2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 385 Wang Wei's "Nokia"

Studies have shown that people feel more comfortable in unfamiliar environments where no one knows them.

Is this perhaps one of the meanings of travel?

In the top-floor hotel room, Tan and Gu, no longer restrained, freely indulged their youth.

Anyway, in Hong Kong, you don't have to worry about being recognized, so you can be very comfortable.

"hiss"

Ms. Gu was becoming more and more skilled, and the thought crossed Tan Jincheng's mind as he stood naked in front of the window.

The curtains were, of course, drawn; Tan Jincheng didn't have any penchant for exposing himself.

"After we get married, let's move out. It'll be more comfortable for just the two of us," Tan Jincheng said, stroking Gu Qingqing's hair.

There was no response, because Gu Qingqing was too busy to speak at the moment.

The white sheets are her, and the red sheets are also her. Sometimes it's kind of romantic to think about it.

After a while, Gu Qingqing stopped, rolled her eyes at Tan Jincheng, but the room was dimly lit and Tan Jincheng didn't notice.

"You think you can just move like that? Jin Yue definitely won't agree." She always sneaks out on business trips.

"There's always a way. She'll have to go to school eventually. If the child is having too good a life, we'll send her to school."

"Then the house should be bought closer to home, so that it will be more convenient to travel."

"We'll talk about that later, hehe, let's go to bed now."

Good residential communities are actually quite rare these days, and most commercial housing is only six stories high without elevators. This is why Tan Jincheng doesn't like to have a private residential building for himself; he simply doesn't find it appealing.

Taking Beicang District as an example, among the newly developed residential areas, only Liren Garden and Shimao have elevators. The rest are mostly small six-story buildings. On the one hand, the construction period is short, which is conducive to short-term capital recovery. On the other hand, it is also a limitation of the times.

The large-scale construction of high-rise buildings in the real estate industry really began after the 4 trillion yuan stimulus package in 08. In that era of scarce commercial housing, the district actually encouraged large labor-intensive enterprises like Flash to develop housing projects.

In addition to serving as employee accommodation, buildings developed by large enterprises can also enhance land transfer rates and the city's image.

If they hadn't bought the Financial Building, Flash Motors would indeed have developed a residential community. Apart from the future automotive business, the Beicang District is planned to have 2000 employees, so developing a community is definitely necessary.

However, since the financial building has been purchased, and its accompanying apartment building can accommodate a considerable number of people, there is no need to waste the money for the time being.

In terms of real estate, Tan Jincheng doesn't want to do it himself; he prefers to buy directly, or bid for a piece of land and entrust it to a construction company for development. Doing it himself is too much trouble.

There are too many intricacies involved, I'm too lazy to figure them out.

With its plans for two-wheeled electric vehicles, lithium batteries, the internet, and automotive businesses, Flash doesn't need to make money through real estate at all; this is the confidence of someone who has been reborn.

However, while Flash does have plans for residential communities, it has no intention of selling them to the public. The main purpose is to sell them to its employees at a price lower than the market price, so that they are less likely to be taken advantage of by real estate developers.

Silent all night.

The following day, Tan and Gu, who rarely had time off from work, happily strolled around Hong Kong, accompanied by Lai Yiu-fai, Lau Su-man, and Lee Ka-man, mainly shopping.

Meanwhile, in Shenzhen, just across the river, Shen Nanpeng had already met with Wang Wei.

SF Express, eager to expand, did indeed have a need for financing. After Tan Jincheng called Wang Wei to express Shen Nanpeng's intention to meet with him, Wang Wei agreed without much hesitation.

Orange Technology's fruit and vegetable delivery business is very important to SF Express at this stage. The potential delivery business for tens of millions of users in the next few years is the largest order SF Express has ever had since its establishment.

SF Express conducted research on Happy Farm, a social mini-game under Orange Technology. In addition to its wide coverage, it has another characteristic: most of the players are people with small assets at home.

Unlike users of large-scale online games who are accustomed to going to internet cafes to play games, users who play during fragmented time are unlikely to go to internet cafes specifically to play this small game.

Most of them are office workers who have computers at home or are slacking off at work, including the elderly and students who secretly play games. These users have much stronger spending power than those who play games in internet cafes.

They also have a stronger desire to shop online, and their methods of receiving goods are more convenient.

These overlap with SF Express's target customers, which is why Wang Wei took Orange Technology's cooperation request very seriously. In this day and age, business is all about teamwork. While he didn't understand why Orange Technology, located in Zhejiang province and with a thriving express delivery network in Tonglu, would seek cooperation with SF Express, it was nonetheless a significant opportunity for SF Express to expand nationwide.

In the days before standardized online shopping delivery methods were established, and the choice of courier service was determined by the store or even the online shopper, large group orders were extremely important for any courier company.

Even though he was Wang Wei, and even though he was the future leader of the company with the best reputation and service in the domestic express delivery industry, he was still very excited when he received this order from Orange Technology in 2006.

Wang Wei personally took charge of liaising with Orange Technology. Fruit and vegetable transportation is much more difficult than clothing and other categories, but if SF Express wants to expand nationwide, this difficulty must be overcome.

Difficulties and large orders are often the driving force for a company's progress. SF Express, which has ambitions to expand nationwide, needs large order customers like Orange Technology.

Stable large order customers allow SF Express to invest in its expansion without any worries, while the problems that arise during the transportation of fresh fruits and vegetables can also help SF Express accumulate a wealth of experience in technology and transportation.

After talking with Shen Nanpeng in detail, Wang Wei became even more certain of his thoughts.

Shen Nanpeng wanted to invest in SF Express, which also needed funds for external expansion. While bank loans were an option, relying on this method would only increase the company's burden indefinitely. If the relationship with a particular bank was not handled well, the cash flow would be in trouble.

Sequoia can provide SF Express with the funds it needs for expansion, and Orange Technology also needs a stable courier service provider, so the two parties can establish a strategic partnership.

In addition, Wang Wei learned from Shen Nanpeng that Orange Technology, besides its fruit and vegetable express delivery chain, also intends to establish a vertical e-commerce website for branded clothing flash sales, and the orders for the online flash sales business can also be handled by SF Express.

This greatly appealed to Wang Wei. The actual controller of Orange Technology, who is also the CEO of Flash Group, started his business with the garment foreign trade and has a natural advantage in the garment industry.

If this business is done well, there will be no shortage of orders. In just a few years, SF Express will truly become the number one in the country!
Wang Wei had no doubt about the authenticity of the news. Formal conversations between top investors like these always involve confidentiality agreements, including their conversation today and the conversation between Tan Jincheng and Xiao Ma a while ago.

The fact that Shen Nanpeng was able to reveal this news to him suggests that the two sides already had a foundation for cooperation, and that he would only tell him this with Tan Jincheng's approval.

"What does President Tan mean?" Wang Wei asked, trying his best to suppress his excitement.

If both businesses are handled by SF Express, then Orange Technology is no less than SF Express's Nokia.

"President Tan's idea is for us, Sequoia Capital, to lead the investment, with him co-investing, and to sign a strategic cooperation agreement with your company. The three of us will work together to make the company bigger and stronger," Shen Nanpeng said with a smile.

Shen Nanpeng's team had investigated SF Express and, as Tan Jincheng said, it indeed had great potential. Moreover, he himself had experienced SF Express several times and found that its service was indeed much better than other companies.

Ordinary people see good service, but Shen Nanpeng, a top investor, can see the reasons behind it.

Perhaps, as Tan Jincheng said, the idea of ​​him facilitating the investment in SF Express and subsequently in Orange Technology is not something Tan Jincheng should thank him for, but rather something he should thank Tan Jincheng for.

There is also a hierarchy among entrepreneurs. In some situations, Tan Jincheng, who is too young, has to give face to entrepreneurs who are older than him and refer to himself as a junior.

But not everyone can address him as an elder, at least not Wang Wei at this moment.

In terms of status, both Shen Nanpeng and Tan Jincheng are entrepreneurs who have received the CCTV Annual Economic Figures Award.

To a certain extent, this is official endorsement; Tan Jincheng has become an entrepreneur recognized by the national government, which is a very high status.

This is why Ni Jie was so furious after being sued by the Cycling Association that he insisted on filing a countersuit. In the early 2000s, the title of "Economic Person of the Year" was not just a simple honor, nor was it merely about making a name for oneself in front of the people of the whole country.

To some extent, this can be considered a protective charm. As long as you don't do anything particularly outrageous or commit any major violations in the course of business operations, it can basically keep you safe.

In fact, from 2000 to 2023, among the economic figures recognized by CCTV, while there have been some who have fared particularly poorly, the proportion is not particularly high, which is enough to prove the prestige of this award.

Whether it was Shen Nanpeng, who was sitting opposite him, or Tan Jincheng, who was having a great time in Hong Kong, both of them were of higher status than Wang Wei at the moment. Both of them were there to cooperate with sincerity, which touched Wang Wei.

They'll provide the money and the business opportunities. All SF Express needs to do is hand over a certain amount of equity, and then focus on expansion and spending the funds provided by Shen Nanpeng.

"I, Lao Li, have never fought such a rich battle before." Wang Wei thought of a line from the TV series "Bright Sword" in a somewhat nonsensical way.

If you cling to shares, it doesn't feel like running a business; it just feels like being a small business owner. Wang Wei knew he would be giving away a portion of the shares before he even decided to expand.

Therefore, it's not difficult to accept.

"Give me two days. I'll go back to the company, have a meeting, and discuss it with everyone."

Wang Wei did not give a direct answer, but the meaning behind his words was self-evident.

(End of this chapter)