driven by another wave in the capital market, both internet players and education giants have involuntarily accelerated their pace. Huanju Times and Huatu Hongyang, which launched IPO last month, are typical representatives of two types of enterprises respectively. In the gathering era, we started with the game portal playing more and the voice tool YY, and made use of the technical advantages and user scale formed in the field of game entertainment to continue cross-cutting education. While opening up the curriculum market, we launched an education template, trying to respond to the question that "Internet companies can't play education" with actions. Huatu Hongyang started from book publishing, and made great progress in public examination training. With the innovation of teaching methods and the accumulation of curriculum research and development, it cut into the depth of the Internet, and there were many fashionable elements such as live broadcast, micro-class, online school App and "Singles' Day" e-commerce, and it became more and more "online". No one dares to deny that the combination of capital and technology can make any industry fly. But the question is: should every industry fly? The eyes of the world always focus on the cool concept of new speculation, but have no patience to explore the long and arduous accumulation process. For Internet education startups that are exploring specific directions, I really don't know whether it is lucky or unfortunate to be born in a period when this industry is popular with venture capitalists. Fortunately, you have a greater hope of getting money from investors, and maybe you can start from a higher level; Unfortunately, from the beginning, you have to constantly think about how to make money in the future, how to make ten times and one hundred times as much money, which is likely to force you to deviate from the essence of education and be influenced by capital, so that you can't figure out what you are doing. A few days before the confusion of the platform, Chen Xiaomeng wrote a profound sentence in the article "Why can't Khan Academy /Coursera come out of China": "The reform of online education needs real idealists, and these idealists may not play cards completely according to the market/demand, or they may not just play cards according to the market/demand." However, a large part of these domestic Internet education startups (I dare not use the absolute word "uniform") are going to be "revolutionary" on the premise that there is no content accumulation in the upstream and no user precipitation in the downstream. This can't be regarded as their fault, because internet entrepreneurship is such a logic: only the "platform" is the lever to incite the earth. As soon as Baidu Library opened its course, it was able to bring both B2C giants like New Oriental Online and C2C novices like Dobby. This is the power of the platform giant. But the problem is, if everyone goes to the "platform", who will do the content in a down-to-earth manner? Last month, Cheng Xiaolong wrote at the end of his report "Digital Publishing: Profit-seeking or Justice-seeking": "From the noisy digital publishing market to the quality of content, it seems to fall from a colorful sky into a black-and-white silent world. In the process of rapid development of the industry, have we paid too much attention to the business model, product form and user experience, and neglected or despised the quality of the content industry? " "The content is dead" has long been more than just the sorrow of the media industry. Giving up the basics will lead to buying a gift and returning the pearl. In fact, a good product and a vibrant model have their own requirements for content quality, otherwise it will not be colorful and wonderful, but empty and dazzling skills. For these warnings, the internet circle often talks about the "era of information overload", as if we have enough content, and what we lack is just to push it more orderly and accurately, which is the strength of the internet. Sadly, in the field of education, which needs more depth, high-quality content, no, it should be said that qualified content is far from enough in many aspects. In the process of contact with entrepreneurs and investors, I deeply feel that no one wants to give you money when you say you want to do content. "Then I'd better be a' platform product' that doesn't need content and tries to avoid cost and copyright issues." This is the voice of most entrepreneurs later. However, why do you let the real "strength" of users with content output and channels use your platform? In other words, you only have ideas, some technical background and product feeling, and why do you prove that you are irreplaceable? With the classic line of VC, "We are investing in your team"? With your unproven "execution"? Compared with these companies that stood at the forefront of the times from the beginning and pointed to "platform products", there are also some people and teams who didn't think too far at first and didn't have to face VC. They just did what they wanted to do. Although they were far from the center of the stage, they unconsciously accumulated the core competitiveness that latecomers could not surpass in a short period of time by relying solely on capital and technology. Because they are not "entrepreneurs" in the first place, they don't have to think about "business models", so they can stick to their own path without hesitation. Later, when faced with the market to make a choice, they already have something that others can't exchange for money. The combination of capital and technology can easily replicate a proven and feasible business model, but it cannot replicate many elements other than business. This is the path of Khan, the founder of Khan Academy. At home, there are also some people who are at different stages of this road-Elf Elf is a China student who was born in 1987 and is about to graduate from Gyeongbuk National University in Korea. She has lived in Korea for four years, and is familiar with Korean society and culture and has rich experience in language teaching. The LF Free Foreign Languages Institute, which he founded, is not a company or any real organization, but a "guild" where many enthusiasts get together and use YY pronunciation to teach in their spare time. It is such a voluntary "guild" that, in the long-term tempering, has a fairly complete management system and strong enough teaching and research strength, which is almost incredible to outsiders. When YY opened the curriculum market, it packaged the native "guild" LF Foreign Languages Institute on its own platform according to its own commercialization concept, and publicized its "secret" of "making money every day". In fact, this is just an eye-catching selling point. LF has never been born to make money. Its full name is clearly displayed on the Logo-"LF Free Foreign Languages Institute". Free? Yes, this free form has already occupied the absolute mainstream in YY foreign language channels. The actual development history of LF is far earlier than the formed YY education. Its predecessor is a long ID channel, and the name LF comes from its school motto "last friends, last family". This habit of naming after two-letter abbreviations has a far-reaching influence on YY, and it was later imitated by a large number of private foreign language teaching associations which are inextricably linked with LF. As the earliest representatives of YY channels with the nature of foreign language teaching, LF, together with Xing Shuai Network College for software, Liweihui for SEO, and Mo Shang Radio and Drama College for CV, became pioneers in online teaching practice using YY client, but there are qualitative differences between them. It can be said that some channels did treat teaching as a business from the beginning, and they also achieved certain "success". But the native foreign language channel represented by LF is by no means. I don't know how many organizations that came directly for profit lost in this position. Therefore, some institutions can only choose to use YY guild members to set up channels according to the rules of YY guild, or directly cooperate with the original guild. Several major English portals, such as Big Ear, Pute, Aisi and Cocoa, were stationed. Later, even the traditional big-name overseas study institutions like Jin Gillette, which were neither "internet" nor "education", joined the ranks of "joint guild". Those who only know the business rules and think that these non-profit channels will not be a climate after all may find it hard to imagine how strict selection and test it will take to join a free guild like LF to become a qualified teacher or even a qualified "handyman". On the other hand, on this YY platform, which is called diaosi gathering place by the outside world, there are really a lot of excellent teachers who are proud to teach here. As far as the language courses I am most familiar with are concerned, the teaching level of many teachers here is no less than that of most expensive offline training institutions. There is nothing to advocate YY here. On the contrary, I really feel sorry for the gathering times. In the step of pushing the curriculum market, it has shown that YY education has not fully realized where the most precious resources are. The whole ecological chain on YY was established on the basis that users felt "love". In essence, it was a community that brought people virtual satisfaction rather than material benefits. Although its previous business model was quite controversial, at least it was successful in the fields of game voice and entertainment voice. However, on the other hand, the current YY education focuses on the genes similar to Tencent, but it is determined to follow the example of Ali. What is really worth "advocating" is the active teaching force among the people represented by Elf and his LF Free Foreign Languages Institute. I have never put it on any moral commanding heights. To make an inappropriate analogy, for those die-hard players who are immersed in the teaching association, starting a class is to form a group to play tricks, that is, to open a hall to dazzle songs, and that sense of accomplishment is no different. It is certainly good to get some extra material benefits, but if they destroy the atmosphere they are used to, they will feel uncomfortable. The wizard who is still busy with his studies is not an Internet education entrepreneur, but only those who have both enthusiasm and perseverance for online teaching and have experienced repeated tempering will have more potential for successful entrepreneurs. The professional level of teaching is often questioned by the "irregular army" of amateurs in the Phoenix of War. The phoenix of war, which is based on foreign trade, may be born to completely smash this doubt. Most students, like the author, once naively thought that teachers in training institutions always had some basic guarantees in professionalism. I don't know that the teaching directors of many institutions are shouldering the heavy responsibility of "pre-job training for new teachers, especially teachers' words and deeds, and clarifying what they must never say". "What words must not be said?" For example, "Don't disclose your unprofessional information, such as you are a part-time job, very young, at your own job, have never taken this course, have just graduated from college, and have just come to work, which makes students feel that the school or teachers are unprofessional. If the tuition fee is refunded due to the disclosure of the above information by the teacher, the teacher will bear 51% of the tuition fee loss. " The circle of language training is not large everywhere. This statement may not be universally applicable, but it basically means the same thing. The offline small language training market is still in the wild era of relying on individual heroes. The presence or absence of a number of "famous teachers" in a certain city can reverse the strength of various competitive institutions in an instant. Small languages are not like English, where everyone has some foundation. Offline training is mostly for beginners with zero starting point, and it is easy to be fooled. But online courses, especially large-scale open online courses, are completely different. Internet is the best touchstone to verify the authenticity, not only hidden dragon crouching tiger, but also accessible overseas. In reality, few people come all the way to kick the pavilion, but online, as long as someone is willing, this kind of behavior does not need to pay much. The Phoenix of War is not a museum kicker. All talk and no practice. It's easy to overthrow others, but it's hard to convince others by making it yourself. Therefore, after studying English, German, Italian, French, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Boer, Greek, and Latin, this language fanatic broke into multilingual communities where experts gathered, such as foreign language salons, snowman forums, Fubu small languages, Baidu Post Bar, and closed his doors to create notes of two auxiliary original textbooks, Walking in the Snow Xun Mei and Parallel World, and made them into PDF for free download. What's more, the Phoenix of War is not only a language madman, but also an expert in network information reconnaissance technology. At the same time, it "gives away" a full set of auxiliary materials with the most practical effect. On the topic of "parallel world", he once told his fans: "In 2113, there was a parallel world that directly interfered with our traditional real world, that is, the rapidly developed information technology and resources. This is a large piece of combat readiness material that many amateur students failed to discover and use, and it is also a sensitive part that many training institutions, foreign language colleges and vested interests in small languages are unwilling to talk about. Why? Because only conniving at the laziness and fear of loneliness of amateur learners can make it possible for training institutions and related industries to gain benefits! Your's self-study and self-reliance are not what everyone wants to see. " To some extent, it can be said that the survival of domestic minority language education institutions as it is now is due to the two "impassability" of the Internet and foreign languages, which makes most people unable to get and understand the real good things, otherwise it will be almost killed by a little comparison. Not to mention a large number of classic works in Europe and America (after all, they are in different cultural systems with us, so we should make some flexible changes when using them), but just talk about the broadcasting courses that are completely open to the public in the "Education Radio Station" on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, such as Arabic in the Air, Standard Thai, Learning Russian and Speaking Russian, Learning German happily, Long Live Spanish and Hi! Italy "... How many small language courses in the mainland can reach the corresponding level regardless of whether they are picked up online or offline? More than once, I have seen young Italian teachers speak "New Horizon" and listen to "Hi! Italy "to prepare lessons, but do everything possible to fear that students will find out that there is such a foreign teacher broadcasting course, and the supporting teaching materials are the mainland translation of Nuovo Progetto italiano published in northern languages. War Phoenix finally deviated from the traditional small language training industry like me, not because of any moral cleanliness, not for any lofty sense of mission, but because of the belief that this distorted training model will eventually lead to a dead end. I have always believed that the more reliable way to educate e-commerce in the future is not to sell courses, but to build a free community platform that gathers more high-quality courses, and on this basis, provide optional personalized value-added services for audiences with weak self-control and self-learning ability. As long as you really have enough strength, as long as what you share for free is really top grade, you don't have to worry that no one will buy paid courses with personalized counseling services in the future, let alone worry that offline business will be cut off. Radio lectures and TV lectures on the Sino-Japanese communication standard Japanese have already spread everywhere. Aren't those institutions that teach Standard Day still alive and well? Judging from the current user stickiness and intelligent development level of language teaching products, we have to admit that there are still a large number of people. Even if you give him all the free courses, he still needs "environment" to study. Even if that class is not good at all, even if the teacher doesn't teach well at all, even if it is just a room where a bunch of people who work hard for the same goal gather together to study like a study room for postgraduate entrance examination. But so what? Even knowing that it is only a spiritual function, many people just want to sign up for a class in reality because they really need such a house. This is not a question of learning a language. This situation exists in learning everything, but it is usually more obvious in learning a language. The phoenix of war, which is now preparing to start its own business, still regards language teaching as a religious belief as it was then. Once, I didn't fully understand his good intentions, and I didn't realize it again until I came into contact with many cases and almost fell into despair.