make up for lost time, he appears puzzled. But he pauses to think about it, and then tells me he plans to go to Scotland later in the month for some golf, as if to demonstrate that he does lead a balanced life.

我向沈南鵬表示，這種富於幹勁和競爭意識的品質通常更容易出現在中國上一代人身上——那些受過文革磨難，並努力彌補失去的時間的人——他聽到這句話後顯得有些困惑。但他想了一會兒，然後告訴我，他過段時間要去蘇格蘭打高爾夫，似乎在表明，他的確注重生活與工作的平衡。

“It isn’t about the money,” he says haltingly, as if he has never thought about this. “It’s so exciting. If some of the top companies in China were funded originally by Sequoia, wouldn’t you be excited if you were me?”

沈南鵬猶豫地說道：“不是爲了賺錢。”似乎表明他從未想過這個問題。“這份工作非常令人興奮。如果中國一些最優秀的公司最初是由紅杉提供資金的，如果你是我的話，難道不會感到興奮嗎？”

One of the things that complicates Shen’s job most is the tension that exists today between investors and entrepreneurs in China. In the eyes of some backers, entrepreneurs are spending too much money as they compete with one another for the attention and patronage of customers, subsidising users in the process. Shen tries to use his own experience to see it from both sides.

沈南鵬的工作中遇到的最複雜的情況之一是，在當今中國，投資者與創業家之間的關係有些緊張。在一些“金主”看來，創業家在彼此競爭的過程中，爲了吸引眼球、爭奪消費者而大肆補貼用戶，燒錢燒過頭了。沈南鵬從自己的經驗出發，試圖從兩個方面來看待這個問題。

“Sometimes, there are tough decisions to be made,” he explains. “When you identify an entrepreneur to back, you have to live with their weaknesses. You reason with him, you argue with him, but you seldom go against the entrepreneur.”

他解釋稱：“有時候需要作出艱難的決定。當你確定要支持某位創業家的時候，你不得不容忍他們的弱點。你向他們解釋，與他們爭論，但你很少會與他們作對。”

Along the way, he acknowledges, there are bound to be stumbles. He recalls that he originally rejected overtures from , the Chinese equivalent of Amazon, and now one of the most valuable companies in his portfolio. “That delay was very costly,” he says, shaking his head as he closes the lid on his half-eaten food. It is not clear which he mourns most: the poor quality of our lunch or the cost of his hesitation.

他承認，犯錯是免不了的。他回憶道，他最初曾拒絕京東()——相當於中國的亞馬遜(Amazon)，而現在京東已經成爲他的投資組合中最有價值的公司之一。他說：“這種延遲代價非常大，”他搖着頭，蓋上吃了一半的米飯。不知道他更加遺憾的是哪件事：是我們午餐的質量還是他猶豫的代價。

It is getting late. After prodding doubtfully at a bright yellow jellylike substance that turns out to be mango salad dressing, the smartphones on the table begin to vibrate and beep once more. “Venture capital is a regret business,” concludes one of China’s most successful investors. And with that he finally turns his attention back to the gyrations of the market.

對話臨近結束。在他困惑地戳了戳一個黃燦燦的果凍一樣的東西之後——後來發現是芒果沙拉醬——桌子上的手機再次震顫着響起。這位中國最成功的投資者之一總結道：“風投是一個讓人抱憾的行業。”他隨之將注意力重新轉向市場的波動上。