XU XIAOPING
Co-founding New Oriental and running ZhenFund, one of China's biggest angel investors, by betting on people over plans.
Xu Xiaoping trained as a musician, taught English, then became one of China's most famous angel investors. He co-founded New Oriental, China's biggest test-prep company, before launching ZhenFund in 2011 with Sequoia Capital China. His rule is almost too simple. He does not bet on business plans. He bets on people. That approach built a portfolio of 700-plus startups, 18 of them worth over $1 billion. The music teacher who backs founders like he is casting a movie.
Net Worth
Not publicly disclosed
Nationality
Chinese
Time Horizon
Long-Term
Risk Appetite
9 / 10
CAREER & BACKGROUND
Xu's path makes no sense on paper, which is what makes it great. He enrolled at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music in 1978 and graduated in 1983.
He then spent five years as a counsellor at Peking University. He moved to Canada and earned a master's in music from the University of Saskatchewan.
In the 1990s he joined old friends Michael Yu and Victor Wang to build New Oriental, a scrappy English and test-prep school that became a giant. New Oriental listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006.
Their real-life story got turned into a hit Chinese movie, American Dreams in China, in 2013. In 2011 Xu started ZhenFund and became a full-time angel.
COMPANIES & ROLES
Two companies define him. First is New Oriental, listed as EDU on the New York Stock Exchange, which grew into a business worth billions and taught a generation of Chinese students how to pass the TOEFL.
Second is ZhenFund, the angel fund he launched in 2011 alongside Sequoia Capital China. ZhenFund became one of China's largest angel investors.
Its portfolio runs more than 700 companies deep, with 8 going public and another 18 reaching valuations above $1 billion. He also chairs the China Angel Investment Association.
INVESTING STYLE & PHILOSOPHY
Xu's whole style fits in one line. He invests in people, not projects.
He has said the team matters more than the market or the product, and if he had to choose, he would always pick the founder. He looks for people who are passionate, stubborn, and desperate to learn.
He has a soft spot for what he calls sea turtles, Chinese students who studied abroad and came home with a global view. As an angel he shows up early, writes the first check, then acts as a mentor and cheerleader more than a boss.
THE PLAYBOOK
Risk Approach
Angel investing is the riskiest corner of venture capital, and Xu leans in. He backs companies at the earliest, ugliest stage, when there is often nothing but a person and an idea.
He is fine with failure. He has said he is more afraid of founders not trying something ambitious than of them failing.
What scares him is not a lost check. It is backing someone who plays it safe.
Money Habits
Xu spends his money and time on people, which fits everything else about him. He is a founding donor of the Future Science Prize, an annual $1 million award for top scientists working in Greater China.
He has written seven books on careers and education and posts constantly to more than 11 million followers on Weibo. He gave a well-known speech titled We make a life by what we give.
For Xu, influence is the point. He would rather be a mentor to thousands than a name on a rich list.
BIGGEST WIN
His biggest win is really New Oriental itself. Xu helped build it from a small test-prep operation into a company that listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006 and grew into a business worth billions.
That success gave him both the money and the reputation to become an angel investor. As for ZhenFund, the numbers speak for themselves.
Eight portfolio companies have gone public and 18 have crossed the $1 billion mark. For an angel writing early checks, that hit rate is remarkable.
BIGGEST MISTAKE
Xu's blind spot was the same one that hit all of Chinese education. In 2021 Beijing cracked down hard on private tutoring with its double reduction policy.
Overnight, the for-profit education industry Xu helped pioneer was gutted. New Oriental's US-listed shares crashed around 90 percent.
Xu had already moved on to angel investing, but the company he helped build was hammered by a single rule change. The lesson is brutal and very Chinese.
In some markets, regulation can kill a great business no matter how well it is run.
FINANCIAL PHILOSOPHY
Xu's philosophy is that people are the only asset that matters. Ideas are cheap and easy to copy, so he does not fall in love with them.
He falls in love with founders. He believes an angel's job is not just money but advice, connections, and emotional support when things get hard.
He also believes deeply in young people and education, which is not surprising for a former teacher. Back the right human being early, help them however you can, then get out of the way.
FAMILY & PERSONAL LIFE
The most personal thing about Xu is his friendships. He built New Oriental with two old friends, Michael Yu and Victor Wang, and their decades-long bond got turned into the 2013 movie American Dreams in China.
He then started ZhenFund with Victor Wang, so the partnership outlasted the first company. Xu keeps much of his private family life out of view.
What is public is his identity as a teacher at heart, someone who treats the founders he backs almost like students.
EDUCATION
Xu's education is the least likely resume in venture capital. He studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, graduating in 1983.
He later earned a master's degree in music from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. Before any of that he spent five years as a counsellor at Peking University.
No business school. No finance degree.
Just music, teaching, and an eye for people.
BOOKS & RESOURCES
Xu is a genuine author
He has published seven books on careers, growth, and education, most of them in Chinese and aimed at young people trying to find their path. English readers will have a harder time tracking those down
Which is honest about how brutal building a company really is
For the founder-first mindset Xu lives by. Both match his belief that the person matters more than the plan
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QUOTES (5)
I have three criteria for investment: the team, the market, and the product. But the most important is the team.
I do not invest in projects, I invest in people. The person is always more important than the business plan.
My job as an angel investor is not just to provide money, but also to provide advice, resources, and emotional support.
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