In the early 2000s, Charlie Munger and Li Lu cross paths for the first time. Li Lu graduation from Columbia University in 1996 and founded his first investment company in 1997. The first meeting between the two was a chance one. As Li Lu later described in an issue of the China Entrepreneur magazine in 2010:
"Charlie and I first met at a mutual friend’s house while I was working on investments in LA after graduating from college. The first impression he gave me was “distant” — he often appeared to be absent-minded to the presence of his conversation partners and was, instead, very focused on his own topics. But this old man spoke succinctly; his words full of wisdom...

