(Ecns.cn)--Well-known, rich, and busy as he is, Lei Jun, the top "angel investor" of many prominent startups, is poised to make something really big this time. This, according to him, "is the direction of the future."
Lei is undoubtedly successful, yet maybe in a modest way compared to some of his friends, who are already IT giants with their own startups. Some in his circle include Ma Huateng, founder of China's largest Internet company, and Ding Lei, founder and CEO of NetEase, one of the biggest Internet portals.
A Computer Science graduate from Wuhan University in 1991, Lei was conferred with the title of Honorary Professor of Wuhan University in 1998 due to his contribution to the computer science field through his books on DOS and Windows programming.
In 1992, Lei joined Kingsoft, a software company, which under his leadership was listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 2007 after eight years of painful attempts. He relinquished his position as CEO and CTO the same year and committed most of his time to angel investments.
He co-founded Joyo.com in 2000 and sold it to Amazon.com in 2004. Two years later, Lei invested in UCweb, a leading Chinese mobile browser, and served as its president until 2010.
In April 2010, the ambitious 42-year-old embraced another stage of his career by investing in Xiaomi Tech, a company focused on mobile phones and the development of iPhone and Android applications.
In August this year, the smart phone created by Xiaomi made its debut at the 798 Art Zone in Beijing. While introducing his new "baby," Lei also recalled the hardships he experienced in order to produce it. The successful software developer and mobile Internet investor finally tasted the bitterness of being an entrepreneur.
"Xiaomi went through various troubles," said Lei, adding that to keep his word of setting up the best team within three months since July 1, 2010, he interviewed candidates almost every day at that time. "It was three months of torture for me. I was suffering every day."
After finding the ideal partners, Lei was challenged by the mobile phone suppliers, users of the applications designed by Xiaomi.
"At the very beginning, about 85% of the suppliers refused to cooperate with us," said Liu De, one of Lei's partners and designer at Xiaomi. Liu and Lei even visited the Sharp Corporation, a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products, after the earthquake and had a hard negotiation.
