Reinventing the Millennium

Google's intention to acquire Groupon for US$2 billion caused waves in the foreign venture capital circle. What made the waves even bigger was that Groupon quickly made a decision and rejected the giant's acquisition.

How can a company that has only been established for a year get such a high acquisition price?

What confidence does it have to refuse this price?

The acquisition from Google suddenly made the little-known Groupon famous in the world. The Harvard Business Review's in-depth article analyzing its business model was the most popular.

It’s not surprising, but at a time when the Internet was booming and mobile Internet was booming, Groupon’s achievements in leveraging the Internet to leverage business and customers in a light model were particularly conspicuous.

A business unicorn was born in one year, and it seemed to have greater prospects. This kind of venture capital wind soon spread to the country.

As an active angel investor, Li Guoqing often travels back and forth between the Yangtze River Delta and Beijing recently, feeling that he has won good projects.

On the evening of November 5th, he was chatting with a group of investment friends in Shanghai, and naturally the topic of outstanding foreign projects came up, and the word "Groupon" popped up in front of him.

"What? 2 billion U.S. dollars? This has been rejected? Okay!" Li Guoqing has been on the road for the past two days. When he heard everyone talking about foreign projects, he interrupted, "What is this Gro... Wait, how do you spell this? of?"

"It's Groupon, which seems to be the homophone of coupon, group-pon." Yao Deshan, vice president of Bell Capital Capital next to him, replied.

Li Guoqing smiled and said: "Groupon, why does it sound familiar to me?"

Yao Deshan praised it: "Mr. Li has a sharp eye. I don't know when he thought this model was good before. We now have it in China."

Just as Li Guoqing was about to nod, the familiar source of "Groupon" suddenly appeared in his mind.

——How about I introduce you to a job.

——There is a Groupon abroad, do you know?

——It’s group buying. It’s a model that came out of foreign countries last year. As the name suggests, it’s online discount group buying. Can you understand it, right?

That person's voice seemed to ring in my ears.

This year in Lin'an, by the West Lake, Fang Zhuo of Yike asked himself this.

Is it that Groupon?

Li Guoqing suddenly felt his mouth go dry and couldn't help but say: "That Groupon, the group buying one, the one that came out last year, the online discount group buying one, that Groupon?"

Yao Deshan felt that Mr. Li's tone was a little hasty and strange, and said, "Yes, it's that Groupon. Everyone has been talking about it these two days."

Li Guoqing: "..."

Yao Deshan continued: "Google's acquisition, damn, everyone saw that this thing has great potential, and there are already people in our country doing it, that is, Mr. Lei from Jinshan, he built Mi Tuan.com, and that's it It’s a Groupon model, and it’s already received investment from Yike, isn’t it awesome?”

Li Guoqing: "..."

He picked up the wine glass, and the wine was rippling in the glass. This, that, you... me... the bright moon... ditch, ditch...

Why didn't the person named Fang lie to others this time?

“This model can really be done, and the market has great potential. It will definitely not be able to accommodate only one company. I heard that someone is already planning a team. Now it depends on whether there is an outstanding team with strong execution capabilities that can continue to do this. Yao Deshan analyzed it carefully.

Li Guoqing suddenly let out a long sigh, that's all, that's all, not all people surnamed Fang are cunning and treacherous, there may be some good intentions. Let the past be past, Lao Li forgives him.

Seeing Mr. Li's reaction, Yao Deshan suddenly smiled and said: "Lei Jun was also engaged in investment before, but now he has pulled together a team to do group buying in full swing. I think Mr. Li can do it too. Mr. Li cheered up, this appeal, this execution Power, can this be done?"

As soon as he said this, everyone at the table also carried the sedan chair and cheered.

For a moment, there was a cry in the box, "If Mr. Li doesn't come out, why do we want to buy in a group?"

Li Guoqing thought of the man named Fang in Lin'an, ah no, Mr. Fang's approval when he was in Lin'an - if he didn't approve of Lao Li, how could he use the group purchase as an excuse? Thinking of Lei Jun who was one step ahead, the career fire in his heart suddenly burst and burned. .

"Okay, okay, let me toast you all. If I, Old Li, do this, then the investment will be up to you." Li Guoqing stood up and picked up a glass of wine.

When everyone heard this, they responded with a roar. Let’s warm up the atmosphere first, drink first, and talk about the rest later.

However, Li Guoqing is serious. Someone has already made the most important judgment on whether a project has prospects. Google wants to acquire it, and Mr. Fang is investing. They have done it in one year with a valuation of 2 billion US dollars. The direction must be right. of.

Looking at this model again, isn’t it just about joining a group to find merchants to get discounts?

is it hard?

Let’s look at the project team again... I don’t know much about the one in the United States, but the one in China has received investment from Yike...

Lei Jun can do it, why can’t I?

The more Li Guoqing drank, the more the career fire burned in his heart. If he really had a deep talk with Mr. Fang when he was in Lin'an this year, maybe he would be the one to make Mi Tuan.com!

But it's not too late!

This can be done!

…

On November 6, the day after Yixin updated the "Easy Pay" version for some users, Hang Lung 23 still held the usual discussion meeting in recent days.

This time the focus is on Fetion Mobile and the attitude of operators.

There is no obvious feedback from China Telecom for the time being, but it is obvious from China Mobile and China Unicom.

It is said that China Mobile expressed strong opposition after seeing that Yixin, Penguin, and NetEase were all considering impacting the SMS business, believing that this would allow Internet companies to bypass the operator's network and directly provide various data services to end users, which would make their own If it is reduced to a simple transmission pipeline, there will still be issues such as signaling.

China Unicom's attitude is more ambiguous. On the one hand, some executives believe that this will indeed impact the operator's business. On the other hand, there are also voices saying that innovative business behaviors are worthy of encouragement as long as they comply with economic laws.

"I know that China Unicom warned Penguin extremely seriously, but this did not stop Penguin from launching the new version of QQ."

"When an enterprise encounters a major development node, no matter what the outside world says, no matter what external threats impose, it must first act boldly before talking about anything else."

"The positioning of internal mobile projects like Fetion is very embarrassing. On the one hand, it has the potential for transformation and rapid development. On the other hand, it will be limited by conflicts of internal interests."

"We see that China Mobile's public bidding documents this year are all seeking agent operators for Fetion, rather than further optimizing related functions and improving the details of the much-criticized functions. This is self-imposed restrictions due to conflicts of interest."

"We onlookers know that this kind of mistake cannot be made."

Fang Zhuo took Fetion as an example of project development today and talked about the relationship between Yixin and the YMS ecosystem.

Today, Fetion is the largest communication tool on the mobile side. Of course, some people within China Mobile are aware of its development potential, but the huge revenue brought by SMS business has become the most serious obstacle.

The future is of course very good, but the current situation is also good, and because of the internal ecology of mobile, it can only make do with operations that are difficult to understand and will be even more difficult to understand in the future.

At the end of the meeting, Fang Zhuo chatted with Zhang Xiaolong and Qi He for a few more words before his secretary reminded him that Wang Fengyi, general manager of Shenxin Technology Innovation, was already in the office.

"There have been a lot of trivial matters recently. Did he come to me for a drink or does he have something serious to do?" Fang Zhuo asked as he walked.

Liu Zonghong shook his head. Mr. Wang didn't say this, but his expression looked quite serious.

Fang Zhuo motioned to the secretary not to follow him, pushed open the door of the CEO's office, and saw Wang Fengyi quietly admiring the green plants by the window.

"What's wrong, Brother Wang?" he asked, making tea again.

"Mr. Fang, something happened. I was asked to write a detailed report on Shenxin's reduction of Penguin holdings." Wang Fengyi said bluntly, "What...how do we do this?"

The analysis report is easy to write, but the problem is that the process of reducing Shenxin Kechuang's previous holdings was procedural. Does this mean that this procedure is not recognized and questioned?

"What, now even the decision of you, the number one investor in the country, is not professional enough?" Fang Zhuo did not panic and said with a smile, "Didn't I tell you to talk more about investing in rice balls after reducing Penguin holdings?"

Wang Fengyi chatted!

But, no more chatting!

As Google's acquisition of Groupon became popular in the past two days, he really regretted patting himself on the back. He should have followed Mr. Fang's words completely, otherwise he was the former richest man in the world*2?

"Speaking of which, I wonder if it has something to do with our meeting in the capital. Pony said in front of the leaders that Shenxin's reduction in Penguin holdings was insider trading." Fang Zhuo remembered something.

This was a sentence that Pony used to accuse himself at the meeting. At that time, the leader's expression changed a little, and he didn't know if it was a follow-up influence now.

Wang Fengyi stayed where he was.

After a moment, he gritted his teeth and said: "What an unreasonable disaster! I am an unreasonable disaster!"

Fang Zhuo thought for a while and said, "It doesn't matter. You were the first to reduce your holdings of Penguin stocks."

Wang Feng became anxious: "Mr. Fang, isn't this what you asked me to reduce my holdings?"

"I asked you to talk more about investing in rice balls." Fang Zhuo said disapprovingly, "In the worst case, I will start a business. How can I send you in if I ask you to write a report?"

Wang Fengyi was a little depressed, almost certainly affected by the war between Yi and Gou.

Because the decision-making process had been reported long ago, but the time to complete the large transaction was delayed, and suddenly the report was asked to be written, there must be new changes.

He sighed: "Okay, next time I won't do block trading and go directly to the secondary market. Mr. Ma, don't blame me for smashing the market."

Fang Zhuo remained silent. This was not his own decision. It was Brother Wang's own decision. This was the decision of Penguin shareholders.

Wang Fengyi calmed down. Whether this matter was big or small, he still wanted to be in the position of Shenxin Science and Technology.

"Then I'll talk more about rice balls later." He walked past the sofa and took a sip of tea.

"We should talk more about the prospects of the domestic group buying market. The first investor should talk about the general trend and the industry." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "If that doesn't work, just allocate some more money to my Lin'an factory."

"Will the Lin'an factory be spun off?" Wang Fengyi asked.

"You can plan in advance. Whether you invest in the future is another matter. While you are optimistic about the subversive development of mobile Internet in all walks of life in China, you can also invest in cold stove industries such as semiconductors. Gee, Brother Wang, you are the kind of person who deserves to be big in the future. An investor in Shu Te Shu." Fang Zhuo thought for a while.

Wang Fengyi followed and thought about the time for a cup of tea.

Then, he said: "Oh yes, on the way here, guess who I got a call from."

"Is it Little Bear? Did he call you too?" Fang Zhuo guessed.

Wang Fengyi said "Ah": "No, Mr. Xiong called? What is he going to do? He defrauded me of investment last time, how dare he call me?"

"Baidu Q\u0026A has been putting a lot of effort into marketing recently. He called me to discuss that he would like to create a column for fireside chats on Zhihu to promote the website." Fang Zhuo opened the top document on the table and replied, " It just so happens that I recently need a channel to talk about my thoughts on Yixin and my thoughts on the details of the software."

Wang Fengyi changed his mind and announced his answer first: "It was Li Guoqing who called me. Guess what, he wants to attract investment and also engage in group buying projects."

Fang Zhuo looked up in surprise, it was Qingzi.

Well, the domestic group buying market has just started. This industry seems to be promising, but the competition that soon ushered in was fiercer than anyone expected.

"How could he ask you to invest?" Fang Zhuo was puzzled.

"I'm probably quite famous." Wang Fengyi said proudly, "However, he also mentioned that he had talked about group buying with you, but, when I thought about it, Mr. Xiong lied to me like this last time, so I stopped by to chat with you. Please confirm."

Fang Zhuo frowned and said: "Just concentrate on Mi Tuan. Isn't Qingzi also engaged in investment now? If he starts a business again, he will definitely not be able to persuade others to invest if he doesn't invest money himself. I said, if he calls you again, just persuade him to pay more attention to mobile Internet projects."

Like Qingzi and Lei Jun, everyone knows that they have money and they set out to start projects again. Unlike other grassroots entrepreneurs, they must use their own funds.

However, the competition in the group buying market is extremely expensive. Lei Jun made sure to pay for it himself, but he also immediately sought out the giants as his backers.

If it were Qingzi, could he win over the giants?

If it cannot be pulled, this wave of group buying meat grinders will probably not be able to grind to the end, but will be a mess.

"Can he listen to advice? I think he is quite passionate about entrepreneurship on the phone." Wang Fengyi said.

"Since he can use my name to talk about things, if he asks you again, just tell me what I said. Don't force yourself to start a business." Fang Zhuo shook his head.

It would have been better if it had been earlier. Now that Lei Jun has launched the rice dumplings, they have missed each other.

Wang Fengyi nodded, took note of this, and then began to ask about Mr. Xiong's so-called new column to see if he could participate in it. Mr. Fang needed a channel to talk about communication products, and he also needed a channel to talk about group buying prospects.

Wang Fengyi didn’t leave Hang Lung 23 until after lunch.

Not long after he got in the car, he received another call from Li Guoqing. This time he relayed Mr. Fang's words exactly as he said, "Qingzi, don't force it."

Li Guoqing was like a bucket of cold water poured into his heart.

But then, stronger emotions emerged. Fang may have good intentions in his heart, but definitely not much. Why does he look down on me, Lao Li, so much?

Lei Jun, who looks honest, can do it, but why can’t I? I have to force myself!