A 20-year-old entrepreneur, Yu Hao, registered the domain name 'paomianba.com' in January 2012. By April of the same year, he had conceptualized an online education project called 'Paomianba'. In December, Yu designed the 'Paomianba' logo and invited his American college buddy to help with the early version of the platform. By January 2013, the product was largely complete and entered a closed testing phase. That same month, co-founder Shen Jie joined the team, taking on human resources, finance, legal affairs, and administrative duties. In April 2013, co-founder Wang Chong joined, initially responsible for content developer relations and later investor relations. Paomianba secured angel funding in 2014, with three VC firms investing $200 million for a 15% stake. One investor offered $300 million for a 20% stake, giving the team valuable experience in negotiations and valuations.