Prologue: A Goal Is the Certainty of the Future

Prologue: A Goal Is the Certainty of the Future In a person's life, the most important thing is not how high the starting point is, but how clear the goal. I have seen too many people — intelligent, hardworking, with abundant resources — who nevertheless achieve nothing their entire lives. It is not that they did not try hard enough; it is that they never knew where they were heading. Heading east today, west tomorrow — ten years pass, and they are still circling the same spot. I have also seen too many enterprises soar when the wind blows and crash when the wind stops. It is not that they were not big enough; it is that they never knew what kind of enterprise they wanted to become. A goal is the fundamental reason that ultimately widens the gap between one person and another, between one enterprise and another. A goal is the certainty of the future — you know where you are going, you know what you will become, and you know that every seed you plant today will, in ten, twenty, or thirty years, grow into a towering tree. In my entire life, I have done only one thing: study enterprises, study finance, and study how to enable a Chinese enterprise to cleanly enter the U.S. capital market. This is my lifelong goal. From the day I set this goal, all my learning, work, research, and entrepreneurship have revolved around it. I studied finance to understand enterprises; I engaged in investment to comprehend value; I researched U.S. stocks to benchmark against standards; I founded the Wu ROE to penetrate data; I developed systems to deliver certainty. Every step has served the same goal. Why choose the U.S. capital market? Because of the environment. What an enterprise can ultimately become depends on the environment in which it is tested, priced, and respected. The U.S. capital market is the most mature, transparent environment in the world that places the highest value on long-term worth. It can accept that you are not yet profitable, but it absolutely will not tolerate data fraud. It can grant an enterprise with genuine long-term value the highest valuation and the greatest respect. I want Chinese enterprises, in such an environment, to be seen, to be recognized, and to be invested in. To truly understand the capital market, one must return to its most fundamental logic. The core of the capital market is pricing, and the core of pricing is the stock price. What exactly determines the stock price? The answer is simple, yet profound: the stock price equals earnings per share multiplied by the price-to-earnings ratio. What is the price-to-earnings ratio? It is market sentiment, investor preference, and fluctuations in the external environment. Wars, pandemics, policy changes, and shifts in public opinion all affect the P/E ratio. These factors are beyond our control. But what are earnings per share? They are the enterprise's net profit divided by the total number of shares — the real money earned by the enterprise itself. Its growth momentum originates from the improvement of the enterprise's own resilience — as the enterprise continuously strengthens its intrinsic competitiveness, its earnings per share will grow continuously. Many people misunderstand "certainty." Certainty is not a fact that has already occurred today — not how much money the enterprise is making at this moment, nor how high its P/E ratio currently is. Those are all fluctuating, temporary, and uncontrollable. True certainty is a prediction about the future — it is being able to see through whether this enterprise has the capacity for sustained growth, being able to judge whether its trend slope will keep pointing upward. As long as the enterprise's resilience is improving and its earnings per share are growing continuously, no matter how the P/E ratio fluctuates, in the long run, the stock price will inevitably revert to its value. This is the ability to foresee the future. Like Tesla — its P/E ratio has long remained at a staggering level of several hundred times, with net profits of only $3.794 billion and a net profit margin of only about 4%, sharply down from its peak. Yet global investors remain bullish on it. Why? Because what everyone sees is not its profitability at this moment, but a certain prediction about its future — its technological barriers, its market share, its capacity for sustained growth. This is the power of long-term value. What is "future certainty"? It is not an empty slogan, but the most profound insight into developmental trends. Ten years ago, when digital cameras were just emerging, Kodak's film business was still the undisputed global champion. Kodak was not inadequate — its film technology was unmatched — but it failed to see the future trend: digital imaging would completely replace chemical imaging. While it was still clinging to past glories, the future had already arrived, and then ruthlessly rolled over it. Likewise, ten years ago, how many people could have foreseen that AI would become so powerful today? But Tesla saw it. A decade ago, it began betting on autonomous driving and artificial intelligence. This is "future certainty" — the ability to see trends that others cannot see, to lay out plans, take action, and reap rewards before the trend has even taken shape. This is why I am so relentlessly focused on the U.S. capital market. Because it itself is a barometer of the future. In this market, companies with continuously growing P/E ratios often represent the direction of future development. Buffett's lifelong investment philosophy is to find companies with long-term value, hold them for the long term, and wait for the power of time to unlock that value. What I want to do is send Chinese enterprises onto this barometer, to let them be seen by the world, priced by the world, and respected by the world. This is "beginning with the end in mind." The goal is set — the U.S. Nasdaq, the NYSE. From the very first day, I use this ultimate standard to measure an enterprise. Not by how much money it is making now, but by whether its trend slope is continuously pointing upward, whether its foundation is clean, and whether it can survive, grow, and be seen by the world in the long-term competition. I have one trait: the harder something is, the more I want to do it. Things that everyone thinks are impossible — I am determined to try. Because exploration and discovery are the core driving forces of my life. And solving problems, I believe, is my greatest value. If something cannot yield results, I will not do it. If I decide to do something, I will definitely produce a result, close the loop, and deliver certainty. It is precisely this character that has kept me focused on the path of financial research for thirty years. From initially studying the financial data of U.S.-listed companies, to founding the "Wu ROE" analytical framework; from assembling a team and investing millions in R&D, to committing all my resources; from repeated failures with outsourced teams, to picking up AI tools and starting anew myself — along this entire journey, I have invested all my resources, given my absolute all, and bet everything on the same single goal. Every setback, far from diverting me, has only made me more certain: as long as the goal is right, the path will surely be open. I never look at whether an enterprise is profitable right now. Profit can be fake, can be a one-off, can be manufactured by squeezing R&D, shortchanging employees, or selling off assets. What I look at is the trend slope of its various indicators. Is revenue growing continuously? Is asset turnover accelerating continuously? Is cash flow improving continuously? Even if it is still losing money right now, as long as these indicators are continuously pointing upward, it possesses what I call "long-term value." I have seen too many enterprises collapse spectacularly because they chased short-term scale and amplified leverage. Dun'an Group, where I served for 11 years, from glory to collapse — I experienced it personally. Evergrande Group, a two-trillion-yuan empire, crumbled overnight. What do they have in common? Their foundations were not clean; the short-term picture was painted too beautifully, while no one paid attention to the long-term fundamentals. I have also seen too many enterprises, clearly of fine quality, scrutinized through tinted glasses in the capital market simply because they could not prove their long-term value. The Luckin Coffee fraud — one bad apple spoils the barrel, causing global investors to doubt the integrity of all Chinese enterprises. So I made a resolution: I want to build a system that allows Chinese enterprises to go global cleanly, and lets the world see the long-term value of Chinese enterprises. I have walked this path for thirty years. Today, I write down the entire experience of these thirty years. Not to seek sympathy, but to prove: what I deliver, is certainty. This is the truth I want to tell everyone: whether a person or an enterprise, you must find your lifelong goal. What kind of person do you want to become? What kind of enterprise do you want to become? Once the goal is set, focus on it, pursue it continuously, do it for ten, twenty, thirty years. Do not be led astray by short-term temptations, do not be intimidated by temporary difficulties. As long as your direction is right, as long as you are moving toward the goal every single day, you will surely see results. Because the goal itself, is the certainty of the future.