2003: Starting with Foreign Trade

Chapter 755, 11th place? This kid cheated again!

P.S.: Sorry, I forgot to set the timer!

Tan Jincheng had heard of 36Kr in his previous life. When he first saw the name, he thought it was a strange website and didn't pay much attention to it.

As for what's behind him, that's even more unclear.

However, before coming to Beijing this time, the investment team of ByteDance's advertising platform conducted a background check on him, and they were shocked by what they found.

Wow, this company was actually founded by Liu Cheng during his sophomore year of college. Liu Cheng, born in 1988, only graduated last year.

This company is somewhat different from what Tan Jincheng knew in his previous life. It appears to be a technology information website, but behind it is a venture capital service platform.

Simply put, this company wants to become a 'big streamer'; they want to make money not only from their fans but also from 'small streamers'.

This top student, who graduated from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications with a degree in Communications Engineering, is also a peculiar individual. After graduation, he did not work full-time at his company but instead went to the Chinese Academy of Sciences as a graduate student. The company was usually managed by three entrepreneurial partners he had recruited during his sophomore year.

According to the ByteDance team, 36Kr has not received any funding yet, which is understandable, since the boss is still in school and it's normal for investment institutions not to pay attention.

If it weren't for this shady move to buy a house, Tan Jincheng wouldn't have paid attention to this company.

"Liu Cheng should be at the company. School hasn't started yet. This guy is quite something, doing his master's degree while running the company. I was thinking that if they couldn't make it and moved out one day, I could rent the upstairs apartment too."

In Zhang Yiming's mind, these guys were working part-time while studying, and they didn't seem like they were running a proper company at all. Who knows, they might quit one day, and when their company expanded, they could rent the upstairs as well.

He's certainly got his plans figured out. Tan Jincheng glanced back at him, noticing that this guy had a somewhat repressed and eccentric personality.

Zhang Yiming smiled awkwardly, but he was in a good mood and didn't care about Tan Jincheng's surprised look. He quickened his pace and went into 36Kr first.

"Little Sun, look who I've brought you."

The two, living upstairs and downstairs, are quite familiar with each other and often visit each other when they have time. Sun Cheng, with one eye on Zhang Yiming, was all smiles and waving at him, with another person following behind him.

Looks familiar... Hmm? Is that Mr. Tan from ByteDance's advertising platform?
36Kr has fewer employees than ByteDance, practically none at all. It's almost time to leave work, but the employees are still busy. They were startled by Zhang Yiming's shout.

In the future, the 996 work schedule will be a series of different ways capitalists manipulate you, but there are still quite a few 996 jobs these days. However, most of them are voluntary for employees, and they can get commensurate compensation, so 996 is not a big deal at all.

"Hey, isn't that Mr. Tan from Orange downstairs, the one behind Mr. Zhang? What's he doing here?"

"Yes, and he's hanging out with President Zhang. Did he come from Xiaomi?"

"Wow, are they here to discuss financing? Could they be interested in our company?"

Zhang Yiming's shout completely piqued everyone's curiosity, and they lost all interest in continuing their work.

"Brother Zhang, Mr. Tan, you're a rare guest! What brings you here?"

"I need to talk to Mr. Zhang about something, and I'll also like to talk to you about something while I'm at it."

Liu Cheng was completely confused. He glanced at Zhang Yiming, who winked at him but didn't say anything.

"Well then, it's almost six o'clock. Let's put this aside for now. How about I treat everyone to dinner?"

Zhang Yiming's eyes lit up and he said, "Why don't we buy some to eat? We can chat while we eat, we still have to work tonight."

"Okay, how many people are there in your two companies in total? I'll have someone order food and have it delivered."

"Um, Mr. Tan is treating people from both of our companies to dinner? Hehe, I'd better hurry down and tell them not to cook."

"Haha, then you should go quickly."

It's clear that this baby-faced guy is genuinely happy after receiving the investment; he's even a bit overjoyed, though that might be because they're all around the same age.

He was two years older than Tan Jincheng, who was three years older than Liu Cheng.

Zhang Yiming came and went in a hurry, leaving behind Liu Cheng, who was also wearing glasses and looked completely bewildered.

Liu Cheng, 23, is a science and engineering student. Although he started his own business during his sophomore year, he has always been on campus and has not been exposed to much pollution. He seems a bit naive.

"Liu, could you also go and count how many people eat at the company? I'll arrange for someone to order food."

Liu Cheng nodded. Although he hadn't figured out the situation yet, it certainly wasn't a bad thing. Judging from Zhang Ge's expression, it seemed that President Tan had provided him with financing. He knew that Zhang Yiming had been worried about financing.

Now it's back on my side, or does President Tan want to vote for me too?
Thinking about it this way, he was somewhat tempted. Who wouldn't want to attract investment for an internet-based startup? But what about being a student? He was so conflicted!
“Hey, our company only has 9 people, and if I remember correctly, Brother Zhang’s company has 18 people. Together, we have less than 30 people.”

Wow, it really is a startup.

"Okay, I'll order for 30 people. Everyone can stay here for dinner. Those who still have work tonight can take a break, and those who don't have work can go home after dinner."

Tan Jincheng said this to everyone, causing a stir in the office.

"Thank you for the treat, Mr. Tan. What brings you to our company, Mr. Tan? Are you here to discuss financing?"

"Yeah, yeah, and didn't President Tan vote for the one downstairs?"

Zhang Yiming came up again at this moment and said, "Go away, what are you asking about? Just wait for your meal."

Compared to Liu Cheng, who doesn't really manage the company, the seemingly harmless baby-faced man clearly has more experience as a boss, and he dismissed the young man from 36Kr with just a few words.

"Shall we go, Mr. Liu, and find somewhere to talk?"

To be honest, Tan Jincheng didn't quite understand 36Kr's business model, but it didn't matter. Since it was a company he had heard of in his previous life, it proved that it must have the ability to survive, or that it had developed some new products later.

Perhaps it's just that the founder is amazing. In any case, a top student from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications who dared to start a company during his sophomore year and is also a graduate student at the Chinese Academy of Sciences must have something special about him. Even if you only invest in him as an individual and not in the project, it's still worthwhile.

The way he met Zhang was the same: the property certificate was used as a pretext, which also left Liu Cheng completely bewildered. He had been at the company recently and hadn't returned to school because his landlord told him that the new landlord would be coming over in the next few days.

"Does Liu plan to run the website full-time? It's a bit of a waste that your website is only operated part-time. If you plan to run it full-time, I can invest in you."

There's a prerequisite for investing in 36Kr: you have to be a full-time employee. It's already a relatively mature website, and the company team describes it as having a niche market and an innovative business model.

This is what we now call a niche market. Ningbo has many champion companies in niche markets, but they are mainly physical businesses.

Achieving the championship in a niche market is Tan Jincheng's vision for 36Kr.

Liu Cheng answered without hesitation, "Sure, how much will you invest?"

If the stereotype of tech-savvy men being taciturn is true, then these two somewhat inexperienced entrepreneurs certainly are, but when it comes to responsiveness, they are by no means lacking.

Liu Cheng had already made up his mind. If someone really wanted to invest in him, he would accept it, as it would be an opportunity for him.

Tan Jincheng stared at him for about 30 seconds: "How about 200 million yuan? I'll transfer 100 million to you first, okay?"

The website is already there; all that's needed is to enrich the content and identify the right target audience. It's different from ByteDance's algorithm-based approach, and the expected scale is much smaller than ByteDance's. 200 million in venture capital should be enough.

Liu Cheng glanced at Tan Jincheng, then at Zhang Yiming, who nodded imperceptibly.

When it comes to accepting investment, Liu Cheng trusts the opinion of the guy downstairs, since the guy has been working on it for almost a year and understands the company's valuation system quite well.

Liu Cheng nodded happily: "Okay, thank you, President Tan."

The 200 million yuan was still in Tan Jincheng's private account. Three minutes later, Liu Cheng received a text message notification from the bank.

"Is this all there is to it?"

Liu Cheng was somewhat incredulous. A million yuan was just given away like that? He had never seen so much money in his account before. Wasn't this investment a bit too frivolous?
"Do you think I'm afraid you'll run away? I'll have my secretary come to you tomorrow to sign the contract. As for the shares, it'll be 20% of the standard version. Is that alright?"

After 2010, it became extremely difficult for venture capitalists to acquire 30% of the shares, which was a real shame for someone like Tan Jincheng who had an unfair advantage in investing.

Shen Nanpeng and his team still need to cast a wide net; as long as he encounters someone he remembers, he'll hit the bullseye every time.

"No problem, then I'll wait for your secretary, Mr. Tan, at the company tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll give you his business card. You can contact him later. If you have any questions, you can ask Zhang. Let's eat now."

After chatting for a while, Lai Yiu-fai and Tsang Kei-cheung arrived with a meal box ordered from a nearby hotel. Tan Kam-ching introduced Tsang Kei-cheung to the two men, saying that they could contact him anytime if they couldn't reach him in the future.

36Kr wasn't a large sum of money and wasn't originally part of the plan; it was essentially Tan Jincheng's private investment. He had heard of the company in his previous life, but he didn't know whether it was listed or how it ultimately fared.

The main target of the investment was actually Liu Cheng himself.

He's a top student in communications engineering. If his company succeeds, great; if it fails, he can be recruited. Also, through Chen Cheng, he can establish some connections with Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.

He was able to persuade three friends to start a business together in his sophomore year, so he must have some ability.

Unlike Zhang Yiming, who had inquired about Tan Jincheng through Wang Xin, Liu Cheng, who was meeting Tan Jincheng for the first time, was clearly more curious.

The other employees ate outside, while Zhang Yiming, Liu Cheng, and their group ate in the conference room. Li Yaohui even brought over a few bottles of ice-cold beer for them.

"Brother, you were only 19 when you started your business, right? How did you manage to build such a big company? What's your secret?" "You guys started your businesses quite early too. If I had to give you a secret, it would probably be focus."

Moving towards a goal, whether you succeed or not is unknown, but at least you've tried.

Whether it's clothing, electric bicycles, or investments, Tan Jincheng's ultimate goal is to pave the way for automobiles and gradually enrich his automotive empire.

Having won over Zhang Yiming, I also unexpectedly gained a top student along the way, so my knowledge of the internet is pretty much complete.

Next, what Weilai Auto needs to enrich is its intelligent driving system, which is its core component.

Core components for new energy vehicles, with automotive chips being a prime example.

Everything is possible.

BYD has its semiconductor business, and Weilai Motors should have one too.

The competition in the new energy vehicle market will be even fiercer than that in the gasoline vehicle market in the future. To maintain one's position in the competition, mastering core technologies is essential.

Talented people emerge in every generation, so why can't it be me?

Hehe, speaking of which, Nvidia has been half-dead for the past few years. It seems that Nvidia's CEO, Huang, even tried to curry favor with Lei Jun afterward.
The Xiaomi Mi 1 at that time still used MediaTek chips.

Although the dinner at 36Kr was simple, everyone was in high spirits. Baby-faced Zhang Yiming drank until the very end and then went on a crazy rant about his fundraising experience over the past year, talking until his throat was dry, but the investors just didn't trust him.

"Hey, Mr. Tan, you wouldn't believe it, Sister Wang took me to meet so many investors, but they just don't understand. They have no idea what information distribution is all about."
"Haha, actually I don't understand either, but I think your idea is quite interesting, so I voted for it."

"Xiao Liu, you too. I think there's something special about your field. Investing is like playing the stock market; not everyone can make money. But I hope you can make it."

"Old Zhang, you're working on a big project. I hope you stick with it. If you run out of money, come to me. Money is the last thing I need."

"As for you, Xiao Liu, my expectation for you after you go full-time is to become the champion in your niche market, so that your website will have a chance to survive."

"What is a champion in a niche market? Simply put, it's a core enterprise in a niche project. There are many of these in Ningbo, but they are all in the physical sector. If you have the chance to visit Ningbo, I'll show you around."

"For example, there is a company in our district that makes ballpoint pens. You can hardly see their products in China, but they are very popular abroad and their exports are very successful. This is one example."

"Brother, you've got a whole repertoire of clever words. But I can accept your 'I'm not short of money' attitude. I never imagined my funding would come so easily."

"Hey kid, you should thank me. If I hadn't brought Tan up here, you wouldn't have had this opportunity."

"Yes, yes, I should thank you."

Mr. Tan's abundance of money was confirmed in September. Compared to last year, this year's Forbes Rich List was released almost a month earlier. Last year it was released in October, but this year it was released in early September.

Compared to 13th place last year, Tan Jincheng and his family's net worth reached US$46.82 billion this year, equivalent to RMB 302.03 billion, ranking 11th after the Semir family.

His ranking is one place higher than that of the female CEO of a certain Guiyuan, while the ranking of Boatman Brother has dropped to 56th, giving up the title of the richest boss of an independent brand.

Last year's richest man, Zong, has slipped to fourth place, while this year's richest man is surprisingly the CEO of Sany Group, with Li from Baidu, who was originally expected to be the richest, ranking second.

"This richest man is really cursed. Anyone who sits on him will suffer. Look at my Uncle Wang, he's in such a miserable state."

Old Wang's net worth has fallen to 97.7 billion yuan in statistics. Of course, his actual net worth is definitely more than that, but compared to BYD in 2009, BYD in 2011 is really a pitiful sight.

The photovoltaic industry has been completely abandoned. Nokia and Motorola, its two major customers, have clearly seen the decline of the industry. Smartphone sales are rising steadily, while traditional mobile phone market share is being lost one after another.

Despite releasing several new phones this year, Nokia, clinging to the Symbian system, has no advantage over iOS or Android.

Most importantly, major companies are simply unwilling to develop apps for the Symbian system, resulting in a pitifully small number of applications.

Orange Technology, the developer of popular games like Fruit Ninja and Talking Tom that topped the App Store charts, was contacted by Nokia several times, but both companies stated they had no intention of developing a Symbian system.

Nokia is indeed a giant, but that doesn't dictate the business strategies of these app developers.

Orange Technology's products don't have any Symbian system apps, which is quite extreme, but it's almost a microcosm of internet companies.

Large companies like Tencent and Ali may develop apps for the Symbian system, but the apps they create are simply incomparable to those on Android and iOS. They are riddled with bugs and look like a perfunctory effort.

With his ranking rising year after year, Boss Tan, who is now ranked 11th, spent almost all of his time in Zhongguan Village at the end of August.

ByteDance hasn't disclosed which companies it invested in, but it's not hard to find out. Zhongguancun is only so big, but there are many internet companies, and almost all the ones worth investing in are on the desks of major investment institutions.

No one expected that Tan Jincheng would go to a residential area and invest in two small startups, and he even went there in person.

These two companies quickly attracted considerable attention and gained significant recognition from investment institutions.

Investors have their own vision and their own decisions, but ultimately they are still human. Just like retail investors who like to chase highs and sell lows, ByteDance's investment strategy in the internet industry is very successful, so it's hard for them not to keep an eye on it.

However, our boss Tan has no intention of paying attention to these things anymore. September is always the peak season for car sales, and he has to focus his attention on Weilai Auto.

"CRV is still awesome, damn it."

The RVA4 is no longer performing well; it failed to crack the top four in sales for the first eight months. The Volkswagen Tiguan and Qashqai series have emerged as dark horses this year, especially the Tiguan, which performed only so-so when it was launched last year, but has seen rapid growth this year.

However, the biggest competitor of the Yuechi A1 is still the CRV. The car market in 2011 was relatively calm, with sedan sales being so-so, but the SUV market remained stable.

CRV seems to have experienced a second spring.

According to market forecasts, the CRV and Yuechi A1 are the only two SUV models that are likely to reach monthly sales of 2 units in September this year, which shows how fierce the competition is this month.

In addition, Chery's Tiggo 3 and Didi's new SUV model S6 have performed very well this year. The Tiggo 3 achieved sales of 10379 units in August, and the S6 sold 5785 units.

The redesigned Great Wall H series sold 9009 units.

With the rise of domestically produced SUVs, the Yuechi A1 is no longer fighting alone, but the competition is also fierce.

"Has the Aion S taxi project in Luzhou been finalized yet?"

"We're still in talks. The basic intention to cooperate has been reached, but the exact number of vehicles hasn't been decided yet. However, it will be soon."

"Okay, have Zhang Li finalize the production plan so that things don't fall apart."

After poaching the key figures from Great Wall Motors in Tianjin, Weilai Automobile's production efficiency has improved significantly in the past six months. Previously, Weilai Automobile's manufacturing department was managed by Zhang Yong, but Zhang Yong's energy was limited.

There's a joke that goes like this: if someone says they like going to work, they're either a new employee, about to quit, or they're crazy.

No matter how much money you pay or how good the benefits are, no one will enjoy working; they'll always be thinking about slacking off.

While Zhang Yong was away, the others became somewhat lax in their management.

Now that Zhang Li is here, things are different. He has been engaged in automobile manufacturing since he started his career, and his professional skills and management abilities have been recognized by the management of Weilai Automobile.

“No problem. Luzhou actually wants us to build a new energy vehicle base and use the new energy vehicles produced locally as taxis.”

"Haha, you can tell them that a new energy vehicle production base is worth considering, but if they use their own production, even a god couldn't keep up."

Besides focusing on R&D, Weilai Auto has also been quite active this year, vigorously promoting its new energy vehicle, the Aion S.

For eight months, Zhang Yong was in talks with government departments about cooperation, and he was always on the way to discuss cooperation.

In Yongcheng, Wei Lai secured an order for 2000 Aion S vehicles. In addition, in Tan Jincheng's hometown of Yicheng, Mr. Tan also sold a total of 1000 Aion S vehicles at a discount.

Of the 150 vehicles in Wangjiang County, only 50 were charged.

In addition, Weilai Auto is also vigorously promoting the Aion S in Zhejiang Province, Anhui Province, and Xiangcheng. It is bound to lose money, but this is a necessary process for market promotion.

Besides, losing a little money is a good thing. Not only will we pay less tax, but Mr. Tan's Forbes ranking can also be lowered a bit.

Last year, excluding investment business, Mr. Tan's other net worth was only 30 billion, and the same is true for this year's 35 billion. Mr. Tan is also confident that Weilai will most likely lose money this year, so what can you say?

In Luzhou, Wei Lai's plan was also to sell 2000 Aion S vehicles, but this volume was still a bit too large for Luzhou at present, and they couldn't handle that many.

It's okay if we take a few less cities, as long as we capture more cities.

If we can capture more cities, the Aion S could get four or five thousand orders before it even leaves the factory, which would definitely be a good thing for promoting new energy vehicles.

What do you say back in your hometown?

“My hometown is interested, but we can’t get many of them. There’s also the issue of charging. You know the economy there isn’t very good.”

"Let's talk. Consider it a contribution to the development of your hometown."

The biggest obstacle hindering the promotion of new energy vehicles is not actually a technical issue, but rather a perception issue, especially regarding charging. Compared to gasoline vehicles, new energy vehicles are indeed less convenient.

For large-scale promotion, the government can't just sit idly by; it must invest in infrastructure.

(End of this chapter)