Key Points Summary
In this episode of "Girl Who Makes Money," the host interviews He Yi, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of BINANCE, discussing her childhood, growth, career choices, ambition, cognition, execution, and how women can uplift themselves.
He Yi recalled how as the second child in her family, she learned to proactively strive for what she wanted, from insisting on going to school at the age of 4, to reading martial arts novels and the works of Yi Shu in her teenage years, to not wanting to return to her hometown to become a teacher after normal school. These experiences collectively shaped her strong sense of agency.
She also talked about why she chose to go all in on Bitcoin during the rise of her hosting career: Bitcoin made her rethink "what money really is," and also showed her a financial future based on a global consensus and trust network. Her answer to ordinary people is not complicated: first understand the cost, then bravely try; iterate cognition in execution, as life is not about gaining, but learning.
Highlights Summary
On Agency and Self-Cognition
· "People do not exist in isolation. Through every collision with the world, you finally discover who you are. You will understand more and more about yourself through each interaction, each engagement, how you face it, and how you deal with it."
· "I think from a young age, in today's terms, I had a relatively strong sense of agency, knowing very clearly what I wanted."
· "Why can only city kids like beautiful things, like flowers and plants? Why can't I?"
· "Do you really know what you have, don't have, what you are good at, what you are not good at, and whether you can firmly stick to that path and withstand even if knives fall from the sky."
On Ambition and a Larger World
· "I may have always been a bit ambitious, always feeling that I need to have a world worthy of me."
· "When you see that there are many parts of this world you want to try to change, you will want a bigger world to try and see."
· "Many times, our desires are secondhand desires, just seeing others doing it, so we imitate them."
·「Dare to dream, but not to daydream. Start without constraints, then work backward from the result to the process.」
About Cognition, Execution, Courage, and Ambition
·「The so-called four pillars are cognition, execution, courage, and ambition. Among these four corners, if one is pursued to the extreme, it will drive the growth of another part. If two parts are growing, it may further propel you to keep moving forward.」
·「Knowing yourself allows you to objectively judge whether this thing is your optimal solution and whether you truly enjoy it. Even if it doesn't make money, are you willing to keep doing it?」
·「Human execution is not about whether you did it, but how much time and effort you put into it. Are you really devoted? Can you truly endure the long and arduous self-iteration before success?」
·「Many people think they know a lot but just have bad luck, yet they may lack the courage to take that first step.」
·「If you truly love it, you will feel that doing what you love is effortless.」
About Bitcoin and Financial Paradigm Shift
·「Bitcoin has made me rethink what money really is, and that's what impressed me the most.」
·「If the Internet can connect people worldwide, there might also be a trust-based network that connects the global financial system.」
·「It is not a currency printed by a country or government based on credit endorsement but rather a human consensus.」
·「When I saw Bitcoin, that instant, I felt it was the right direction, and I wanted to enter this circle, to do this thing.」
About Choice, Mission, and the Boundaries of Ability
·「I have confidence in myself. If I join BINANCE, I can envision what I can do, turning it into a top global platform; achieving it is just a matter of time.」
·「I may not be the best at creating something entirely new from 0 to 1, but I excel at continuously optimizing and iterating on something that already exists.」
·「Everyone's desired identity and destination will eventually receive a response from the universe; you just need to achieve unity of knowledge and action, where your goals align with your actions.」
· "Many decisions in this world are like a revolving door, you can change your mind after going through. Trying is not a problem; even if you lose an opportunity, you will learn a lot."
About Success, Mindset, and Lifting Ordinary People
· "Having a tough mentality doesn't mean being cold-blooded to others; it means facing different opinions, facing the knives others throw at you, and being tough enough to withstand them."
· "I am quite tough on myself, but soft towards others."
· "If there is a true God's hand in this world, it will treat those who truly love this world better."
· "This world has both black and white, light and darkness. You have to accept that it is part of the world, but that doesn’t mean you have to choose to be part of the darkness."
· "In life, you either get something or learn something. Just go ahead and do it; there is nothing to lose."
Strip away all social labels, and who are you?
That's Xiaohui: Today Xiaohui interviewed a woman in Hong Kong who can be called a legend. She was born in a rural area in Yibin, Sichuan, and later accidentally became an outdoor host for a travel TV channel. She then became known to many users in the blockchain industry as 'Customer Service Xiaohuo.' Now, her latest title is Co-CEO of BINANCE, the world's largest blockchain exchange platform and ecosystem.
Life can actually take such a turn, so I am very curious about how she grew up. Today, please welcome BINANCE Co-CEO He Yi, Big Sister Yi.
He Yi: Hello everyone, I am He Yi from BINANCE, also known as everyone's Customer Service Xiaohuo.
That's Xiaohui: Most people's imagination of a CEO or female president may think they are very domineering and have a strong presence, but you exude a soft and approachable feeling. So today, I am also curious to go back and see how 'Xiaohuo' gradually became the Big Sister you are today.
There's a recent popular way of self-introduction: If you strip away all social labels, how would you describe yourself?
He Yi: I think first and foremost, I am a mother, a daughter, and someone who constantly challenges herself.
Xiao Hui: This is a very simple expression. As for me, it seems like I need a lot of external judgment and perspectives. If I can't define myself, I will wonder how others would define me. For example, I may have received a lot of feedback saying that Xiao Hui is also an affable person because I conduct interviews, and people would say that you can really get others to open up.
But this is also how others see me. It seems like I really need others' validation to determine who I am.
He Yi: That may indicate that you are in the process of exploring life. People do not exist in isolation; they discover who they are through every collision with the world. You will understand more about yourself through each interaction, each engagement, based on how you face it and how you deal with it. This shows that you are still young, still youthful.
He Yi Learned to Proactively Strive for Success from an Early Age Due to the "Second Child Law"
Xiao Hui: Before coming here, I did some research and found a striking similarity between you and me: you have three siblings, and you are the second child, while I am the third. There is a psychological concept called the "Second Child Law," which made me think of my elder sister.
My elder sister's personality is very different from yours. She is more domineering, more outgoing, quite mischievous, which makes our parents very distressed; I am the obedient type, more like the "daughter" figure. I don't know if you have ever looked back, as the second child in the family, did this situation imprint on your personality?
He Yi: I think it's quite obvious. Because I also have three children now. Generally, when the eldest child is born, parents will invest a lot of attention, being very nervous about every little thing, so the eldest child will receive all the love, the most love. By the time the second child arrives, people often say, "Educate the eldest by the book, raise the second child with more freedom," and parents are not as worried. If the child gets sick and has a fever, they know how to handle it and are not so anxious.
The third child is usually the baby of the family, and everyone pampers them a bit, treating them as the apple of their eye. So, from childhood to adulthood, parents will definitely say to the older sister, "Give in to your younger brother." Even if you don’t compete, they will reflexively say to give in to the younger brother. The eldest receives a fixed amount of love, the youngest also receives fixed love, but the second child needs to actively seek it themselves, or else they will feel forgotten.
And sometimes a child's so-called rebellion is actually a cry for help. Relatively speaking, they may also be more independent and self-reliant.
Earliest Sense of Self: Insisted on Attending School at Age 4 and Was Eventually Admitted "Out of Turn"
Host Xiaohui: At what moment did you decide that you needed to pursue things on your own?
He Yi: My earliest memory now is probably when I was 4 years old and I wanted to go to school. Because my sister is 6 years older than me, when I was 4, she was already in elementary school. I would wonder why my sister could go to school but I couldn't. So, every day at home, I would insist on going to school, annoying the adults to no end, until they finally sent me to school.
My elementary school homeroom teacher was a friend of my parents. He asked how old their child was, and my parents lied, saying I was 6. They didn't check my ID at the time, and since I didn't have my household registration book with me, they said we could deal with it later, and if my grades were poor, I would repeat a grade then. So, I was just dumped into the school. Later on, I never repeated a grade and my grades were quite good.
Host Xiaohui: Because when you want to do something, you can do it well. This may be the essence of your character: you are very good at expressing what you want. If the current environment is not what you want, you feel the need to find a suitable environment for yourself.
He Yi: I have another vivid memory from my childhood. Because my family lived in the countryside, in rural Sichuan, there were wildflowers and weeds everywhere. When I was in primary school, I would pick wildflowers every day, which made my mom laugh and ask how come a rural kid like me still loved these things. To them, wildflowers and weeds were very common and not worthy of attention. They thought maybe this was a privilege of city kids.
But at that time, I had a very clear memory: I disagreed with their point of view. Why should only city kids be allowed to like beautiful things and nature? Why not me?
I think this may have been my proactive change, or a manifestation of my self-reliance. In today's popular terms, it's a strong sense of self, and self-awareness awakened very early, I was probably born a rebellious spirit.
Host Xiaohui: I have had a similar experience. I have been left-handed since I was a child. I used my left hand for writing. At one point, my parents wanted to make me right-handed, but I was lucky because the kindergarten teacher was more open-minded and said it was okay to let me be, as I wrote quite well with my left hand. There is also a folklore that left-handed people are smarter, so the teacher protected my preference, and my parents accepted it.
But I have always been very firm in the middle, refusing to change. They asked me to change, but I didn't. However, they didn't treat me more aggressively either. For you, were your parents more permissive, or was there environmental pressure?
He Yi: My mom was very strict. But I feel that from a young age, in today's terms, I had a strong sense of self, I was very clear about myself.
When I was a child, there was a very outrageous thing: I gambled before I was 10 years old. Kids would bet a small amount, like a dime, and play with older kids. Later, I lost money in a bet, I had no pocket money, lost 5 RMB, and after my mom found out, she beat me up. In Sichuan, they use bamboo branches to hit, which hurts a lot. After beating me, she asked: do you still want to gamble? I said no.
However, later on, I thought about it and realized it wasn't right, I still owed someone money. You have to be honest when dealing with people, what should I do if I owe someone 5 RMB? So I found another group to continue gambling, got caught by my mom again, and got beaten up again. But at that time, I was already in the process of paying off the debt, slowly starting to win back. Later, I continued to gamble, after repaying the debt, I never gambled again.
Before I was 10 years old, I understood this about gambling: when you lose, you want to win it back, and after winning, you want to keep winning, it never ends. So I have zero interest in gambling; maybe I was trained before I was 10.
Xiao Hui: When you were very young, you endured your strict mother's beatings while also thinking about how to repay your debt. How many beatings did you receive in total?
He Yi: It wasn't that many. Besides gambling, there was another incident because of reading novels. In our village, there was a scrap collector who had many books at home. I would go there to get books to read, and later I started renting novels. When I was in junior high, I was just over 10 years old, and my mom found out again.
Xiao Hui: What were you reading, romantic novels like those of Chiung Yao?
He Yi: I actually didn't read a lot of Chiung Yao. I read more martial arts novels and some semi-classical Chinese literature, such as "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio." There weren't many options at that time, you read whatever books the scrap station received. Later, when I rented novels, I read a lot of Li Bi Hua and Yi Shu; the influence of these two Hong Kong Chinese authors on me was significant.
Li Bi Hua is a genius with a strong ghostly aura. She has a saying that I still remember to this day, called the "Sixteen-word Maxims of Walking the World: Kill when necessary, repay debts, be willing to lose in gambling, and take responsibility for gains and losses." I used to have it in my QQ profile.
There may be a lot of sentimentalism in Yi Shu's novels, after all, they are youthful novels. However, ultimately, she has a very important theme: buy flowers for yourself. It's all about the image of a strong female lead. This was the vibe in the works of the '70s and '80s. So, I feel that the independence and subjectivity of Chinese Hong Kong women emerged very early on, and all of this seems to have become part of the underlying color of my personality.
Host Xiaohui: Let's go back to your career experiences after growing up. When I was watching, I also felt that your life didn't follow a conventional path. It seems like you got some kind of opportunity, wanted to do something, and just went ahead with it, without much planning. The first point that piqued my curiosity was that before becoming a host, your dream when you were young was to become a model. I remember you saying in the media that you wanted to be a model before the age of 16.
He Yi: Yes. At that time, I was studying to become a teacher because my parents were teachers, and they thought studying education was better. After finishing my education degree, I became a teacher. When I was in school, teachers used to say, "It would be a pity if you didn't become a teacher." In front of the whole class, I told the teacher, "I think it would be a pity if I became a teacher."
Ambition Awakens During Teacher Training: "I think it would be a pity if I became a teacher"
Host Xiaohui: You were truly rebellious by nature. But because your grades were good, the teachers didn't pay much attention. Why were you so sure at that time that you weren't suited to be a teacher?
He Yi: It's not that I felt I wasn't suited to be a teacher, maybe I just wasn't willing to only be a teacher.
Host Xiaohui: Why? For that era, it was a good job.
He Yi: Maybe it's because I read a lot and saw a broader world, not just what was in front of me. I went to Yibin College, and if I were to go back, I would probably return to the village to be a teacher. I wasn't content.
I saw the novels of Li Bik Wa, Yi Shu, and read more about descriptions of this world, and I felt that there should be a broader world out there that I wanted to explore.
"Second-Hand Desire": Many times, our desires are just imitations of others
Host Xiaohui: So, at that time, you didn't want to be a teacher. How did you later decide to become a model?
He Yi: This is a bit embarrassing. I read a book before called "Desire to Imitate." For example, when you see someone carrying a Hermès bag, you might feel like you want a Hermès bag too; or when you see someone buying art, you might feel like you want to buy art too. But is that truly your own desire?
Most of the time, it's a desire born from observation. You see someone else do it, so you try to imitate them. That's why it's called imitation desire.
When I was young, my mindset was more like, I didn't know who I was, nor did I know what potential or talents I had. In middle school, my deskmate took first place in a speech contest for the whole school, something I had never attempted. Later, when I was in teachers college, I gave it a try and found out I was pretty good. The first time I competed in a speech contest, I also came in first place.
Another classmate beside me had a dream of becoming a model. Seeing that she could do it, I thought I should give it a try too. So, despite being less than 1.6 meters tall, I signed up for a modeling competition in Sichuan. Honestly, I felt they were just trying to make money off my registration fee, as any normal person would know I was not tall enough. But they had a photography section, probably because Sichuanese girls love beauty. At that time, bridal photography was popular, and they would take some bridal studio photos. So, that was considered my first step into the TV industry.
“Ambition” is not a negative word; I want a world that matches me
Xiao Hui: Speaking of this kind of imitation psychology, adolescence is indeed a period of confusion. If you find people around you who are similar to you can achieve something, human nature might stir a bit, feel a little itchy in your heart, and think, if they can do it, can I?
He Yi: I think this is our most primal desire and ambition, and there's nothing wrong with that. Often, Chinese people are shy to talk about the word "ambition," especially girls. At the mention of ambition, it seems like a very negative word. But I may have always had a bit of ambitiousness; I have always felt that I need a world that matches me.
Xiao Hui: Even now, I dare not say such things. I often feel that after receiving something, I wonder, "By what virtues and abilities do I deserve this?" My sense of deserving is not that strong, so I strive to make myself worthy. But few people would say, "I want to make this world worthy of me." It actually implies that you are somewhat dissatisfied with reality.
He Yi: Yes. I am very reluctant to say, I am where I am today because of my family, my background. I truly think I am where I am today because of divine blessing, as if I am the chosen one, the Heaven's favored daughter. But in this process, when you see there are still many aspects of this world you want to try to change, you will hope for a bigger world and want to give it a try.
I think this may be the earliest form of primitive ambition: dissatisfaction with the status quo.
Xiao Hui: You have experienced many leaps and boundary-crossing moments in your life, each time stepping out of your comfort zone and entering a completely new field. For example, how did you become an outdoor host for a travel TV show? This is a story that is often told, like an option that suddenly landed in your lap.
He Yi: It wasn't exactly a sudden option. Many people hesitate to step out of their comfort zone because they only have ideas but have never truly tried to execute them, or when they do, they don't think every day about how to improve themselves.
Just like when you used to host a podcast, the original name was "Proactive Disclosure," which sounded a bit lofty. But when you changed it to "Money Girl," first of all, "making money" is a proactive action, and secondly, "girl" is a niche. If you hadn't spent time accumulating knowledge before, you might not have known that the old approach didn't work, and you needed to find a new way to iterate, optimize, and transform it into "Money Girl."
Many people might think, "I'll give it a try," fail after three days, and then think it's not feasible. But one's execution power is not about just doing it; it's about how much time and effort you put into it. Are you really dedicated? Can you endure the long and painful process of self-iteration before succeeding?
The four pillars of personal growth: cognition, execution power, courage, ambition
He Yi: I think the so-called four pillars are cognition, execution power, courage, ambition. Among these four aspects, if one is extremely refined, it will drive the growth of another part. If two parts grow, it may further propel you to move forward.
This is not my theory; I also read it online, but after reading it, I think it's a very good summary.
Xiao Hui: Cognition, execution power, courage, ambition are very much like the four wheels of a car. If one moves, the car can start, at least move forward a bit.
He Yi: I think having courage and ambition, and then trying it out, iterating your cognition during the execution process is all you need.
But many people's cognition is: I know a lot, I'm well-versed in astronomy and geography, I can effortlessly discuss international politics. I think I'm even better than those celebrities and those who are already successful. I just have bad luck; whenever someone else succeeds, it must be because they did something unspeakable.
But he may not have taken that step at all — may not even have had the courage to take that step. So, he just stood within his presumed cognition, instead of truly stepping into the cognitive path to success.
Host Xiao Hui: I want to return to the aspect of execution, because it is the most crucial. We often say, "Proactive people enjoy the world first," which is actually a matter of execution. Like when I started the podcast, there were no ads in the first six months, and the number of fans grew steadily. During that six months, I didn't feel that the show was becoming popular or viral. I only received some small feedback saying that it was better than my original show, and that was enough motivation for me to continue.
At that time, I was still working full-time, and I hadn't decided to rely on it to make money. As the show started to grow later on, I gradually felt a sense of being lifted by the traffic, as well as the momentum of the times. I then continued to contemplate how to do this thing better. But it took me two years of persistence before I started doing it full-time. At any moment during that time, if I had given up because there were no ads or data, I wouldn't be where I am today.
I am very thankful for the execution power I have. But I am also curious about when to decide to persevere in something and when to give up. We often say, "the night is darkest just before the dawn." Sometimes I look at my friends around me; they were also doing self-media at the time, and even when we started this account, many shows had more fans than us, but they have now stopped. Maybe if they had persisted a little longer, it would have worked out. How do you really grasp the timing?
He Yi: In many cases, people actually need to understand themselves, but most people don't really understand themselves. Self-awareness is whether you can objectively judge if this thing is your best solution and if you really love this thing. Even if it doesn’t make money, are you willing to keep doing it.
Most people may feel that they are only doing this because others are doing it, and they don't actually like it that much; they just heard that it can make money. So, it is easy for them to give up. But if you truly love it, you will feel that doing what you love is effortless.
Host Xiao Hui: I am actually the kind of person who, even if it’s hard for me, I can endure it as long as I like it; my resilience is enough. But you have to make me rationally analyze the SWOT before doing it, where are the strengths and opportunities, I seem not to be that kind of person.
He Yi: Like I had been an assistant psychological counselor before, that was before I became a host. I also tried being a university teaching assistant. Throughout this process, you will find that the kind of life is different from what you imagined, it’s not the life you want. But once you try it, you will know that it's not what you want.
Back when we watched "Infernal Affairs," Kelly Chen was sitting there, and it seemed like a high-quality, intellectually rewarding job when I chatted with her and then you paid me. It looked good at the time. However, when I actually started doing user reception and triage, I found that this industry may not work in China in the short term.
When you sit there to receive guests and triage, you would start to account for things: how much is this consulting fee. You would also get to see China's top-notch psychological experts because I was at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Psychology at the time, meaning you could meet China's top-notch psychological experts and see what their life is like, what their daily routines are. I just felt that this was not the life I wanted.
Sometimes we don't need to see the whole picture or know what will happen in five or ten years. As long as within a foreseeable range, you determine that this is not what you want, you can make a choice. I never thought that the so-called success in a worldly sense, the kind of success everyone defined for me today, might be completely beyond what I imagined at the time.
Cognitive Awakening After Contacting Bitcoin: Discovering the Essence of Money and the Trend of Financial Decentralization
Xiao Hui: Let's go back to the cognition mentioned in the four key words just now. We also mentioned that phrase earlier: "You can't make money beyond cognition." But many people would say, then how can I improve my cognition? I'm about to board the bus now, how do I get this ticket? Including when you transitioned from a host to blockchain, you had to do a lot of learning.
I remember a very interesting scene with you: you helped others with promotion, promoted Bitcoin on your WeChat Moments, and even wrote a dedicated article. I thought, why is this person so dedicated? If it were me, I would just reshare it casually. In the process of learning about this industry, what kind of prospects did you see?
He Yi: I am a very curious person myself, and I might spend some time researching everything. So my understanding of the world may not be like many experts who have read all the way to a Ph.D. and are experts in a certain field, but I am more like a generalist.
During this process, you suddenly realize that everyone used to think making money was very important. We didn't call it making money back then; we just thought money was very important. But when I researched what Bitcoin really is, I didn't want to do free advertising for others. I didn't receive any money, just shared it on WeChat Moments, and I felt it was irresponsible.
So I took the time to research what Bitcoin is, and I specifically wrote an article. Not a report, but a short essay, but at least I understood what Bitcoin really is. That was the end of 2013.
During this process, the most meaningful thing for me was that my perception was reshaped in that moment. Prior to this, perhaps it was more about others telling you that money is very important, but what is money really? Bitcoin made me rethink what money really is in that moment, which was the most touching point for me.
It was in that moment that I realized, if the world's internet can connect people all over the world, then there can also be a global, trust-based network that connects the world's finances together. You can think of it as the world's money, not just banknotes printed by the credit endorsement of a particular country or government; it is a human consensus.
At that time, I really felt that Bitcoin was truly an amazing thing, and then firmly went all in, quitting my job as a host.
Xiao Hui: Was your hosting career on the rise at that time?
He Yi: It was actually step by step. When I first started hosting, I had no experience with outdoor shoots, didn't know where the camera was, or where the lights were. Sometimes I even blocked my partner's camera. Slowly, from scratch, I gained experience, had some opportunities in film and television, such as shooting short dramas, or at the time, there were companies looking to sign me. But I always felt something was not quite right, as if it wasn't something I truly liked, not something I was passionate about.
At that time, I thought being a host was great, with mountains, waters, and a salary. But after playing for two years, seeing the same scenery and people every day, there comes a moment when you think, how many more years can I play like this? So when I saw Bitcoin in that moment, I felt it was the right direction, I wanted to enter this circle, and do this thing.
Choosing to Resign During the Peak of My Hosting Career Because I Aspired to a Bigger World
Xiao Hui: It seems like you saw a very big picture, felt a calling, and got very excited.
He Yi: Yes. Maybe I am a more emotional person, and when making choices, I often rely on feelings and intuition. If something excites me, something I really want to do, I may try it out without knowing for sure if it will turn out well; if it doesn't work, then I try again.
Xiao Hui: I feel that when you make choices, you tend to lean towards this "I am a very intuitive person" kind of approach.
He Yi: But later I found out that Yang Zhenning had a theory, saying that human intuition is actually because your processing system is faster, faster than logical thinking structures, allowing you to quickly draw conclusions. After digesting it, my understanding is that many times human intuition is very accurate, based on your cognition and existing knowledge structure, enabling you to quickly draw conclusions and judgments. But everyone's cognition, knowledge structure, and existing mental maps are different, so everyone's intuition is also different.
Host: How do you enhance this kind of sensitivity, or so-called insight? When you saw the value of Bitcoin, you interpreted it as a very promising future industry, but some people might find it too abstract and give up.
He Yi: Maybe it's because I am curious. I believe that the reason the world is where it is today must be because in the process of human development, many people have done things that others dare not think or try. Like Elon Musk building rockets, before he built rockets, no one dared to think that rockets could be built this way, and no one dared to think that rockets could be reusable.
You first have to dare to think, set no limits first, and then work backward from the results. What are the necessary metrics to achieve this goal? Is there an optimal solution based on current technology? If not, what existing technologies can be used, and which ones can be skipped?
Host: I also want to ask, because you saw the value of this industry back in 2013, then you resigned and joined it. But in the middle, you left again, and later returned. When you returned, you said a sentence, mentioning returning to where your mission lies. So I'm curious, why is this matter connected to your mission? What is your mission?
He Yi: I joined another blockchain company in 2014, but I left in 2015 due to some conflicts within the management team. I was unemployed for about five to six months, always chatting with entrepreneurial friends around me, and found that it seemed like none of them were what I wanted to do.
At that time, mobile video had just started, and Meipai had just been launched. The Ice Bucket Challenge was also very popular at that time. So at that time, Yixia Technology talked to me for several months. I felt that this was indeed a direction of technological development, so I said why not give it a try first, and then joined the technology industry.
In 2017, when CZ started Binance and asked me to be an advisor, as we were discussing, I actually started thinking that in China, in a relatively short period of time, I had made live streaming quite popular. At that time, the live streaming battle was very intense. I thought, I should challenge a bigger goal: what does a top-tier company look like globally? You have to dare to think, but not daydream.
Little Hui: So, at that time, was it more about a sense of mission, like challenging yourself to reach a bigger stage and become a greater version of yourself? Or was it about helping more people and influencing more people?
He Yi: The idea of influencing more people is actually quite funny. When I was young and ignorant, I was chatting with a girlfriend. One day, she suddenly called me and asked, "What kind of person do you want to become?" I thought about this question very seriously and said I wanted to become a person who can influence the world. She immediately said, "You are crazy."
Little Hui: What is that girlfriend doing now?
He Yi: She is also in the cryptocurrency industry now, brought in by me. She said she wanted to find a guy who is good-looking, treats her well, is rich but not too rich. Her goal has also been achieved.
So, I believe that everyone will receive a response from the universe about what kind of person they want to become and where they want to go. As long as you integrate your knowledge and action, ensuring that your goals and actions align, that's all you need.
Little Hui: But this is really difficult. Many people don't know how to realize their ambitions. There are several missing pieces between thinking and doing. Perhaps we only see the results from your end, but every choice made in the process is quite important.
You just mentioned that you consider yourself very lucky, and it made me think, is there any experience behind this luck that we can refer to? When we are making choices, how can we increase the probability of being lucky? Going back to that moment of choice, you were already doing well at Xiaokuaishou and Yijiayi Technology, which was a very clear secular success; at the same time, there was an uncertain future, which might have seemed to you to have more development prospects, but it was still an uncertain new industry. You had two offers, two paths in front of you, and you chose the latter just because you believed it would open up a bigger world?
He Yi: I should say that I have confidence in myself. Apart from the opportunity at BINANCE, there were other offers. For example, Erbao asked me at that time if I wanted to raise some money for a project with the ongoing ICO hype, and he could raise a billion dollars for me, just charging a management fee.
I thought about it seriously at the time. If I had a billion dollars in my hands, what would I do? I couldn't think of anything. But if I joined BINANCE, I could envision what it would become. My ability in marketing could turn it into a world-class platform at BINANCE; it's ultimately just a matter of time.
I Excel at Iteratively Optimizing Existing Things to the Max
Xiao Hui: So you might be more suited to be an enhancer rather than a creator starting from 0 to 1. You might be someone who goes from 1 to 100 or even from 1 to 1000.
He Yi: Possibly. Asking me to start from 0 and think about creating something new doesn't seem to be my strong suit. I'm not saying turning something from nothing to something, but I feel I'm very good at continuously optimizing and iterating on something that already exists to the maximum.
Xiao Hui: This is a very rare ability. Especially in the AI era, it's easy to create something, but how to make it grow and iterate is quite challenging.
He Yi: I think that path is visible. I can envision what I would do, the first step, the second step, the third step, roughly what kind of process I would go through, and then it will come into my mind what success looks like.
If You Want Your Ambition to Reflect in Reality, Try More
Xiao Hui: I also want to go back to a topic related to women: How can women's ambition be realized? In reality, on the one hand, you have to confront many structural limitations, including the fact that there are few women in the crypto world, and even fewer in executive positions. So you must have definitely overcome various obstacles and restrictions to get to where you are today.
In every decision-making process, as you just mentioned, there is a desire to achieve a greater self and reach a bigger stage. Of course, you may have been practicing since childhood, and ambition comes naturally to you. But for someone like me, even though I'm a woman, I often feel insecure and undeserving.
I might feel that I have to accomplish one thing first before daring to take it further, to challenge myself to level up. I wouldn't come in and say right away that I want to aim for the highest goal and then work backward; I am more of a cautious type.
He Yi: I think you should try first. There are many decisions in this world, just like a push-pull door; even after you do it, you can still change your mind. It's okay to try; what you may lose after trying is an opportunity, but you may learn a lot.
First, go ahead and try, don't be afraid. But before trying, you need to be clear about what kind of decision it is and what the cost is. For example, many people think that by finding a mentor in the crypto world, they can become He Yi. There are many emotional anchors in China,
Whether it's bull market or bear market, trying to label me: Am I in a bull market or a bear market? If you were to ask this question, I think maybe the big brothers in the crypto world would say I am a bull market player, and those who truly engage with me and have cooperated with me would say I am the bull market player among bull market players.
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