Three P2P pioneers take stock at 30(2)

Financial dream

Zhang graduated from the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, Beijing, while Yang and Li were classmates in the department of financial mathematics at Peking University.

Before 2009, Zhang worked for his family business. Yang was pursuing postgraduate studies in the Netherlands and Li worked for Bohai Fund Management Co Ltd.

The shared ambition to do something interesting and influential on their own brought the three young men together. "We discussed a number of business ideas, ranging from pawnshops to guarantee companies. We even discussed going into the gold ore business because of Shishi's strong family connections in that area," said Yang.

"The gold ore business is pretty lucrative but we finally gave up on the idea because it is not environmentally friendly," Yang added. "We are really excited about the P2P business, given its huge development potential."

Li made a big bet on the P2P business. "We may fail within one to two years, but all of us are sure that this kind of adventure is a worthwhile experiment."

However, starting a business is never easy. The most frustrating time, according to Yang, was at the very beginning when they conducted a survey on the street.

"I remember clearly that we received 190 pieces of feedback from people, among whom only three of them answered 'yes' to a question asking whether they would lend money to strangers online," Yang said.

The essence of P2P lending is borrowing or lending money through the Internet. "We were definitely a bit discouraged at the result. But later we interpreted it as a business opportunity that people hadn't recognized yet," said Yang.

He says young entrepreneurs should not be too critical about their ideas at the initial stage. "The biggest advantage of a startup business is that small ships turn quickly and their captains have the ability to change plans in no time."

When the online website was launched in 2010, the first batch of lending all came from the three partners' friends and relatives.

Finding the right partner, Yang added, is critical in starting up business. "The right partner who shares the same philosophy can help you through the most difficult of times."