Reborn Entrepreneurial Giant.

Chapter 173 Twitter Refinancing

Jumei’s stock price stabilized, Qu Li came to the United States again, and Twitter launched a new round of financing. As one of Twitter’s most important shareholders, of course he had to participate.

Qu Li brought not only funds to Twitter, but also pre-installation of Honor mobile phones, as well as advanced concepts, such as mobile first, such as information flow, and this Olympic marketing, encouraging Twitter users to post texts at the Olympics. live streaming……

Doing large-scale marketing requires money, and Qu Li was willing to pay, but the original shareholders did not want to give up the dominant power, so B rotated the lead investor.Because of his participation, Twitter has received more attention, and many venture capital investors, including Sequoia and KPGB, want to participate.

"Facebook is a social network of acquaintances, and Twitter is an improvement on blogs. It is a one-to-many form and more like an information platform. Everyone can be a witness to history, and everyone can become a journalist..." Qu Li came to Twitter headquarters to participate in exchanges between management and venture capital, clarifying his views and the direction he hopes to develop.

"What is your position on Twitter?" A venture capitalist asked Qu Li

"Senior consultant, after all, it's hard for me to have time to participate in the management of Twitter."

"I think this positioning is more suitable for Twitter, if..." Sequoia's Christian was the first to express his opinion. Compared with the vague positioning of Twitter management, Qu Li can explain things more clearly and has a lot of imagination.This is the center of all kinds of news. Naturally, major companies need to personally participate in publicity. Do you have to pay to register a corporate account and authenticate? Of course you have to pay.

"Will you participate in this financing?"

"It depends on the situation. I want to reduce my shareholding in Twitter to less than 15%, and to less than 10% before going public..." Qu Li told Twitter management to dispel their concerns.

In the first round of financing last year, Twitter was valued at US$3000 million. The second round of financing exceeded US$2 million. This was because the market was not good, otherwise it would have exceeded US$[-] million.Qu Li almost forgot to have Twitter this time, otherwise he would have reminded them to start financing.

Before the advertising agreement with Facebook expired, Twitter was not in his plan, so after the first round of communication, he went to Shopee, which was growing rapidly.As the sub-prime crisis intensified and Shopee adjusted its positioning, focusing on self-operated and white-label products, supplemented by brands, Amazon also relaxed its suppression of Shopee.

The extremely cost-effective Shopee's registered users in North America are expected to reach 8 million in August. This extraordinary speed may only be brought to it by Facebook, which is growing faster.

Facebook, Shopee and Li & Fung form a perfect closed loop, eliminating huge intermediate costs, including publicity fees.

"There are many group buying companies in the United States now, but unfortunately none of them can surpass us." Brady is very proud. As a self-operated e-commerce company, their achievements are enough to make people proud.

Naturally, Qu Li would not be disappointed and stood in the middle of the office to praise and encourage him.

Shopee employees are really hardworking. Let’s do some calculations. Assume that the unit price per customer is US$100, and monthly sales of 1000 million would require 10 express delivery. Why do we need 100 to [-] logistics employees? Shopee started from scratch, and now has less than [-] people including programmers. It also needs to explore the international market. Can it not be busy?

Facebook UK has more than 1000 million users, and it is the largest social networking site in France. As long as Shopee needs it, Facebook can push advertisements to the local area, and the cost during the cooperation is low. Do you think Shopee wants to occupy lucrative markets in Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea? Mature market?

Shopee may die due to out-of-control management during its rapid development, or it may become a second-rate e-commerce company because it misses the best opportunity. Brady doesn’t know how to choose, and Qu Li doesn’t know how to choose either. The only one that can learn from is Fanke, from Clothing e-commerce has lost itself in the transformation from e-commerce platform to e-commerce platform.

"I don't think we should miss the opportunity..." Brady said cautiously: "Zhongtai's design ideas are very good. Although cooperation with traders such as Li & Fung increases costs, it also reduces the difficulty of supply chain management. If it can be strengthened, The company's process design can minimize risks..."

"Why don't we hire a company like Accenture to help us with compliance and processes?" The biggest drawback of multinational companies is corruption, and then the flexibility to make decisions based on the local market. Strict control will lead to loss of flexibility, loose control, and local The employees line their own pockets and empty out the company. Human nature is the same, and the moral level of Wai Guo Ren is not higher than that in China.

"It's okay. Companies like Accenture are also good at talking. They don't understand Jumei's middle office. It's hard to know the advanced nature of Jumei's model. Compliance and process can be done by them when the time comes..." Brady said to It’s not surprising that Accenture doesn’t like it. Major Internet companies have their own corporate cultures. Qu Li did not abandon the essence summed up by Bezos just because Amazon had it. Instead, he took the initiative to learn from it.

For example, encouraging "successful failure", using technology to improve efficiency, daring to make big bets on the right things, adhering to long-termism, innovation and simplification, quick decision-making, etc.Of course, Jumei also has its own advantageous culture: integrity, learning, teamwork and patience...

Using corporate culture to promote company growth is somewhat similar to religion, because no rules and regulations can compare to the precepts set by religion. It can be said to be brainwashing. However, if these corporate cultures do not have the gene for good at the beginning, it will be difficult to develop and grow.

Qu Li hesitated for a while between consulting a company and hiring someone to do the compliance construction himself, but decided to hire someone. Although it cost money, it was more reassuring. After all, compliance construction is something that offends others, so let his own people do it. , maybe a few loopholes will be deliberately left for certain things to allow specific people to take advantage of.The consulting company is a little better. They complete the planning in Shopee, and people from Jumei will come over to review it in the future.

Shopee chose England as its second stop. The e-commerce online shopping retail market here accounts for a higher share than the United States. Although Amazon has the advantage, Shopee can open up the British market by relying on low-priced social e-commerce, group buying, flash sales and other innovations. of.

"You must also pay attention to controlling the proportion of Chinese-made goods. Shopee must not become synonymous with Chinese goods..." Qu Li agreed with most of Brady's suggestions, but also put forward many of his own requirements. Although made in China is good, But also in moderation.

"Okay, I've been paying attention to this aspect..." Brady nodded. China's manufacturing prices are low and profits are high, but populism is not uncommon in the United States. In the long run, Shopee should try to avoid unnecessary troubles.

In addition to exploring the British market, logistics and distribution are also important. Shopee's model is to cooperate with domestic central warehouses, overseas transshipment warehouses and operation warehouses to try to deliver packages to important logistics nodes of USPS and other express companies, thereby saving freight.

After Shopee's matter was dealt with, Twitter basically reached an agreement. The total share capital increased by 1500 million shares from the 500 million shares in the first round of financing, the stock price rose from US$2 to US$10, and Twitter's valuation became US$2 million. .Qu Li invested US$500 million to purchase 50 shares, holding a total of 300 million shares, which is exactly 15%.