'We sat for 20 minutes … and got 1.5m yuan': Victor Zhou, creator of zhihu.com, on his path to success

Fourteen years ago, I was at university studying computer science and I did have the thought. I remember reading an article in an American magazine on how a programmer wrote a piece of software that burned mp3 files onto a regular compact disc, and he made tens of thousands of US dollars a month, quickly allowing him to buy a BMW. So I realised coding and product design could actually be a really cool dream. Most computer science undergraduates were interested in playing games and watching pointless online videos at the time. I tried my hand at a Microsoft developer network and got to meet a few skilled programmers. We worked together to build a website for the university faculty, and also put out adverts for our service to help other students build their own computers. We spent 15 days building the website, and also sold 14 computers. My heart still gets excited every time I think about that time.

I was bored with my job as a programmer with a Canadian research and development centre based in Shanghai in 2004. The next year I was at home flipping through a copy of an IT magazine, which predicted several disruptive technologies which would bring about commercial revolutions. I was enthralled. Just as I felt I was getting further away from my initial dream, this article pulled me back again. So I quit my job, and went to Beijing.