2010-08-30 14:43

Yao attributed his success to good fortune and also high demand for the service he provided. "These are requirements for successful student entrepreneurs," he said. "Another of my classmates tells a similar story in that he created a hit online game called Growing and Stealing Vegetables at Kaixin001.com, one of the most popular social networking sites in China."

However, being just a college student is a disadvantage for fledging entrepreneurs. It means less experience and less possibility of success.

"Especially when I was raising funds and negotiating with investors, I really wished I could apply make-up to give myself more wrinkles and gray hair," he said, laughing.

From PPLive to PPTV

"The initial version of PPLive didn't look like much. It lacked serious consideration and competition," Yao said. "But when investors have seen your development, you will be asked to return. Combining my initial idealism, studiousness and mature attitude, which exceeded those of my peers, helped me press on to become a mature entrepreneur."

As a computing engineering student without much knowledge of economics, Yao initially worked like a housewife, only taking notes of daily spending and earning, which was the sum of the company's accounting procedures at the time.

"The key point of competition at that time was focusing on the learning capacity of enterprises' founders," Yao said. "It was necessary to learn billions of things. I even improved my English through communicating with foreign investors. The first time I went abroad seeking financing with my English dictionary I made lots of language errors."

Yao was a shy student at school, sitting at the back of the classroom and seldom raising his hand to answer teachers' questions.

"Reality forced me to change my personality and now I have become talkative," he said.

There used to be tens of online video operators between 2004 and 2006 and three or four of them attracted risk capital. Only two or three of them survive now.

Since 2005, PPLive extended its tentacles in more and more areas. It has expanded the number of its partners and the level of its content. The company broadcast the Super Girl Contest, CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the FIFA World Cup, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and many other big-audience events, gradually developing its brand among Chinese netizens.

Yao is a person who is good at self-examination. "My biggest disadvantage is that I have never worked at other companies or witnessed other people's failure," he said. " Unfortunately, I have to pay for the lessons by myself."

Yao solved that problem when he invited former Microsoft Online Services executive Vincent Tao to become chief executive officer of PPLive in 2009.

At Microsoft, Tao was responsible for global online services product development and business strategy, as well as leading the operations and marketing of Virtual Earth and mobile search for the Asia-Pacific region. He also founded 3D Internet visualization provider GeoTango, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2005.

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"My final target is to make online TV become a part of people's daily lives, changing people's way of living," Yao said.

"In my childhood, the most exciting moment was at 6 pm every day when TV cartoon programs such as Capital Black Cat or Astroboy were aired. TV is a necessity in my daily life. I hope one day that online TV will integrate all video resources and replace traditional TV sets."

Abandoning the word "Live" in their brand name, Yao and his partners unveiled their new logo and the brand name "PPTV" to illustrate a new direction for their business in January 2010.

"Bill Gates's target was to have all personal computers installed with Microsoft software," Yao said. "My target is to have every family TV set bear the logo and the functionability of PPTV."