Reborn in 08, a heretical cultivator starting a business

Chapter 127 Chaos erupts as the global financial crisis breaks out!
The next morning, Tencent's investment department boarded a plane again and headed straight for Beijing.

"We missed out on YouTuan Technology, which was valued at 10 billion, but we absolutely cannot miss out on Vipshop, which is valued at 10 billion!"

Yao Mingchen was full of confidence, and his colleagues around him were also confident of victory.

Investing in Vipshop when it had just launched and its performance was just starting to take off meant that the valuation wasn't too high and the future was guaranteed!
This is absolutely the best time!

But what they didn't know was that on the other side...

Alibaba's employees also took off from Hangzhou and headed straight for Beijing!
Their target is Vipshop!
Vipshop headquarters.

"Boss, Vipshop's transaction volume yesterday was still 4000 million. At this rate, it shouldn't be a problem to stabilize it at 3000 million!"

"Vipshop's valuation will remain at 10 billion without any problem!" Tang Jinghe was very excited.

Another new business with a valuation of tens of billions!
This was something she never dared to imagine before.

“Not bad,” Wang Junshan said calmly, but he wasn’t particularly optimistic.

Even if the valuation is high, it's still a valuation, not the market capitalization.

Market value is real money, although it's impossible to cash it all out.

But if you're short of money and need funds, with proper management, you can cash out hundreds of millions, or even billions.

But valuation is different; it's just valuation!
If someone is willing to invest in a valuation, then it has value, meaning, and the potential to cash out.

If no one is willing to invest in a valuation, then it's just a castle in the air, a price that has no market.

For example, YouTuan Technology is currently valued at 200 billion, which is very high, extremely high.

With the further development of the group-buying business, there is room for further improvement.

The problem is that nobody is willing to invest real money!
Even Tencent, after its valuation reached 200 billion, was unwilling to invest.

Even though Yao Mingchen was optimistic about YouTuan Group Buying and pushed it forward with all his might, and Chairman Ma did not object, it was ultimately rejected by the board of directors!

Other types of capital are even less willing to invest at high prices, and have even less interest.

As a result, these days have passed, and not a single investor has come to U-Tuan International.

Unless Wang Junshan lowers its valuation to 150 billion, or even 120 billion.

But that's impossible.

Wang Junshan isn't that short of money, so there's no need for him to sell his shares at a low price; he can take it slow.

However, Vipshop is different. It just went public and is currently valued at tens of billions, so there will be people interested in it.

Sure enough, last night, Wang Junshan received an offer from Tencent, and they came today to discuss investment.

Immediately afterwards, Alibaba extended an olive branch.

"Mr. Tang, what do you think of Alibaba and Tencent's moves?" Wang Junshan asked.

Tang Jinghe had thought about this problem long ago:
"Tencent's investment comes with sincerity. Tencent's foray into e-commerce is a strategic move to contain Alibaba. Whether it makes money or not is not important; as long as Alibaba is contained, then it has won!"

"Paipai.com, which is currently being given high hopes, is clearly unable to achieve this strategic goal and can only turn to investing in Vipshop."

"However, Alibaba has no motivation to invest in Vipshop. Its visit this time is most likely to disrupt things or to raise prices so that Tencent will spend more money and deplete its cash reserves!"

Wang Junshan nodded: "That's right, basically. Let's take it one step at a time."

That's how it is when dealing with BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent); until the final contract is signed, everything is uncertain.

There's no way around it; BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) are large in scale, powerful, and have terrifying resources at their disposal.

We can only react to each move as it comes.

"However, our own development cannot stop!"

Wang Junshan sighed: "Vipshop's development is completely different from U-Tuan International's."

"Including YouTuan International, although it has developed rapidly, it is riddled with problems and lags behind in many aspects!"

Tang Jinghe nodded repeatedly:
"Especially the management team! Currently, the senior management structure of Vipshop and U-Group International is seriously inadequate."

"There is an extreme shortage of senior, professional, and well-resourced top executives!"

"Yes, you go ahead and do your work, I'll handle this."

After Tang Jinghe left, Wang Junshan fell into deep thought.

The current senior management at Future Tech is simply unable to keep up with the company's expansion and development speed!

U-Tuan International focuses on vertical e-commerce, covering three categories: 3C products, baby products, and beauty products.

They are all sourced directly from overseas, shipped from bonded warehouses, and distributed in mainland China, so it's relatively easy to understand.

As long as they don't take it a step further and enter the cross-border e-commerce market, the current management team is just about adequate.

But Vipshop is different; it focuses on brand flash sales and covers a wide range of product categories.

At present, it is still considered a vertical e-commerce platform, but the product categories are gradually increasing.

With so many categories, so many products, supply chains, and brands, these are all problems.

It's not something you can figure out just by using some random, unorthodox methods.

It would take a very professional, capable, experienced, and resourceful executive to handle this!
"By the way, who were the core executives of Vipshop in my previous life?"

"If we had dug it up in advance, we would have been safe!"

Wang Junshan closed his eyes and drifted into memories.

In its previous life, Tianqi Network took over some of Vipshop's contract business.

Large companies like Vipshop often outsource some less important but time-consuming tasks to third-party companies.

However, these marginal businesses that Vipshop looks down on are crucial big orders for Tianqi Networks!

Therefore, Wang Junshan, the R&D director, had to personally contact and reach out to them.

We conducted a special investigation into the qualifications, personality, and even quirks of Vipshop's core senior executives.

I even went to a shopping mall with some mid-to-high-level managers!

There's nothing we can do; the second party is just that humble.

All for the sake of securing Vipshop's huge outsourcing order!
As his thoughts gradually became clearer, Wang Junshan recalled everything one by one.

First is the supply chain business. Vipshop's unique brand flash sales involve so many brands that need to be concentrated in various warehouses for local delivery, making the supply chain the most important aspect.

In its previous life, Vipshop had a big shot who was in charge of the supply chain. What was his name again?

Tang Zhi!

Yes, Tang Zhi!

He joined Vipshop in 2010 and became its Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Vipshop built its own logistics system, "Pinjun Express," to achieve next-day delivery, and later partnered with SF Express.

They also designed a "zero inventory risk model," which reduces inventory costs through brand consignment and rapid turnover.

These two points are what Wang Junshan values, and they are also the systems that Vipshop, and even YouTuan International and YouTuan Group Buying, need!

With him joining, things will definitely be twice as effective.

Wang Junshan turned on his computer and began searching for information about Tang Zhi.

Currently serving as the Deputy Manager at Guoguang Electric Co., Ltd., responsible for supply chain and production management!
This can be directly brought under our control!
With Tang Zhi appointed as vice president, Vipshop's supply chain will be stable.

However, having a supply chain alone is not enough; we also need a marketing director.

Which marketing director at Vipshop is the most capable?

Wang Junshan continued to recall, and a name jumped into his mind.

Feng Lu!

Currently serving as the brand manager for Procter & Gamble, responsible for marketing brands such as Head & Shoulders and Pantene.

He was the one who created the advertisement that said, "For the most effective dandruff control, use Head & Shoulders."

A true marketing expert!

Once we bring him under our wing and appoint him as Vipshop's Marketing Director, Vipshop's marketing will no longer be a problem.

However, getting them to give up cleaning services and join Vipshop will take some effort.

We have the supply chain and marketing, but we still need a technical director.

Gao Yang!

IBM technical consultant, responsible for enterprise-level software architecture design.

Later, he joined Alibaba to gain e-commerce experience, and then went to Vipshop.

Skilled in technical architecture upgrades, Vipshop upgraded its system from a standalone system to a distributed structure, supporting tens of millions of orders per day.

The peak is 1.2 orders per second.

Without Gao Yang, Vipshop would have collapsed long ago. Moreover, his expertise in big data applications, building user profiling systems, and enabling personalized recommendations increased Vipshop's repurchase rate by one-fifth.

He is also skilled in mobile app development. He led the team that developed Vipshop's mobile app, and it was very successful, with mobile transactions quickly increasing to over 70%.

Although Wang Junshan is highly skilled, he cannot always be on the front line.

Bringing Gao Yang under his command and having him lead the charge is the best option!

Tang Zhi, Feng Lu, Gao Yang!

Three big shots!

One person is responsible for Vipshop's logistics and supply chain, one is responsible for marketing, and one is responsible for technology development.

That's it!

Of course, the person Wang Junshan most wanted to bring under his wing was another big shot!
Huang Zheng!

PDD founder!
In 2004, Huang Zheng joined Google headquarters and participated in the early development of Google's advertising system.

He returned to China in 2007 to start his own business, founding Ouku.com, a B2C e-commerce platform that sells mobile phones and other products.

However, because it received investment from BBK Electronics, other mobile phone brands were unwilling to cooperate with Ouku.com, which resulted in Ouku.com having inherent disadvantages.

Coupled with intensified competition in the vertical e-commerce industry, most of them went out of business.

In 2010, Huang Zheng sold Ouku.com to LightInTheBox for just over ten million RMB, but took the technical team with him.

They started another entrepreneurial venture, focusing on Leqi, an e-commerce agency, and Xunmeng, a game company that integrates self-developed, published, and licensed games, with a focus on small games in the Southeast Asian market.

During his convalescence in 2014, Huang Zheng saw the future prospects of the mobile e-commerce market.

In 2015, Huang Zheng founded Pinhaohuo, which is the well-known Pinduoduo.

Admittedly, before founding Pinduoduo, Huang Zheng was just an ordinary entrepreneur with a revenue of only 20 to 30 million yuan this year, which was a very small scale.

But this person's abilities are beyond doubt.

PDD's success is the best proof!

If we could bring them under our wing in advance and have them take charge of Vipshop's e-commerce business, that would be fantastic!

Not only does Vipshop have a bright future, but it will also have smooth sailing in its future endeavors, whether it's with PDD or Douyin e-commerce!
Shares cannot be distributed arbitrarily!

But someone of Huang Zheng's caliber could easily be given a share of the company and be completely tied to him!
Huang Zheng's personality makes him a natural entrepreneur.

They are not so easy to recruit.

Conversely, Huang Zheng in 2008 is not the same as Huang Zheng in 2018.

In his previous life, he had started several businesses before finally creating PDD in 2015, which made him a legend!
In other words, Huang Zheng isn't that powerful now, and he might still be able to recruit people!

At worst, we can just acquire Ouku.com as well; it's not much money.

To put it bluntly, Wang Junshan doesn't care about Ouku.com, but he does care about Huang Zheng and his technical team!
Whether it's e-commerce or gaming, they have a knack for it.

Wang Junshan wrote down the names of these four people and handed them to Tang Jinghe:
"President Tang, go and connect with these people. Make sure they are recruited into Future Technology Group and given senior management positions at Vipshop!"

Wang Junshan's solemn expression made Tang Jinghe realize the importance of this matter.

Upon seeing the four names, Tang Jinghe instantly lost her composure.

These four people may not be familiar to others.

But as a seasoned headhunter, Tang Jinghe couldn't possibly be unaware of it.

Each of them is a leader in their respective industry and a core talent that Vipshop needs!

With these four people joining, Vipshop's rapid rise to prominence is just around the corner.

"Don't worry, Chairman, I'll arrange it right away," Tang Jinghe said.

Wang Junshan nodded: "Investigate the information first, make preparations, and then take action!"

If we can take down these four people, then we've got it in the bag.

Whether it's Vipshop, YouTuan International, or Youxuan Group Buying, they all have a bright future!
Of course, Wang Junshan also knew that the first three people were not in much trouble.

As for Huang Zheng, that's hard to say.

We can only take it one step at a time.

Moreover, the current YouTuan Technology and Vipshop are no longer what they used to be.

Previously, since YouTuan Technology hadn't grown significantly, it was pointless for Wang Junshan to try and recruit these top talents.

As a Google employee, a marketing manager at Procter & Gamble, and the founder of Ouku.com, why would someone like him join a newly established company?

It's still a college student entrepreneurship project!
Not realistic at all.

But now, U-Tuan Technology is valued at 200 billion yuan, while Vipshop is valued at 100 billion yuan.

With over 3000 million WeChat users, "WeChat Farm" has become a nationwide sensation.

That's completely different.

Although it's still a new company and a college student startup project, it's already a 300 billion unicorn and a future giant!

Even BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) are vying to invest, and even mid-level managers at Google and Procter & Gamble are tempted!
After all, at Google Cleaning, they've basically hit their limit; it's hard to go any further.

But if you join Vipshop, you'll start as a senior executive with a bright future!
The treatment and career development will be better.

I'd rather make a chicken head than a phoenix tail!
Wang Junshan checked the time; the people from Tencent and Alibaba would be arriving soon.

We'll be negotiating investment matters later.

If Tencent were to invest in Vipshop, acquiring a 20% stake for 20 billion yuan, Vipshop would have a brighter future with Tencent's resources and endorsement.

Recruiting Huang Zheng would probably be no problem at all.

With 20 billion yuan in funding, Wang Junshan can make more strategic plans and incubate more projects.

It can be considered a powerful alliance.

Yao Mingchen, who was on the plane, thought the same thing.

Investing in Vipshop is generally sound; the key issues lie in the details.

For example, Tencent requires Vipshop to independently integrate with QQ, allowing direct access to the Vipshop online store from QQ. QQ's payment system also needs to integrate with Tenpay.

Tencent only invests in Vipshop, so it will naturally use resources to promote Vipshop, but it won't promote WeChat.

For WeChat, a social network based on acquaintances, the upper limit is low. Tencent, considering its investment, may not suppress WeChat, but it is unlikely to support it either!
There is no doubt about this.

Of course, the best scenario would be to also integrate Tenpay payment with WeChat.

But these things need to be discussed.

There's nothing wrong with the general direction.

At 11:00 a.m., Ali and his delegation arrived in Beijing first.

"We arrived a bit earlier than Tencent's investment department. Let's go talk to Vipshop first and try to raise the price."

Lu Qinghuai, president of Alibaba's investment department, smiled:

"Although we don't intend to actually acquire it, it would be great to make Tencent pay a higher price."

"If Tencent, with a total cash flow of six billion, were to suffer a major setback at Vipshop, that would be hilarious, haha!"

But just then, his phone rang.

"It's the chairman on the phone!" Lu Qinghuai quickly pressed the answer button: "Chairman, I've arrived at the entrance of Vipshop."

"You haven't gone in yet, have you?"

"Nope!"

"Very well, no need to go, just come back. The global financial crisis has broken out!"

"what?"

"Fuck!"

"A global financial crisis has broken out!"

Lu Qinghuai was completely stunned and quickly opened his phone to check the news.

They were immediately dumbfounded:

"It's over, the global financial crisis has broken out, everything is over."

"Going forward, all businesses will have to tighten their belts to cope with the financial crisis, shrinking their operations and investments."

"Even Tencent wouldn't dare to invest another third of its cash reserves in Vipshop at this critical juncture!"

"Let's not raise the price anymore, let's go to the airport and head back!"

(End of this chapter)