Why Getting Hands-On Matters
At the start of 2021, after extensive field research, Lei Jun convinced Xiaomi’s board to enter the smart electric vehicle industry. After intense discussion, the board approved—but with one condition: Lei Jun himself had to lead the car project.
Because only he, stepping directly into the trenches, could make it happen.
That moment struck me deeply. To be honest, I’m still new to entrepreneurship—many of my ideas remain raw and untested.
I began experimenting with startups in 2019, but it wasn’t until last year that I finally started feeling like I was in it.
That shift came from choosing to get hands-on—to do every small thing myself.
My corporate career had been relatively smooth, so over time, I’d gradually stopped paying close attention to execution-level details. That habit carried over into my early startup years: I contributed almost nothing concrete to project-level work.
But from last year through now, as I’ve taken on more operational responsibilities—and sustained deep focus on granular details—I’ve begun receiving genuinely meaningful, cumulative feedback. That’s where I’ve found real entrepreneurial satisfaction: freedom, growth, and the quiet pride of tangible progress.
Three Observational Details from a Visit to GetIt (Dedao)
This week, I attended an in-person session hosted by Hongli Society at GetIt (Dedao), and took the chance to tour their office. A company’s culture often lives not in slogans—but in small, consistent details.
First detail: The staff library
Just past the reception area sits an open, inviting employee library—immediately signaling what kind of company this is. The shelves hold mostly books published by GetIt and its authors.
Second detail: Meeting rooms
I stepped into a meeting room to take a call—and was struck by how meticulously arranged the furniture was: chairs perfectly aligned, tables spotless, supplies precisely placed. Not just one room—every single meeting room I checked followed the same exacting standard, down to pens and notebooks. It felt like the work of someone with clinical-level orderliness. Nothing like the ad-hoc setups I’d seen across major internet firms.
Third detail: The “Oops Wall”
GetIt has a wall listing major projects they’ve launched—alongside candid, self-deprecating accounts of things that went wrong. It’s not about blame; it’s structured humility—a visible, shared practice of reflection.
The Output-Oriented Mindset
Hua Shan, founder of Huayu Hua, once described a simple but powerful concept in an interview: output.
He gave his own example: every morning, without fail, he writes ~2,000 words. That daily writing is his output—the tangible, perceptible artifact of his work.
My weekly reflection essays? Also my output.
We often say, “Don’t waste a day”—or “Find meaning in each day.” But “meaning” is too vague to guide action. The output-oriented mindset makes it concrete: define something you’ll produce—something measurable, shareable, and reviewable.
You can apply this widely: run one marathon per year; write one book annually; read and annotate one book per week. These outputs become anchors—proof that your days weren’t just passed, but built.
AI-Era Foundational Literacy for Children
Preparing kids for the AI era means equipping them with four core language competencies:
- Chinese (native language) — the vessel of cultural continuity
- English — the global lingua franca; fluency opens access to worldwide knowledge and collaboration
- Mathematics — the universal syntax underlying all disciplines
- Prompting — the new leverage language; the fundamental tool for directing AI intelligently
Why Learn AI—Really Learn It?
We’re now delivering our first paid, structured AI course for kids. Early signals are encouraging: interest in AI products consistently outpaces demand for math or language offerings—likely due to low competition and widespread public awareness.
Yet delivery has surfaced real challenges:
- How do we explain what AI actually does for a child’s thinking—beyond “it helps with homework”?
- How can parents and kids feel, not just hear about, shifts in reasoning or creativity?
- Can we guarantee accuracy—especially when solving problems?
To address kids’ unique needs, we built a custom AI learning platform from scratch. That’s powerful—but it also raises the bar: explaining how it works, and lowering the barrier to use it well.
What’s become clear is this: AI may seem easy to use—but most people don’t know how to wield it. They click, copy, and move on—without unlocking its real potential. Without turning it into new productivity.
That gap—between access and mastery—is exactly why learning to truly harness AI isn’t optional. It’s the new baseline skill.