Backpacker finds route to success

The three founders of RenRenYouXin Group Co Ltd are young, self-motivated and full of entrepreneurship.

All born into wealthy families and graduating from the country's top universities, they could easily live a comfortable and enviable life, enjoying high pay at a leading international company. But they chose to take a different road.

When Zhang Shishi was an intern at Deutsche Bank AG before graduation, he was offered a fulltime position. Zhang refused. Instead of entering a world-renowned enterprise or pursuing postgraduate studies overseas, Zhang chose to be a backpacker in his first year after graduation.

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"Finishing their studies, starting work after graduation, establishing a family and pursuing the dream to travel around the world when close to retirement is the choice of most people but I wanted to reverse the process," said Zhang.

He spent eight months traveling in North America, South America and Europe. He even made a trip to the South Pole. The journey, despite triggering a big dispute in his family, was worthwhile for Zhang because he finally came to learn what he really wanted: to start his own business rather than be an executive in someone else's company.

Traveling is also one of Yang Yifu's hobbies. He is currently reading a book by a Japanese travel writer. "When you are on the road, you know yourself better. You can spend more time thinking instead of being embedded in daily routines," said Yang.

In their spare time, the three young men play Texas Hold'em poker and basketball together.

Although there is a common belief that best friends should not run a business together, these three young men don't take it seriously. "We set up a scheme to address disputes at the very beginning so our friendship and business will not be affected," said Yang.

If ultimate success requires some luck, hard work should nonetheless remain the foundation, said a manager at RenRenYouXin Group Co Ltd, who preferred to keep her identity secret other than giving the pseudonym Vivian. She is accustomed to receiving the bosses' e-mails late at night. Vivian used to work for a large international company but decided to join the startup.

"It is really exciting to work with peers who are so hard-working and full of ideas," she said. "I found it encouraging. It is really nice to see those young entrepreneurs at work. They are the real newsmakers in fast-changing China."