King of Capital

Chapter 85 What I'm Good at
【Kuaidi Dache completed a round B financing of tens of millions of dollars today, led by Matrix Partners China and followed by Alibaba. Experts said that Kuaidi Dache’s overall valuation is 3 million US dollars.】

【Kuaidi Taxi announced the upgrade of payment service and full integration with Alipay. More than 40 Kuaidi drivers in more than 40 major cities across the country will help build a closed loop of online taxi payment transactions.】

[Kuaidi Taxi, together with Yaoyao Taxi, Yidao Taxi, and more than ten other online taxi-hailing platforms, issued a convention to boycott the unfair competition of Didi Chuxing and Bumblebee Taxi.]

Mr. Ma, who was burning incense and praying to Buddha, held Buddhist beads in his left hand and a gun in his right hand. He fired three shots in the morning, and the residual sound echoed throughout the entire domestic venture capital circle.

But Xie Jingxing, who was far away in Chuncheng, laughed, because Kuaidi's taxi data was close to one-tenth of Uber's, and Uber's current valuation was close to 3 billion US dollars, so Kuaidi's taxi was worth 300 million US dollars.

The logic of this street literature is as outrageous as a supermodel claiming that one step of hers costs $400,000, so running on a treadmill for two hours can make her net worth more than Bill Gates.

"What about hundreds of millions of dollars?" Cui Aliu asked curiously.

Xie Jingxing shook his head and explained: "It's not that the valuation itself is problematic."

At this round of financing that is crucial to the industry's structure, valuation cannot be calculated using conventional PE/PS models, but rather a very simple and crude logic: how much money the invested company needs and how many shares it can provide.

For example, Didi needs to raise at least $35 million in the next round of financing, but it can only take out 40%-2.5% of its shares, so its valuation is $3- million.

The same is true for Kuaidi. He estimated that this round of investment was led by Matrix Partners China, and the maximum financing share of Kuaidi is around 30 to million yuan. It can give up about % of its shares, which means that the valuation should be around million US dollars.

"Two or three hundred million US dollars...are you going back to Shanghai right away?" Cui Aliu's tone was longing and confused.

Xie Jing Xing thought for a moment: "No hurry, wait for Brother Xiao Ma to call me, and then we will continue with our work."

Cui A Liu suddenly had a feeling of unreality. Xie Jing Xing had talked to her a lot in the past few days, teaching her everything about online marketing and the concept of traditional Chinese cultural and creative brands, as well as other things related to the direction of corporate development.

However, in fact, the former only needs to turn around and return to the business war of hundreds of millions of dollars. So, is it worth his energy to let "Bu Du" really achieve the scale he expects?

"After I return to Shanghai, I will need to recruit an assistant to coordinate the work here. If you have a suitable candidate, please let me know." Xie Jingxing and she walked side by side into the Yunnan University campus.

He personally led this round of financing for Budu, and the payment and settlement process was very fast. The formal investment contract was signed in the morning and the funds arrived in the afternoon.

As soon as Cui A Liu got the money, he rented an entire floor of an office covering over a thousand square meters in a high-end office building in the center of Chuncheng City. It is now undergoing simple decoration, which is considered a necessary arrangement to attract franchisees. The management team of the sub-brand 'Yinshan Tea Language' is being recruited and established, and it is estimated that all of them will be in place and start work next month.

At the same time, the five stores closed by the sub-brand "Bu Du" were converted into the first batch of model direct-operated stores of the "Yinshan Chayu" brand, and a long-term contract was signed with the warehousing and logistics company under the Yunshan Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Group.

The four self-operated stores under the "Bu Du" brand are preparing for a renovation that is more inclined towards the new Chinese national trend style, including the redesign of product names and packaging.

Xie Jingxing came up with a marketing promotion plan and sponsored 20,000 yuan to the Yunnan University Student Union to hold a national style themed cultural and creative event to publicly solicit names and packaging for city limited edition items. The first place prize was 5,000 yuan, the second place was 3,000 yuan, and the third place was 1,000 yuan.

This kind of small activity is beneficial and inexpensive. During the few days of the activity, the average daily sales of the "Bu Du" store next to Yunnan University nearly doubled.

A long queue formed in front of the store, and most of them were boys. The Yunnan University Tieba and campus forum were all dominated by a melodramatic post titled "The Last Cup of Milk Tea in Summer".

Today is the deadline for the event. Xie Jingxing and Cui Aliu came to the school to present awards and prizes.

The Huanqing Club, which mainly does charity activities on the campus of Yunda University, helped prepare the venue. A large activity room was filled with students, including several fans of Pei Fei and many girls who came to join in the fun for Xie Jingxing.

"Honey, I want to drink the last cup of milk tea in summer!" a bold school girl shouted as soon as they met.

Xie Jing Xing felt very annoyed, and waved his hands to signal the students who were making noises to be quiet: "I am a family man now, and the title of national husband is like a floating cloud to me."

"Then how about asking Mr. Xie to treat all the students present to drink 'Floating Clouds' today?" Cui A-Liu joined in the conversation and eased the awkwardness, getting to the point.

This cultural and creative activity was based on the statistics of public likes and comments on the Yunnan University campus network. The third place was a very beautiful calligraphy in the Slender Gold style, "The Master said that wealth and honor gained through unrighteousness are like floating clouds to me."

Cui A Liu printed this calligraphy on the packaging of a new type of milk tea. This milk tea is limited to three months and can only be bought at the "Bu Du" store near Yunnan University.

The second place was an ink painting that quoted the lines "The moonlight is like silver rain flowers, and the mist passes through the clouds" from the Fujian opera "Blessings to the World". This thing can only be printed as a postcard and given away for free. The first place was awesome. A young professor from the School of Design and Art designed a logo of Lin Daiyu wearing sunglasses and riding a motorcycle. It was also a limited edition milk tea.

Regardless of whether the various imaginative cultural and creative works are good or bad, they have laid the foundation for a style close to the national trend. The Yunnan University school media even took the initiative to do a small interview.

The award ceremony was lively. In the end, Xie Jingxing picked up a brush and wrote the Chinese translation of Columbia University's motto, "Borrowing your light, I can see the light." As a classmate, he thanked his classmates for their support for the "Budu" brand. With young students with ideals, our country's traditional culture will have light...

The chicken broth was sprinkled generously, and the effect was very ideal.

“I wonder if the brand positioning is too segmented, as it is so close to the national trend style.”

After the event, walking on the campus, Cui Aliu expressed his doubts.

Xie Jingxing said thoughtfully: "This is a general tone. If we look at it from a 5 to 10-year development cycle, the brand positioning is indeed a bit detailed, but what if one day, the national trend becomes the mainstream?"

“Your handwriting is good.”

Cui A-liu did not comment and changed the subject. She still maintained the same thoughts as when they first met. It was too far-fetched to talk about national confidence these days...

However, niche has its own advantages. With a population of more than one billion in China, as long as we keep repeating in a vertical field, at least we will not starve to death and we will always find a loyal customer base willing to pay. The marketing and promotion model of "Budu" is tentatively set as online + offline. Offline focus on cultural creation, joint names and other national trend routes is equivalent to the bottom line, while online tends to be small-scale community marketing with high-end brand positioning.

The reason why Xie Jingxing chose to make movies and TV series to promote "Bu Du" instead of shooting commercials was not simply to promote Concubine Pei. The deeper consideration was that for a high-end brand like "Bu Du", advertising or celebrity endorsements would be useless.

Appearing in film and television dramas can only improve the brand tone and popularity, but what can really make customers walk into the store and pay is offline promotion and social marketing.

On the other hand, the promotion of 'Yinshan Tea Language' is purely online, completely borrowing the strategy of Bawang Cha Ji and Huawei, triggering keywords across the entire network. As long as the power is not cut off, competitors will always suffer losses and we will always be far ahead.

Xie Jingxing and the other person were walking and talking. When they reached the steps not far from the school gate, a handsome boy wearing a Vacheron Constantin Overseas watch came towards them.

"Oh, what a coincidence." He greeted in a neutral tone.

Cui A-liu frowned slightly: "Peng Chuanming, we are friends after all, right?"

"Of course. If we weren't friends, why would I spend money to hire calligraphy masters to support your activities?"

Peng Chuanming smiled sarcastically: "I made a thousand dollars from you. I'm so embarrassed! Let me treat you to a meal."

When Cui A Liu said with tears in her eyes that she had to live and sever ties with him for the sake of her grandfather "not crossing the river", he only blamed Cui A Liu for choosing Dr. Wang. But now he hates Cui A Liu for turning around and clinging to the thighs of the rich second generation - Confucius said that wealth and honor gained through unrighteousness are like floating clouds to me.

"Forget it, you're just making me think you're childish."

Cui A Liu was helpless, Xie Jing Xing stood silently by the side and passively became the villain, enduring Peng Chuanming's undisguised malicious gaze.

Fortunately, he now has bodyguards. Li Yan and his two companions are ready to strike out with a set of military boxing at any time.

"Let's go." Cui Aliu was afraid that Xie Jingxing would take action, so she pulled his arm apologetically and motioned for him to go first.

"You're so shameless. You two might as well have sex here."

The body movements seemed to trigger some bad memories in Peng Chuanming, and he began to talk nonsense in a delirious state.

Xie Jingxing sighed, well, he was indeed a villain.

"Brother, you may not have had a serious relationship with a few girlfriends. It just so happens that I haven't had one either. Let's exchange experiences."

He walked down two steps, looked down at Peng Chuanming and said, "I think that when a girl says you are childish, she doesn't really think you are not mature enough to be her father, but she is saying that you are incapable. What do you think?"

Cui A-Liu was so concerned that she grabbed his arm forcefully: "No, Peng Chuanming, please leave quickly."

"Ability, right? Wait a minute."

The more she did this, the more angry Peng Chuanming became. He took a step back and took out his phone.

Cui A Liu turned back and said, "Boss Xie, let's go first. I'll explain to you later. He has a few friends...you..."

"I have friends, too."

Xie Jingxing raised his phone. Cui Aliu was stunned when she saw the note displayed on the screen. She opened her red lips slightly but swallowed the words back into her stomach.

"Mr. Xie, when will you return to Shanghai?" Xiao Ma's gentle voice came from the other end of the line.

Xie Jingxing couldn't help but smile: "When do you want me to go back?"

"At the end of the month, WeChat Pay will need another three days to finalize the technology and fully integrate into the Didi payment system. I'll have to trouble you then."

"what can I do?"

“Do what you’re good at.”

Xie Jingxing held the phone and walked down while talking, while Peng Chuanming retreated step by step.

Cui Aliu couldn't tell whether it was fast or slow. The sunlight was a little dazzling. She could only see that his steps were steady and his back was straight.

Unconsciously reaching the bottom of the stairs, Xie Jingxing hung up the phone and continued walking out of the campus without stopping: "Study hard."

He finally said that Cui A Liu followed closely, and hysterical roars and curses came from behind.

“You know what I’m good at?”

Xie Jingxing answered on his own: "Next month, Yunshan Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Group will buy land in Chuncheng to build a logistics storage and distribution center. It will first donate 100 million in cash to the Provincial Public Security Department to purchase new equipment, promote the relationship between police and the public, and make some contributions to the local fight against crime and evil."

Cui A Liu suddenly turned around and continued to hear his words: "I will give you a Land Rover as a personal gift. How about the license plate number 37?"

(End of this chapter)