Reborn, back to a small county town to become a wealthy family

Chapter 830 The crying child gets the milk
Although their relationship has made some progress, they still have their concerns and haven't taken it any further.

Song Wan didn't come back, because she knew she wouldn't get to enjoy the gossip even if she did.

The three of them went back to their respective homes and found their respective mothers.

The next morning, Liang Yuxin brought an important client to the group's headquarters. They had a detailed discussion in Luo Yang's office for more than an hour. After Luo Yang nodded, Pinduoduo, Shentong Express, and Gome Electrical Appliances reached an agreement to become strategic partners.

Since the negotiations ended close to 11:30, and considering the reception arrangements for the afternoon, Luo Yang entrusted Liang Yuxin to entertain the other party, while he took Wen Wan and Su Jin to have a simple meal near the Science and Technology Park.

A little after 1:30 p.m., Luo Yang and his group arrived at Kunpeng Technology.

Xiao Wei arrived half an hour earlier. When Luo Yang walked into the conference room, she was chatting enthusiastically with several senior executives of the company.

Before being transferred to Edifier Technology as Executive Vice President, she served as Director of the Board Office and Chairman's Assistant at Kunpeng Technology, and was very familiar with Chu Jianming and others.

"Everyone's here, let's have a short meeting beforehand."

Before sitting down, Luo Yang glanced around. At this moment, the CEO of Kunpeng Technology, Chu Jianming, the CTO, Liu Zenghui, the CSO, Ding Hongyi, the CFO, Pan Su, and the CHO, An Xia, were all sitting in the conference room. It was a rare sight to have everyone present.

"Let me explain the reception process first."

"Okay, Chairman."

An Xia, the Human Resources Director at Kunpeng Technology, was in charge of arranging the reception process. She took over the conversation after Luo Yang spoke.

Generally, such receptions are arranged by the board office or the administrative office. However, since Chairman Luo Yang rarely visits Kunpeng Technology, the board office currently only has two secretaries, one for confidential matters and one for administration. There are not enough staff, and since administration is under the jurisdiction of human resources, the reception arrangements have been handed over to the human resources department.

"The leader of this delegation to inspect Kunpeng Technology is Lu Lin, the district leader in charge of the high-tech industrial park. Including his secretary, there are a total of 4 people. According to the schedule, they will arrive at the parking lot of Building 1 in the Science and Technology Park before 2:30."

An Xia reported to Luo Yang, "Chairman, you will lead the team, along with the company's senior executives, to welcome the leaders downstairs. In addition, Guo Yuancheng, the deputy director of the Science and Technology Park, will also accompany you throughout the visit."

Guo Yuancheng, an old acquaintance.

When he founded Kunpeng Technology, he was the deputy director of the school's entrepreneurship center.

Thanks to two entrepreneurial projects in Luoyang, he has been promoted twice and is now the deputy director of the science and technology park.

"The itinerary for this afternoon's visit is as follows."

An Xia continued her report: "The first stop of the inspection will be the company's R&D department. Chief Technology Officer Liu Zenghui will accompany the chairman as a guide. The entire visit will be kept under 30 minutes. The second stop will be the power battery R&D laboratory located in the High-tech Industrial Park. We will travel there in a minibus rented by the company, which will take about 20 minutes. The laboratory visit will take about 30 minutes. The second phase will be kept under 50 minutes."

These two arrangements alone took about an hour and a half. By the time we got back to the meeting room in the science and technology park, it was already past four o'clock.

What time does the meeting start?

Luo Yang couldn't help but ask, "Isn't it too late?"

"Considering that the laboratory is far from the Songjiang Sheshan test flight base, the third test flight will be arranged to be carried out inside the factory area, which will take about 20 minutes. Including the 20 minutes for the return trip to the Science and Technology Park, the total time will be 40 minutes."

An Xia replied, "The last stop of this inspection tour is in the conference room. The meeting will start at 4:30 and end around 5:00 to 5:20. As for the reception dinner, we have already made arrangements according to Assistant Wen's instructions. I have also tried to communicate with the leader's secretary, and the leader should attend."

"The schedule for the entire trip is quite tight."

Luo Yang commented: "Especially the travel time to the high-tech industrial park, it is not always possible to keep it within 20 minutes. So next time we arrange such an inspection project, the first stop of the trip can be the power battery R&D laboratory, which can save a one-way trip time."

"Chairman, this is because my consideration was incomplete."

Anxia immediately admitted her mistake: "Next time there is a similar event, I will definitely learn from this experience."

This was exactly the attitude Luo Yang wanted, so he nodded after hearing it.

"During the final meeting, the report should include some information about the Berlin Air Show."

He continued, "This part of the report will be handled by General Manager Chu, the leader of the delegation participating in this exhibition. If there is any content related to the development of the European market, Director Ding can supplement it. However, the report should appropriately exaggerate the difficulties and highlight the local advantages of our competitor, DJI."

At this point, Luo Yang looked at Chief Technology Officer Liu Zenghui: "The leaders may mention cooperation with research institutes in Shanghai during the meeting. You should seize the opportunity to speak and try to finalize the time for the first meeting with the research institutes at the meeting."

"Understood, I will seize the opportunity."

Liu Zenghui immediately replied, "Even if there's no opportunity during the meeting, I will make sure to get in touch during the banquet tonight and try my best to resolve this matter."

After finishing this, Luo Yang immediately turned his gaze to Chief Financial Officer Pan Su.

“Last time we borrowed 1 million yuan to expand into the North American market, of which only 5000 million yuan was interest-free loans supported by government policies.”

He said to the finance manager, "Although I have communicated with the leadership beforehand, they haven't given their approval yet. So your finance department has a heavy task this time. You need to secure more opportunities, preferably interest-free loans, and secondly, low-interest loans."

For Kunpeng Technology, which has grown to its current size, there is no need to go through the motions or seek help from leaders for normal commercial loans.

Just go directly to the bank; they'd love for you to come and get a loan.

During the brief meeting, Luo Yang assigned tasks one by one.

Having gone to great lengths to invite the leaders, it would be a huge waste not to try and secure their support.

As the old saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

In fact, Luo Yang made very comprehensive arrangements. During the entire afternoon inspection, the senior management team of Kunpeng Technology fully demonstrated their shamelessness and obtained a lot of support from the leadership.

"Mr. Luo, this glass of wine is worth far too much."

At the banquet, when Luo Yang raised his glass to toast, Lü Lin jokingly said to him, "You've made me feel like I've fallen into a beggar's nest today!"

"It's all my fault. When I first started this company on campus, it was entirely out of interest and hobby. The earliest employees and R&D technicians I hired were all college students working part-time. Everyone was just fueled by passion and interest."

Luo Yang downed his drink in one gulp before explaining with a smile, "Nobody expected that after working hard on our own for a year or two, when we finally looked up, we'd discovered the company had grown to this size. Everyone was completely bewildered, and didn't even know how we achieved our market position."

The implication is that Kunpeng Technology never imagined the company would develop into what it is today when it was founded, let alone seek much external support.

"When we wanted to go global and explore overseas markets a while ago, we found that the company only had a few million yuan left in its accounts. Let alone expanding the market, we didn't even know where the R&D funds for the next quarter would come from."

Luo Yang said to Lü Lin, half-jokingly and half-seriously, "I never expected that at this crucial moment, the leadership would give the company such strong support. It makes us feel like we've found our own family. Kunpeng Technology is like that company that wants a second taste of milk after getting a first one. Please don't take offense, leader!" "Hahaha!"

After hearing these words, Lü Lin immediately burst into laughter.

After laughing, he downed the drink in one swift motion.

The atmosphere at the dinner table immediately became lively.

Everyone was sitting in staggered positions, so they quickly found someone to chat with and started sparring.

"As far as I know, there are many investment institutions interested in your Kunpeng Technology, most of which are well-known domestic and foreign venture capital firms. They can meet Kunpeng Technology's needs for further expansion and development, both in terms of funding and external relationships."

Jokes aside, the leader is still aware of the situation.

After setting down his wine glass, Lü Lin said to Luo Yang, "Two local investment institutions in Shanghai have even contacted me through connections, hoping the district can act as a bridge to reach your company's senior management and discuss financing."

"If we needed to raise funds, we would have done so long ago."

Luo Yang also revealed some truthful information: "When I first approached Neil Shen of Sequoia Capital to discuss financing for the bike-sharing project, I found out after the meeting that the only reason he was willing to meet with me was to discuss the possibility of financing for Kunpeng Technology; the bike-sharing project was probably just a side project."

"If what you're saying is true, then they must have misjudged the bike-sharing project."

Lu Lin smiled and said, "There aren't many people in the entire Shanghai business district who don't know about the shared bicycle project now. And I heard that you led a team to the United States a while ago to talk to IDG about financing for this project and expanding into overseas markets. It's clear that the project's prospects are starting to be viewed favorably by everyone."

"That's true."

Luo Yang intentionally steered the conversation in this direction, revealing increasingly detailed information: "The second round of financing will begin next week, and several investment institutions, including Sequoia Capital, IDG, Hillhouse Capital, and Tencent, are interested in the second round."

"Really?"

Sure enough, when Luo Yang revealed this news, Lü Lin's interest was greatly piqued.

"Mr. Luo, could you give us a tiny bit of insight into the amount of the second round of financing?"

Asking about valuations now would be considered digging into trade secrets, as it's a figure that the founding team and investors are negotiating at the second round of financing. Therefore, Lü Lin changed his inquiry to financing expectations, which is less sensitive.

"This round of financing will raise at least 1 million yuan."

Luo Yang didn't hide anything: "Because we're going to launch a full-scale promotion in cities, and the first choice is a megacity like Shanghai, the amount of funding required will definitely be substantial."

"I also guessed that your first choice of city would be Shanghai."

Lu Lin nodded in agreement, saying, "After all, the first pilot school for the project is in Shanghai, and you've already captured most of the university market here. It wouldn't make sense not to take advantage of such a good foundation."

He suddenly laughed as he said this.

"You're not just targeting Shanghai in your first round of promotion, are you?"

"Eh?"

Luo Yang feigned surprise and said, "How did the leader know? There are probably no more than a handful of people who know about our promotion plan."

"The Shanghai market doesn't need 1 million yuan."

Lu Lin proudly explained to Luo Yang, "I've also been paying attention to the shared bike project. Your bike costs shouldn't exceed 100, right? As of the end of last year, Shanghai's permanent population was 2399 million. Based on this figure, the number of shared bikes you need to deploy won't exceed 5000, and the cost won't exceed 50 million."

In fact, Lü Lin guessed too much.

According to the initial promotion plan drafted by Luo Yang and Song Wan, Edifier Technology will not deploy more than 30 shared bicycles in the urban area of ​​Shanghai in the early stage.

Because operating costs are not limited to a single vehicle, but also include media promotion, wear and tear, and operational management, all of which require substantial financial expenditures.

Moreover, Luo Yang was well aware that the shared bicycle market in Shanghai could not be monopolized by Edifier Technology alone, and that several other large companies would definitely enter Shanghai in the next few years.

Of course, there will be a period of market competition in between, during which time the good and the bad will be eliminated.

Take shared bicycles as an example. In fact, in the year with the highest number of bicycles deployed in Shanghai's urban area, the number of bicycles reached more than 170 million.

Until 2020, in order to manage the market in an orderly manner, the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission issued the "Notice on the Assessment and Dynamic Adjustment of Internet-based Bicycle Rental Services in Shanghai in 2020".

The announcement clearly states that the total number of shared bicycles deployed in the city will not exceed 90.

Therefore, the total number of bicycles deployed in the entire Shanghai city area that year was 892,000. Specifically, the three companies were Meituan Bike with the largest deployment of 495,000 bicycles, Hello Bike with 248,000 bicycles, and Qingju Bike with 149,000 bicycles.

Therefore, Luo Yang is worried that launching operations in both Shanghai and Shenzhen simultaneously will put pressure on the funds raised in the second round of financing.

When competitors enter the Shanghai market, with the support of capital, the number of bicycles deployed is likely to exceed 50 or even more. If Edifier Technology cannot keep up at this critical moment, it will mean a loss of market share.

Given the need to guard against competitors, it can only be said that 1 million yuan is barely enough for the initial promotion in Shanghai.

Of course, Song Wan's killer move was using bicycle deposits.

"You really have to admire the way your leader sees things!"

Luo Yang picked up his glass again and clinked it with Lü Lin's.

"Actually, our biggest concern right now is not funding."

After the two met briefly, Luo Yang finally got to the point: "During the promotion phase in the urban area, we need to communicate and coordinate with the transportation and urban management departments in advance. After all, this type of project is appearing in front of the public for the first time, so this factor may restrict or delay the speed of our project's promotion."

If Lü Lin still couldn't understand the meaning behind Luo Yang's words at this point, he wouldn't be a leader.

Luo Yang also knew that as long as he opened his mouth, even if he only showed his head, people would be able to see through everything at a glance.

Instead of trying to hide it, it's better to just ask for help directly.

(End of this chapter)