Summary of the Core Content
This content essentially provides a practical methodology for career professionals and entrepreneurs, highlighting the core values of the Huxiu platform. On one hand, it breaks with the traditional notion that “hard work is everything.” It emphasizes that whether choosing a career path or starting a business, it’s more important to select cities and industries with high potential. By entering these areas early, one can benefit from the amplified effects of growth, allowing one’s strengths to grow like a snowball. On the other hand, Huxiu’s role is to aggregate innovative information from across all industries and connect professionals with both supply and demand, helping users seize key opportunities in the tech and internet sectors in a timely manner, without waiting for the benefits to dissipate.
---
Detailed Explanation of Each Point
1. Why is choosing the right industry and city more important than just working hard nowadays?
It’s not that hard work is useless; rather, we’ve been in a period of general growth over the past few decades. In the early days of reform and opening up, almost anything could lead to profit, and during the housing boom, buying a property without much research would still result in a gain. When the internet emerged, starting a simple website could easily attract funding. Back then, even if your choices were average, as long as you were willing to work hard, you could compensate for any mistakes. However, that period of general growth has ended, and now all industries and cities are experiencing significant differentiation. Some industries are growing by 30% annually, while others are shrinking by 10%; some cities are creating hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs each year, while others are losing population. If you choose a declining industry or city, working 12 hours a day might not even lead to a salary increase, and you could face layoffs. On the contrary, if you choose the right direction, you could become a junior manager in just one year and earn more than you would have in three years through hard work. This is not just wishful thinking but the current reality.
2. What exactly is a “new growth circle,” and why does entering early lead to a snowball effect?
A new growth circle is simply a small area where resources such as money, talent, and policies converge. For example, Hefei invested billions in new energy and semiconductors a few years ago, attracting many large companies and highly educated individuals. Now, Shanghai is focusing on large models and AI applications, with startups seeking talent and funding. Those who enter early get prime positions when the industry is just starting out. Even if your skills are not the best, you can still gain many opportunities. As the industry grows, new entrants will struggle to compete with your established network, project experience, and equity. For instance, an ordinary engineer who joined CATL in 2020 now has more value and a faster salary increase than a recent graduate from a top university who joined in 2024.
3. Why do most people miss out on new growth circles?
The information we usually encounter is either sensational content on short videos or officially announced industry plans. By the time you learn about these, the benefits have already been distributed among the early adopters. For example, when AI models first became popular last year, many were debating whether they were a scam, while industry insiders were already earning from custom AI projects. By the time you decide to enter the field, job salaries had already increased significantly. Ordinary people lack access to real insights from frontline professionals, such as which companies are hiring in certain areas or which cities are providing resources for specific industries. These details are not available through public information and are missed by those who wait too long to act.
4. Why is connecting the market through expertise and influence a more stable long-term business model than relying on advertising?
Many commercial tech media outlets have either focused on sensational headlines to attract traffic or written promotional articles for companies, which users often don’t trust. Huxiu, however, has built a reputation over the past decade by accumulating a network of professionals and entrepreneurs in the tech and internet sectors. These individuals share valuable information on the platform, and companies seeking new opportunities, talent, or directions trust Huxiu’s expertise. This trust is the result of years of in-depth reporting, not just a quick investment in a new platform. Such a business model is sustainable, as both users and companies will continue to rely on Huxiu’s services.