Wang Shirui on the Essence of Healthcare: Extending Human Lifespan – YiLian Files IPO Prospectus

Six years ago, as the mobile internet wave continued to deepen and reshape industries such as retail, transportation, and dining,Like Wang Shirui, many people, driven by compassion and empathy for human suffering, have sought to leverage the power of the internet to break through the high walls of public hospitals., enabling medical resources such as doctors, treatment plans, and medications to transcend geographical barriers and reach patients across diverse locations.

Consequently, around patient services, some have launched online consultation platforms, others have developed appointment scheduling systems, and still others have focused on popularizing health knowledge...Wang Shirui’s vision differs from that of his peers. By focusing on physicians, he built Medlinker, a leading physician platform in China, designed to help doctors address everyday challenges and enable greater collaborative practice among them.

Six years later, in the course of market practice,Medlinker has gradually evolved into China's leading chronic disease management platform by leveraging its extensive physician resources.As of now, the Medlinker platform has aggregated over 800,000 real-name verified physicians and more than 50,000 contracted doctors across China, covering multiple chronic disease areas including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory asthma, liver diseases, HIV, oncology, chronic kidney disease, gynecology, pediatrics, mental health, and traditional Chinese medicine.

Not only that,Medlinker also jointly established Penguin Doctor with Tencent, Gaw Capital Partners, and Sequoia Capital in June 2016., and in August 2018, it merged with Xingren Doctor to form the corporate group Penguin Xingren, creating a new healthcare ecosystem for Chinese citizens by building a value loop centered on family doctor services.In the newly released 2020 Top 100 Chinese New Economy Unicorns list, Medlinker ranked 59th, and Penguin Almond ranked 100th.

Since the explosive growth of internet healthcare companies in 2014, Wang Shirui has witnessed the financing frenzy that swept the industry in 2015, navigated the intense competitive landscape among various enterprises in 2016 and the industry’s freeze in 2017, and observed its gradual recovery in 2018 and 2019.Amidst repeated policy shifts and market fluctuations, countless entrepreneurs and their ventures have vanished in the ebb of the internet startup tide.

From a landscape of thousands of competing sails to the present day, Wang Shirui and his enterprise have undoubtedly reached a state of solitary voyage.As a witness to and participant in the changes within the internet healthcare industry, what are Wang Shirui’s views on its future development? What insights does he have into the evolution of China’s medical industry? On a late autumn evening in Beijing, Wang Shirui opened up to VCBeat, sharing the choices, uncertainties, and reflections from his six years of entrepreneurship, as well as his perspectives on these questions.

Harvard University researcher, founder and CEO of two internet healthcare unicorn companies, favored by Ma Huateng—every label attached to Wang Shirui, who is only 33 years old, is extremely dazzling in the context of the current era.

Before embarking on his entrepreneurial journey, Wang Shirui completed an eight-year combined bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral program at the West China School of Stomatology, Sichuan University, and pursued one year of study at Harvard University. Upon returning to China, he immediately set out to start his business. At that time, Wang Shirui had no prior industry work experience or professional network resources.Driven by the original aspiration to transform the healthcare industry, we sketched a mountain-climbing diagram featuring multiple paths such as “doctor-patient,” “patient-patient,” and “doctor-doctor” interactions, with the summit representing the ideal state of future health and medical services.. Following this diagram, Wang Shirui decided to become a mountaineer.

When ascending a mountain by following its trails, the primary task is to identify the most suitable climbing route.At that time (2014), internet healthcare was gaining momentum, with a large number of enterprises emerging rapidly and various technologies and business models proliferating. Wang Shirui believed that as a crucial segment of the healthcare industry, the physician community faced challenges such as low mobility and heavy reliance on the public hospital system. Therefore,“If we can unleash this group capable of delivering professional value, will we be able to quickly reach the summit?”

Following this line of thought, Wang Shirui embarked on his journey.In just one year since its founding, Medlinker completed three rounds of financing, from the angel round to Series B., totaling tens of millions of US dollars, with top-tier investors such as Tencent, Sequoia Capital China, and China Renaissance behind it. This capital backing reflects the venture capital community’s affirmation of Wang Shirui’s vision:"Strong market sense, precise positioning, and deep medical expertise.", this is Sequoia China’s assessment of Wang Shirui.

In retrospect, Wang Shirui’s decision at the time was marked by the resolve and boldness of a mountaineer.Amid the fiercely competitive landscape of early internet healthcare, the mainstream development approach was to choose between online and offline operations, whileMedlinker Adheres to an Operation Model That Equally Emphasizes Online and Offline ServicesDespite some detours in its offline operations, Medlinker was able to swiftly adjust its strategy by leveraging robust offline initiatives as the vanguard for user acquisition. After handing over users to its online platform, it continued to integrate online operations with user needs, carrying out offline operational initiatives that were either precisely targeted at individuals, deeply focused on specific specialties, or scaled across the industry.

Of course, the journey of healthcare entrepreneurship is far from smooth; the release of a policy or the occurrence of an event can potentially shift the tide of the industry.But for entrepreneurs, what matters is to establish their own value coordinates in the face of uncertainty, and to refine them through successive market shifts.

Cast back to 2017, the internet healthcare industry witnessed a “wave of closures” driven by multiple factors, including unclear profitability models and the inability of simple “doctor-patient connectivity” to address the pain points of the healthcare sector. Relevant data shows that,In 2017 alone, more than 1,000 internet healthcare companies were deregistered,By the end of that year, fewer than 50 “survivors” remained in the industry.

Internet healthcare companies facing difficulties have discovered that internet hospitals may become a new growth point for their business. ThusMarked by the landmark event in March of that year, when 15 internet companies—including Yilian, DXY, and Chunyu Doctor—jointly traveled to Yinchuan to co-establish internet hospitals with the local government, internet hospitals entered a phase of nationwide explosive growth.。

However, in early May 2017, an informal, non-public draft for comments was leaked, stating that “Internet hospitals, cloud hospitals, and online hospitals that have already received approval shall be revoked within 15 days after the issuance of these Measures.” Instantly, headlines such as “Internet Hospitals Halted” dominated media coverage, plunging companies in the Internet hospital sector into collective silence.

In this case,Medlinker has taken a novel approach by leveraging its Medlinker Internet Hospital Open Platform to provide third-party institutions with physician and medical service needs a comprehensive, closed-loop solution spanning from clinical care to pharmaceuticals. In early 2018, it began piloting specialty internet hospital services for liver diseases, using hepatitis C as an entry point, and gradually expanded into the field of chronic disease management.Notably, within just one year, Medlinker has brought together nearly 16,000 hepatologists across China. Within six months of its launch, the project had enrolled over 8,000 hepatitis C patients, resulting in the cure of thousands of individuals with hepatitis C.

Faced with the immense potential demonstrated by chronic disease management, Wang Shirui decided to go all in on this sector.Subsequent developments have once again proven Wang Shirui’s unique insight.Medlinker has currently expanded its coverage to include multiple disease areas such as liver disease, HIV, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease, and oncology, with continuous expansion underway.

From China’s largest real-name “doctor platform” to a leading chronic disease management platform, Medlinker has never ceased its iteration and innovation in the six years since its establishment.Behind this lies Wang Shirui, the helmsman’s keen market intuition and his courage to take bold risks.

Cliffside Rock Climbing: Wang Shirui and the Company He Leads Have Taken a Leading Position, Yet He Believes They Are Still on the Journey. When They Will Reach the Summit No Longer Seems So Important. What Matters Is Whether They Are on the Right Path—Can They Deliver Genuine Value to People? And If So, How Should That Value Be Measured?

Wang Shirui figured it out at the age of 18: he was destined to work in healthcare for the rest of his life.

From his university days to the present, every step Wang Shirui has taken has been closely tied to healthcare. It’s just thatUnlike most medical students, his path has been to build a platform through entrepreneurship, immersing himself in the wave of transformation reshaping the healthcare industry.. In this process, there have been pleasant surprises and gains, as well as hidden reefs and twists and turns.

“I’ve been reflecting on something quite important lately, which is"In the future, we will certainly reach an endgame or a so-called peak. Everything we are doing now revolves around this peak."“Wang Shirui told VCBeat that to achieve exponential growth in the future, it is essential to build a stepped development capability, with the prerequisite being to first define the endgame.”

The so-called "endgame" refers to the ultimate form into which this industry will eventually evolve, and the highest ceiling that enterprises can reach.In Wang Shirui’s view, the clearer the vision of the endgame, the more defined the path toward it becomes, and the more explicit each milestone in the implementation process. “At this point, we can precisely calculate when to deploy how many personnel to build specific infrastructure, and how much investment is required to achieve a given scale. This enables us to better accomplish each objective.”

Guided by this logic, Wang Shirui has engaged in a sustained inquiry into the essence of healthcare. In this ongoing process of self-interrogation and self-reflection, each point of thought is repeatedly deconstructed and then reassembled.After extensive reflection and observation of the industry, Wang Shirui has reached the conclusion that the essence of healthcare is to extend human lifespan.

From this perspective,The most critical approach to achieving this goal is to first exhaustively catalog all potential human diseases, then categorize them by medical specialty, and systematically control and cure each disease one by one., thereby mitigating the impact of these diseases on the reduction of human lifespan. In this process, discussions will address the time, capabilities, organizational structures, supply of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, or services, and financial resources required to resolve these issues.

“Unlike concepts such as building a full lifecycle,”Lifespan is quantifiable.“Therefore, in the process of studying each disease, we can assess its impact on human lifespan.” Taking hepatitis C as an example, Wang Shirui projected metrics such as the number of cured patients and life expectancy gains. By distributing the total life-years saved across China’s 1.4 billion people, Medlinker has currently extended the average life expectancy of Chinese citizens by approximately two minutes. Similarly, research on diseases such as hepatitis B, HIV, cancer, hypertension, and diabetes can be evaluated using this same methodology.

Next,To Determine the Capability Boundaries of an Enterprise. First, we need to assess the current state of China’s healthcare capabilities. Second, we must examine global advancements in healthcare and identify areas where other countries are leading. Third, we should look beyond the healthcare sector to observe broader technological developments, such as artificial intelligence, big data, and smart hardware. “Once we have a clear understanding of these factors, we can more clearly define the path toward the endgame and identify our opportunities over the next five years.”

Thus, Wang ShiruiThe entire healthcare system is simply divided into two parts: one comprising issues that hospitals can address, and the other consisting of medical needs that hospitals cannot meet but which still represent substantial demand.For instance, medical issues requiring ICU care or surgery are most efficiently addressed within hospitals, whereas the pharmacological treatment and rehabilitation processes for diseases such as cancer mostly take place outside of hospital settings.

“We currently estimate that more than 20 core disease categories require treatment, prevention and control, and management outside hospital settings,” said Wang Shirui. “This is our main battlefield.”"As long as we can manage these more than twenty diseases one by one with greater efficiency and a better experience than before, helping people extend their lifespan, we will have reached the peak in my heart."”

Wang Shirui, having glimpsed the endgame, once again sets out toward his ideal kingdom of healthcare.

How to turn ideas into reality is a core challenge that every visionary entrepreneur faces.

“Among the more than twenty selected out-of-hospital diseases, they allPossesses Two Common Characteristics.” said Wang Shirui,First, by leveraging the internet as a foundational infrastructure to integrate other technologies, clinical pathways, and discipline development capabilities, thereby enhancing disease management efficiency and treatment experience.。Second, the management and cure of these diseases can be achieved through healthcare providers outside tertiary hospitals., such as laboratory testing, intravenous infusion, blood draws, nebulization, and physical therapy, can all be conducted outside of hospital settings. “These diseases are indeed poorly managed at present, representing a vast market opportunity. If managed effectively, they will significantly extend people’s life expectancy.”

In this regard, Wang Shirui believesThe top priority is to ensure effective management of the entire disease lifecycle.“.There are four steps to effective management: we will first build foundational capabilities, then transform those capabilities into user experiences, next evolve those experiences into a closed-loop healthcare system, and finally turn that healthcare closed loop into a commercial closed loop.”

During this process,The platform’s core competency lies in its comprehensive discipline development for each disease type, encompassing full knowledge of all clinical pathways, medication guidelines, and expert consensus statements, while enabling the timely deployment of appropriate medical resources.“This is akin to a hospital’s discipline development and academic highland.”

In response to this,Medlinker Established a Medical Affairs Department，By engaging in collaborations with clinical experts, scientists, major pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, scientific laboratories, and professional associations across each discipline.Once the discipline construction is complete, the next step is for the operations department to build foundational capabilities and enhance the basic patient experience. “In other words, comprehensive management strategies will be established for the entire continuum of care—from disease detection to end-of-life—including when and how specific interventions should be applied, what clinical pathways will be followed, and which corresponding medication guidelines or diagnostic and treatment protocols will be implemented.”

“This is a continuous, iterative process of development; we will consistently update Yilian’s own standards,” said Wang Shirui. The goal that New Healthcare aims to achieveFirst, it enables the most authoritative medical standards and capabilities to reach the largest number of patients; second, it reduces the time patients spend on disease management, thereby improving efficiency; and third, it offers more affordable pricing.“From the perspective of progress, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS, and atrial fibrillation have all been managed very effectively.”

Effective disease management requires an offline presence.In Wang Shirui’s exploration, community health centers may serve as a crucial offline support for effective disease management. First, they have an established user base; second, they possess service delivery capabilities; third, they are covered by medical insurance payment mechanisms; and fourth, they operate under franchise arrangements.

“Community health centers currently vary greatly in scale. The smallest ones can manage common and chronic diseases, while larger ones can offer inpatient beds and pursue discipline development.” Moreover, community health centers enjoy a strong public foundation and high patient traffic. These advantages give them significant potential for future commercial expansion.

From Contemplating the Endgame of Internet Healthcare to Groundedly Piecing Together the Medical Dream, Wang Shirui’s Vision for the Future of Healthcare Is Being Realized Step by Step. However, as he moves toward the future, many uncertainties and challenges still await him.

“How do you view each difficult moment?” VCBeat asked toward the end of the interview.

Wang Shirui paused for a moment and replied, “Every great endeavor begins with an unwavering belief. Staying true to your original aspiration and keeping your feet on the ground are key.”