“Career Is Lifetime long“”
－－Interview with an Investment Banker “事業(yè)是終生的事“”——投資銀行家專(zhuān)訪
Zhao Wei: I have heard that you took a very active part in the Silicon Valley boom. After the burst of Dot-com bubble, how do you think the future of IT industry?
Carleton Ruthling: I was fortunate to help a company called @Home Network grow. This was an important company since it started the broadband revolution that eventually spread around the world. Recall at that time you could only get broadband service from the telephone company, e.g. getting a T1 line which would cost you ＄3,000/month. We offered a similar service using cable modems partnering with the cable companies for only ＄39/month, so consumers loved it but the phone companies saw us a threat. By the time I left the company in early 2000, our subscribers swelled to 4 million which produced ＄2.4 billion in annual revenue.
Despite some of the bizarre and doomed to failure companies that most people are aware of, there were some very good companies that were born, e.g. Yahoo, Ebay, Paypal... and good products. One of those was broadband. I do not think there will be another boom like we had before. The IT industry will grow and continue to offer better services and products to consumers and businesses for less money. Technology will likely return to the way it used to be where technology and the engineers who developed the technology will be less important than the sales department, business department, legal department, etc. I suggest only go into IT if you enjoy it and not to get rich quick. But if you enjoy it, then, by all means go for it.
Zhao: Now you are working as an investment banker, how about your current work?
Carleton Ruthling: For over a year and a half I have joined with two other investment bankers and we provide financial advisory services in Asia via a company named Constellation Resources. We focus on the media and communications sector as our knowledge for these areas is our strength. Most of our work is in Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore. More recently we have had more business coming from China mainland, especially in the cable TV and online services areas.
Zhao: Many young people are seeking for the most flourishing and the most potential industry nowadays. Could you give them some advice?
Carleton Ruthling: Probably many of your readers would like to know the answer to this question so they can study and work in those areas. I have two responses. First, a career is lifetime long and generally areas are only “flourishing“” for a few years. Since everyone is trying to figure out what will be hot, most people come to the same conclusion and the area that once was hot is now crowded with many folks all chasing the “hot“” area. The Internet was hot for about 4 years. People abandoned their careers as lawyers, doctors, accountants to go into the Internet. And when it was no longer viable, many of them got stuck and had to restart their careers. Second, it is far better to pursue an area that you are interested in and motivated by. If you have an interest in the area, then, you naturally will work harder and do a better job and thus be more successful. There is another side effect also: you will enjoy your work.
Zhao: Could you talk about your life in Beijing? Which aspect, the ancient or the modern one of Beijing, is most attractive to you?
Carleton Ruthling: I’ve been in Beijing for 3 years. I enjoy Beijing very much. Yes, the modern development is attractive, but I think what I like is the ancient aspect of Beijing. That’s one part. The other part is that Beijing is the natural reflections of every culture in China. It can represent all the China. And also, China has been growing so quickly, not just its building. Think back 7 years ago, during the winter time, which kind of vegetable did you have? I remember it only had winter cabbages, right? Now, you can get any kind of vegetables that you can imagine. The fundamental things are also going on. If you took somebody 6 years ago and put him in today, he will be shocked. But in other countries in the world, 6 years would not have many changes. I’m very interested to watch the changes in Beijing.
趙?。何衣?tīng)說(shuō)在硅谷鼎盛時(shí)期你曾相當(dāng)活躍地參與其中。在網(wǎng)絡(luò)泡沫破滅后，你認(rèn)為IT行業(yè)的前景會(huì)怎樣？
羅凱：我非常幸運(yùn)地幫助了一家名為Home Network的公司成長(zhǎng)起來(lái)。這是一家很重要的公司，因?yàn)樗破鹆俗罱K波及全世界的寬帶革命?；叵氘?dāng)時(shí)，人們只能從電話公司獲得寬帶服務(wù)，比如，要獲得T1專(zhuān)線的寬帶服務(wù)就需要每個(gè)月支付3000美元。而我們與電纜公司合作，運(yùn)用有線調(diào)制解調(diào)器提供類(lèi)似的寬帶服務(wù)，每月只收取39美元，因此客戶非常歡迎，但電話公司卻視我們?yōu)橥{。當(dāng)我2000年初離開(kāi)這個(gè)公司的時(shí)候，我們的訂購(gòu)客戶達(dá)到了400萬(wàn)，年收入24億美元。
盡管大多數(shù)人知道有些新奇的公司注定要失敗，但還是誕生了一些優(yōu)秀的公司，如雅虎、Ebay(網(wǎng)上拍賣(mài))、Paypal（在線付款）等，以及許多優(yōu)異的產(chǎn)品，寬帶就是其中之一。我認(rèn)為IT行業(yè)不會(huì)再像以前那樣興旺。IT行業(yè)將會(huì)發(fā)展，不斷地為顧客和企業(yè)提供更好、更廉價(jià)的服務(wù)和產(chǎn)品。技術(shù)的重要性可能會(huì)恢復(fù)到以前那樣：技術(shù)以及開(kāi)發(fā)技術(shù)的人員不及銷(xiāo)售部門(mén)、商業(yè)運(yùn)作部門(mén)及法律部門(mén)等那么重要。如果你喜歡IT行業(yè)，而且不是為了很快致富，那我就建議你去干這行。不過(guò)，你要是喜歡這個(gè)行業(yè)，那就得全身心地投入。
趙：你現(xiàn)在是位投資銀行家，能說(shuō)說(shuō)你現(xiàn)在的工作嗎?
羅凱：一年半以前，我與兩位投資銀行家組建了一家名為星際資源的公司，在亞洲提供金融顧問(wèn)服務(wù)。我們的重點(diǎn)在媒體及通信領(lǐng)域，因?yàn)閷?duì)于這些領(lǐng)域的認(rèn)識(shí)是我們的強(qiáng)項(xiàng)。我們大部分工作集中在韓國(guó)、香港和新加坡。最近我們有了更多來(lái)自中國(guó)大陸的業(yè)務(wù)，尤其在有線電視和網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)領(lǐng)域。
趙：現(xiàn)在，很多年輕人都在尋找最繁榮而且最具潛力的行業(yè)。你能給他們一些建議嗎？
羅凱：或許你們的許多讀者想知道這個(gè)問(wèn)題的答案，這樣他們就能在那些領(lǐng)域?qū)W習(xí)和工作。我有兩點(diǎn)要說(shuō)的。首先，一個(gè)人的事業(yè)是終生的事，而一般來(lái)說(shuō)，那些領(lǐng)域只會(huì)繁榮幾年。因?yàn)槊總€(gè)人都在設(shè)法找出熱門(mén)領(lǐng)域，最后大多數(shù)人的想法都是相同的；那個(gè)過(guò)去曾是熱門(mén)的領(lǐng)域，現(xiàn)在擠滿了那些追逐“熱門(mén)“”領(lǐng)域的人。網(wǎng)絡(luò)紅火了大約4年。人們拋棄了他們?cè)瓉?lái)的職業(yè)，如律師、醫(yī)生、會(huì)計(jì)師，而投身于網(wǎng)絡(luò)行業(yè)。當(dāng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)風(fēng)光不再時(shí)，很多人就遇到麻煩了，他們不得不重操原來(lái)的職業(yè)。其次，追求一個(gè)你喜歡并能給你動(dòng)力的領(lǐng)域?qū)⑹且粋€(gè)更好的選擇。如果你對(duì)一個(gè)領(lǐng)域感興趣，自然就會(huì)更努力地工作，工作就會(huì)做得更好，這樣，就能取得較多的成就。還有一個(gè)附帶的好處就是，你將從工作中得到樂(lè)趣。
趙：你能談?wù)勗诒本┑纳顔?？是北京古老的一面還是現(xiàn)代的一面最吸引你？
羅凱：我來(lái)北京已經(jīng)3年了。我非常喜歡北京。是的，北京的現(xiàn)代發(fā)展很吸引人，但是我認(rèn)為我喜歡的是北京古老的一面。這是一部分。另一部分是因?yàn)楸本┖茏匀坏胤从沉酥袊?guó)各種文化。它可以代表整個(gè)中國(guó)。而且，中國(guó)發(fā)展得非?？?，這不僅是建筑方面。想一想7年前，冬天的時(shí)候吃什么菜？我記得只有冬儲(chǔ)大白菜，對(duì)吧？現(xiàn)在，你可以吃到任何你想得出來(lái)的菜?；A(chǔ)建設(shè)也在進(jìn)行當(dāng)中。如果你把一個(gè)6年前的人放到今天，他會(huì)大吃一驚。而在世界上的其他國(guó)家，6年不會(huì)有多大的變化。我非常樂(lè)意看到北京的這些變化。
