TRIPODTERRAClassic Case Study: Mr. Liu, 35‑Year‑Old Tech Entrepreneur – Beijing
Mr. Liu, born in Beijing in 1989, is the founder and CEO of an AI startup. In early 2024, his company faced a critical crossroads: should he accept a buyout offer from a large corporation, or continue to pursue independent financing and development? On a friend's recommendation, he approached OwnFate for a Bazi (Four Pillars of Destiny) analysis.
Mr. Liu's birth data: July 15, 1989, at 10:30 a.m. (Gregorian calendar), male, born in Beijing. According to the Bazi chart, his Four Pillars are:
Ji‑Si (year), Xin‑Wei (month), Ding‑Chou (day), Yi‑Si (hour).
The Day Master is Ding Fire, born in the month of Wei (Earth). Wei is a dry earth that contains residual Ding Fire energy, giving the Day Master a solid root. The heavenly stems reveal Xin Metal (Partial Wealth) and Yi Wood (Partial Seal). The earthly branches form a triad of Si‑Wei‑Chou, which converges into a Fire‑Earth combination, making Fire and Earth exceptionally strong. This is a classic configuration of Fire‑Earth Hurt Officer generating Wealth. The Ding Fire Day Master is robust, favouring Metal and Water as useful elements (Yong Shen), while avoiding Fire and Earth.
The Hour Pillar, Yi‑Si, has Yi Wood emerging as the Partial Seal. The Partial Seal represents unique thinking patterns and innovative abilities — precisely the astrological foundation that enabled him to found an AI company. The Si branch harbours Rob Wealth, which generates the Yi Wood stem, indicating strong technical prowess and team cohesion. From this Bazi, his success is not accidental but a synergy of innate talent and favourable timing.
The Month Pillar, Xin‑Wei, reveals Xin Metal as Partial Wealth, while Wei Earth represents the Eating God. The combination Eating God generates Wealth points to a keen business acumen and strong monetisation ability. Indeed, before launching his AI venture, Mr. Liu had already successfully built and sold a small software company at a handsome price — a real‑world manifestation of this configuration. The Xin Metal sits on Wei Earth as wealth with a solid root, suggesting that his wealth accumulation will be steady and sustained over time.
The Year Pillar, Ji‑Si, has Ji Earth as Eating God and Si Fire as Rob Wealth. The Eating God appearing in the year stem indicates strong learning capacity since childhood, while the Rob Wealth hints at possible partnership troubles in his early entrepreneurial phase. In fact, during his first start‑up, he did experience sharp disagreements with his co‑founders and eventually chose to part ways. This taught him a valuable lesson: in his second venture, he paid special attention to selecting complementary partners rather than similar ones.
However, the combination of the Year Pillar (Ji‑Si) and Month Pillar (Xin‑Wei) creates a mix of Eating God and Hurt Officer. The Eating God represents steady, down‑to‑earth execution, while the Hurt Officer embodies free‑spirited creativity. This mixture often leads to hesitation in decision‑making — a tendency to cling to security while also feeling the urge to take bold risks. This is precisely the astrological root of his inner conflict regarding the buyout offer: on one hand, he wants to sell and cash out safely; on the other, he believes he can grow the company much larger.
Looking at his current Major Luck cycle (Da Yun), he entered the Ren‑Shen Major Luck at age 35. Ren is Direct Officer (Water), and Shen is Direct Wealth (Metal). This cycle brings Metal and Water together — exactly the favourable elements he needs most. Direct Officer signifies structured collaboration and management, while Direct Wealth indicates stable income. This means the next ten years will be a golden period for institutionalising and scaling his business. The Ren Water Direct Officer can also subdue the excessive Fire‑Earth in his natal chart, making his decisions more rational and less impulsive.
Based on this comprehensive analysis, my advice to him was: reject the acquisition and continue independent development. Three reasons support this:
1.The Ren‑Shen Major Luck — with Metal and Water as his useful elements, his career trajectory will continue to improve.
2.His strong Fire‑Earth configuration makes him suitable for a leadership role; being acquired would restrict his decision‑making freedom.
3.The prominent Yi Wood Partial Seal gives him a strong innovation edge, which can be fully leveraged only through independent growth.
Moreover, the Shen Metal as Direct Wealth in his Major Luck signals steady financial growth over the next decade. Cashing out now would mean missing out on even greater wealth opportunities later.
Outcome: Mr. Liu took my advice and turned down the buyout offer. In the following six months, he successfully closed a Series A funding round at a valuation of US$200 million. His company made breakthrough progress in the AI sector, and its user base grew from 100,000 to over 1 million. More importantly, through this Bazi reading, he gained a much clearer understanding of his strengths and weaknesses. He made targeted adjustments to his team — in particular, he hired an experienced COO to compensate for his own deficiencies in operations and management.
Key takeaway from Mr. Liu's case: Bazi is not fortune‑telling; it is a tool that helps us see ourselves clearly and make the right choices at critical junctures. As Master Li Juming often says, Feng Shui is not superstition, but the distilled wisdom of the ancients. The same holds true for Bazi. It is not an unchangeable force that dictates your fate, but a means to understand your innate talents and life rhythms, so that you can make the most favourable decisions at every important turning point.