There are essentially two ideas for starting a food delivery platform: either attract more users and eventually sell it to one of the three major platforms at a high price, or attract more investment and become the fourth platform.
Zhang Dongzhi's goal was to become the fourth company to launch the software six months later, opening it up in several major cities. Various subsidies, rider recruitment, and merchant onboarding were offered, along with advertising blitzes and on-the-ground promotions. By October alone, the 70 million yuan had been almost completely burned through.
He couldn't imagine how fierce the market for food delivery platforms was now, with major platforms battling it out and spending tens of millions of yuan a day.
Zhang Dongzhi felt that he wouldn't be able to hold out until the end of the year if things continued like this, so he immediately sought out investors to conduct his first round of financing. He also called his father to ask him to raise some more funds. During the call, Zhang Dongzhi told him about the fierce competition among food delivery platforms, but he was very confident that as long as he could get through this period, the future would be very bright.
Big Head has lived through these years and is now fifty years old, but he still believes in one principle: money comes from where it will also disappear.
Da Tou didn't want to give the money. He didn't understand things like the money-burning war, financial leverage, or internet thinking. But Da Tou was also afraid that his son would complain that he didn't support him. In Da Tou's words, he had too much money and didn't need so much money at all.
Because the building materials market was not doing well and the annual rent was lower than expected, Da Tou sold the two-story building materials market and raised 300 million yuan through the sale and borrowing, which he then gave to Zhang Dongzhi.
With funding in hand, Zhang Dongzhi made great strides, achieving remarkable results in multiple cities in the first half of 2016, and his user base exceeded three million. It was precisely because of these achievements that he caught the attention of the top three companies, and the fierce competition officially began.
In 2016, food delivery platforms entered a stage of fierce competition. It was not uncommon to order a table full of dishes for just one yuan. After only one month, Zhang Dongzhi couldn't hold on any longer. He wanted to call his father, but he didn't know how long the money burning would continue.
If these three parties were to fight to the death, even if they poured all of their wealth into it, it probably wouldn't be enough to fill a gap in their teeth. In desperation, Zhang Dongzhi thought of Lu Feng.
Through Da Tou, they contacted Lu Feng, hoping to get some investment. Lu Feng agreed and sent a team over. After conducting research, they produced a report. Lu Feng and Zhang Fengxia were somewhat helpless after reviewing it. Their customer acquisition cost was too high, and the product was too simplistic. Users stayed for too long, and apart from being cheap, there were no highlights to keep users engaged.
This isn't a platform at all; it's more like a place to get freebies.
In the end, Lu Feng invested 30 million yuan and gave him advice: sell the company as soon as possible while there are still a lot of active users.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival of 2016, Zhang Dongzhi could no longer hold on and eventually sold the company to Baidu Waimai for 100 million yuan, resulting in a net loss of more than 200 million yuan.
Unwilling to accept his failed business venture, Zhang Dongzhi set his sights on another highly competitive market, online live streaming platforms, just a year later. This time, he didn't use all of his family's money; instead, his family contributed 50 million yuan, and he raised another 50 million yuan in investment to start his live streaming platform.
2017 was the year when the prices of live streamers soared. In order to quickly gain fame, many live streamers were signed at high prices. The initial operation was quite good. However, as funds ran out, capital needed to be introduced. Since the profitability of the platform was weak by relying solely on tipping, after looking for investors, they were only willing to sign performance-based agreements.
They were required to go public within five years. If the IPO failed, all investment funds would be returned, along with compensation for interest. Zhang Dongzhi had no choice but to sign the agreement, as they believed it wouldn't be a big problem.
However, just after receiving an investment of 600 million yuan, a live streamer on the platform did something indecent during a late-night broadcast, and he was summoned for talks and ordered to rectify the situation that same day.
After more than a year of fierce competition, Zhang Dongzhi, who was originally full of confidence, has lost much of his confidence. After the wave of enthusiasm for the live broadcast subsided, only a group of sober people remained on the scene in loneliness.
Da Tou could sense that his son was acting strangely lately, so he asked his wife to call and subtly inquire. He learned that his son had a debt problem of 600 million yuan, so Da Tou sold all the shopping malls and building materials markets in the city center.
After the funds arrived, Da Tou rushed to Beijing, had a good meal and drank some wine with his son. Emboldened by the alcohol, Da Tou looked at his son and said, "Do you know why your dad has been able to get to where he is today from the 1990s? Do you know how many people have fallen from the sky in the past thirty years from 1990 to now?"
"Why have I always been so steady? Because I know my own limitations!"
"This card has 800 million. Don't mess with it. I know I'm just an ordinary person, and you're just an ordinary person. I'm just lucky. It's a pity that you won't have such good luck in your time."
After Da Tou finished speaking, he placed the bank card in front of him and then returned to his home in Beijing.
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