This Is Roughly the Kind of Content I Want to Make

00:01 While washing my face just now,

00:03 I suddenly realized I had left things out,

00:06 or that there were things I should add.

00:11 It is about the kind of content

00:14 I want to make.

00:17 There is actually some content in this field

00:19 that I really like.

00:28 I just finished washing my face,

00:31 and haven't put everything on my face yet.

00:37 Anyway, I was thinking that this channel

00:39 isn't really meant for anyone to watch.

00:42 So...

00:48 I will just do whatever feels comfortable.

00:53 Speaking of content I really like,

00:56 when I first encountered

00:58 content about venture capital,

01:03 I guess the media outlet

01:04 was Chapter 42.

01:08 At the time, I was a...

01:20 I first learned about them through podcasts.

01:24 And it was also through podcasts

01:27 that I encountered the so-called VC world.

01:32 At the time, I thought Chapter 42

01:39 was the best VC podcast I had ever heard,

01:45 bar none.

01:47 I do not know why

01:48 their content left such a deep impression on me,

01:54 especially their conversation with Zhang Jinjian.

01:57 There is one particular scene

02:01 that I remember very clearly.

02:04 Once,

02:06 I was listening to Chapter 42 interview

02:10 Zhang Jinjian on an episode.

02:12 And the next episode in the queue

02:14 was from Zhang Jinjian's own podcast,

02:18 Signal and Noise.

02:22 I remember that

02:24 after I finished the Chapter 42 episode,

02:27 it immediately moved to the next one,

02:29 the episode of Signal and Noise.

02:31 And that episode of Signal and Noise

02:33 happened to be about...

02:36 I have forgotten the exact content,

02:38 but it was roughly about Zhang Jinjian

02:41 pausing in front of the camera for a long time,

02:45 or thinking for a long time.

02:47 He was thinking about

02:50 how he should make that episode,

02:53 or perhaps he was just looking at the camera

02:57 and waiting for inspiration.

03:02 When inspiration came,

03:03 he would finally start talking nonstop.

03:07 I think it was describing

03:09 something like that.

03:10 When I heard that,

03:15 I do not know why,

03:16 but tears suddenly started falling.

03:18 That feeling...

03:21 I do not know how to describe it.

03:23 It was a little like the feeling

03:25 someone who truly wants to make good content

03:28 would have.

03:30 I felt it

03:33 in Zhang Jinjian's podcast.

03:35 So at the time, I felt

03:37 that Zhang Jinjian was one of my favorite guests.

03:42 But I actually do not know much about him.

03:45 I only remember

03:46 some of his interviews on Chapter 42

03:49 and how his own show made me feel.

03:52 The content I want to make

03:54 is the kind Chapter 42 makes:

03:56 what people call high-quality,

03:58 with certain qualities I like.

04:03 Those qualities may be hard

04:06 to describe in very specific words.

04:08 But like the scene I just described,

04:10 that kind of moment,

04:11 the guests involved can give people

04:14 a feeling that is hard to put into words.

04:17 That kind of "capture" is what I want in my work.

04:24 Chapter 42 also had someone at its heart.

04:28 Why do I call her that?

04:30 How should I put it...

04:32 Sadly, though, she left

04:35 Chapter 42 after the Lunar New Year.

04:38 That person is Celia.

04:42 I have had some contact with her online.

04:48 I do not remember much of it,

04:50 but I truly love her content.

04:53 Starting last year,

04:58 in December or maybe November,

05:02 she began writing newsletters.

05:04 And those newsletters she wrote...

05:07 How should I put it?

05:08 To me, the quality was incredibly high.

05:13 I had never read...

05:15 among everything I had explored,

05:17 I had never read anything better than hers.

05:20 I mean within Chinese-language content.

05:22 Unfortunately,

05:23 after she left Chapter 42,

05:26 I do not know whether Chapter 42

05:27 will...

05:28 whether someone else like her will appear

05:30 and make similar content.

05:33 But after leaving, she went to...

05:41 that place.

05:44 Oh,

05:46 Overseas Unicorn.

05:47 She joined Overseas Unicorn at Shixiang Tech.

05:50 to research AI-related content.

05:53 Overseas Unicorn is also

05:55 a content organization I really like.

05:58 But compared with Chapter 42, it feels like

06:02 its content is more serious.

06:08 Or for an outsider like me,

06:19 I cannot

06:22 understand its content quickly,

06:25 or fully follow what I am reading.

06:27 It feels as if the content is written

06:32 for people in the field,

06:34 and you need some research background

06:37 or a certain level of understanding

06:38 before you can follow it.

06:40 An outsider like me

06:42 may find that kind of content too serious

06:45 and too rigid.

06:46 So I do not follow it that closely.

06:48 But something like Chapter 42

06:51 is completely readable for someone like me.

06:54 So I feel... how should I put it?

06:57 Chapter 42's content is a direction

06:59 I want to learn from.

07:02 And then...

07:04 Since I just started talking about podcasts,

07:06 there is also someone in podcasting I really like,

07:13 a podcast host,

07:15 Zhang Xiaojun.

07:17 Her interviews... how should I put it?

07:20 I have not listened to every interview she has done,

07:24 but to me, her interview style

07:28 comes closest to the kind I want to create.

07:32 She does not take the guest's words away,

07:36 or overly direct their conversation

07:40 or the direction of the topic.

07:43 Instead, she follows the guest's thinking.

07:46 And sometimes, she draws

07:48 new angles out of a guest's answer,

07:52 getting them to add more interesting things.

07:56 Her interview style

07:57 is genuinely interesting to me.

07:59 Back when I was at university,

08:03 I worked at the campus radio station...

08:06 No.

08:06 What campus radio station?

08:08 I mean, at the...

08:10 campus TV station for a while.

08:13 That was the period when I learned the most

08:17 about working as a journalist.

08:21 At the time, we learned how a news reporter

08:25 or an interviewer

08:27 was supposed to work.

08:29 One person I learned about was...

08:34 Yi Lijing.

08:37 Speaking of Yi Lijing, I do not really know

08:41 what her interview style is actually like.

08:43 But I have this impression that

08:50 her interview style,

08:52 or the way she talks with people,

08:54 is something I want to bring about,

08:56 achieve, and learn to do.

08:59 Zhang Xiaojun may be a little different

09:02 from Yi Lijing.

09:04 Perhaps one of them

09:06 comes across as sharper,

09:09 while the other feels warmer.

09:12 Zhang Xiaojun really does bring

09:16 her own gentleness

09:19 and a kind of flexibility to interviews.

09:21 But

09:23 she does not let the guest lead her completely.

09:29 Sometimes she also...

09:33 I guess she serves the theme of the interview.

09:35 She is very good at guiding the rhythm

09:37 and drawing out things related to the theme

09:42 that really matter.

09:46 Anyway,

09:47 the examples I mentioned above,

09:49 for written content,

09:51 and for audio or podcast content,

09:54 are these two organizations or people:

10:00 Chapter 42 and Zhang Xiaojun.

10:04 Their approach to content is what I want to learn

10:08 and the direction

10:10 I want to move toward.

10:14 What else is there?

10:18 When it comes to VC content,

10:20 I really still do not know enough.

10:23 Before,

10:26 I would post requests for help on Xiaohongshu,

10:30 asking...

10:35 which VC firms

10:37 were really good at making content.

10:39 Some people recommended Sequoia China,

10:45 and also recommended...

10:49 Who else was it?

10:53 I cannot quite remember.

10:55 The reason I cannot remember...

10:57 Oh, right.

10:57 They also recommended Overseas Unicorn.

11:00 Why can I still

11:02 remember Overseas Unicorn,

11:03 but forget Sequoia China?

11:04 Maybe because after reading

11:06 their content,

11:07 I can feel whether it is

11:09 what I want to make,

11:10 whether it is what I want to make.

11:12 If it is,

11:13 it may leave a much deeper impression on me.

11:15 If it is not, then I

11:18 more or less move it out of my mind.

11:22 Then why did I just say

11:24 that Overseas Unicorn's content

11:25 is actually better suited to insiders,

11:28 or written for LPs?

11:32 Maybe it is because

11:34 I really like the character of the organization,

11:38 so it left such a deep impression on me.

11:42 Sigh.

11:44 I think that is about all I wanted to add.

11:48 But to reach their level,

11:52 it would take a great deal of time, energy,

11:56 and practice.

11:58 So now I will see

11:59 whether I get an opportunity

12:01 to immerse myself in that kind of environment

12:04 and try making that kind of content.

12:07 Sometimes I feel that when I make content...

12:10 Sometimes, when people talk with me,

12:13 they may feel that I am gentle

12:15 and easy to talk to.

12:18 But if they only read my writing

12:21 without ever talking with me,

12:23 they may think I am a very pointed person,

12:27 or a very sharp person.

12:28 There is something in my writing...

12:31 How should I describe that feeling?

12:32 Sometimes after I publish an article,

12:34 I think, this person has a huge ego.

12:38 That ego... when I stand outside myself

12:41 and look at what I wrote,

12:44 I feel this person's ego is so big

12:46 that I do not want to read more of their work.

12:50 But I also do not know

12:52 why I feel that way.

12:54 Sometimes,

12:55 I truly feel that my own ego is huge.

13:00 But I also do not think it is

13:04 so huge that it makes people want to run away.

13:09 I do not know how both feelings coexist.

13:12 I have said before that

13:15 everything I make will have a position,

13:19 biases, and values.

13:22 Maybe those three keywords

13:25 make me look at my content

13:27 from outside myself

13:28 and think this person has a huge ego

13:30 and must be very hard to get along with.

13:35 But I am also learning how to live with

13:37 my so-called ego.

13:40 I also want to know what this ego really is.

13:44 Sometimes,

13:46 I somehow get scared off by my own ego.

13:49 Since I started writing,

13:53 I have rarely shared my work

13:56 on social media.

13:58 I do not even share it

14:00 on WeChat Moments.

14:02 I finish writing an article

14:04 and just leave it on my public account.

14:06 The account may give it some traffic,

14:09 and that traffic may

14:10 bring some people over to follow me.

14:13 That is roughly where my account's

14:15 followers come from,

14:17 and probably where the views come from too.

14:20 So now, it seems

14:21 that even though there is some content there,

14:23 it has little pull.

14:25 I mean,

14:26 I do not even know who reads my content.

14:28 But sometimes it gets a few views

14:32 and a few new followers.

14:34 How should I put it?

14:37 Whether this place exists or not

14:39 does not seem to make much difference.

14:44 I do not know.

14:46 Maybe I need to live better with my other parts.