You call this entrepreneurship?

Chapter 567

After seeing Zhang Pingyi and Zhou Yuan off, Qin Shaoyan did not go directly to the reception room to see Yang Hong. Instead, he asked his secretary, Xiao Chen, to make him a cup of tea.

While drinking, I looked up Yang Hong's basic information to get a preliminary understanding of this investor.

Yang Hong was born in 1970. He graduated with a master's degree from a prestigious university and was subsequently sent to the United States for further studies at Harvard University.

After graduation, I stayed in the United States to work in the financial industry, and worked for several well-known banks, such as Citibank, JPMorgan Chase, and Lehman Brothers.

Two years ago, he returned to China and founded Dream Capital, which mainly invests in the domestic Internet industry. In total, he has invested in more than 50 Internet companies.

Qin Shaoyan slowly finished sipping his tea and realized that only twenty minutes had passed, so he leisurely got up and walked towards the small reception room.

The Sentinel Group headquarters has several levels of meeting rooms. The ordinary meeting rooms are for receiving mid- to low-level business partners, while the high-level rooms are reserved for executives from other major internet companies.

The small meeting room where Yang Hong was located only received a few investment leaders such as Xiong Xiaoge, as well as leaders from the administrative department.

In addition, there is a small reception room, which is used to receive Qin Shaoyan, Zhang Pingyi and other relatives and friends. This room is generally not for other people to use.

Arranging Yang Hong in the small reception room was a great honor, considering he was a big spender who had invested money, and they wanted to give him the emotional value he deserved.

As Qin Shaoyan arrived at the door of the small meeting room, his secretary, Xiao Chen, quickly came up to him and whispered, "Mr. Qin, the guest is having coffee inside."

"Did President Yang say anything?" Qin Shaoyan asked casually.

He said you must let him know when you have time.

Qin Shaoyan waved his hand, straightened his clothes, and walked straight into the small reception room.

In the small reception room, a man in a sharp suit with slicked-back hair sat on the sofa, slowly sipping his coffee.

Upon seeing Qin Shaoyan step in, the other party immediately jumped up from the sofa, his face beaming with a fawning smile, "Mr. Qin, hello, hello."

Qin Shaoyan was somewhat surprised by the other party's enthusiasm. It was the first time he had ever met such an enthusiastic investor. He was secretly delighted, thinking that he might be able to squeeze more money out of this investor.

"Hello, Mr. Yang, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting." Qin Shaoyan apologized sincerely, his face full of remorse. "I just had an urgent meeting and couldn't get away."

"I understand, I understand." Yang Hong didn't mind at all. "The internet in mainland China is developing so fast now, every minute is money. It's perfectly normal for President Qin to be busy with official business. I'm the one who has taken the liberty of disturbing you."

"Mr. Yang, you're too kind. It's an honor for us to have investors visit us."

After exchanging pleasantries, the two sat down, and their secretary and assistant served them various drinks, desserts, and snacks before leaving.

"Everyone says that President Qin is young and accomplished. I was curious about how young you were before, and seeing you today, I can confirm that the reputation is well-deserved." Yang Hong said, half jokingly and half with admiration, "President Qin has achieved so much at less than thirty years old. You can be called the Bill Gates of the mainland."

Qin Shaoyan humbly stated, "I was just lucky; I caught the right wave of the internet."

"Mr. Qin, you're being too modest. I've studied Facebook's rise in detail, and it's quite a classic example," Yang Hong said enthusiastically. "Relying on the viral spread of information within the closed social circles of university campuses, Harvard Business School has included this model in its classic business teaching cases."

"However, there are some details I don't quite understand yet. Now that I have the opportunity to ask Mr. Qin in person, I hope he won't keep his knowledge to himself." "How did Facebook quickly attract its first batch of loyal users? Was it through a novel social concept, or some innovative design? What techniques were used in the promotion and marketing process?"

Qin Shaoyan was speechless for a moment, feeling rather embarrassed.

He couldn't very well tell Yang Hong that Facebook had hired a dozen or so "shills" to randomly give out freebies to people.

However, Qin Shaoyan has been in this industry for many years and can be considered very experienced. He immediately started talking, "We have thoroughly reviewed the internet social category, started from the underlying logic, reshaped the entire social ecosystem, found a foothold in the market, and aligned the granularity with users."

"..."

"...College students are more receptive to new things, and they understand new internet products faster and have more active minds, which reduces communication and promotion costs."

Of course, Qin Shaoyan wouldn't just use platitudes to fool investors; he did have some real substance.

After all, he was involved in the early promotion of Facebook, so he was extremely familiar with the details and could easily recount some interesting stories that happened during the promotion process.

Yang Hong listened very attentively, as if he was genuinely interested in the Facebook case.

The two chatted happily for more than an hour.

Although Yang Hong enjoyed listening to Qin Shaoyan's lectures, Qin Shaoyan couldn't just waste everyone's time. After all, investors' time was money, and Qin Shaoyan didn't have that much free time.

Before Qin Shaoyan could change the subject, Yang Hong preemptively said, "It's really rare to find someone like President Qin who understands internet operations. Before coming here, I had some doubts about the group-buying business, but after talking with President Qin, I have confidence."

Qin Shaoyan gave a polite smile. "Group buying will be one of the most important core businesses in the future. We are fully prepared and aim to capture at least half of the market share."

"Sentinel Technology's entry into the army procurement business is not a blind following of trends; it is based on thorough market research."

Yang Hong said with great interest: "I am also very optimistic about the new group buying model. Through this approach, the Internet can connect online and offline, extending its reach to users' daily lives, including clothing, food, housing, and transportation. This is the main direction of user consumption."

"Successfully acquiring the group-buying business will provide Sentinel Technology with a large amount of cash flow in the future, and I am very optimistic about the potential of this field."

Qin Shaoyan was somewhat surprised and sincerely praised, "There are very few investors with such foresight as President Yang. If everyone had such a long-term vision as President Yang, I wouldn't have to spend so much time persuading investors."

Yang Hong said with a hint of pride, "That's what you call great minds think alike."

"When I was studying at Harvard Business School, I always got straight A's. It's a pity that after graduation I joined an investment bank and never had the opportunity to show my skills in business management. It's a great regret in my life."

Qin Shaoyan was taken aback when he heard this. What did Yang Hong mean by this?
They were just chatting and exchanging a few compliments. Does he really think he's a business genius?
Is he going to personally get involved in the group-buying business?

Yang Hong hesitated for two seconds before saying, "I have a friend who is my junior from school. He is quite capable in business management and has also worked in the internet industry for many years, managing large internet companies. He is very experienced."

"I think he is a rare talent, so I want to recommend him to President Qin."

Upon hearing this, Qin Shaoyan understood. After going around in circles for so long, it turned out that he wanted to place someone in the company.

(End of this chapter)