[lang_en]1. Please introduce yourself. Where are you from? How you got started in the current business?
Hi, thanks for giving me this opportunity of sharing with friends at Xindanwei. My name is Siwei ZHU and I’m managing editor and co-founder of TasteSpirit.com, an online wine magazine in Chinese. I spent my undergraduate years in Shanghai Jiao Tong University and then studied in TELECOM ParisTech and HEC Business School in Paris for computer science and digital business strategy.
I set my steps in the wine industry really by coincidence. During my study in France, my Database class professor happened to be a famous wine critics of Le Figaro newspaper. And I followed his oenology classes from time to time during my study in France. Since then I fell in love with wine and the rich culture behind it.
2. What prompted the idea for your project and what excited you to make you undertake it?
Six months before my graduation from HEC business school I worked as a journalist for 36kr.com, currently a leading tech blog in China. But back to then there were only 5-6 members in the team. I witnessed the vision and the growth of this energetic and promising new media startup. This experience inspired me to create an online wine magazine for Chinese wine lovers and professionals.
3. Can you tell me about TasteSpirit.com, the website you built up, and what you do for it?
TasteSpirit.com is an online wine magazine providing authentic and stylish content for wine lovers and wine professionals. I started this website with my partners and the partnership of Le Figaro in France. At the booming period of Chinese wine market, we hope our focus on high quality content and good design can establish a strong brand and recognition of TasteSpirit.com.
As I have experience and knowledge of both Web product development and wine, I works as managing editor and product manager of TasteSpirit.com.
4. You worked in wine tasting, can you tell me about the experiences you had in working on wine tasting?
People not in the wine industry may fantasize it as a work of epicure. Well it truly is. If you don’t enjoy your work and life, how can you work for telling people how to better enjoy their lives? A wine critics’ job is to use his or her trained taste and knowledge to eliminate bad wines and recommend good wines for customers. Wine tasting for me is always a journey of adventure. The domains of wine and Internet share one thing in common that I love very much: there are always so much to learn and everything is changing so rapidly. Both of them satisfy my curiosity and passion for learning new things. Wine is a work of art which reflects the characteristics of its vintage, soil and the personality of the man who make it. A bottle of wine is alive and it evolves constantly like a human being. The age can bring a good wine polish and complexity, just like what it does to a man or woman.
However, wine tasting has its occupational hazard too. Some times I need to taste more than 50 wines during an afternoon. I have to spit out the wine each time otherwise I could be too drunk to do anything.
5. As an entrepreneur, what’s the biggest challenge for you? Finding the idea? Finding the team? Or finding the investment?
During my time at 36kr.com I interviewed and met with a lot of entrepreneurs. My observation is confirmed by my experience from my own startup.
I think entrepreneurs never lack good ideas. And the investment comes as a natural result if you do most of the things right as the eco-system of startup-VC develops rapidly in China.
Team is vital for startups and it’s something you can only get with chance and time. But fundamentally the only and final challenge for an entrepreneur is this question: How to find a sustainable and ideally scalable business model with your resource? If you find one, how to execute it? This is a challenge that an entrepreneur faces repeatedly during his or her adventure of creating a business.
6. Final thoughts for readers?
I’ve spent some time in incubators and accelerators in Paris and Silicon Valley. That’s why Xindanwei caught my attention at the first time I saw this concept of sharing in China. If anybody is interested in talking with me during a cafe break or lunch, I will be waiting at Xindanwei with pleasure.
And you can also find us on weibo which is providing interesting content of wine culture. And you can also find my articles about startups and the Internet on 36kr here. My personal weibo.[/lang_en]
[lang_cn]1. 请你跟我们介绍一下你自己，来自哪里，是怎么开始手边事的?
大家好，很高兴新单位能给我这个机会在这里跟大家做分享。我叫朱思维，是知味葡萄酒杂志这个中文在线杂志的主编和联合创办人。
我在上海交通大学完成了四年的学业之后有在巴黎高科国立高等电信学校计算机科学以及电子商务。进入到葡萄酒这个行业里来纯粹是出于偶然的一次机会。在法国研修期间，我的数据库课程教授恰巧是费加罗报的知名品酒师。之后在法国我也有一直选他的酿酒课程，久而久之得就对葡萄酒文化着了迷。
2. 我们想知道的是，究竟是什么促使你来做知味葡萄酒杂志的？
在我正式地从巴黎高科国立高等电信学校毕业之前的半年时间里，我一直都在以记者的身份为中国的一个互联网和新媒体的科技博客36kr.com工作。当时我们的团队只有五六个成员，我开始注意到了这一批奋发进取的新媒体创业者的成长前景。这样的经历致使我为葡萄酒爱好者以及专业人士在线创办自己的中文葡萄酒杂志。
3. 可以跟我们介绍一下知味葡萄酒杂志嘛，还有你们都有在做些什么？
知味葡萄酒杂志是一个在线平台，为葡萄酒爱好者和专业人士提供最实效权威的评论。我和我的几个合伙人开始了我们的平台，同时也一直保持和法国费加罗的合作。在中国葡萄酒市场蓬勃发展的时期，我们致力于高质量的评论文章以及最人性的设计，以此来建立我们的品牌，提高认知度。
由于我同时擅长网站开发以及葡萄酒品评两个领域，所以我在知味葡萄酒杂志担任的是主编以及产品经理这样的两个职位。
4. 您是从事品酒行业的，那么能不能跟我们谈谈你在这个行业的有关经历呢？
即便不是葡萄酒行业的人也都会为这门讲究味觉体验的艺术而着迷，诚然，若不是乐享生活与工作，又如何能去以自己的方式引导别人来更好的享受生活？一个品酒师所要做的就是用他专业的眼光去剔除那些品质拙劣的，将那部分高质量的葡萄酒引荐给消费者。品酒对我来说也是另一种形式的探险之旅。品酒和在线分享都有令我钟爱的共通点：事物总日新月异，其间又总是有那么许许多多值得去深入探究。他们不断地刺激着我的好奇心和求知欲。葡萄酒本身就是件艺术品，它身着酿酒师的品行和灵魂。同时，葡萄酒也是件活物，如人的进化般持续演变着。年代的更迭将葡萄酒不断润色，也赋予其多变神秘的特性，正是应了“年年岁岁花相似，岁岁年年人不同”的古语箴言。
当然，品酒这个行业也有它的不可预知性，有时候我需要在短短一个下午的时间里尝遍50多种葡萄酒以作挑选。我每每不能将这些酒一并饮尽，否则一个烂碎如泥的我将不能正常地继续任何事情。
5. 作为一个传业者，你所面临的最大挑战是什么？找到思绪，构建自己的团队，以及融资，哪一部分会最为艰难？
在我为36kr.com工作的时间里我，我遇见也采访过很多初创者。我的意见是，在自己的创业过程中坚信自己的经验。我始终相信创业者都不缺乏好的点子。如今在中国，初创风险投资的生态有很好的发展态势，如果能把大部分的事情都把握到位的话，融资是一件自然而然的事情。
团队对于一个初创起来来说是一个至关重要的部分，但也是可遇而不可求。但是对于我们这样的初创者来说，最最基本的一项挑战就是：
在仅有的资源库里，怎么去探寻一个持久有创新力的商业模式？即便是找到了，又如何才能去运作？这个结点是每个初创者都会反反复复遇见的。
6. 那么，在最后您还有什么想对我们读者说的嘛?
我在巴黎和硅谷都有在创意孵化基地各自的待过一段时间，这就是为什么新单位会在第一时间内吸引住我的眼球。最后，如果在座的各位还有谁想在午餐或是茶歇跟我聊聊的话，我随时都很高兴在新单位与你们碰面。当然，你们也可以在微博上找到我，提供有关葡萄酒以及有关文化的评论文章，有兴趣的也可以在我的个人微博上面找到我，另外，在36kr上也能找到找到我写的有关初创者的文章。[/lang_cn]
顶Sivi童鞋！
Comment by 代代糖 — November 16, 2012 @ 1:09 am