Baidu, the "Huangpu Military Academy" of the tech industry

The founding teams of Horizon Robotics, Pony.ai and WeRide share one common career overlap: Baidu.

This name also appears in the development history of Kuaishou, Youzan, DiDi and Zuoyebang.

Looking at the new round of entrepreneurship, Anthropic behind Claude, the intelligent agent company Genspark, and robotics companies such as Stardust, Tushi, Weitao and Octopus also have personnel connections with Baidu's research and business teams.

From short videos, mobility, merchant services to autonomous driving, chips, large models and robotics, this list spans multiple rounds of technological and commercial changes. Baidu is known as the "Huangpu Military Academy" in the technology circle, which corresponds to far more than a single research direction.

Among these people, some started their own businesses after leaving their jobs, some developed independently with internal businesses, and others started new ventures after taking R&D and management positions in other enterprises. Different paths together form this talent map.

I. Where the Talents Come From

Baidu's early search, advertising and recommendation businesses required engineers to process large-scale data, complex systems and user demands. Product, design, operation and commercial teams also accumulated experience in these businesses.

After that, Baidu further built research institutions. It founded the Deep Learning Institute in 2013, appointed Andrew Ng as its chief scientist in 2014, and set up the Silicon Valley AI Lab. Researchers met industrial tasks such as search, speech, image processing and autonomous driving here.

At the same time, some products within Baidu gradually formed independent businesses. iQiyi, Zuoyebang and Du Xiaoman represent another line of platform initiation, business incubation and independent development of management teams.

Following the experiences of these people, we can see the formation process of a large number of startups.

II. Internet and Digital Services: From Product and Design to Platform-based Business

01 Kuaishou: Su Hua, from Baidu Fengchao to short videos

Su Hua participated in the R&D of Baidu Fengchao system, started his business again after leaving, and later joined the team of Cheng Yixiao and others, jointly promoting the development of Kuaishou from a GIF tool to a short video community.

His experience covers search, advertising and recommendation algorithms. Kuaishou continued to expand its content, live streaming and commercialization businesses, and launched the video generation model Keling in 2024, becoming a case where Internet products intersect with the new round of technology entrepreneurship.

02 DiDi: Zhang Bo, from mobile R&D to mobility services

Zhang Bo, co-founder of DiDi, was responsible for the R&D of multiple mobile products at Baidu before joining DiDi. In 2012, he participated in the founding of DiDi and took charge of the construction of early product, technology and data systems.

DiDi expanded from ride-hailing business to multiple mobility scenarios, and then entered the field of autonomous driving. Zhang Bo set up the autonomous driving department in 2016, and the relevant business was spun off into an independent company in 2019, where he served as CEO.

03 Youzan: Bai Ya, from user experience design to merchant services

Bai Ya, founder of Youzan, whose real name is Zhu Ning, joined Baidu's user experience department in 2006, participated in the design of products such as search, community and paid listing, and later joined Alipay as chief product designer.

In 2012, Bai Ya founded Pocket Tong, which was later renamed Youzan, providing merchants with tools for store opening, transaction and operation. He recalled in a public speech that his earliest pursuit at Baidu was the "four nines" stability of the system. This experience connects product design, technology platforms and merchant operations.

04 Zuoyebang: Hou Jianbin, leading the entrepreneurship from Baidu's knowledge business

Hou Jianbin was once in charge of Baidu's knowledge business. Zuoyebang was incubated from Baidu's knowledge system, entered the learning scenario with functions such as photo-based question search and Q&A, and was spun off independently from Baidu in 2015.

Hou Jianbin mentioned in an interview in 2021 that among the four co-founders, three of them, Hou Jianbin, Chen Gongming and Li Boyang, were campus recruits trained by Baidu for many years. After independence, the team continued to build question banks, content and educational service capabilities beyond technology.

05 iQiyi: Baidu initiated an independent company, Gong Yu was invited to serve as CEO

In January 2010, Baidu announced the establishment of an independent online video company, and Gong Yu was invited to serve as CEO. In April of the same year, Qiyi.com was officially launched, and later developed into iQiyi.

This is a path initiated by Baidu to carry out new businesses with the help of platform resources. Gong Yu had previous entrepreneurship and management experience in companies such as Focus Real Estate Network and Sohu. After joining the new company, he led the team to develop licensed video and content businesses.

06 Du Xiaoman: Zhu Guang, leading the independent development of financial business

Zhu Guang joined Baidu in 2008, served as senior vice president, and was in charge of Baidu Financial Services Group. In 2018, Baidu Finance completed the spin-off and financing, launched the "Du Xiaoman" brand, and Zhu Guang served as CEO.

At the time of spin-off, Du Xiaoman completed financing of more than 1.9 billion US dollars. Its business focuses on financial services, risk management and technology platforms, which is a case of Baidu's internal business forming an independent operating entity.

III. Smart Vehicles and Autonomous Driving: The Most Dense Group of Entrepreneurs

07 Horizon Robotics: Yu Kai, Huang Chang, Tao Feiwen, from the research team to the computing platform

Yu Kai once served as vice president of Baidu Research Institute and head of the Deep Learning Lab, and Huang Chang also engaged in research work at Baidu. In 2015, Yu Kai started the Horizon Robotics venture, and Tao Feiwen, who also had Baidu experience, joined the founding team.

Horizon Robotics develops around intelligent driving computing chips, algorithms and software tools, providing computing platforms for automobiles. Compared with operating self-driving cars directly, it is closer to the basic supplier of the intelligent driving industry.

08 Pony.ai: Peng Jun, Lou Tiancheng, moving towards high-level autonomous driving

Peng Jun once served as chief architect of Baidu's autonomous driving, and Lou Tiancheng also worked in Baidu's autonomous driving team. In 2016, the two co-founded Pony.ai.

The company carries out R&D around high-level autonomous driving, and enters scenarios such as Robotaxi and autonomous trucks. The two founders had different lengths of employment at Baidu, but both participated in the R&D of autonomous driving systems.

09 WeRide: Han Xu, Wang Jin and others, starting from Jingchi

Han Xu once worked in Baidu's Deep Learning Institute, and Wang Jin once served as Baidu's senior vice president and head of the Autonomous Driving Business Unit. In 2017, Jingchi was founded and renamed WeRide in 2018.

After that, Han Xu led the team to continue promoting the autonomous driving business, and the company gradually expanded Robotaxi and other self-driving products. Its development process involved changes in the founding team and management, and Wang Jin later moved to other companies.

10 DeepRoute.ai: Zhou Guang, experienced two rounds of autonomous driving entrepreneurship

Zhou Guang once worked in Baidu's US autonomous driving R&D system, then participated in the founding of Starry Sky Technology, and founded DeepRoute.ai in 2019.

DeepRoute.ai promotes autonomous driving technology to automotive products and mass production applications. Starry Sky and DeepRoute.ai are two different companies. The former encountered team and operational crises in 2019, which also formed part of Zhou Guang's entrepreneurial experience.

11 Mainline Technology: Zhang Tianlei, bringing autonomous driving into logistics and transportation

Zhang Tianlei once worked in Baidu's autonomous driving team. After starting his business in 2017, he chose the truck and logistics transportation scenario and founded Mainline Technology.

The company's R&D and business focus on autonomous trucks, organizing vehicles, systems and operation capabilities for logistics scenarios. Compared with passenger travel, freight tasks, operating environments and customer needs have formed another product route.

12 Mushuang Auto Union: Zhu Lei, exploring vehicle-road-cloud collaboration

The public resume of Zhu Lei, founder of Mushuang Auto Union, includes positions such as Chairman of Baidu Vertical Search Technology Committee, Vice President of Didi Chuxing, and CTO of Bitauto.

The company promotes business in a coordinated manner around vehicle terminals, road perception and cloud, exploring the integration of vehicle-road-cloud. Its technology and products involve on-board systems, road infrastructure and cloud dispatching, which is different from the autonomous driving route that mainly relies on on-board systems.

13 White Rhino: Xia Tian, Zhu Lei, entering the field of unmanned delivery

Xia Tian, co-founder of White Rhino, was an early member of Baidu's Deep Learning Institute, and undertook technical work in autonomous driving perception R&D, and later jointly promoted entrepreneurship with Zhu Lei and others.

The company develops around unmanned delivery on urban public roads, develops unmanned vehicles and supporting solutions for scenarios such as express delivery, supermarkets and instant delivery, and implements autonomous driving into specific transportation tasks.

14 Kuaigou Technology: Tao Ji, Liao Ruoxue and others, entering trunk logistics

Tao Ji was once in charge of Baidu's autonomous driving and intelligent transportation related businesses, and Liao Ruoxue once served as chairman of Baidu Group's Technical Committee, and was responsible for search and personalized recommendation and other work.

Kuaigou Technology, co-founded by the two, chose autonomous driving trunk logistics. In 2023, the company saw management changes, Tao Ji left his position, and Ding Fei took over as CEO. This team combines autonomous driving, search technology and commercial operation experience into the freight scenario.

15 Hedao Technology: Ni Kai, from unmanned driving research to mass production applications

Ni Kai once worked in Baidu's Deep Learning Institute and unmanned driving R&D system. After stages such as LeTV, he founded Hedao Technology in 2017.

Hedao promotes the transformation of autonomous driving technology to automotive mass production applications. In 2024, the company was reported to have problems such as operational stagnation, which is one of the cases that experienced commercialization twists and turns in this entrepreneurial list.

16 Haomo.AI: Gu Weihao, joining as a co-founder

Gu Weihao worked at Baidu for a long time and served as general manager of the Intelligent Vehicle Business Unit. Haomo.AI was incubated by the Great Wall system in 2019, and Gu Weihao joined as co-founder and CEO in 2021.

The company develops around intelligent driving R&D and automotive product applications. Its organizational formation process is a path that combines corporate business incubation with the joining of external technical management talents.

17 Inceptio Robotics: Du Dalong and others, from visual algorithms to automotive products

Du Dalong once served as architect of Baidu Research Institute and algorithm director of Horizon Robotics, and later participated in the founding of Inceptio Robotics.

Although the company is named "robotics", its business focus is on visual perception and autonomous driving solutions, and it carries out R&D around visual understanding, perception systems and automotive product applications.

18 China Auto Driving: Wang Jin, another corporate experience after leaving Baidu

Wang Jin once served as Baidu's senior vice president and head of the Autonomous Driving Business Unit. After leaving Baidu, he participated in the founding of Jingchi, and later joined China Auto Driving.

China Auto Driving was founded in 2018, and Wang Jin served as CEO in 2019, continuing to participate in the development of self-driving companies. This reflects the flow of management talents in entrepreneurial companies.

IV. Enterprise Software and Data Services: Extension of Search, Advertising and Big Data Teams

19 4th Paradigm: Dai Wenyuan, Chen Yuqiang, Hu Shiwei, entering enterprise intelligence

Dai Wenyuan once served as Baidu's director R&D architect, responsible for the R&D and management of search advertising systems, and founded 4th Paradigm in 2014. Chen Yuqiang joined to start a business together in 2015 after working at Baidu and ByteDance, and Hu Shiwei also has work experience at Baidu.

The company brings the capabilities of machine learning platforms to the enterprise market, and develops around intelligent applications in prediction, decision-making and business systems. The early work of this group of founding members involved models and large-scale engineering problems in advertising scenarios.

20 Sensors Data: San Wenfeng, Cao Jiang, turning data capabilities into enterprise products

Members of the founding team such as San Wenfeng and Cao Jiang come from Baidu's big data department, and have participated in projects such as log platforms and user data warehouses, involving data collection, modeling, processing and analysis.

Sensors Data, founded in 2015, develops around user behavior analysis, data platforms and marketing applications, helping enterprises use business data for product and operation decision-making.

21 DataGrand: Chen Yunwen, from search R&D to document intelligence

Chen Yunwen once engaged in search related technical work at Baidu, and later founded DataGrand, entering the field of natural language processing and enterprise intelligence market.

The company develops document understanding, information processing and related enterprise applications for text-intensive scenarios such as contracts, materials and knowledge, and integrates language technology into specific work processes.

22 Aibee: Lin Yuanqing, from computer vision research to offline commerce

Lin Yuanqing once served as director of Baidu's Deep Learning Lab and dean of Baidu Research Institute, and founded Aibee after leaving his position in 2017.

The company develops around computer vision, multi-modal perception and offline scenario digitization, linking visual research with commercial spaces and offline operation demands.

23 DataPilot Technology: Li Kefeng, Tan Li, connecting enterprise data and business analysis

Li Kefeng once served as general manager of Baidu Mobile, participated in the initial stage of Baidu's cloud computing business, and later worked at Ping An and JD. Co-founder Tan Li also has work experience at Baidu and JD.

DataPilot Technology develops products around enterprise data analysis and intelligent agent development, trying to allow business personnel to obtain data and analyze problems through more natural interaction. The founding team's experience spans technology platforms and enterprise operation scenarios.

24 Laiye Technology: Wang Guanchun, Hu Yichuan, passing through Baidu between two startups

Wang Guanchun and Hu Yichuan first founded the personalized recommendation product "What to Watch Tonight". After the project was acquired by Baidu, the two joined Baidu's intelligent interaction, video and other businesses respectively. In 2015, the two started their business again and founded Laiye Technology.

The company later developed products such as intelligent dialogue, document processing and process automation, applying software operation and AI capabilities to enterprise work. This is a path of starting a business, being merged into a large factory, and then starting a business again.

25 Haizhi Technology: Ren Xuyang, Shi Youcai, Hu Song, from enterprise data to industrial applications

Haizhi Technology, founded in 2013, has founding members Ren Xuyang, Shi Youcai and Hu Song who all have Baidu experience. Ren Xuyang and Shi Youcai once served as Baidu's vice presidents, and Hu Song once undertook Baidu wireless related architecture and technical work.

Starting from businesses such as enterprise data analysis, the company further enters knowledge graph, data intelligence and industrial intelligent agents. The founding team has experience in technology, business expansion and organizational management.

V. AI Research and New Round of Entrepreneurship: From the Speech Lab to Large Models and Intelligent Agents

26 Anthropic: Dario Amodei, from Baidu researcher to Claude

From November 2014 to October 2015, Dario worked as a research scientist at Baidu, participating in the end-to-end speech recognition research of Deep Speech 2. After that, he joined Google Brain and OpenAI, and co-founded Anthropic with partners in 2021.

Claude has become the company's representative product. This experience connects Baidu's Silicon Valley AI Lab with the founding team of the later large language model company.