Stay Hungry, Stay Young: Zhang Yiming’s 10‑Year Observations on Young Talent Development

Zhang Yiming, founder of Toutiao, was recognized by Forbes and Fortune in 2013 as a top young entrepreneur and business elite.

He begins by noting the pressure he feels speaking to a young audience nearly eleven years after his own graduation, emphasizing the metaphor of “the younger wave pushing the older wave.”

He adapts Steve Jobs’s famous phrase to “Stay hungry, Stay young,” and explains that “stay hungry” means curiosity and ambition, while “stay young” refers to retaining the youthful traits that foster continuous growth.

Drawing on his experience as an interview‑er for over 2,000 candidates, he observes a stark divergence between “positive examples” and “negative examples” in career development.

He describes his own early career: after graduating from Nankai University in 2005 and joining KuXun, he quickly rose to manage a team of 40‑50 engineers and oversee all backend technology, despite being only in his second year.

He attributes his rapid growth not to superior technical skill but to personal habits: taking on any task he could help with, reviewing the entire code base, mentoring newcomers, and working long hours out of genuine interest.

He also broke traditional role boundaries, contributing to product discussions and sales meetings, which later helped him transition into product and business responsibilities.

From ten years of observation, he identifies five traits common among outstanding young people:

Curiosity : actively learning new technologies, tools, and skills across front‑end, back‑end, and algorithms.

Optimism toward uncertainty : embracing risky projects (e.g., aiming for 100 million daily launches) and learning aggressively even without guaranteed success.

Refusal to settle for mediocrity : setting high personal standards beyond short‑term goals such as housing or salary.

Humility (delayed gratification) : avoiding arrogance, being willing to do low‑level tasks and collaborate effectively.

Sound judgment : making strategic choices about majors, companies, and career paths rather than being swayed by short‑term gains.

He illustrates these points with anecdotes, such as a former colleague who started with modest responsibilities but grew to become a vice‑president of a multi‑billion‑dollar company by consistently taking ownership and seeking feedback.

He concludes by thanking the audience and emphasizing that these principles are the core of his message.