TAL Future Zhang Bangxin: Surpassing Yu Minhong! He is just 30 years old but already holds 28.8 billion

Wen/Qingru

In 2003, Xueersi was still a training institution with only 12 square meters. Zhang Bangxin distributed flyers at the school gate every day to recruit students;

Now, Xueersi has spread all over the country, and student places are hard to come by. Zhang Bangxin has already become the richest man in China’s education industry.

As Zhang Bangxin said, he is a "pragmatic idealist" who adheres to his education dream, is down-to-earth, and moves forward steadily.

Zhang Bangxin was born in a peasant family in Yangzhong, Jiangsu Province. Although he was financially strapped, his parents attached great importance to his education. He has loved mathematics since he was a child and has excellent grades. He participated in various Mathematical Olympiad competitions in high school and "won more than 100 large and small awards."

After completing his undergraduate degree at Sichuan University, Zhang Bangxin successfully entered the Sichuan University Peking University, continuous master’s and doctoral studies. But the consumption level in Beijing is relatively high, and his family really can't afford it, so he decided to work as a tutor to earn living expenses.

The sign of “Peking University Graduate Student” quickly attracted the first parent. Because Zhang Bangxin’s knowledge of mathematics, physics and chemistry in middle and high school was very solid, parents and students responded well.

Subsequently, he created a mathematics forum to share his teaching experience, and soon the forum became popular. At that time, he "had to do six or seven tutoring jobs during the day and maintain the website at night," which was very hard.

In 2003, Zhang Bangxin tutored primary school students in a military compound. After teaching for less than a month, he even scored 100 points three times in a row despite his unsatisfactory results. The child's mother was overjoyed and introduced three students to Zhang Bangxin in one breath.

Zhang Bangxin realized that there was great potential in the tutoring industry, so he decided to start his own business, specializing in primary and secondary school mathematics. In August of the same year, he rented a 12-square-meter office, founded "Xueersi" and began to pursue his educational dream.

At the beginning, the institution was not well-known. In order to recruit students, Zhang Bangxin distributed flyers at the school gate during the day and "posted on the forum" at night. After the first winter vacation class, some students asked him when he would register for the next semester.

Zhang Bangxin understood, "If you want to develop, word of mouth is the most important!" So, he used multiple strategies to solve the industry's pain points, ensure the quality of teaching, and let parents take the initiative to spread word of mouth.

At that time, domestic training institutions generally adopted the "pay first, then attend class" approach. Once the money was paid, it was difficult to get a refund midway. Zhang Bangxin boldly launched a refund model at any time, "Parents can attend and get a refund if they are not satisfied, which relieves parents from worries."

Unexpectedly, two-thirds of parents refunded their fees in the first month , Zhang Bangxin was a little panicked. But a few days later, the parents who had refunded their fees came back one after another, "After comparing seven or eight schools, yours is still reliable!"

At the same time, Zhang Bangxin pays close attention to the quality of teaching and does not "follow the crowd". Famous teachers are in charge, but fresh graduates from prestigious universities are recruited and trained themselves. These college students need to intern for a month to half a year, and they can only try to teach after passing all the indicators.

“Xueersi attaches great importance to reputation, and its requirements for teaching quality can be said to be very demanding.”

In 2007, Xueersi received US$20 million from Qiming Venture Capital. Financing, Zhang Bangxin started the road to expansion.

Zhang Bangxin has successively established branch schools in Tianjin, Shanghai, Wuhan and other places according to the city’s capacity. "For example, in Zhengzhou, it is stipulated that only 15 people can be admitted to a class. When the class is re-registered, it will be 25, so we will consider expanding."

In 2009, Xueersi received US$40 million in financing from Tiger Global , Zhang Bangxin began to accelerate expansion.

He adopted an asset-light Internet expansion model and first launched the ICS intelligent teaching system. Teachers can use various multimedia software such as audio and video to create courseware to enrich teaching forms.

Secondly, actively transform to online education, launch a distance education platform targeting primary and secondary school students aged 6-18, and launch an educational information and resource sharing platform for parents and students - e-degree education network .

Finally, we teach students in accordance with their aptitude, and open the "Mobi Thinking Center" for the critical period training of children aged 3-6, as well as the "Zhikang 1-to-1" one-on-one tutoring for primary and secondary schools.

On October 21, 2010, Xueersi officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with a market value of 28.8 billion. At this time, Zhang Bangxin was just 30 years old. In 2013, Xueersi changed its name to “TAL Future”.

According to the 2017 Hurun Post-80s Rich List, Zhang Bangxin topped the list with a wealth of 40 billion, surpassing Yu Minhong to become the richest man in China's education industry.

Along the way, Zhang Bangxin has always insisted on doing one thing, "to provide children with a lifelong education." He said, "We must be pragmatic and focused. Being stronger is more important than becoming bigger."

Article source: Nancai Interview