Chapter 178 New Competition
“Woo~~”
Qin Shaoyan was walking on the Bund, listening to the whistle blowing on the Huangpu River, and looking at the skyscrapers not far away, his heart was racing.
"The headquarters of Dazhong.com is near here, right?"
Yuan Jimin, who was following him, was startled for a moment, then laughed, "Probably so."
"I'm so envious." Qin Shaoyan showed a meaningful smile.
Yuan Jimin immediately answered, "Welcome Mr. Qin to move the campus network here. We can provide many preferential policies. There are many office buildings here for Mr. Qin to choose from."
"Well, I'll think about it." Qin Shaoyan sighed, "I just paid the rent in Yanjing, and I can't move yet."
"It doesn't matter, we welcome Mr. Qin to come over at any time." Yuan Jimin didn't think so either. He said, "This is the financial center of Shanghai. It's very prosperous. Over there is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. Mr. Qin, would you like to visit it?"
"No, I'll come back when I have free time." Turn." Qin Shaoyan waved his hand, "We still have to do business."
Then Qin Shaoyan turned his eyes back to the front, where several staff members wearing red vests from Jingdong Mall were busy.
Bags after bags of clothes were carried down and quickly picked up by local administrative personnel in Shanghai.
It is full of T-shirts with campus network advertisements printed on them, which are specially provided to marathon volunteers.
The volunteers for this marathon are basically college students, recruited by the Shanghai Municipal Administrative Department.
“What good students.” Qin Shaoyan said with emotion, “These are the main force in public welfare activities.”
"Young, passionate, innocent, full of youthful flavor."
Yuan Jimin also nodded and praised: "The main volunteers for this event are all college students. They provided a lot of help and solved the problem. Language barriers for athletes from various countries. ”
Because there were so many foreigners arriving in Shanghai, there were not many translators available for a while, so a large number of students from colleges and universities who knew English solved the urgent need.
They can not only complete volunteer chores, but also act as temporary translators, and they don’t have to spend any money.
Although volunteers are not paid, the campus network generously provides subsidies.
Qin Shaoyan has no intention of asking college students to work for him as free labor. He doesn't have such a big face.
These are his beloved users and brothers.
You have to pay more!
In addition to the daily subsidy of 100 yuan, there are also lunches, drinks, snacks, JD.com shopping vouchers and small gifts as benefits. T-shirts are also given to volunteers for free.
A pack of lucky bags filled with gifts was handed out, which made the college students who served as volunteers feel good.
These people became the first batch of registered users of Campus Network in Shanghai, and then quickly spread the reputation of Campus Network as a tinder.
With the help of media promotion by local administrative agencies, and various soft articles embedded in campus network advertisements, there are everywhere.
Coupled with the advertising on NetEase and Sohu portals and the vigorous promotion of Tencent, the data of the campus network soared like a rocket.
Because there were too many visitors, the server on the campus network crashed once.
Chen Guangxia, who became the new CTO, felt humiliated. He has been working overtime overnight and expanded the campus network server twice.
As the starting gun of the Shanghai Marathon was fired, the number of registered users of Campus Network exceeded that of Dazhong Network, officially exceeding 6 million registered users, becoming the number one in the field of acquaintance social networking.
......
In the conference room of Dazhong.com, Yang Botao had a stiff smile on his face and greeted everyone attentively.
At this moment, not only the founders and executives of Dazhong.com, but also various venture capital investors were sitting in the conference room.
In addition to American Venture Capital, Lenovo Capital, Hillhouse Capital, and IDG who invested in the early stages, there are also representatives from SoftBank, Dachen Ventures, China Sequoia, and Baring Investment.
Different from the way Qin Shaoyan looked at investors, Yang Botao felt a chill in his heart when he looked at these people from venture capital companies.
It was as if he was a sheep being targeted by a pack of hungry wolves, who would pounce on him at any moment and tear him to pieces and devour him.
In fact, his feeling was not wrong. These venture capital investors were not here to help him in times of need.
The interests pursued by venture capital, especially risky and high-return interests.
At this time, Dazhong.com was not in a good situation, and this was a good time for venture capital to take action.
The more a company is in crisis, the more funds it needs, and it can transfer greater benefits, and it is still at an extremely low price.
Although campus networks are booming now, market competition is full of uncertainties.
Especially since Dazhong.com still has five million registered users, it is not certain who will win.
Even if it cannot overtake Campus Network and become the number one in the market, it can still sell it at a good price if it can retain half of the market.
What if the campus network suddenly fails one day? This is something that is impossible to predict.
Venture capital is a business that involves risky investments. It requires not only investment vision, but also the confidence and determination to gamble.
Peng Xiaolin, the representative of Lenovo Investment, was the first to speak, "Mr. Yang, Dazhong.com has offered 40% of its shares for financing, so what is your valuation?"
"4 billion." Yang Botao revealed With a confident smile, "After expansion some time ago, Dazhong.com has occupied the market south of the Yangtze River, and has also won the university market in Hubei and Qin provinces. Gansu Province will soon be occupied by us."< br>
Peng Xiaolin nodded, and Xiong Xiaoge suddenly said: "The valuation of 4 billion is a bit high."
Yang Botao frowned, but he quickly calmed down and looked at it with a smile To Xiong Xiaoge, "Mr. Xiong, as far as I know the campus network has shouted out a valuation of 5 billion."
"Although our Dazhong.com does not have as many users as Campus Network, its strength is not bad. The valuation of 4 billion is a very reasonable price."
Xiong Xiaoge smiled, "Campus Network has its own online store. What is the unique business model of Dazhong.com?”
Yang Botao frowned, “We have reached a strategic cooperation with Taotao.com and will soon introduce online stores. We have everything on campus.com.”
Xiong Xiaoge continued: "Campus Network has verified its online e-commerce model, and the results are very good. Moreover, Jingdong Mall specializes in consumer electronics, and its user group is also suitable for Campus Network."
"Jingdong Mall has its own logistics distribution system and after-sales maintenance system, and its shopping experience and business reputation are excellent. These are the advantages of the campus network."
"Mr. Yang, what are the outstanding features of Dazhong.com in e-commerce? Can Taotao.com provide services like Jingdong Mall?"
Yang Botao was a little unhappy, but he still held back and did not get angry. He said in a relaxed tone: "Mr. Xiong, the shopping experience and services you mentioned are just minutiae."
"In a rapidly expanding and fiercely competitive environment, those are all burdens, and what users are pursuing is It’s still cheap and good.”
“What’s more, Dazhong.com’s primary goal now is to expand the market and grab more registered users.”
“The business model will be verified after the users grow. Not too late." Yang Botao said with a smile, "In the early days of portals such as Sina, Sohu, and NetEase, they focused on expansion."
"Building a business model now will make users feel that our website is greedy and only cares about money, which will damage the reputation of the website."
"In the early stages of website development, our focus is on expansion, and we will develop now The business model is tantamount to fishing in the lake. "The business model can be found slowly. If the reputation of the website is bad, it will affect the opinions of users."
Xiong Xiaoge said bluntly: "You said it." It makes sense, you can slowly find the business model, but the premise is that you have a good idea.”
“Do you have other plans besides e-commerce?”
"No?" Xiong Xiaoge sneered, "E-commerce is still owned by the campus network. Do you know what else the campus network has besides e-commerce?"
"Do you know that the campus network is building a post station for college students? Do you know? Does Campus Network develop a one-stop business model of offline payment, catering, hotels, and travel tickets through Campus Network Station? "
"How does Dazhong Network respond? Has it explored any new business models?"< br>
Yang Botao blushed and said quickly: "We can do this too, there's nothing strange about it."
Xiong Xiaoge laughed, "It's just copying after all."< br>
"Mr. Xiong!" Yang Botao said angrily, "That's how the Internet industry is. It's not about creativity, it's about who can run it better."
"I've never heard of a website that relies solely on creativity. "Be big and strong."
Xiong Xiaoge nodded, "Mr. Yang said it well. Now, in the face of the promotion of the campus network, what is Mr. Yang's response plan?"
Yang Botao. I couldn't help but said: "I know Mr. Xiong is a shareholder of Campus Network. I heard that Mr. Xiong has a very good relationship with Qin Shaoyan. He often visits Campus Network to inspect and is more interested in us than his own company."
"What about our Dazhong Network?" Can we have this kind of treatment at that time?”
"Mr. Xiong, don't forget, you are also a shareholder of Dazhong.com?!" Yang Botao said loudly, "When can Mr. Xiong give advice to Dazhong.com? We can't favor one over the other, right?!"
Xiong Xiaoge glanced He glanced at Yang Botao and sneered, "Whenever Mr. Yang can hold a big event, I will come to Dazhong.com every day."
Yang Botao said angrily: "It's nothing special to hold that marathon on campus. It’s just to ride on the popularity of the Olympics.”
“The Olympics only lasts for a month or two, and it will be of no use after that.”
“In the final analysis, the competition between the public network and the campus network is still there. It depends on each’s strength!”
"We, the Dazhong Network, are temporarily avoiding the spotlight during this period. When the heat passes, the campus network is still no match for us!"
Peng Xiaolin showed an interested look, "Mr. Yang is so confident, does he have any plans? ?”
“This is why I called everyone here,” Yang Botao showed a confident expression, “We, Dazhong.com, have launched Series B financing to raise more funds to launch a new offensive in the second half of the year. Destroy the campus network. "
"We will switch the new promotion plan from the student group to the university itself, and use the influence of the university to achieve our promotion."
"Next step, we will. Work closely with universities to launch a series of activities, such as scholarship donations, joint student unions, and incentive programs for outstanding counselors.”
"In addition to these, our Dazhong.com will launch a nationwide big event, University Popularity Star."
"Of course, all of this requires a lot of financial support."
Yang Botao looked serious. , turned his attention to the venture capital investors present.
……
In just two months, the Global International Marathon has created a wave of craze.
With the double support of official propaganda and soft-text advertisements, Facebook has dominated the coverage of mainstream media in Europe and the United States.
Relying on this wave of publicity offensive, it successfully gained popularity in Europe.
A large number of users outside the United States have begun to register. Among them, Canadian and British users have the largest growth. They are also English-speaking countries and there is no communication barrier.
Subsequently, France, Germany and Northern Europe...
New users from various countries continue to join, and Facebook's data is growing rapidly.
Soon, Facebook began preparations to establish a European branch, specifically responsible for Facebook's business in Europe.
The European branch is headquartered in London, and headhunting companies have begun to look for candidates for the president of Facebook Europe.
Facebook has officially entered the international Internet market and continues to expand in Europe, a region lacking Internet companies and products, even faster than its expansion in the United States.
Facebook, which has no rivals in Europe, is becoming more and more eye-catching, while its competitors are still struggling in the United States.
More and more investors are finding Facebook, waving a lot of money and trying to buy a ticket to get on the bus.
Facebook's valuation is also expanding rapidly, even to the point of changing every month.
Last night, G Fat and George, one of the shareholders of Facebook, have been harassed frequently recently. People keep trying to take away their Facebook shares at high prices with checks.
Fortunately, these two people are not short of money and are not interested in the temptation of money.
They also see the achievements of Facebook in their eyes, and they are very happy that their original investment of one million US dollars can get such a big return.
G Fat and George still want to keep their shares to see how far Facebook can grow.
Small shareholders did not sell their shares, and TNB, as the major shareholder, could not contact the boss.
Sequoia, Goldman Sachs and Microsoft are also feeling the pressure, and they can't wait to start the next round of financing.
Currently, the market has different opinions on Facebook’s valuation, ranging from 4 billion to 10 billion, and some institutions have even called out a valuation of 15 billion.
Faced with the hot pursuit of the investment market, Facebook did not respond at all and expressed silence on the valuation provided by the evaluation agency.
However, Sequoia came forward to refute it, believing that the 15 billion valuation was ridiculous.
Goldman Sachs has also issued its own assessment report to the outside world, and is very optimistic about Facebook's development prospects. However, Facebook still has many difficulties at this stage.
Whether it is the language and cultural issues encountered in expanding into foreign markets, or the prospect analysis of Facebook’s business model, negative comments have been expressed.
To sum it up in one sentence, a valuation of 15 billion is simply impossible, and a reasonable valuation is between 4 billion and 6 billion.
These Facebook investors are very anxious, and they regret not forcing Qin Shaoyan to sign a financing agreement in advance.
The valuation of US$5 billion is now a quite appropriate price. Otherwise, if it continues to be delayed, the valuation will increase to at least 7 to 8 billion.
But this is impossible. Sequoia, Goldman Sachs, and Microsoft will not allow this to happen, at least until they complete Series B financing and then increase it to 15 billion.
Before the Series A financing, Qin Shaoyan owned 60% of Facebook’s shares. After the financing, he still owned 48% of the shares. In addition, Zhang Pingyi’s 3% was in the employee option pool, which obviously exceeded 51%. %.
This piece of fat is coveted by many people. If they want to get on board and dilute their equity, their most important goal is to get it from Qin Shaoyan.
……
(End of this chapter)