MIT grad and Sohu.com founder Charles Zhang urges students to skip grad school, gain work experience before starting up

Citing his own experiences, Zhang in an interview with Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of China’s Hurun Research Institute, said his postgraduate education had done little to help him in business, according to the South China Morning Post.

Zhang said college graduates should first gain experience by working at a company before pursuing entrepreneurship, adding they could then "think about starting some business" once they had acquired practical skills.

Zhang earned a PhD in experimental physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993 and later served as the school’s liaison officer for China, according to China Daily. In 1996, he founded Internet Technologies China, the first Chinese internet firm to raise venture capital. A year later, it was renamed Sohu.com.

Charles Zhang Chaoyang, founder and CEO of Chinese internet firm Sohu.com. Photo from Weibo

Zhang’s remarks come as China faces a worsening graduate jobs crisis, driven by economic headwinds and trade tensions. Millions of highly educated young Chinese are struggling to find entry-level jobs amid hiring cutbacks.

Despite the slowdown, Zhang said there are still opportunities in China’s internet sector, especially for companies targeting consumers rather than business clients, due to the country’s large population. When asked what he would do with 100,000 yuan (US$13,923) to start a business today, he said he first considered artificial intelligence but acknowledged the funds would be insufficient. He suggested becoming an online influencer, noting it would require only a small team and no physical office.

The interview, posted on Chinese social media Douyin on June 14, quickly went viral. Hoogewerf described Zhang as one of the few Chinese tech entrepreneurs fluent in English. During the interview, Zhang also revealed that he had suffered from anxiety disorder in the past but said he "totally recovered" six years ago.

Hoogewerf’s Hurun Research Institute is best known for publishing the annual Hurun Rich List, which ranks the world’s wealthiest individuals. Zhang, 60, last appeared on the list in 2022 with a net worth of 5.6 billion yuan ($780 million).

In 2017, Zhang was rumored on Weibo to be dating "America’s number one singer," a claim many netizens linked to Taylor Swift, according to The Straits Times. He dismissed the speculation, saying: "It's a rumour! No taste for foreign women! I don’t even know who Taylor Swift is."