Lessons from Wang Xin

Wang Xing, the founder and CEO of Meituan, is a prominent and often-quoted figure in China's technology landscape. Known for his intellectual curiosity, relentless drive, and long-term strategic thinking, his ideas have been shaped by years of serial entrepreneurship, a passion for reading, and navigating one of the world's most competitive markets.

On Entrepreneurship & Strategy

On the Nature of Entrepreneurship: "Entrepreneurship is not just about solving problems, but more importantly, about discovering problems worth solving." [1]
The Importance of a Mission: When facing difficult choices, Wang Xing follows the "3M principle" from the book The Mission, The Men, and Me: Mission first, then your people (Men), and finally, yourself (Me). [2]
On Boundaries and Core Focus: "Too many people pay attention to boundaries, but not the core. You can understand boundaries as gravity... All things don't have simple boundaries, so I don't think you should limit yourself. As long as the core is clear—who do we serve? What services do we provide them?—we will continue to try various businesses." [3][4]
The Infinite Game: Wang Xing is heavily influenced by James Carse's book Finite and Infinite Games. He believes business is not a finite game with an end goal of winning, but an infinite game played for the purpose of continuing the play and exploring boundaries. [5][6]
There is No True "Endgame": "What real endgame is there? 'Endgame' was originally a chess term, but the actual situation now is that the chessboard is still expanding." [7]
Strategy and Tactics: A core principle is to "fight a protracted war in strategy, and a war of annihilation in tactics." [8]
On Timing and Trends: "The best entrepreneurial path is destined to have no predecessors and no followers. You can't just work blindly; you have to wait for the 'big trend' to arrive." [8]
Patience and Long-Termism: "We must have long-term patience, continuously grow... A German thinker once said that writers can be divided into three categories—meteors, planets, and stars. We strive to build Meituan into a company that is evergreen." [7]
The Role of Capital: "In different industries of entrepreneurship, capital may be a catalyst, a combustion accelerant, or the main fuel." [8]
On Doing Things with Accumulative Value: "In the last year, I have re-understood and better understood the need to 'do things that accumulate'. The mission to 'Eat Better, Live Better' is difficult, but it is worth the long-term effort." [9]
On the Internet's "Second Half": Wang was one of the first to popularize the concept of the internet's "second half," arguing that while the digitalization of the demand side was largely complete, the digitalization of the supply side was just beginning. [9]
Upgrading Meituan's Strategy: In 2021, Wang Xing announced a strategic upgrade for Meituan from "Food + Platform" to "Retail + Technology," signaling a move from service retail to physical retail. [10]
On Copying vs. Innovation: When asked about his early ventures being copies of US models, Wang stated, "Entrepreneurship is about what service you provide to what user, that is the core value. As for whether it is original, it may not be that important... just as cars now have four wheels and a steering wheel. It's not that if foreign countries make four wheels, you have to make five in China to be called innovative." [11]
On Failure: After selling his first major success, Xiaonei (a Facebook clone), Wang quoted Winston Churchill: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." [1] This reflects his view of setbacks as mere prologues.

On Competition

On Dealing with Competitors: "Like driving a car, you have to occasionally look in the rearview mirror, but you can't drive while staring at the rearview mirror." [3][4]
Defining Friends and Foes: "I don't really like the term 'enemy,' I prefer to say 'peer companies.' Friends are companies that can cooperate with us. Tencent is one, and it is also a very important shareholder of ours." [3][4]
Respect for Competitors: "From a combat effectiveness point of view, Alibaba is very strong. But if they had more of a bottom line in all aspects, I would respect them more." [3][4]
On Intense Competition: Wang Xing firmly opposes "involution" or unhealthy, unsustainable competition. He believes low-quality, low-price competition is not sustainable in the long run and is detrimental to the industry. [12][13]
Winning at All Costs: Despite opposing unhealthy competition, when faced with it, Wang is resolute. Regarding the food delivery wars, he stated, "We will spare no expense to win." [13][14]
Competition is Normal: "I think having two players in many fields is very normal. Unless it's a business with super-strong national network effects like WeChat, it's unlikely that one company will dominate in many areas." [4]
The Gladiator Mentality: Kai-Fu Lee, in his book AI Superpowers, describes Wang Xing's success as not being a "copycat" but a "gladiator" who triumphed in a brutally competitive environment by learning to fight, innovate, and build a moat around his company. [15]

On Management & Leadership

The CEO's Core Responsibilities: Wang believes a CEO cannot delegate three things: 1) Designing the company's vision and strategy and ensuring it's communicated to all stakeholders; 2) Recruiting and retaining the best people; 3) Ensuring the company always has enough money, which is like air. [16]
The Importance of Basic Skills: "In business history, the failure of the vast majority of companies is not because they haven't mastered difficult moves, but because something went wrong with their basic skills. A company's basic skills are its business and management." [17]
Building a Leadership Pipeline: Wang is a strong advocate for building a "Leadership Pipeline," a concept from a book of the same name by Ram Charan. He sees it as a first principle for talent development and crucial for Meituan's future competitiveness. [17][18]
On Internal Promotions: As of 2024, 69% of Meituan's managers were promoted from within, a testament to the company's focus on internal talent development. [19]
Learning to be a Manager: "I have been learning how to transform from a technical person into a good manager. I have read many books in this area, which have been of great help to me." He cites Andy Grove's High Output Management as particularly influential. [16][20]
A Manager's Work is Never Done: "Andy Grove was right. A manager is like a housewife; the work is never done. And management, like life, is trivial." [16]
The CEO as a Student: "I believe that as a CEO, I must be the person in the company who is most diligent in learning and thinking deeply."

On Learning & Thinking

The Power of a Simple Question: As a freshman at Tsinghua University, Wang asked his seniors, "What do you think is the meaning of life?" This illustrates his early-starting, deep-thinking nature. [9]
Relentless Curiosity: A defining trait is his endless curiosity. He is known for being an avid reader and constantly questioning things beyond his current understanding. [9][21]
Thinking vs. Doing: "Most people are willing to do anything in order to avoid having to really think." [12]
On Simple Truths: "We made a lot of mistakes and paid a lot of tuition to learn that there are no myths in this world, only some very simple truths: the cheap beats the expensive, the good quality beats the poor quality, the serious beats the frivolous, the patient beats the impetuous, the diligent beats the lazy, the reputable beats the disreputable..." [22]
Learning from the Past: "When people mention 'think long term,' most people default to the future, but the past is also worth looking at." [9]
On Great Ideas: "The greatest ideas now seem plain and even taken for granted, like Arabic numerals or 'liberty, equality, fraternity.' Their greatness lies in how shocking or even incredible they were at their birth." [22]
Judging People by Their Past: "It's unreliable to judge a person's future. You can only look at their past. People are continuous; they don't suddenly change." [21]
On Self-Management: "Self-management should start with time management. Time management should start with managing your wake-up time. But the real key is not what time you get up, but what time you go to bed." [22]
The Power of "I Can Learn": He was once deeply impressed by a young colleague who, when asked if she could use a specific software late at night, replied without hesitation, "I can learn." He noted, "There is infinite power in these four simple words." [22]
Hierarchy of Choices: "The first-class choice is to do things. The second-class is to evaluate things that others do. The third-class is to evaluate the evaluations of others." [22]
Admiration for Amazon: Wang often uses Amazon as a benchmark and an example. He once posted on social media, "To this day, the majority has underestimated Bezos." [5][23]

On Life & The Future

On the Meaning of Meituan: In response to China's "Common Prosperity" initiative, Wang explained the characters in Meituan's name: "Mei (美)" means beautiful, and "Tuan (团)" means together, suggesting the goal is embedded in the company's DNA. [7]
On the Passage of Time: "A generation does its generation's work. This usually means not having expectations that are too high... but it can have another meaning: each generation must do the work that this generation should do, and not postpone it. Otherwise, it's like climbing a rope ladder that has been lit from the bottom. Climbing slowly is very dangerous." [9]
On Bitcoin: An early adopter, Wang bought Bitcoin in 2013 to "honor this extraordinarily imaginative creation with practical action." In 2021, he noted, "In theory, Satoshi Nakamoto is already the richest man in the world." [20]
On AI Strategy: "I am very focused on AI, and our strategy for AI is offensive, not defensive." [1]
On Long-Term vs. Short-Term Views of Technology: Quoting Roy Amara, he said people often "overestimate what can happen in one or two years, but underestimate what can change in ten years." This reflects his view on AI's development cycle.
On Personal Responsibility: "As a CEO, I have to be responsible for everything that happens in this company, and even more so for what should have happened but didn't." [8]
On Being a Chess Piece: Upon Meituan's IPO, he posted: "A good chess player usually knows and accepts that he is also a piece in a larger game." [9]
A Wish for His Team: On the day of the IPO, he wrote, "I don't wish you a smooth journey; I wish you to ride the wind and break the waves." [9]
Embracing Hardship: He often quotes an investor and veteran soldier: "Many people misunderstand war. War is not only about fighting and sacrifice, but more about endurance and suffering." [5]
On the Importance of Building: Another IPO-day thought: "Building is more important than witnessing." [9]
A Guiding Principle: A phrase he shared with Tsinghua students, which he has believed since his own student days: "天下兴亡、匹夫有责" (tiān xià xīng wáng, pǐ fū yǒu zé) — "The rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of every common person." [24]

Lessons from Wang Xin

On Entrepreneurship & Strategy

On Competition

On Management & Leadership

On Learning & Thinking

On Life & The Future

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