Sir Winston S. Churchill once said: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” This was the key message Mr. Yu Jinxing, the speaker of the fourth session of Innovation Talk Series, brought to the audience on 14 March 2019.

Mr. Yu Jinxing told the story of professional basketball player Derrick Rose.

Mr. Yu, a once-successful entrepreneur who had suffered failures before bouncing back to take another shot, asked the would-be entrepreneurs of XMUM:

“Do you have what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur? Will you maintain your motivation and determination when the going gets tough?”

Mr. Yu shared with the audience his personal experience and observations of successful entrepreneurs:

“The three important DNAs an entrepreneur should have are: trustworthiness, resilience, and vision.”

He quoted the stories of a few well-known figures, ranging from professional basketball player, Derrick Rose, to the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, both of whom had experienced epic failures before claiming the glory of success.  

“A traditional businessman uses gut feeling to make business decisions, while a visionary uses precision and deep thinking to orchestrate the success of his undertaking,” said Mr. Yu after showing the audience how the producers and investors of the computer-animated film Monkey King: Hero is Back used algorithms and marketing strategy to predict and achieve their box office target.

A light-hearted moment during the one-on-one business coaching session.

Prior to the public talk, seven groups of XMUM students had the opportunity to get one-on-one business coaching from Mr. Yu on their entrepreneurial plans.

Second-year ICT student Joyce Lee Rui Jing commented on the coaching session:

“The coach gave me valuable advice on how to maximise user retention and showed me the importance of maintaining the core values of my app.”

Second-year Finance student Chua Sze He recounted his meeting with Mr. Yu:

“That was my first time consulting an entrepreneurial coach. I now understand the weakness of my project. Through Mr. Yu, I have learnt the latest business models in China, and how I can make my project better by tapping into others’ experiences.”

Mr. Yu has developed software applications for internet, games and other business sectors. For the past 20 years, he has assumed roles as CEO, General Manager and Marketing Director in internet, marketing and training industries.