Chen Tianqiao wanted to invest in Liang Wenyong but was rejected, so he decided to build a large-scale model himself: Built a team of one hundred people in seven months, gave up 50% of the shares, and only hired missionaries, not mercenaries.
According to 1M AI News monitoring, Chen Tianqiao, the founder of Shanda and once the youngest billionaire in China at age 31, recently outlined his return to the forefront of AI business in an exclusive interview with Zhao Hejuan, the founder of Titanium Media.
Chen Tianqiao revealed that the direct catalyst was a 4-hour conversation in 2024 with Liang Wenfeng, the founder of DeepSeek. He proposed an investment, but Liang Wenfeng declined, saying, "You don't need to invest. Everything I do will be open source, but even if you invest, you won't know when it will be profitable." Chen Tianqiao responded with a smile, "Then I'll do it myself." He then founded the large-scale model company MiroMind and built a team of over 100 people from scratch in 7 months.
In terms of team management, Chen Tianqiao committed to offering 50% of the company's shares to employees, explicitly stating that he only recruits "missionaries," not "hired guns," and does not set KPIs. He said, "Hired guns always try to package themselves and wait to be acquired, but they won't go far. If you're not a missionary, you'd better leave early." He set a strict rule: no matter what, the team's limit is 500 people, focusing on improving internal skills and AI empowerment instead of blind expansion.
By December 2025, Chen Tianqiao had directly invested in over 100 AI startups, contributing $1 billion to build the "Discovery Intelligence" PI Incubator. His portfolio includes the open-source memory system company EverMind, the Digital Human Framework Mio, AI-native applications Tanka and Theta, among others. He and his wife established the Great Circle Mirror Studio, focusing on AIGC science popularization videos, with nearly 300 million views per year and over 3 million global fans. When asked about his strengths, he answered in 11 words: "I am patient, can correct mistakes, and I have money."
