Li Bin Shares Three Major Crises from His 30-Year Entrepreneurial Journey at Peking University Commencement

On July 2, Li Bin, founder, chairman, and CEO of NIO, delivered a speech as an alumnus representative at the 2026 undergraduate commencement ceremony of Peking University. This year marks the 30th anniversary of his graduation from Peking University’s Department of Sociology. In his address, he did not highlight the triumphant moments of his entrepreneurial journey but instead focused on recounting three of the six major personal and professional setbacks he has experienced over the past three decades. The first low point occurred in early 1996, just before graduation. Li co-founded Nanji Technology with two classmates, becoming one of China’s earliest virtual hosting service providers in the internet industry. After graduation, his co-founders left for overseas studies, leaving him to run the company alone. At one point, he slept on a conference table in the company’s office at a Zhongguancun hotel. Ultimately, the venture failed. He later described this experience as earning him “entrepreneurial credits” and taught him the importance of staying true to oneself and one’s choices when facing adversity. The second setback came in 2010, while he was leading BitAuto (Yiche). On New Year’s Day, he submitted a letter titled “Six Mistakes BitAuto Has Made” to the board, pointing out fundamental flaws in the company’s previous cross-media cluster strategy. Subsequently, BitAuto spun off its traditional media business to refocus exclusively on its core internet operations, abandoning a multi-hundred-million-yuan investment in its prior strategic layout. From this, he learned the necessity of courageously confronting mistakes and being honest with oneself. The third low point began in 2022. After NIO’s market capitalization briefly surpassed $100 billion in 2021, the company entered a prolonged downturn lasting over three years, facing external skepticism, declining team morale, and shaken user confidence. Through internal reflection, NIO concluded that the root issue lay not in long-term investments—such as R&D, battery-swap infrastructure, or user services—but rather in its failure to maintain leading-edge product experiences and insufficient operational efficiency. Since then, NIO has implemented adjustments in both product development and operations. Starting in the second half of last year, sales of its core models rebounded, and the company has reported profits for two consecutive quarters. Li concluded by emphasizing that overcoming adversity hinges on accurate self-reflection and looking inward. He encouraged graduates to remain true to their inner convictions, be honest with themselves, and move forward bravely, no matter what challenges they encounter. Public records show that Li Bin was born in Anhui Province in 1974. In 1991, he enrolled in Peking University’s Department of Sociology as the top liberal arts student in his province, minoring in law and computer science. To pay his tuition, he held more than 50 part-time jobs and earned a certification as a Computer Systems Analyst. He co-founded BitAuto in 2000 and launched NIO in 2014.