Chapter 235 Huang Zheng: I was 32 that year, standing like a minion
In the private room of the West Lake Sands Hall, the lights were on brightly, reflecting the different expressions on everyone's faces.
Ma Liyun and Liu Zhiping looked calm and composed, while Zhou Shouzhi was holding a wine glass with a faint smile on his face.
Zhu Xiaohu narrowed his cold triangular eyes and said nothing.
The investment directors of Hony Capital and Huake Investment looked at each other and then suppressed the emotions in their hearts.
Finally, it was Zhai Jun, president of Macquarie Capital in China, who broke the silence first: "Mr. Chen, based on Kuaidi Dache's current order volume and business scope, even considering the market potential and growth expectations, the valuation is at most 300 million US dollars. I really don't understand how this 700 million US dollars offer was calculated?"
Chen Yansen looked up and said slowly, "Kuaidi Taxi currently has no competitors, and the subsidy pressure is relatively low. I only need 1 billion to take over the core market in the eastern region, and this process will not take more than half a year at most. By then, the daily order data will exceed 10 million, and the valuation will not be less than 10 billion US dollars."
"Mr. Chen, you also said that it would be six months later. Can you guarantee that no new competitors will emerge during this period?"
Zhai Jun spread his hands and asked with a smile.
"For a taxi-hailing app to solve problems such as hardware device adaptation, positioning accuracy, and communication stability, it will take at least three months to develop. By the time competing products are launched, Kuaidi Taxi will have already occupied the market with the highest business capacity. How can competitors compete?"
Chen Yansen said indifferently.
In fact, Kuaidi Taxi has an obvious advantage over its competitors, which is the support of Amap.
It can provide powerful map data support, accurately display the location of passengers and drivers, and provide drivers with accurate navigation guidance, thereby improving order acceptance efficiency and reducing passenger waiting time.
A taxi-hailing app whose positioning information is inaccurate, where drivers cannot find passengers and passengers cannot find drivers, will find it difficult to gain market recognition.
Knowing this, Zhou Shouzhi, Liu Zhiping and Ma Liyun were willing to offer a valuation of over 400 million US dollars.
“I’m sorry, but if Mr. Chen insists on raising the valuation of Kuaidi Dache to an unreasonable price of 700 million U.S. dollars, then Macquarie Capital will have no choice but to withdraw.”
Zhai Jun shrugged and shook his head to refuse.
"Boss Zhai, let's work together again if there's a chance."
Chen Yansen nodded slightly and responded nonchalantly.
"Everyone, it's getting late. I'll leave first." Zhai Jun raised his wrist, pretended to look at the time, then stood up and said goodbye leisurely.
After thinking for a moment, the representative of Hony Capital greeted Ma Liyun, Liu Zhiping, Zhu Xiaohu and others one by one, and then walked out with his assistant.
In an instant, the two investment institutions gave up one after another.
"Mr. Chen, Huake Investment's highest offer is 350 million US dollars. I wonder if I am qualified to sit at the negotiation table?" Yu Heng secretly raised the pre-prepared offer by 100 million in one breath.
Although Huake Investment's offer was the lowest compared to Penguin, Ali, and DST, Chen Yansen smiled and said, "Mr. Yu, you are too serious. Kuaidi Dache's Series A financing cannot be separated from Huake's support."
There was no other way. In 2012, if Kuaidi Taxi wanted to establish cooperation with more taxi companies, it had to first obtain authorization documents from the Transportation Association. Otherwise, the taxi companies would not even bother with Kuaidi Taxi.
Cheng Weixing's network of contacts is limited to Hangzhou. Once Kuaidi Taxi expands its business to other cities, it will have to deal with local transportation associations.
Without authorization documents, subsequent driver-side promotion will be difficult.
If Huake Investment is brought on board, the situation will be very different!
As an old investment institution with the prefix "Hua", it is not difficult to deal with the Transportation Association.
Yu Heng had the confidence that’s why he didn’t leave rashly!
After thinking for a while, Zhu Xiaohu suddenly smiled and said, "Sands Venture Capital, 400 million US dollars."
Although Chen Yansen's asking price is outrageous and unreasonable, it is worth noting that he has never made a loss-making business since he entered the industry.
Penguin Capital, Thinking Capital and DST Ventures, all financial institutions that have invested in Chen Yansen, have seen returns never lower than 1000%.
Zhu Xiaohu did not agree with the valuation of 700 million US dollars, but he chose to believe Chen Yansen.
Investing means investing in people. At this moment, he didn't even think about the data and made the decision directly.
Besides, none of Ma Liyun, Liu Zhiping, and Zhou Shouzhi are fools. Why should he be so anxious when others can sit still? "We will discuss the specific financing details tomorrow." Chen Yansen said after getting a satisfactory reply and picked up his glass again.
"After this drink, let's go to the next one. When we get to Hangzhou, I will arrange everything." Ma Liyun announced generously.
Liu Zhiping and Zhou Shouzhi nodded slightly without objection.
Chen Yansen did not refuse and drank the wine in one gulp. Then he got into the Ghost with Gao Weilin and Cheng Weixing, and told Xiao Li to follow Ma Liyun's Maybach.
The rest of the entourage returned to the hotel by car to prepare for the next day's negotiations.
Half an hour later, a group of seven luxury cars stopped in front of the bar.
Seeing this, a well-dressed marketing staff immediately came up to greet him enthusiastically, "Boss Ma, I have reserved the largest box for you on the second floor. Is it still the same as before?"
Apparently, Ma Liyun is a regular at this bar.
Chen Yansen was a little surprised. He didn't expect that Ma Liyun, who was in his forties, was not only energetic and had a high alcohol tolerance, but also often came to the bar for entertainment.
This style of behavior is extremely inconsistent with his age.
Ma Liyun, Yu Heng, Liu Zhiping and Zhu Xiaohu walked in front, passed through the brightly lit dance floor and booth area, and took the elevator to the second floor.
Chen Yansen patted Zhou Shouzhi on the shoulder, indicating that he wanted to talk alone.
Cheng Weixing was left in the box, where he continued to toast with Ma Liyun and others.
In the dim corridor, Chen Yansen opened the window and let the cold wind flow in. The air around him instantly became much fresher.
"Mr. Chen, thank you!" Zhou Shouzhi said suddenly.
Orange's mobile phone shipments in February reached 4 million units. According to the current development trend, as long as there are no problems with the new products in the second half of the year, Orange Technology will leap into the first echelon of smartphones and compete with Apple, Samsung and Huawei.
This successful investment has further consolidated his position in DST Capital and even in the international investment field.
Two years ago, the outside world mocked him for relying on the influence of his wife's family to enter DST. Now these doubts have been completely overshadowed by his outstanding investment performance.
"Why thank me? You are smart enough!"
Chen Yansen said with a smile.
"What does Mr. Chen want to talk to me about?" Zhou Shouzhi took a deep breath and asked seriously.
"Have you ever thought about changing your industry?" Chen Yansen asked tentatively.
"Is it Orange Technology or Pinbei, or a new project?" Zhou Shouzhi asked straight to the point.
Chatting with smart people is comfortable, efficient, and there’s no need to beat around the bush.
Chen Yansen couldn't help but sigh secretly. He didn't respond directly to Zhou Shouzhi's question, but asked back: "Which project do you want to go to?"
"Mr. Chen is so confident that I will agree to it?" Zhou Shouzhi smiled and asked involuntarily.
"After working in investment banking for a long time, one's personality will become overly cautious and suspicious, too focused on short-term interests, and prone to forming a fixed mindset. Do you think the success of Orange Technology and Pinbei's model can be fully understood by just looking at the book data?"
Chen Yansen asked in a flat tone.
"Mr. Chen, I will consider it carefully. Give me some time." Zhou Shouzhi frowned slightly. He understood what Chen Yansen meant.
Simply put, his investment decisions rely almost entirely on financial data and his observations and judgments of entrepreneurs, but he does not understand how the projects operate.
The industry's real-time valuation of Orange Technology has exceeded 20 billion US dollars. If we can join it and successfully operate and list it, the profits will be considerable.
Zhou Shouzhi knew clearly that if he stayed at DST, his basic salary plus bonus would only be 2 million US dollars a year, and the rest would depend on the share of investment income, but this way of making money was too slow.
At this time, a middle-aged man wearing glasses was about to enter the box, but he caught a glimpse of Chen Yansen standing in front of the window sill out of the corner of his eye.
He grinned, waved and said, "Mr. Chen, why didn't you tell me you were coming to Hangzhou?"
Chen Yansen looked at the person who came, and it was Ding Lei, the big boss of NetEase.
It was with the help of Zhang Chaoyang that the two had their initial communication and cooperation, so they were not very familiar with each other.
After all, among Toutiao’s data sources, only NetEase collected copyright fees.
Therefore, he didn't take Ding Lei's words to heart at all. He just thought that other people were just being polite and shouldn't take them seriously.
Otherwise, you will be the one who is embarrassed.
"I came to Hangzhou on a business trip and just arrived this afternoon." Chen Yansen responded ambiguously.
"Let's go! Let me introduce you to some new friends." Ding Lei was particularly enthusiastic. On the one hand, he was doing it for Zhang Chaoyang's sake, and on the other hand, he also wanted to help his friend make connections.
"Mr. Ding, this is Mr. Zhou Shouzhi, President of DST Venture Capital's China region." Chen Yansen introduced solemnly.
"He invested in two major platforms, Ali and Yidong, at once. He is very courageous. Mr. Zhou, would you like to have a drink together?"
After hearing this, Ding Lei held Zhou Shouzhi's right hand and suggested with a smile.
Chen Yansen stared at Ding Lei's actions, and after thinking for a moment, he vaguely understood the other party's intention, so he readily agreed.
He wanted to see who could make Ding Lei lose face for him. Chen Yansen and Zhou Shouzhi followed Ding Lei and found that the other party's box was next to Ma Liyun.
Ding Lei pushed open the door, revealing the scene inside the room. There were only three middle-aged men holding wine glasses, drinking and chatting.
Chen Yansen took a quick look and recognized almost all of them, except for a man wearing black-framed glasses who looked familiar to him.
"Mr. Chen, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Duan Yongping, the founder of BBK, this is Sun Tongyu from Bocas Education, and this is Huang Zheng from Leqi Business, which mainly operates e-commerce agency business."
Ding Lei immediately took the initiative to introduce himself.
"Mr. Duan, this is Chen Yansen from Senlian Capital, and this is Zhou Shouzhi, president of DST China."
Immediately afterwards, Ding Lei stood in front of Duan Yongping and specially introduced Chen Yansen and Zhou Shouzhi to him.
"Mr. Chen, you are younger than I thought." Duan Yongping slowly stood up, shook hands and greeted him, with a hint of reminiscence and sigh in his eyes.
It’s so good to be young!
"Mr. Duan, nice to meet you." After learning Duan Yongping's identity, Chen Yansen immediately recognized Huang Zheng.
The founder of Pinxixi in his previous life! Unfortunately, Huang Zheng was still busy with e-commerce agency operations at this time and had not yet thought of setting up his own platform.
When he entered the room just now, he saw Chen Yansen and Zhou Shouzhi standing in the corridor chatting. He wanted to go up to them and make friends with them, but he was afraid that it would be too presumptuous and would end up being counterproductive.
After changing his mind, he went back to the box to find Ding Lei and asked him to introduce him.
The relationship between the agency company and the e-commerce platform is like the relationship between a real estate agent and a real estate developer. Whether Huang Zheng's business can be developed and whether the brand he represents can obtain resources on the platform all depends on Chen Yansen's decision.
After sitting down, Chen Yansen had a drink with Duan Yongping and others. He understood Huang Zheng's little thoughts, and for Ding Lei's sake, he left a personal business card for the other party.
Huang Zheng thanked him repeatedly and took it carefully with both hands.
This is just like the Taobao merchants who were excited to meet Ma Liyun in the restaurant, even though as a disciple of Duan Yongping, he had no shortage of funds for his entrepreneurial journey.
But he is still extremely envious of the traffic resources of the e-commerce platform.
Thirty-two-year-old Huang Zheng looked at Chen Yansen with eyes full of admiration and envy.
In terms of education, he graduated from a double first-class key university and received a master's degree in computer science from the University of Madison; in terms of starting point, he worked as a project manager at Google for three years; in terms of connections, he received investment from Duan Yongping on the first day of his business and became an agent of BBK and OPPO.
But after five years of starting his own business, his net worth has not yet exceeded 100 million!
To put it bluntly, if Duan Yongping hadn't led him to this cocktail party, he wouldn't even have been able to meet Ding Lei.
Therefore, Huang Zheng both admires and envied Chen Yansen, who had earned hundreds of billions of dollars at the age of 20 and was very successful in the mobile phone and e-commerce fields.
(End of this chapter)
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