The post-2000 generation who have caught the AI express train have already raised tens of millions in financing.
Get on board! The dividends left for the post - 2000 generation
Even with a master's degree from a non - key liberal arts college, it's very difficult to find a suitable job in today's job market.
Fortunately, before graduation, Xue Liu, a post - 2000 graduate, had already had three internships in the AI business of large companies. She was deeply involved in the process of developing leading AI products from scratch in these large companies. She even wrote the user manual for one of the AI products when it was launched.
Most of the more than 600 resumes she sent out didn't even pass the initial screening. However, these three internships were like decisive chips, which got her interview opportunities for AI - related positions. Eventually, Xue Liu received offers from two AI companies.
Boyu, who is about to graduate with a master's degree in finance from Fudan University, also successfully got an offer from the AI business line of a large company in Shanghai during this AI boom. His annual salary is in the hundreds of thousands, which is very competitive among his peers.
Although in 2022 when he first entered the school, there was a legend that graduates could earn a million a year. Of course, two years have passed, and such employment myths have long been shattered.
"As finance students, we are all very anxious." In the past two years, the financial industry has been on a downward trend, and there are fewer and fewer recruitment opportunities. When looking for a job, Boyu tried to switch from finance to some industries with a clear prospect and a slightly higher starting salary.
By chance, he interned at a startup in the AI + finance field. Since then, he has been involved in the AI industry and gradually moved from small companies to leading large companies.
There is a common view that AI is a very important opportunity for the post - 2000 generation. "Our generation of post - 2000s missed the opportunity to enter the mobile Internet era," Xue Liu believes that AI is a new growth opportunity, and no one wants to miss this wave.
Boyu shared his experience on social media, which attracted many young people eager to join the AI track. Due to these career - consulting demands, he also started a side business, providing paid consulting services for students who want to enter the AI field.
Based on his own experience, he summarized a career - upgrading path on how to quickly break into the AI track: If your major has nothing to do with AI, he suggests starting to send your resume to startups, then moving from small companies to medium - sized companies, and then to large companies, step by step to achieve your career leap.
Zebra, the person - in - charge of the AI product operation at Career Elevator, is in a startup team, which is an important part of the young people's career - advancement game.
In October last year, she posted a message on Xiaohongshu saying "An AI startup team is recruiting content interns". Unexpectedly, it received more than 5,000 views and hundreds of comments. Her AI team is just a startup with a scale of more than ten people, but it still couldn't stop the influx of inquiries and attention, which made her feel a sense of disproportion, like "using a sledgehammer to crack a nut".
She also received many private messages of self - recommendation in her background. Among the attached resumes, there were product managers from well - known large companies and graduates from prestigious universities with strong research capabilities. "It's hard to meet such excellent people in traditional industries."
Zebra said, "Get on board first, then enjoy the feast", which has become the consensus among these smart people who are extremely sensitive to opportunities.
The AI sales system developed by Wan Xiaochu's team (Photo provided by Wan Xiaochu)
Wan Xiaochu, a post - 1995 entrepreneur, is the CEO of an AI startup. Currently, the AI + sales intelligent product he focuses on has achieved product - market fit (PMF), and the company is gradually on a positive cycle. He said, "The spring of 2025 is also our spring."
After OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, the commercial application of generative AI has entered the fast lane. Wan Xiaochu keenly caught the wave of generative AI and decided to seek a breakthrough in this field.
In his opinion, there aren't many opportunities in life to experience the explosive growth of an industry. "There was a wave during the PC Internet era, but I was only two or three years old at that time. During the mobile Internet era, I hadn't even graduated from junior high school. Now, it's finally our turn for generative AI." Wan Xiaochu said, "This is an opportunity that must be seized, so we'll go all out."
On social media, some people even claim that AI is the last dividend left for the post - 2000 generation. For Wan Xiaochu, the AI track may not necessarily be the last opportunity, but he is sure that future opportunities will be even rarer. "The playing field is limited, and now is a good time for young entrepreneurs to seize the opportunity."
In the current economic and employment situation, no one wants to fall behind, and everyone chooses to be among the first to enter the field.
Get a head start! Opportunities wait for no one
The post - 2000 "genius" entrepreneurs who are bravely exploring the AI track are even more prominent in getting a head start.
In the view of senior headhunter Qiu Jinpei, The so - called "geniuses" generally refer to young talents who have won international awards in mathematics, physics and other competitions, or those who graduated from prestigious academic programs like the Yao Class at Tsinghua University.
Li Wenxuan, born in 2003, is such an entrepreneur. First of all, he has an excellent resume: he won a gold medal in an international physics competition in middle school and was recruited by Tencent for an internship at the age of 17. In his freshman year in 2023, he decided to take a leave of absence from the University of California, Berkeley to start a business and officially entered the AI track.
Secondly, he successfully raised funds in several of his entrepreneurial projects. Currently, the AI application he is working on is an AI - powered intelligent learning product for overseas college students. Since its launch six months ago, it has accumulated more than 40,000 users and achieved revenues of over $400,000. Both the traffic and revenues are still growing rapidly. At the end of last year, Li Wenxuan was even included in the Hurun China Under 25 Entrepreneurship Pioneers List 2024.
Currently, his team has completed the latest round of financing of millions of dollars. The project has completed the process from 0 to 1 and is gradually entering the stage of scaling up from 1 to 100.
Many people have asked him why he didn't choose to finish college before starting a business. He quoted a popular internet catchphrase, "The most important thing in the game of life is to 'get in the game' because opportunities wait for no one."
Li Wenxuan's four - person entrepreneurial team (Photo provided by Li Wenxuan)
Jia Zixin, a sophomore at Peking University, is also eager to start a business. In March this year, she interned at a popular AI startup, but decided to end the internship after only one week and returned to school to form a team for entrepreneurship.
"Many people think they need to prepare everything before taking action, but entrepreneurship is a process of learning by doing," she always believes that one should solve problems as they arise and accumulate experience from small projects, so as to have the opportunity to do bigger things in the future.
Even though she gave up the opportunity to learn at a leading AI startup, she doesn't think it's a pity. She firmly believes that the AI track offers rare opportunities for the post - 2000 generation, especially when starting a business with like - minded partners. "This journey is definitely worth betting all of our youth on." Her tone is very determined.
Going all in has become the most prominent feature of these post - 2000 entrepreneurs' style. Wan Yao, the executive president of the non - profit organization wteam, which focuses on early - stage college entrepreneurship, said that different from the 80s or 90s entrepreneurs who emphasize "balance", once post - 2000 entrepreneurs anchor an idea, they dare to go all in, quickly mobilize all resources and energy to focus on one thing, and achieve high - speed growth with limited resources.
In addition, as an 80s person, Wan Yao is also deeply impressed by the characteristics of the post - 2000 generation: This generation has been "being themselves" since birth. They don't have the traumas from their original families that East Asian children often have and don't need to deal with the relationships between themselves and their families. "The problems they start to think about are the relationships between humans and the environment, and humans and nature. They have a strong sense of heroism."
More than one person has said that they treat entrepreneurship more like a game. They don't have a heavy burden or a sense of resentment. Even if they succeed this time, they still dare to make a big bet next time.
Of course, these young entrepreneurs also have a more international perspective. In today's highly information - connected world, new things that appear globally will show up on domestic social media the next day, which was unimaginable 20 years ago. Li Wenxuan's team is based in China, but their business is overseas. In his words, "Use Chinese teams to earn global money."
In the current era of global competition, these youngest new forces are not afraid to compete with top talents from abroad.
All set! The "small - appetite" super individuals
Since the beginning of this year, the popularity of AI applications has ignited public enthusiasm, and both attention and capital are flowing into this hot track.
Wang Li, an investor at an investment institution, said, "In the past, industries such as hard technology and semiconductors didn't believe in 'young success'. The logic was 'don't invest in people under 35'. Now, the logic has become 'don't invest in people over 35'."
Capital favors young people. In Wang Li's view, AI is a new technology, and everyone is on the same starting line. However, young people who entered the AI industry earlier are at least more sensitive and quicker in taking action.
Wan Xiaochu also always believes that raising money from experienced investors, using the technology of scientists, and applying the wisdom of operators to disrupt the old - guard is the best strategy for young entrepreneurs at present.
Wang Li said that most of the entrepreneurs in the AI field she has contacted are post - 1995s and post - 2000s, but those who can actually get financing are entrepreneurs with international backgrounds or young people who have developed products with international influence or national recognition.
This kind of excellence beyond their peers has also led to a change in the investment logic of investors like Wang Li. Most of the projects she invests in are more like "making friends with money". "People think these projects may fail or transform, but at this time, they can get to know these very young and outstanding entrepreneurs who have achieved certain results. Maybe this project won't succeed, but their next product may."
The post - 2000 entrepreneurs are also more flexible in raising funds. Wang Li found that older entrepreneurs often prefer to raise a large amount of money at once, say one or two million dollars, and build a complete team. However, the post - 2000s are the group that asks for the least amount of financing, maybe just $110,000 or one or two million RMB.
At the beginning of his entrepreneurship in 2023, Wan Xiaochu raised 1 million RMB. It's difficult to raise money, and it's even more difficult to spend the money wisely. Except for spending 500 RMB to treat the investors to a hot - pot meal at the beginning, he mainly invested the financing in human resources costs.
When it came to the question of whether to buy graphics cards, he thought it over and finally decided to rent them instead, which is more cost - effective. This investment has supported the team for nearly a whole year until the team started to operate on a positive cycle.
In addition, the organizational structure of these AI startup teams is highly flat, and the human - resource costs are also decreasing. Most teams are very streamlined, with a maximum of ten core members and a minimum of three or four. Jia Zixin's entrepreneurial team is very representative: one person is in charge of the product, one person is in charge of the market, and one person is in charge of the technology. The CEO, CMO, and CTO are all in this three - person combination.
Jia Zixin's three - person AI team (Photo provided by Jia Zixin)
Even for a team like Li Wenxuan's that has raised millions of dollars, there are only four full - time employees. Li Wenxuan, this "super individual", has completed 95% of the code, product design, and product launch by himself.
The "small appetite" of post - 2000 entrepreneurs is shaped by the environment. Wan Yao said, "In the past, you could raise a lot of money with just a PPT, and it was normal for a project to have a valuation of hundreds of millions. But now, it's not an era of abundant capital. It's difficult for them to impress investors with just a story or a PPT. The reality forces them to have strong profitability to get financing."
But precisely because they have the ability to generate their own profits, they have the confidence to choose whether to raise capital or not in front of investors.
For "genius" entrepreneurs like Li Wenxuan, raising capital has become an "optional item" rather than a "must - have item". "The reason why AI application - based entrepreneurship has investment value is that you create enough value for users. Even without investment, the value you create for users can bring you positive business feedback to a certain extent."
Excitement! Along with collective anxiety
After the Spring Festival, the "AI fever" has been rising. Those who entered the field early have reaped the dividends of the AI track.
The host of a business salon has been trying every means to enter the AI track. After the Spring Festival, she quickly seized this wave of popularity and held multiple AI money - making salons within a month. The two - day AI training camp with a fee of 4,980 RMB was quickly fully booked. The participants included small e - commerce bosses, self - employed individuals, product managers,