2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 493 "Gu Qingqing, the Winner in Life"

December 12th, the third day of the eleventh lunar month.

The first snow in the capital arrived two days ago, while Ningbo, far away on the coast of the East China Sea, is still experiencing continuous rain and the temperature has dropped considerably.

Inside the Flashpoint headquarters building, the busiest place is still the office floor where the Orange Products project team is located.

"Visit Orange Products Mall to buy your New Year's goods and enjoy up to zero-yuan purchases!"

The gimmick of offering free items to front-row shoppers last time was quite good, and the Double Twelve shopping festival continues to use this tactic. Compared to November 11th, Orange Shopping, which has been online for a month and has gained considerable popularity, has a much higher level of promotional activity this time.

After midnight, the number of new and old users flocking to Orange Products Club increased significantly, all vying for the free order slots at midnight.

Why is there such a large crowd?

"They've received their salaries. Whether it's the 15th or the end of the month, they've all been paid."

"That makes sense."

"Keep a close eye on it, make sure the server doesn't have any problems. We just took the boss's money, so if anything goes wrong, you're in for a world of trouble."

"Don't worry, nothing will happen."

Just before Double Twelve, Orange Technology announced the completion of its Series C financing. The excitement of each financing round is felt not only by the shareholders but also by the employees.

Internet companies are known for their generous payouts, and Orange Technology is no exception. With each round of financing, the company receives a large sum of cash, and employees receive bonuses or, in some cases, stock options and equity.

With enough money, everything is easy to do. The Orange Products team, with its experience in Double Eleven promotions, was full of energy after the Double Twelve New Year's Shopping Festival started.

The news of the successful Series C financing, coinciding with Double Twelve, has once again put Orange Technology in the spotlight. Unlike before, the announcement was not as detailed, only stating that Sequoia Capital led the financing round, raising the company's valuation to $4.5 million.

With a valuation of around 35 billion, it has only been three years since its establishment!
The success story of Ali's IPO has given people a direct experience of the charm of the internet. Like Jack Ma, the actual controller and CEO of Orange Technology are not professional internet people, but they have also achieved considerable success.

The internet is indeed a magical place.

Boss Tan has transformed Flash Group into its current size with thousands of employees, achieving all the social status one would expect and being treated as an honored guest wherever he goes.

However, when it comes to cashing out, it's not so easy. Physical businesses can't raise funds in rounds like internet companies.

Otherwise, the company might not be yours after all the financing. Just look at the lawsuits Wahaha is currently fighting. In fact, some business owners can easily find themselves in trouble during the financing process.

This is what distinguishes it from the internet.

After several years of entrepreneurship, Mr. Tan was actually the richest when he first started Jinpeng Trading with Zhang Xupeng. Back then, he could have had all the money he wanted and buy whatever he wanted.

However, at the Flashpoint stage, we have to start from the company's perspective and consider the company's growth potential in everything we do.

Having lived a life of poverty for so long, it's a bit hard to adjust to suddenly having over a hundred million in your account.

But if we're really talking about winners in life, it should be our little Gu. Before even graduating, he not only owns shares in an internet company valued at over 30 billion, but also has over 1 million in cash in his account.

She didn't graduate from university and was less than 22 years old, yet her net worth already exceeded 300 million yuan, with over 100 million yuan in cash in her account. This is real wealth, and compared to Tan Jincheng, she has never really experienced hardship.

Orange Technology had a startup capital of 10 million yuan in its early days, which is considered extravagant compared to other entrepreneurs. No matter how the CEO arranged the work, having money in his pocket made everything he did the easiest.

"When we get to next year, will our CEO Gu feel lost staring at the cold, hard cash in his account?"

That night, Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing stayed at the highest point of Beicang again. After supervising the GMV for the first hour of Double Twelve for a while, and having a late-night snack with the staff as usual, Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing returned to the top floor to rest.

To be honest, since November, staying up late has almost become the norm for these two, and they spend a lot of time staying here.

Going home too late would disturb his family's rest. His father had recently come over, and since there was nothing else to do, Tan Jincheng was too lazy to bother the elderly couple, after all, they had been separated for so long.

To give the elderly couple more free time, little Tan Jinyue has recently become a "honorary employee" of FlashDrive again during the day, going to work with her older brother and sister-in-law every day, and then being driven home by a driver in the evening.

"What do you mean by looking at a cold, hard 100 million in cash in an account?" Gu Qingqing asked, somewhat confused.

She clearly didn't understand the reference.

"It's nothing. If someone interviews you in a few years, you can say that when I was 21, I was lost looking at the 100 million in my account."

He's practically a mini-Lei Jun (Lei Jun's nickname), even though Lei Jun himself has never said that.

"Looking at 100 million in cash and feeling lost? Who would say something so shameless? You can talk, right?" "I can't be lost at all. My money will be gone in a while. I'll just be lying in bed for a few days."

Tan Jincheng intends to inject the cash he cashed out into ByteDance's engine division to supplement the start-up capital for the acquisition of Changfeng Group next year; it really won't be sitting there for long.

Gu Qingqing smiled and hugged Tan Jincheng: "What about my money? Do you want it? I can lend it to you if you want."

If too much capital is injected into ByteDance's advertising platform, it will dilute Huang Ming's shareholding significantly. Huang Ming may not be willing to follow suit and invest. Therefore, this capital is more of a loan to ByteDance for its own use.

As for Gu Qingqing's share, Tan Jincheng generally doesn't interfere with how she handles it. This money came from his father-in-law's 300 million yuan venture capital, and it's not up to Tan Jincheng to give orders arbitrarily.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Forget it. Our money is all used for investment, so there's no need for both of us to cash out. You can keep this money for now; consider it a guarantee for the future of our two families."

“Next year, we will set up a family trust. This money will be used as start-up capital. After making so much money, we should leave ourselves some security.”

Half of December has passed, and New Year's Day is just around the corner. Continuous snowfall across the country is on its way, making this year truly only suitable for hibernation. The fact that the New Year's shopping festival is scheduled to launch at the beginning of the eleventh lunar month is unavoidable.

Given the insufficient transport capacity and inconvenient transportation, and assuming snowfall, the peak shipping period for this batch of goods during the Lunar New Year shopping season is estimated to last until around New Year's Day.

After New Year's Day, Orange Products will reduce its promotional efforts in order to control the intensity of express delivery.

Even Sun Tongyu was unaware of the details of the Double Twelve Chinese New Year shopping festival. Orange Products will pull off this stunt, and regardless of its effectiveness, competitors will follow suit, especially Vancl, which is launching at the end of this month.

Nothing more than a good concept. If Orange Products' promotions are effective, we should follow suit; if they are not effective, we should follow suit even more. Our competitors will only think that Orange Products' promotions are too early and too far from the Chinese New Year.

This can be seen as Tan Jincheng digging a pit for a series of competitors.

With snowstorms looming and shipping capacity overflowing, the inability to deliver goods is not a good thing for an online store or website.

My impression is that the reason I didn't like participating in the Double Eleven shopping festival in the later stages was that the delivery time was much longer than usual.

"Are you really not going anywhere this year?"

The night was long, and the two, still tender after their intimacy, were not yet sleepy.

Gu Qingqing's question stemmed from the day Tan Jinyue let slip that Tan Jincheng had been talking in his sleep, which the little brat overheard and remembered.

When they got home, Tan Lihua asked about this at the dinner table.

Is this why he was trapped in Beicang? Otherwise, there's no other reason at all. He arrived before the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, and the New Year wouldn't be this early anyway.

Having let it slip, Tan Jincheng didn't know how to respond. He could only say that he had heard the prediction from a famous meteorological expert and asked them not to spread it to others, so as not to cause panic.

As a public figure, Tan Jincheng didn't want to say too much about anything that was predictive, and he tried to control his private remarks as much as possible.

"Okay, let's not go out. Let's bring your parents over in a few days. How about we have a family reunion in Beicang this year? If your sister is willing, she can bring her family too. It's been a long time since I've seen your cousin."

Gu Yuxin, who runs a clothing wholesale business in Sijiqing, Hangzhou, not only maintained his previous business but also opened several online stores on Taobao based on Tan Jincheng's advice.

The profits from clothing sales in Sijiqing have been phenomenal in recent years. With excellent distribution channels and extremely low costs, opening an online store is an ideal choice.

Tan Jincheng also sent some professional staff to guide him, and also arranged some preferential policies for him in terms of express delivery. Compared with business people who were new to online stores, Gu Yuxin avoided a lot of detours.

Don't let the small size of his store fool you; in terms of business scale and annual profit, it's quite impressive.

Now that Gu Yuxin had become wealthy, he not only upgraded his equipment, but also bought his sister a large house in Beicang, in the same community as Tan Jincheng Liren Garden, but it was much larger.

They don't need to worry about having nowhere to stay when they come here for the Spring Festival, and neither do Gu Hongshun and his wife.

"If everyone comes, what will happen to my grandparents?"

"Let's go together. But if it's your cousin's family, it depends on whether your sister and her family are willing. If it's your family, you can bring your parents over. That way, we won't have to run back and forth during the New Year, and it will be easier."

Every Chinese New Year, Tan Jincheng actually has a lot of activities to attend. Now Orange Technology's valuation is approaching 35 billion, and Beicang is another super enterprise. Even if he can't get any of the benefits, the level of attention he pays to it must be increased.

While the outside world is unaware of the changes in Orange Technology's shareholding structure, some people in Beicang are aware that changes in company shareholding require changes to the business registration.

Sun Tongyu's appearance truly shocked the local leaders in Beicang.

(End of this chapter)