Chapter 105 Confrontation

Chapter 105 Confrontation

Chapter 105 Confrontation (5k)
Yu Xing attaches great importance to the meeting with Today Capital.

Therefore, the top management of Bai Xiaosheng went out together on the morning of the 10th. The second-in-command Lu Haiying, the third-in-command Zhong Zhiling, the chairman Song Yufeng, and Kong Huilin, who could be considered the chairman's assistant, all took the subway to their destination together.

Zhong Zhiling just came back from a trip yesterday. He was both excited and embarrassed to attend this event which could very well be a historic moment for the company.

He whispered to his senior brother, "Brother Xing, should we rent a car? Why doesn't it feel like we're going to discuss a multi-million dollar deal..."

"Zhi Ling, are you not satisfied with such an expensive means of transportation?" Yu Xing said with a smile, "We are just grassroots entrepreneurs, we don't need to care about appearances."

Zhong Zhiling nodded in conviction. His senior brother was at a higher level and had a clearer understanding.

After a while, Yu Xing thought: "What should we buy as the company's first car? How about an A6?"

Zhong Zhiling looked at his senior brother in astonishment: "Uh..."

"Once we raise money, we will be grassroots entrepreneurs with financial support." Yu Xing said with a smile, "Look at our chairman, he has his arm in a sling, and if he gets hurt from squeezing into the subway, I can't bear it."

Zhong Zhiling pursed his lips and said sincerely: "Brother Xing, there is nothing wrong with him. Just don't let him get hurt."

Yu Xing shook his head: "Sometimes this kind of thing really depends on luck. If I hadn't run fast last time, I might have ended up with my arm hanging like him."

Zhong Zhiling said thoughtfully, "Well, Brother Xing, I heard my colleagues describe the style of your confrontation with Li Song."

Yu Xing smiled. He really didn't know how his colleagues talked about this matter in private.

Zhong Zhiling added: "If the financing is successful this time, the company will have a very stable period of development."

After a while, Yu Xing responded: "One of the biggest characteristics of the Internet industry is that it can grow quickly. We can't be frugal with our money. If we can raise money, Bai Xiaosheng will go all out."

Zhong Zhiling asked hesitantly, "What do you mean by high-handed attack?"

Yu Xing smiled slightly: "That's right, spend money quickly."

Zhong Zhiling asked again: "How fast?"

Yu Xing vaguely said: "It will soon be the time when our Series B financing will be approached by us."

Zhong Zhiling didn’t quite understand, but he felt that since he started his business, he needed to learn more and more.

At 8:40 in the morning, a group of five people arrived at the conference room of Today Capital.

The meeting room was extremely bright. One side was dressed in a suit and looked extremely professional, while the other side was a little messy and was carrying a backpack.

The two sides exchanged greetings. The person leading Today Capital was Vice President Liu Jiankai. Yu Xing thought that today's meeting would be with this person, but unexpectedly, after exchanging greetings for a while, he waited for the head Xu Xin to come.

"Mr. Yu, there are about four or five issues today." Xu Xin greeted him briefly, sat down and got straight to the point, but she took another look at the injured Bai Xiaosheng Chairman Song Yufeng. This shouldn't have been a beating from her husband and the others.

"Mr. Xu, you go ahead." Yu Xing liked this kind of quick talk.

"I see that the revenue direction provided in your letter of intent is advertising, recruitment and other fields, but it has not yet been launched." Xu Xin asked, "Do you have a plan for when to start? Bai Xiaosheng is positioned as a 'workplace social and workplace topic platform'. Do you think this is a sustainable path?"

"We originally planned to try advertising after we had 5 users, but the user growth rate exceeded our expectations. In addition, we are now in contact with you, so we will consider launching the easiest advertising business after we have raised funds and spent part of it." Yu Xing replied, "Regarding the recruitment business, this is a more traditional direction. It will definitely not be launched this year, but it will be a business that we will inevitably have in the medium term."

"This is a proven business, and our user groups naturally overlap. In addition, we have conducted preliminary research on brands such as 51job.com on the market, and found that there is no difference in essence. This is not a field with a high threshold."

"Regarding the positioning of Bai Xiaosheng, we have explained in the letter of intent that social networking and topics complement each other. Simply talking about theory will not provide more information. It is better to practice. Practice brings true knowledge and may also bring new knowledge."

Yu Xing's answer was neither hurried nor slow, and this attitude successfully calmed his colleagues down.

Liu Jiankai quickly followed up, "Mr. Yu, your Bai Xiaosheng mechanism has initially achieved results, but it is not complex and has not established a moat. The entire platform requires more time and resources."

"Yes, that's why we need financing." Lv Haiying saw this and knew that the other party was raising the value of the funds, so she responded, "Bai Xiaosheng has taken two steps ahead. As long as the funds are in place, our ecosystem will mature quickly. Once it really starts running, it will reduce the possibility of competitors emerging."

She added: "Moreover, we have achieved the current number of users through word of mouth without any advertising. I believe everyone can see the bright spot."

Lu Haiying put emphasis on the word "everyone", obviously referring to more investment institutions.

Although, apart from Today Capital, "everyone" has not really seen any bright spots, we believe in "everyone".

Liu Jiankai raised a question that the team was researching: "Mr. Yu, you should know that the revenue of the recruitment business is for B-side enterprises. From current observations, Bai Xiaosheng's topic mechanism, including your anonymity measures, is more likely to bring out negative news about enterprises."

"This is actually not conducive to the revenue promotion of the recruitment business. It is difficult for the C-end to receive money."

"This is an essential conflict. Have you considered how to resolve it?"

Bai Xiaosheng's stance is more on the side of employees in the workplace, while the recruitment business is about collecting money from enterprises, so there is a contradiction between the C-end and the B-end.

It is impossible to expose the explosive news about Zhenai or Xiecheng today and then successfully receive money from them to expand business tomorrow.

Bai Xiaosheng must want to develop quickly, but how can he do that?

What is being presented now is to attract C-end users with topics, but the better this aspect is, the more difficult the B-end recruitment business will inevitably be. In addition, the competition on workplace platforms is low, and there is no shortage of competition in the recruitment field.

This mid-term revenue pie does not seem round enough.

Lu Haiying was stumped by this topic, as the company had never discussed this point before.

She couldn't help but look at her senior brother.

There was a brief silence in the office for a few seconds, as Xu Xin and Liu Jiankai were observing the performance of the core team on the other side.

Song Yufeng instinctively felt that this situation couldn't continue like this, and he murmured, "Boss Liu, you can't say that, let's..."

Yu Xing waved his hand, interrupting the chairman's speech, and generously admitted: "Mr. Liu said this very well. We hadn't considered it before. After all, we haven't progressed to that stage yet."

He didn't deny the reasonable-sounding question.

This is also undeniable, everyone's instinctive reaction has been seen by the other side.

There is no need to deny it.

"Fortunately, recruitment is not the core business in our plan." Yu Xing said seriously, "Job fairs will be an important part in the future and will be a powerful supplement. In addition, the conflict between the B-end and the C-end is not so irreconcilable. As long as the number of C-end user groups increases, this part will naturally have value for the B-end. It just depends on how to do it."

"The industry is very unfamiliar with the role of Bai Xiaosheng, whether it is whistleblowing or monitoring, which means we need to adapt."

"We received two lawyers' letters within two months of going online, which I believe is also very rare."

"However, the industry will not always be unfamiliar. When companies are familiar with or adapted to Bai Xiaosheng's ecological niche in the industry, I believe the conflicts will not be so intense and there will be room for communication between each other."

Xu Xin and Liu Jiankai couldn't help but nod secretly in their hearts. Yu Xing's response was very appropriate.

The founder of Bai Xiaosheng is indeed more than one level higher than the four next to him, which is particularly obvious when compared face to face.

Liu Jiankai hummed, but didn't agree much. Instead, he said, "This issue still needs to be taken seriously. After all, if the conflict is difficult to resolve and can only be eased, Bai Xiaosheng's ability to make money in the future will not be sufficient."

This is a euphemism for "you don't make enough money."

Yu Xing also answered tactfully: "The concept of social interaction and the concept of the workplace are easily understood and accepted both at home and abroad. We hope that Bai Xiaosheng will become a US-listed company in the near future and be able to leverage more capital market funds to develop itself."

There was a fleeting smile in Xu Xin's eyes. It was hard not to admit that some people are just particularly smart.

No matter if it is business intelligence, technical intelligence, or smartness in means, as long as it can help the organization make money, it’s fine.

Liu Jiankai shook his head slightly: "It is of course good to go public, but it is not so easy to go public smoothly."

He had previously browsed and researched Bai Xiaosheng, and had also looked at and talked to Yu Xing, but it was only today when he met him that he finally met the person, and he was indeed extraordinary.

But today was very much a negotiation.

Liu Jiankai felt that he still had to suppress this person's "arrogance".

He asked a question: "Mr. Yu, what plans does Bai Xiaosheng have for the money raised?"

This time Yu Xing answered himself: "We plan to use most of it for advertising and expand the user base first." This is also written in the letter of intent.

Liu Jiankai nodded slightly and threw out a number: "Bai Xiaosheng's Series A financing must be above 10 million Chinese Yuan."

He watched the reactions of the other side closely. Lu Haiying and Zhong Zhiling had happy expressions on their faces, Song Yufeng and Kong Huilin both had smiles on their faces, but Yu Xing's expression was very calm.

For a startup, tens of millions is a huge sum of money.

Liu Jiankai continued to ask: "How long does Bai Xiaosheng plan to spend this money?"

He was going to ask Bai Xiaosheng to spend the money within a year as a small display of courage.

As for the entrepreneurs Liu Jiankai has met who want to raise funds, almost all of them are very meticulous about the money coming in.

Yu Xing answered without hesitation: "It will be finished in half a year."

Liu Jiankai: “…”

Damn... your family must be very well off!

Ten million dollars is only going to be spent in half a year? ?
Xu Xin said at this time: "If I remember correctly, the amount you called out last time was 500 million US dollars. Have you spent 500 million US dollars in the past six months?"

"However much money Today Capital can invest, I plan to spend it all in half a year." Yu Xing said seriously, "Bai Xiaosheng is now racing against time. The more money we have and the shorter the time, the greater the advantage we can gain. It may seem like a lot of money, but in fact it is the lowest cost of competition."

"If we can't spend this money in half a year, we will have to spend double the money in the next one or two years."

He asked back: "I believe Mr. Xu has the courage to do so, and he wouldn't mind my spending. Otherwise, JD.com only wanted 200 million US dollars, but you gave it 1000 million US dollars all at once."

When Liu Qiangdong met Xu Xin for the first time, he only dared to ask for 200 million US dollars, but Xu Xin directly gave him 1000 million US dollars.

Xu Xin said calmly: "You know a lot."

She continued without comment: "The figure of 500 million US dollars is unrealistic. If you only take 500% of the 20 million US dollars, the company's valuation will be 2 million Chinese yuan. Do you think a company that has been established for less than three months is worth that much? Who can invest like this?"

Yu Xing did not hide his intention to ask for too much, and did not expect to confirm the number. He asked directly: "How much is Capital Today willing to invest?"

Xu Xin shook her head, the topic was not over yet.

Seeing this, another Capital Today employee asked a question that the team was researching: "Does Bai Xiaosheng intend to use offline marketing as an important promotion method? How is this work determined and carried out?"

Yu Xing gave Zhong Zhiling a look.

Zhong Zhiling is in charge of this aspect now. He has been traveling between Yangcheng and Lin'an for some time. He was the first one to work on the front line in Shanghai from the beginning, so he can answer questions very smoothly now.

Zhong Zhiling had a deep discussion with his senior about the considerations of targeted marketing, and the strategic intention was completely clear.

He spoke eloquently about the promotion plans targeting only five cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Lin'an. Both his strategic considerations and front-line experience were well-targeted.

Liu Jiankai felt good about the performance of this person, so he asked another advertising question: "What is your policy for using money for promotion?"

Kong Huilin was assigned this kind of work and had some advance rehearsal. She gave an answer after much discussion: "We plan to focus on offline advertising."

This counter-intuitive answer made Xu Xin and Liu Jiankai look at each other.

"Our website focuses on vertically segmented workplace users, but it is difficult to accurately promote online advertising." Kong Huilin said, "For users who don't have workplace social needs, even if we spend a lot of money to get them to register, they will not actually use it, and may even bother other normal users."

"Therefore, Bai Xiaosheng is not suitable for online advertising promotion."

"Mr. Zhong just talked about offline targeted marketing. I won't talk about it here. What I want to talk about is the brand of the website."

“For a platform for workplace social interaction and discussion, user trust is very important, and the best way to build trust is to establish a brand.”

"If you want to build a brand, offline advertising is actually more effective than online advertising."

"So, we will target the buses, subways and other scenarios in the five cities."

Yu Xing saw Kong Huilin finish her answer and added: "Hard advertising is also a factor in our spending money quickly. Since it is offline hard advertising, it still makes sense. We must penetrate it all at once. Otherwise, scratching the itch will cost more."

“We have initially looked into advertisers in this area.”

Yu Xing said this and took a sip of tea: "For example, Focus Media has strong commercial location advertising. We hope to buy long enough advertisements in elevators, rather than broadcasting them once in a long time."

"Screens in office buildings have a high priority, and combined with multiple scenes such as subways and buses, this is our ideal plan."

Xu Xin nodded in approval. It would cost a lot in the short term, but it was worth it. Although Bai Xiaosheng had only been online for a short time, its mechanism was stable and a competitive threshold needed to be established.

She motioned for the vice president to name a price.

Liu Jiankai closed his notebook and said, "Mr. Yu, we think it is reasonable for Bai Xiaosheng to get 200% of the shares for $30 million in the A round."

Based on the current exchange rate, the company's valuation is around 4500 million, and the A round of financing is around 1360 million.

Roughly speaking, Bai Xiaosheng has 10 users, and the value of each user reaches 450 yuan.

He continued, “In addition, Capital Today will have two seats on Bai Xiaosheng’s board of directors and set up an office. We will send personnel to witness the use of the company’s funds.”

"After our funds enter the company, we will also help Bai Xiaosheng sort out its current business and promotion, establish a performance appraisal process and management mechanism, and shape a more reasonable corporate culture."

Liu Jiankai looked at Yu Xing and said, "Bai Xiaosheng doesn't have a financial director yet. We can also help find a suitable candidate. Well, marketing is also something that should be taken seriously."

The $200 million has already been met.

But before Lu Haiying, Zhong Zhiling, Song Yufeng and Kong Huilin could be too happy, they couldn't help but feel a little nervous when they heard the following words. Why did they feel like they wanted everything?

Xu Xin also made a request at this time: "Mr. Yu, Bai Xiaosheng should handle the relationship with the enterprise side more gently. It is not okay for you to receive lawyers' letters at every turn. It is difficult to generate revenue for the website simply by relying on advertising."

Yu Xing's expression didn't change much, he just said: "Boss Xu, I am a know-it-all with a critical attitude."

He slowed down his speech and talked about the price: "500 million US dollars may indeed be a premium, but your 200% of 30 million US dollars is really underestimated. Whether in terms of the industry's pioneering nature or the results we have achieved, such a workplace social and workplace topic platform has greater potential."

Xu Xin didn't answer.

Liu Jiankai shook his head repeatedly: "Mr. Yu, this price is not low, and I didn't just say it casually. Let me show you our valuation method. This is a reasonable calculation."

Yu Xing waved his hand, signaling Vice President Liu to stop his actions, and continued: "In addition, regarding the establishment of an office, I think this is worth discussing. Let's not talk about the price for now, let's think about it."

He stood up, and Lu Haiying, Zhong Zhiling and others also stood up.

Liu Jiankai was somewhat stunned. Not discussing the price? Was it because he didn't like the agency's intervention?

Xu Xin did not try to persuade them to stay, but just nodded and said, "Okay, you guys think about it carefully. Mr. Liu, you can see them off."

Yu Xing smiled and shook hands with Mr. Xu before leading his people away.

After a while, Liu Jiankai returned to the office and asked his boss for his opinion: "Boss Xu, do you think it's the price or the operation?"

"Yu Xing wanted to bargain." Xu Xin confirmed this and added, "But there are both sides."

Liu Jiankai said, "He has quite a temper."

Xu Xin was not too surprised: "After all, they are young people, it is normal for them to have a bit of temper."

Liu Jiankai shook his head: "He will figure it out, and the mechanism of Bai Xiaosheng is already very transparent."

There is some deep meaning in these words.

Xu Xin nodded slightly. Institutional investment sometimes also requires a combination of soft and hard tactics.

(End of this chapter)