What's wrong with me being a rich man?

Chapter 100 Interview (5k)

Yu Xing never expected to run into the big boss as soon as he arrived today.

He originally just wanted to lure out a small monster.

This should be considered... lucky.

However, when he actually got the signal that he would not be kicked out, he still became nervous.

Investors, investors. These are investors I have never dealt with before, and they are related to the funds for the next development of the website...

Yu Xing was nervous for the fifteen seconds from the door to the office. When he sat on the sofa, he suddenly relaxed because of a thought.

Penta kill!

I once blocked your husband's 5 goals in a row!

Yu Xing recalls his brief but impressive working experience at Zhenai.com.

"Tea, please."

When he arrived at the office, even though he was almost kicked out before, the boss's secretary still served him tea.

Yu Xing smiled at the other party, took a sip of tea, and gave a look to Lu Haiying next to him. Since he was already here, not being kicked out was the first step to approaching investors.

Lu Haiying's nervous mood was relieved a lot because of the look of her senior brother. If the sky fell, her senior brother would support her, and if she was blown away, she would pull her senior brother away first.

Xu Xin looked at the two young men opposite her and said straight to the point without any politeness: "Did Liu Qiangdong ask you to come?"

"Yes." Yu Xing confirmed, "Mr. Liu said that Mr. Xu is an outstanding investor with excellent judgment and strong investment courage. So, as soon as our website had a financing demand, I went to find Mr. Xu as soon as possible."

It was indeed Liu Qiangdong who introduced him, but this kind of introduction justified the previous explanation.

Xu Xin naturally heard it, but she didn't appreciate this little trick and didn't even ask the question she wanted to ask.

There was an awkward silence in the office.

It was the first time that Yu Xing met a "regular" investor. Unlike Liu Wanying's casual investment, this did bring more pressure.

He took another sip of tea. He didn't wait for Xu Xin's voice, but he seemed to feel that the countdown to this meeting had already begun.

Come all come!

Such a voice appeared in Yu Xing's heart, actively breaking the atmosphere, like throwing a stone into a quiet lake, followed by circles of ripples.

"I heard from Mr. Liu that Mr. Xu also agreed with my remarks at the Jinling Internet Conference."

"It seems that people like Mr. Liu, Mr. Ma who was communicating with me on the spot, and Mr. Xu, all heroes in the world really think alike."

Yu Xing brought up a few things that might earn the other party a positive rating, and indeed saw the look in Xu Xin's eyes. He added, "Bai Xiaosheng is a product that came into being based on the judgment of industry development."

Xu Xin smiled wryly and asked, "What about your Guiai.com?"

Yu Xing did not ask the other party to put things in perspective, and explained seriously: "I sold Guiai.com to Mr. Li because Zhenai.com showed too much sincerity, but I thought about it again and again afterwards..."

"After all, we started our business for the first time last year, and there are many lessons learned from the operation of that project that are worth learning for Bai Xiaosheng."

No matter how hard you try, it's your husband who insisted on buying it.

The previous one has been sold, and the current one is better. I acknowledge that there are lessons learned, which have been transformed into experience.

Xu Xin asked again: "What do you think of the Internet dating industry?"

The wife of the owner of a leading dating website asked a man who had just blasted the industry.

Yu Xing hesitated slightly.

From the time he sat in the office till now, Xu Xin asked three questions, about introduction speech, Guiai.com and Internet love and marriage, none of which had anything to do with Bai Xiaosheng that he had on hand.

Moreover, it can be clearly felt that this person has a very bad impression of himself.

If I continue to answer questions in my own way, will that only make her more angry?

Yu Xing wasn't sure what Ms. Xu in front of him wanted to hear. He glanced at her but only saw her expressionless face.

He asked tentatively: "Boss Xu, do you want to hear my true thoughts or just say it casually?"

Xu Xin uttered two words: "All is fine."

Yu Xing didn't have time to think about it. The only thought in his mind was: Death would be the end of it!
"Since Mr. Xu is willing to let me speak, I can only say that the turmoil that the Internet dating industry is experiencing now is what they deserve." Yu Xing chose to speak frankly, "If Mr. Xu thinks that it is because of me that the turmoil at Zhenai.com has occurred, and not because of the common practices of them and other companies in the industry that have caused user dissatisfaction, then I have nothing to say."

Xu Xin sighed inwardly, okay, that’s all about her husband.

Her expression remained unchanged, and she did not continue to ask further questions. Instead, she changed the subject to the current Bai Xiaosheng: "You just said that you learned lessons from your experience for this new website?"

Yu Xing keenly noticed the change in atmosphere and topic, nodded seriously, and listed: "Yes, like Guiai.com, although it also has a website, and although I used it to participate in the Internet Conference, it is actually more of an offline company, and the online traffic is only for Taobao stores."

"Guiai.com relies on a high commission mechanism to promote its business quickly, and its management system is very weak."

"But the Bai Xiaosheng project is a very standard Internet company."

“It is more asset-light, focuses more on team building and running-in, and makes better use of the high communication nature of the Internet industry itself.”

He paused and continued, "I originally thought that management was a simple matter. The team size of Guiai.com expanded quickly, and our revenue in the first month was close to one million. But... I soon discovered that management really seemed to have a margin. For example, reimbursement. It was only when we were acquired that I learned from President Wei Jialan of Zhenai.com that the reimbursement of our team in the Beijing market was abnormal."

“So, we made some improvements this time when we were the Bai Xiaosheng.”

Yu Xing observed Xu Xin's expression. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but her eyes seemed to become more focused.

He raised his cup to drink tea, moistened his throat, and entered the comfort zone of practical experience: "Bai Xiaosheng still uses a local promotion team this time. 25 people have been deployed in five cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Lin'an. Their task is to accurately promote to Internet companies in these five cities."

"We have the operating experience of Guiai.com, and we can actually quickly increase the number of users, whether it is campus users or campus part-time teams. These are areas where we have achieved results, but we did not do so and are also carefully controlling the number of team members in the company."

There is reason to believe what Yu Xing said, as he did improve his performance quickly in his last project.

"Bai Xiaosheng's positioning is verticalization and segmentation. We don't need to quickly create a large number of users to show others. What we pursue is long-term and effective development."

"If I were to compare the two projects, Guiai.com and Baixiaosheng, I kept telling myself three words during the operation of the latter."

Yu Xing took a breath and said these three words: "Restraint, verticality, and segmentation."

When Xu Xin heard the young man in front of him put the word "restraint" in the first place, it was hard not to think of his own comment at the Qunar financing meeting yesterday - it is difficult for young people who have tasted the sweetness to calm down.

Make quick money, short term, young man.

Xu Xin has met many such talented young people over the years, but as time goes by, they almost all disappear in the tide of business.

Having tasted the sweetness, can you still stop eating?

Like Yu Xing in front of me...

In particular, he started his second business with almost no gap. How did he overcome human nature?

Xu Xin found it a little unbelievable.

She asked Bai Xiaosheng for the first time: "Vertical segmentation? Is this what you mean by the emergence of judgments on industry development?"

"Yes, the main tracks of the Internet have been occupied by large companies. It is hard for me to have confidence in doing e-commerce now. Whether it is money or resources, the gap is too big." Yu Xing said, "In this era, Internet companies can only be more vertical and segmented if they want to succeed. I think this is why our website has attracted 95945 users within two months of its launch!"

Two months, 95945!

Among them, most of them are working people!

Xu Xin couldn't help but squint his eyes, knowing very well the value of it.

"Workplace social networking is not a new track, but there have been few successful companies. I think, firstly, the rapid development of the Internet industry in the past few years has gradually laid a solid user base, and secondly, there is a lack of another piece of the puzzle." Yu Xing explained, "The piece of puzzle that Bai Xiaosheng provided this time is 'workplace topics'."

Xu Xin listened quietly.

"It's too difficult to just do workplace social networking. For example, the former vice president of Sina founded Tianji.com. He wanted to do this, but he couldn't make it." Yu Xing slowed down his speech. "In the past two months, we have mainly focused on three workplace topics. One is the employment of college students, the second is the problems in the Internet marriage and love industry, and the third is the layoffs and fake insurance policies of Xiecheng. The first two are from our planning, and the last one is inevitable under the mechanism of Baixiaosheng."

"Based on the initial measurement of the number of users, I think our thinking is correct."

"Topics are the medium for social interaction, and social interaction provides soil for topics. The interaction between the two will eventually become the workplace platform we want to build."

After Yu Xing explained this, he no longer felt any nervousness.

Xu Xin thought about what he heard and asked a data: "What is your current DAU?" DAU is the number of daily active users.

"We are in a period of rapid growth now, and this data changes every day." Yu Xing replied, "The DAU the day before yesterday was close to 4, but this number is distorted. I didn't pay attention to yesterday's number, so it must have been higher."

Yesterday was the NetEase press conference + the anonymous interview of the employees of Ctrip.com. The number of users activated by this must be even greater.

Xu Xin asked again: "Have you calculated the DAU/MAU ratio?"

Yu Xing replied: "Yes, but due to our rapid growth, the data is distorted. The ratio we calculated on December 12 was 10%, but it is not a reference data."

MAU is monthly active users.

The DAU/MAU metric was popularized by Facebook, which uses the DAU/MAU ratio when analyzing its own performance and discusses it publicly. As a result, many websites and products increasingly like to use it to measure user stickiness.

Generally speaking, for world-class products like Facebook, the ratio is above 50% all year round, and in the early days it was as high as 70% or 80%. For ordinary products, a ratio of 20% is considered good.

Yu Xing gave Bai Xiaosheng's answer, but also frankly emphasized that it was not for reference.

Xu Xin did not dwell on the data, and suddenly asked from another angle: "As far as I know, you are not from a computer background, but a medical background. Did your employees calculate this data when the website was first built?"

"We hired an employee from Bain Consulting as a consultant," Yu Xing explained. "She was the one who asked about the data. I didn't know it before, but she said that the data can only be used as a reference after long-term tracking."

Xu Xin felt that this made some sense.

She asked, "Bain's consultants? Do you have a budget for that?"

"She has now resigned from Bain. She provided the first angel investment we received," Yu Xing said in detail. "She has agreed to continue to provide professional advice. This is also a lesson I learned from the previous project."

Xu Xin pondered in silence. Objectively speaking, the words of the young man in front of him sounded more and more like a reliable entrepreneur.

She asked a question that has become increasingly difficult for many Internet entrepreneurs to answer in the past few years, and said slowly: "If Penguin also does the same project, what will you do?"

Xu Xin stared at Yu Xing and noticed that he seemed to be smiling a little bit, and then heard the five-word answer.

Yu Xing answered without hesitation: "Penguin has a position."

As an investor, and as an investor who has been investing in the Internet industry for many years, Xu Xin has both actively and been forced to pay attention to the influence of manufacturers of Penguin's level in recent years.

She had asked this question to no less than 10 entrepreneurs, but this was the first time she wanted to gasp after hearing the answer.

Oh!
No need for further explanation, the current situation and background of this project can be fully and perfectly described in just five words!
Xu Xin resisted the urge to praise, and still said in a slow tone: "Not bad."

Then she added, "I didn't think about that."

"Mr. Xu, you are just an investor, and this is your first time listening to this, so naturally you are not as comprehensive as I have been in thinking about the competition of the website." Yu Xing said with a smile, "So, Bai Xiaosheng should be a rare Internet project that does not have to worry about competition from big companies."

He finished the last of the tea in his cup and spoke faster: "We won't take investment from big companies, that's a trap!"

"After we get the financing, we won't go to second- and third-tier cities for promotion. That's also a trap!"

"As long as we can get $500 million this year, we will be confident that we can reach 100 million users. Next year, we will be confident that we can raise another round of funds and continue to accelerate the number of users to 500-1000 million!"

“Social networking is a good story, and workplace social networking is also a good story!”

“After we initially established a platform mechanism for workplace social networking and workplace topics, we now only need a sum of money to quickly expand our scale and achieve success!”

Yu Xing's eyes were bright, and he had basically completed his explanation of today's unexpected encounter.

He still has some things to say and some cakes to paint, but that might be it for today.

Xu Xin nodded slightly and commented: "It's a lot of money, and the appetite is huge."

$500 million is something that needs to be considered carefully in the current environment.

Like yesterday's "Qunar", it hoped to get US$1500 million in Series C financing, while Baixiaosheng is only a company that has been established for less than 3 months.

This is the lion's mouth opening wide.

Xu Xin did not ridicule him. His thoughts and reflections were mixed together. After two minutes, he said, "Did you bring your letter of intent?"

Yu Xing signaled to Lu Haiying that if she realized her mistake, she should hand it to the investor's desk as soon as possible.

Lu Haiying took out a letter of intent for financing from her bag and handed it to Xu Xin's secretary.

Xu Xin didn't look at it, but just said: "I'll take a look. I have a meeting later. I'll call you."

Yu Xing stood up and thanked him politely, "Okay, Mr. Xu, Bai Xiaosheng hopes to get help from an excellent investor like Mr. Xu."

He and Lu Haiying said goodbye and left.

When they were all in the elevator, Lu Haiying said, "Brother, I think I finally dared to breathe..."

“So this is what it feels like to meet with investors.” Yu Xing seemed to be happy, but he was strangely indifferent. He just said, “Today’s meeting should be good.”

Lv Haiying watched the elevator going down and joked, "It must be good! Xu Xin's attitude at the beginning is completely different from the attitude at the end! This is... this is because my senior and I lobbied the investors together..."

Yu Xing laughed and walked out of the elevator.

Lu Haiying took two steps before she suddenly noticed the senior brother in front of her. His back seemed to be wet with sweat.

……

The offices of Capital Today.

Only one page of the letter of intent for financing from Bai Xiaosheng was turned.

Xu Xin glanced at it for two seconds and then stopped reading, tapping the table lightly with his fingers.

Secretary Luo Shujing saw this and said, "Mr. Xu, Bai Xiaosheng sounds good."

Xu Xin came back to her senses and asked, "You have been listening here, what do you think of Yu Xing's introduction?"

Luo Shujing considered and said, "It seems OK."

Xu Xin smiled and said, "I often say that a good investor must have a killer instinct. I invested in Ding Lei very quickly. When I met Liu Qiangdong, I talked with him until 1000 a.m. It took less than 24 hours from the meeting to the arrival of the $ million in funds."

“But today, that intuition is a little fuzzy.”

"Tell me, why is this?"

Luo Shujing felt that her boss's words were a bit mysterious, but the case she mentioned was indeed true.

She shook her head, knowing that the answer was already there, and asked, "Why?"

Xu Xin frowned and commented: "Because he said it so well and so clearly."

Luo Shujing was surprised. It was too good and too clear, yet this was not acceptable?

“Ding Lei is good enough, Liu Qiangdong is also very good, but when I talked to them, they also had a lot of confusion and uncertainty.” Xu Xin said, “Entrepreneurs face an uncertain market, and Yu Xing has no experience in this area, so his answer…”

"All we can say is that we can't see the whole picture. Putting aside the partial facts we can see, today's situation always feels a little off."

Xu Xin finally commented: "This person is weird. We can take a closer look. Let Mr. Liu and his team research this website."

Luo Shujing has been a secretary for a long time and knows that her boss has no interest in topics that women love to talk about, such as jewelry and makeup. She seems to regard investment as a pleasure, often studying different entrepreneurs and is keen to communicate with entrepreneurs.

In other words, the boss is very good at judging people.

She nodded and walked out of the office, but a thought suddenly came to her mind: Mr. Xu's attitude had changed before and after meeting Yu Xing.

Xu Xin sat alone in the office. After thinking for a long time, he opened Bai Xiaosheng's letter of intent.

But before she could look at it for long, the phone on the table rang.

When Xu Xin saw that it was her husband Li Song, she answered the call.

Ten seconds later, she asked in surprise, "Why did you fly to Shanghai?"

Li Song smiled and said, "Look at our company's marketing in Shanghai, and see if there are any New Year gifts worth buying in Shanghai. Why, you're not welcome?"

"Welcome, you're here." Xu Xin glanced at the documents on the table, "I'm going to finish work before the New Year."

Li Song confirmed the time: "Okay, I'll be there tomorrow and visit Mr. Xu in person at Capital Today!"

(End of this chapter)