Volume 3: Taking Roots 2016 Chapter 562 Three Fires in the Industry
On the other hand, Zhou Dongsheng was naturally the first to receive the news that Hu Weiwei was going to hold a press conference.
It has to be said that the high-profile format of a press conference is indeed very suitable for showcasing Mobike's technological content to the outside world, and using it as a means of differentiated competition to open the door to the market.
The technical product strength is the core competitiveness of Mobike. For consumers, for the same rental price, there is a "high-end" product costing more than 3,000 yuan, and there is an ordinary yellow bike in front of them...
Obviously, there is no reason to choose the latter, and its relatively high-end product image can also leave a deep first impression on consumers and play a preconceived role.
For Mobike, which wants to catch up, it is natural to make full use of these advantages. Obviously, this is what Hu Weiwei did.
But since I want to get off to a good start, shouldn't I add some fuel to the fire and spice up this press conference?
After all, as the largest individual shareholder, Zhou Dongsheng’s primary goal is naturally to make this piece of cake bigger, the bigger the better!
Then, in the carnival of the crazy rise of the sharing economy, he decisively chose to cash out at a high price.
This way you can enjoy the deliciousness of the cake instead of waiting until it hits your face and then regretting not having the chance to taste it.
If the domestic sharing economy can be divided into three fires, then in Zhou Dongsheng's opinion, the first fire was started by Didi Chuxing, which was led by professional teams and has a strong capital background.
Although it is a case of "learning from the barbarians to defeat the barbarians" and borrowing the model of the foreign taxi-hailing app Uber, the capital behind it is too strong, and the fire of the sharing economy has become popular in China.
Today, its valuation in the capital market has already approached 20 billion US dollars , and its market value exceeds 100 billion RMB. It is undoubtedly the number one player in the domestic sharing economy concept and a well-deserved leader.
It was precisely because this first fire burned so vigorously that even a number of capital giants in the capital circle rushed to get a piece of the pie, including giants like Tencent and Alibaba, which were backed by state-owned assets.
With this group of bigwigs standing by, a head effect naturally formed in the capital circle, pushing the concept of sharing economy to the forefront and becoming the choice of other small and medium-sized capitals.
The concept of sharing economy is all-encompassing. Didi, with a market value of tens of billions, is naturally a high-end game among them. Capital giants are rampant, and small fish and shrimps are not even qualified to participate.
After all, the rules of the primary market are obviously much stricter than those of the stock market, a secondary market in which everyone participates.
Since the high-end market is out of reach, it can only be backward compatible. At this time, the second fire of the sharing economy is undoubtedly shared bicycles.
Although they are both cars, the shared bicycle project is undoubtedly a more cost-effective option compared to high-end taxi-hailing apps.
Tens of millions of dollars in financing would be like a stone sinking into the ocean if put into a high-end game, and it is likely that not even a ripple would be created. But if put into the shared bicycle project, it would be like a depth bomb.
Before Zhou Dongsheng entered the market, both Ofo and Mobike had already gone through the angel round. Among them, Ofo, which is based in the university market, has undoubtedly had the most outstanding market performance.
After receiving the A round of financing from Zhou Dongsheng, the company made rapid progress and captured the Beijing university market. It did not stop its expansion and began to enter the national market.
Compared with Mobike, the half-dead and motionless bait, Ofo, the lively bait, is obviously more attractive and naturally attracts the attention of other capitals.
In order to realize the ambition of entering the national market, financing is naturally an urgent matter. Therefore, the Ofo bike, which hit it off with capital, naturally completed another round of financing.
Ofo has proven that its business model and product positioning are very suitable for the university market, and its capture of the Beijing university market is the best proof of this.
Now that the business model has been formed, the next thing to do is to continue to replicate its success. As long as it can capture the national university market, that will be the time for the shared bike to become profitable.
This touching story successfully impressed the investors, and ofo won US$2 million in financing. Together with Zhou Dongsheng's additional US$1 million, the ofo team was once again fueled.
Although Zhou Dongsheng, who now has sufficient cash flow, is fully qualified to obtain this round of financing, it is obviously not enough to rely on his own family to start this fire.
If he tries too hard and lacks the combined force of capital from other companies, this butterfly effect may cause the market to shift to other projects and even give birth to another unicorn project.
Therefore, Zhou Dongsheng simply chose to keep his share of the pie and make additional investments, indicating that he was optimistic about the prospects of the project and was not ready to cash out and leave.
What's more, the one entering the market is Jinshajiang Venture Capital, a well-known expert in the capital circle.
Let’s not talk about other achievements, just talking about Didi’s high-end game, which was accelerated by Jinshajiang Venture Capital from its early budding stage.
Every profession has its own specialties. As a top venture capital fund institution in the capital circle , it is an expert in focusing on early-stage project investment and is best at making a small investment for a big return.
Similarly, when it comes to carrying the sedan chair, Jinshajiang is absolutely professional. After all, if you want to make a small investment to gain a big return, making the cake bigger and then cashing out is naturally a basic operation.
Zhou Dongsheng's code of conduct has always been to leave professional matters to professionals, so there is naturally no reason to prevent such a professional player from entering.
With the support of old top capital, Ofo will naturally come into the sight of more capital and receive more attention.
The first step was to introduce the concept of sharing economy into the domestic market, which was a great success.
The second fire has undoubtedly pushed the sharing economy to a new height. With shared bicycles spread all over the streets and alleys, the public has established recognition of the concept of sharing economy and formed a market foundation.
As for the third fire, it is naturally the shared power bank. After the help of the previous two fires, the concept of sharing economy has been completely popular, attracting countless capitals.
Capital that failed to catch the first two trains will naturally try to find ways to take advantage of this wave of popularity. Therefore, any product related to the concept of sharing will be favored by capital.
The rich application scenarios and advantages such as being lightweight and portable have made shared power banks the third fire, which has directly burned out the concept of sharing and brought the capital market, which had been so fanatical that it had lost its rationality, back to rationality.
These three fires basically cover the early, middle and late stages of the sharing economy. The relationship between the three is undoubtedly mutually beneficial, and it is also the general trend that has created its glory.
If we ignore the general trend of the times and only talk about product demand, wouldn't that be rogue?
It's like if the order is reversed and shared power banks are allowed to fire the first shot, it will obviously only result in the project being aborted.
As strong as Tengda is, didn’t the short video project Weishi also fall in the darkness before dawn?
