Duan Yongping Interview: 50 Key Insights from Company Selection to Raising Children
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Duan Yongping Interview: 50 Key Insights from Company Selection to Raising Children
Duan Yongping expressed his views on investment, corporate culture, business management, companies, and children's education from multiple aspects
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsThis is a rare video interview with Duan Yongping, over 20 years since his "retirement" from BBK.
In the first episode of Snowball's professional dialogue series "Fanglue" Season 3 released yesterday, Snowball founder Fang Sanwen engaged in a rare intellectual exchange with Duan Yongping on investment philosophy, corporate culture, and long-termism.
During the two-hour conversation, Duan shared his views across multiple topics including investing, corporate culture, management, companies, and children's education. Below is an excerpted summary of the full transcript,精选50 key points for your reading.
01
On Investing
1. Something cheap can become even cheaper.
2. Staying rational is extremely difficult.
3. If you truly know how to invest, you don't need advice—you just buy great companies and hold them.
4. People focus on what we've done, but much of who we are comes from what we choose not to do.
5. Investing is interesting—lack of understanding doesn't necessarily mean lack of profit.
6. If you can't withstand a 50% drop in a stock, you shouldn't buy it.
7. In the era of AI-driven investing, anyone trying to make money by chart-reading or technical analysis is destined to be韭菜 (a helpless retail investor).
8. Everyone makes mistakes at roughly the same rate; the difference lies in whether one keeps compounding those mistakes.
9. Buffett’s concept of margin of safety isn’t about price—it’s about how deeply you understand the business.
10. The saying "buying stocks means buying businesses"—if 1% of people truly understood this, that would already be impressive; actually practicing it is even harder.
11. Why is investing simple but not easy? It's simple because you must focus on the company, understand the business, and assess future cash flows. The difficulty lies in actually doing this—most businesses are hard to truly understand.
12. It's very hard to make money speculating in stocks. Around 80% of retail investors lose money in both bull and bear markets, so don't assume you're special.
13. Coming from operating businesses myself, I find it relatively easier to understand other businesses, but still, there are many I cannot grasp.
14. Why can you hold for so long? Why don't you sell after making big gains? Because those gains aren't substantial enough yet.
15. Is copying others' investment moves a sustainable strategy? Hardly, because when you copy, you're always behind.
02
On Corporate Culture
16. Corporate culture is deeply tied to founders—you need to attract people who align with you and share your values.
17. Our culture has evolved continuously as we grew. Even our "Don't Do" list was built item by item. Knowing what not to do often comes only through painful lessons.
18. "Doing the right things and doing things right"—this principle clearly separates right from wrong... If something feels wrong, we stop easily. But if you only think about profit, decisions become complicated.
19. We say what we mean, so everyone feels secure and trust runs high... Employees receive exactly what they’re entitled to. When bonuses are paid out, some say "Thank you, boss," but I tell them that's inappropriate—this is contractual, no thanks needed.
20. We have two types of people: kindred spirits and mere companions. The latter may not fully understand, but will follow instructions anyway.
21. A strong culture ensures the company ultimately returns to the right path, guided by a moral compass. Focusing solely on business without values easily leads to mistakes.
03
On Business Management
22. Jobs told Tim Cook: "Being CEO means making decisions. Don't worry about what I would do—that's the point."
23. (On partners) I trust them completely—I believe this is crucial—and I'm not afraid when they make mistakes.
24. The president of Panasonic once told me: "When I make a decision, I imagine old Mr. Matsushita standing behind me watching. Then I think, 'Oh no.'"
25. I have a habit: whenever I encounter something unsuitable, I leave immediately.
26. Your eyes should be on users; their eyes are on the rearview mirror.
27. It's hard for founders to leave their companies—few people can actually do it. Why is it hard? Because they don't want to.
28. I don't think age is necessarily a barrier. Buffett is over 90 and still doing fine. He simply loves what he does, so he continues.
On Children's Education and Growth
29. Everything parents do should aim to build a child's sense of security.
30. I never ask my kids to do anything I myself wouldn't do.
31. Kids naturally have emotions, and they should be allowed to express them verbally at times.
32. Boundaries matter—tell them clearly what they must not do. That's far more important than constantly scolding them.
33. For children, having a sense of security is vital. Without it, rational thinking becomes difficult.
34. What matters most in college is learning how to learn—developing confidence that when faced with something unknown, you can master it.
35. Everything parents do teaches children how to behave. Scolding teaches them to scold; hitting teaches them to hit; losing your temper teaches them it's okay to lose theirs; treating them well teaches them to treat others well.
36. Solving problems is indeed helpful, but not everyone grasps the deeper lesson. You must extract methods, identify root causes from mistakes, and thus learn the underlying logic.
04
On Understanding Companies
37. I usually tell people I only own three stocks: Apple, Tencent, and Maotai—that’s almost literally true.
38. Apple won’t touch products that can’t deliver sufficient value to users. They won’t pursue something merely for business reasons—that’s their culture.
39. Is Apple expensive now? Yes, not cheap. But will Apple grow further? Honestly, I don’t know. Where will AI eventually land? Won’t it still be on smartphones? Apple doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling from here is possible—but I don’t know.
40. I think Apple has excellent corporate culture. They deeply care about building great products and user experience.
41. Over a decade ago, everyone speculated Apple would launch an Apple car. I said they’d never make an electric vehicle. Whether they can achieve meaningful differentiation—that’s where I understand Apple better than most.
42. How much search will AI replace? I don’t know. But overall, I still think Google is quite good.
43. I’ve watched many videos of Jensen Huang. I really admire him—he’s been saying the same things over a decade ago as today. He saw it early and kept moving toward that vision.
44. I knew TSMC early on, but didn’t understand the industry. I thought it was too capital-intensive. But now, with the AI semiconductor boom, it seems no one can bypass TSMC—they’re outcompeting everyone.
45. On AI, I think one should at least get involved somehow—don’t completely miss out. That would seem inappropriate.
46. The EV business won’t be great—it’ll be exhausting, with little differentiation.
47. There are two kinds of baijiu: Maotai, and everything else.
48. The key for Maotai is whether its culture can sustain this status. At the core is Maotai’s unique taste and consumers’ recognition of that distinctiveness.
49. When Maotai was at 2,600 or 2,700 yuan, I really wanted to sell. But then I thought—what would I buy instead? Those who sold ended up losing more because they bought other things.
50. By today’s standards, I wouldn’t have invested in General Electric—their business model isn’t good. Back then, I wasn’t as skilled as I am now.
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