Volume 4 Crazy Growth 2017 Chapter 829 The Second Half Begins
As midsummer July approaches, the air becomes visibly hotter.
That’s right, although the air is transparent and odorless, invisible and intangible, but when it appears in the form of a distorted heat wave that keeps coming towards you, you will surely feel the same way about the statement “visible to the naked eye”.
When the outdoor temperature remains above 30 degrees Celsius, I believe that most people will not be willing to stay outdoors for longer than necessary.
Perhaps the most harmonious match for the scorching summer is the booming shared bicycle industry. As 2017 is almost halfway through, the booming shared bicycle industry has never stopped and is even getting more intense.
The popularity of shared bikes seems to be spreading like wildfire across the country as the hot summer approaches, sweeping across the streets and alleys of major cities, and filling the streets with colorful bikes.
This made the originally empty and clean city streets suddenly become a little crowded, especially with the emergence of hundreds of shared bicycle companies on the market, from small yellow to small blue, small green and small red...
Not only are the entrepreneurs confused, but even the users are confused. It's hard to tell which brand of the colorful bicycles is which.
It is just like the grand scene of "Suddenly, a spring breeze comes, and thousands of pear trees blossom", except that the ancient poem describes the snow scene, while here it refers to the madness of the shared bicycle industry.
Behind this spectacular street scene, we can see that the entire industry is already showing a tendency to develop in a pathological direction. However, most people are so caught up in the frenzy that they are completely unaware of it.
At the same time, in the face of the trend of shared bicycles sweeping the world, many people are confused about it. Bicycles can be regarded as industrial products with a long history. They were born in the late 17th century and have gone through hundreds of years of baptism...
In the 1970s, its status in China reached its peak. As one of the three essential items for marriage, its status was extremely transcendent. The classic Type 38 bicycle has therefore become a mark of the times and the general public's memory of the 1970s and 1980s.
How come this industrial creation, which is so commonplace and has long been "eliminated" by the times, has such strong vitality today?
Is it just based on such a ridiculous sharing concept?
This is indeed the case. If we only use the idea of building a bicycle brand to do this, then the prospects of the entire project will obviously be very limited, and there will be very little room for imagination.
After all, in such a traditional track that has been developed for hundreds of years, the space left for latecomers is undoubtedly very small. Whether it is technology or innovation, there is obviously no breakthrough.
Add some power and it becomes a motorcycle, switch to electricity and it becomes an electric car, add wheels and it becomes a tricycle...
During the hundreds of years of development, it is clear that everyone has already tried to come up with something new based on the bicycle.
Looking at the hundreds of years of development history of bicycles, isn’t it also a microcosm of the development of the Industrial Revolution?
As an industrial foundation born in the late seventeenth century, the representative achievements of each era are related to it and can be cleverly combined with it to create a new symbol of the era.
Although our predecessors have almost blocked the road, the advent of the Internet age has also created a kind of wisdom that has never existed before - the Internet.
During the booming development in the past two decades, the concept of "Internet +" has become more deeply rooted in people's hearts. Everything combined with the Internet seems to produce a subtle chemical reaction, thus being reborn and revitalized.
Regardless of business or social interaction, the concept of "Internet +" has completely changed the lifestyle of the general public.
Even some creations that the general public has long been accustomed to can become completely different with the injection of the concept of "Internet +".
Even the simple bicycle is the same. From a motorcycle to an electric car, it has now transformed itself into a new identity and is once again sweeping the market as a "shared bicycle."
In the hundreds of years of industrial development history, it can be said that it has never been absent, but has arrived late.
It is obvious that there is no breakthrough if we only focus on the structure. Moreover, even if we use the most advanced industrial technology and material craftsmanship, the upper limit of a bicycle is only so high.
It is impossible to come up with something fancy after all. Since the structure doesn't work, start with the concept. Hype and packaging are always effective weapons, and are also the means to become famous and achieve success.
Throughout history, this is an indispensable part for those who have accomplished great things. Just like before the wise and almost demonic Zhuge Kongming came out of the mountains, the saying "If you can get one of the Crouching Dragon and the Phoenix, you can pacify the world" had already spread in the martial arts world...
Although the packaging of the concept of "sharing" has given bicycles a new look and pushed them to stand on the historical stage again, the undercurrent beneath the stage is actually a reflection of the vigorous vitality of China's economy.
Since joining the WTO, China's economy has taken off rapidly, injecting vigorous vitality into the world economy with its ever-changing spirit, and has also become the focus of everyone's attention.
Despite the constant voices of pessimism, with some saying that the business is either collapsing or on the way to collapse, the facts are like an invisible slap in the face that has hit countless people.
As a result, even many economists at home and abroad have to keep up with China's pace. Every few years, they have to adopt a new set of ideas, new concepts and terms in order to accurately describe and analyze economic phenomena occurring in China.
And this is a path that has never been imagined.
The concept of "sharing economy" is undoubtedly the best interpretation of this wave of craze for shared bicycles. However, as this wave has reached the peak of the era, a turning point may have quietly begun to brew.
It’s just that due to the limitations of the times, we are all part of the group that “doesn’t know the true face of Mount Lu” and knows nothing about it, except... Zhou Dongsheng.
As an investor who was the first to enter the market when shared bicycles were still in their infancy and who reaped the benefits of the two leading companies, this investment is a classic case that many peers in the investment industry will talk about with relish.
It has become a hot topic of conversation among the general public after dinner. Relying on the advantage of being the first to enter the market and grabbing land, these two investments have undoubtedly created hundreds of times of profit returns for Zhou Dongsheng.
Today, the news that Dongsheng Investment acquired Ofo and Mobike for US$2 million each is no longer a secret. It is not difficult to find out if you are interested.
After all, there is no wall that is impenetrable. Moreover, neither Dongsheng Investment nor the two major shared bicycle companies had any intention of hiding anything from the beginning to the end.
However, as time goes by, the two leaders have gradually grown into giants and have received the favor and investment of many old-brand capitals, which have poured more powerful momentum and strong funds into them.
Zhou Dongsheng, an early investor, is like a rocket booster that has run out of fuel; its role and weight are gradually declining.
After all, compared with the two huge hairy legs of Alibaba and Tenda, no matter how thick Zhou Dongsheng's thigh is, it is like a dwarf compared to a giant. The gap is so big that they are not even comparable.
In addition to these two Internet giants, there are a number of investment institutions that are equally impressive in terms of weight and qualifications. Among them are some national institutions. Compared with them, even Alibaba and Tencent have to stand aside.
It is no exaggeration to say that among the many passengers sitting in these two carriages, Zhou Dongsheng is the smallest one. If it were not for the first-mover advantage, he would not have been able to occupy a seat here.
If he were to enter the market at this point in time, even if Zhou Dongsheng had the wealth of the youngest billionaire, he might not even be able to find the door.
After all, when it comes to investment at this level, the amount of money is no longer important. The most important thing is that other people don’t want to play with you at all.
However, if this is not true, Zhou Dongsheng will have occupied a place on these two carriages and will be able to sit back and enjoy the dividends brought by rapid development.
Even if it declines, it doesn't matter if I have no say. I don't need to put in any effort and I can still benefit from it. Moreover, this investment was destined to be a win since the shared bicycle craze swept the world.
The only difference is the matter of how much profit you make. Zhou Dongsheng is not greedy about this and will not think about squeezing out the last bit of profit before exiting. After all, that kind of extreme top-escaping operation is not so easy to achieve.
Just like Zhou Dongsheng had already exited the market before the 5178 market in 2015, if you only think about running away when the situation really gets to the critical moment, it might be too late.
If you are not careful, it can easily become the last straw that breaks the camel's back.
After all, Dongsheng Investment's initial investment of 2 million US dollars was enough to acquire 30% of the shares of the two leading companies. If it were not for taking advantage of the situation, it would be impossible to obtain such a high share.
In addition, Dongsheng Investment was already quite influential at that time, and in addition to funds, it also provided a lot of support for the development of the two leading companies. Both parties got what they needed and reached such a financing agreement.
This also makes Dongsheng Investment the second largest shareholder besides the founding team.
However, in the one and a half years since Dongsheng Investment won the A round alone, the two major shared bicycle companies have completed more than five rounds of financing, and the scale of financing has risen rapidly, and they have respectively entered the threshold of the club of financing of hundreds of millions of US dollars.
It is precisely with the continuous injection of capital that the fire of shared bicycles has been able to burn to such a spectacular scale in just over a year.
As for the price... after all, investment institutions are not charities, and they are not here to do charity. They pay out real money just to get on board.
To this end, the founding team naturally has to continue to divide shares, using the company's future expectations as payment in exchange for funds in the hands of institutions, and work together to make the company bigger and stronger, so that this future expectation can be realized. This can be considered a complete closed loop.
Although IPO is the ultimate goal of capital, it does not mean that cashing out cannot be done before listing. It is natural for the founding team, including the founding team, to cash out through financing opportunities.
After all, starting a business is like thousands of troops crossing a single-plank bridge. Only a few can finally reach the other side. And it is impossible to go without food and drink during this period, right?
If you want the horse to run, you must feed it grass. Therefore, shareholders will naturally not object to entrepreneurs cashing out part of their shares to improve their lives.
In addition, in each round of financing, shareholders can not only follow the investment, but also reduce their holdings or even cash out.
After all, there are only so many chips on the table. As the number of players increases, they will all be distributed one day. Although the chips can be increased by issuing more chips, the additional issuance will inevitably affect the gold content of the original chips, and "inflation" is naturally inevitable.
Even though Zhou Dongsheng has the privilege of not having his shares diluted due to his first-mover advantage, this priority cannot be as powerful as the right of final interpretation.
Everything has a limit, let alone investments involving profits?
For this reason, Zhou Dongsheng is naturally not an insatiable person who would occupy the toilet without doing anything. Isn't the ultimate goal of holding the chips to put the money in the pocket?
If there is an IPO day, it doesn’t matter if there is a lock-up period. Cashing out can still be completed through conventional operations such as pledging equity.
Except for very few individual cases where the market value plummeted after listing, or even fell below the issue price, the market value of most companies will be significantly improved once they go public.
What's more, the dividends at the beginning of listing are one of the few opportunities to break the 10% price fluctuation limit, and the main board still has a maximum price fluctuation limit of 44%.
However, platforms like the ChiNext and the Science and Technology Innovation Board have no restrictions at all. If there is enough potential, it will naturally be fully realized in the market once it is listed.
However, Zhou Dongsheng knew very well that as the vanguard of the sharing economy, shared bicycles ultimately failed to make it to the stage of listing. Instead, shared power banks came from behind and accomplished this feat.
Although Zhou Dongsheng had thought about bringing the two together, perhaps there was a chance to change their fate, but obviously, as the two continued to grow and turned from two small boats into giant ships, this possibility gradually approached zero.
Therefore, as early as the last round of financing, Zhou Dongsheng had already begun to look for an opportunity to reduce his holdings and cash out. Combined with the part that was gradually diluted, he now only has 10% of the shares left in his hands.
In addition to the cash proceeds, the value of this 10% stake has more than doubled by hundreds of times compared to the original 30% valued at US$2 million.
As for the arrangement of the funds obtained from cashing out, part of it will naturally be put into overseas investment business, and Zhou Dongsheng will use the other part of the funds to support the development of shared power banks.
With the further development of the sharing economy, Zhou Dongsheng seems to have gradually transformed from an investor to an entrepreneur, waiting for an opportunity to take over the baton of the sharing economy and prepare to enter the next stage.
The value of business comes from creating value for society. Once this value is unsustainable, this towering building will naturally be in danger, and all its glory will become a thing of the past.
This may be the fate of shared bicycles.
This vigorous bike-sharing craze has undoubtedly officially entered its second half.
