Reborn: Billionaire in College

Chapter 221: Lashou.com Likes to Poach People (Third Update, Ask for Monthly Tickets)
Shen Nanpeng came and left quickly, and the investment was finalized on the same day.

The valuation of the first round of financing for Renren Group Buying and Takeout Project was 10 billion RMB. Everyone in He Zhiyu's small circle invested money, raising 5000 million RMB and accounting for 5% of the shares.

The project was launched after the Lantern Festival at the beginning of the year. After more than half a year of development, the Renren Group Buying Project already has 2500 million registered users, and the team size has reached 1500 people. Excluding operations and customer service, there are more than field sales staff.

Three of the four first-tier cities occupy this, and five of the other second-tier cities do.

In Shen Nanpeng's view, these are decisive advantages, and the more crucial one is Chen Pingjiang.

In particular, Renren Group Buying also has a mature food delivery system, which is also the next track.

Taking into account the above favorable factors, both parties unanimously agreed that Renren Group Buying’s valuation is US$5 million.

In this round, Chen Pingjiang released 10% of his equity, raising a total of US$5000 million, equivalent to RMB 3.8 million.

When the news came out, the happiest people were He Zhiyu's small circle.

These people really made a lot of money. Based on the valuation of 5 million US dollars, their 5% stake would be worth 5000 million US dollars.

After half a year, although the amount was still 5000 million, the RMB was converted into US dollars and its value increased by 7 times.

Even robbing money may not be so fast!
What was shocked were the media and Internet people who had previously spoken ill of Chen Pingjiang.

Is Sequoia Capital out of its mind?
Are you so daring to bet that Chen Pingjiang will win?

There are so many group buying websites on the market now. Even if Chen Pingjiang takes the lead, he will face the problem of too long a front line!

It is still unknown who will win and who will lose.

A few days later, Renrentuangou officially changed its name to "Renrengou."

It is more concise and clear, and the meaning is also good. The most important thing is that there will be no confusion after the takeaway project is promoted nationwide.

"Mr. Chen, let's not talk too much. Everything is in the wine. I'll toast you a glass." Zhang Fu, who was holding up the chain hot pot, happily raised the wine glass and respectfully toasted Chen Pingjiang.

Chen Pingjiang also drank it all in one gulp.

God of Wealth, it’s confirmed.

The dozen or so people present followed Chen Pingjiang and ate a lot of meat.

Take Zhang Fu’s hot pot restaurant as an example.

In the early days of Renrengou, it offered crazy discounts. With its good taste and excellent service, and the support of Renrengou's traffic, it quickly became an Internet celebrity store.

The queue starts at 4pm every day and lasts until 7-8pm.

A table must be turned over at least three times.

In just half a year, Zhang Fu made a fortune.

After that, Zhang Fu's hot pot restaurant followed in the footsteps of Renrengou. Whichever city Renrengou expanded its business to, Zhang Fu's hot pot restaurant would be opened in that city.

Business is good without exception.

These stores are also the future resources of Renrengou.

"The group buying war is getting started, and it will take two to three years to end. You should also seize the next two to three years to expand rapidly, because these two to three years are when the company's subsidies are the largest." Chen Pingjiang paused, then continued: "But I have to say in advance that expansion is expansion, but service quality and product quality are both indispensable, and even more stringent requirements must be met. I don't want you to be exposed in the 315 anti-counterfeiting campaign, which would implicate the platform."

"That's no problem. We know the seriousness of the situation and we will definitely not hold you back."

"We even decided to retain customers even if we had to make a loss. We gave gifts to all customers who made purchases."

These people are not stupid. They will definitely not lose money. They will just make less money.

But as long as Renrengou grows and becomes stronger, they will benefit a lot.

First of all, it can be expanded to multiple cities through the promotion of Renrengou.

Secondly, Renrengou’s valuation will also rise.

Even if you only own 0.5% of the shares, once the company goes public successfully, this 0.5% may be worth 5000 million US dollars or even more.

…………

If there was no Renrengou owned by Chen Pingjiang, Lashou.com would have been the most popular one in the first half of the group buying war and would have been favored by capital.

The startup received three rounds of funding totaling $10 million in 3 months, with a valuation of $1.66 billion.

This was known at the time as a new record for the highest valuation in the shortest time in Internet history.

Even though Chen Pingjiang is so awesome now, he can't compare to him.

If we use the standard of "highest valuation in the shortest time", Pinduoduo, founded by Huang Zheng in 2015, is actually not as good as Lashou.com.

Even investors have personally stepped in to help Lashou.com. Zhu Xiaohu has invested so much in Lashou.com.

Unfortunately, in November 2011, Lashou.com failed to go public because it was reported by its competitors for financial fraud. The first failure of its dream of going public was a big blow to its founders Wu Bo and Zhu Xiaohu. Later, Lashou tried to go public in December 11 and April 2011, but both attempts ended in failure.

The failure of Lashou.com lies in: extensive operations, lax management and blind expansion.

Wu Bo, the CEO of Lashou, has almost never trusted anyone since he left his position as a regional manager of Lashou and joined WoWo. He almost suspected that everyone around him would betray him. Although power has been decentralized, he still has to intervene and take charge.

What’s even more outrageous is that they have come up with a “political commissar system” that has made many regional managers feel extremely stressed, while the employees in the region don’t even know who the actual leaders are.

Wu Bo used people around him to supervise the work of managers in various regions. In name, he asked them to help the regions, but in fact, he arranged many spies around the managers, making the originally harmonious regions no longer peaceful.

After Wu Bo received the first wave of investment of 500 million US dollars, he began to expand rapidly.

How could he let go of Shanghai, which is an economic center?

Unlike Wang Xing and Chen Yizhou who subconsciously avoided after suffering losses at the hands of Chen Pingjiang, he rushed in excitedly.

Cen Lijian, the regional manager who led the team, had just arrived in Shanghai for seven days when he heard the news that Renrengou had raised US$5000 million in financing, and his mouth was bitter.

They are the local tyrants, and now they are extremely rich and an Internet giant. How can we fight this battle?
Want to quit?

I can't retreat.

The office space has been rented and staff have started to be recruited, so there is no way to quit.

I can only bite the bullet and push up.

The first thing Cen Lijian did was to recruit people crazily, which is in line with Lashou.com’s usual style.

Real estate agents, hiring!
Car sales, hiring!
The main feature is its high cost-performance ratio.

These people generally do not have high educational qualifications, so their salaries are not high, but they are able to endure hardships, have a wolf-like nature, and do things without principles.

Gao Songbin, who had arrived in Shanghai one step ahead of time, saw all of this.

Renrengou, which has been operating in Shanghai for almost half a year, has dominated almost every business district, leading in both the number of consumers and the number of merchant stores. Now all it needs to do is wait and see.

While Cen Liqian was recruiting people, Gao Songbin launched a vigorous "rectification" campaign internally.

Crazy use of Renren Tiejun’s training methods to train sales staff.

"Brothers, we can't fail in this battle. The company has just raised 50 million US dollars, and President Chen has said that the first one to support is the Shanghai battlefield. The other party has just arrived, and the team is still being established. We have been deeply involved in the Shanghai market for half a year, and merchants and consumers favor us. I really don't know what to lose."

"This time I went back to the Dongjiang headquarters for a meeting. Chairman Chen has arranged for other brother companies to give us enough support, without a limit. Even if you don't trust me, you should always trust Chairman Chen. I hope you understand that Renrengou is not a place that anyone can step on. Other group buying websites avoided us, but Lashou rushed in. Tell me, do they look down on us?"

The large conference room was packed with people, and the aisles were full of people standing.

After long-term training and experience in front-line work, Gao Songbin has accumulated a lot of personal charm.

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd below the stage shouted in unison: "Fuck him!"

Compared with Lashou.com's hastily put together a makeshift team, the field sales staff present are like regular troops.

For more than half a year, Renrengou had only a thousand field sales staff. If it were replaced by Lashou.com, the number of staff would probably have reached tens of thousands.

Chen Pingjiang’s principle for field promotion is to focus on quality rather than quantity.

The 300 salesmen in Shanghai were all carefully trained and selected by Renren Iron Army, and their fighting effectiveness is superb.

Even after taking up their posts, they still face various assessments and training.

The worst among these people are all college graduates, and their salary levels are far higher than those recruited by Lashou.com.

Chen Pingjiang naturally knew the role of local promotion in group buying, but he was quite opposed to blind expansion.

This thing expands too fast and cannot guarantee the combat effectiveness and purity of the team.

What’s even worse is that once the group buying war is over, these sales representatives will be forced to change jobs or resign.

Chen Pingjiang didn't want to see that day, so from the very beginning, he consciously pursued quality rather than quantity.

These field salesmen trained by Renren Tiejun are fully capable of taking on other positions.

………………

Chi Weijie is the manager of the XH district branch of Renrengou in Shanghai.

He has about 20 people under him, who are responsible for the field promotion work in the XH area.

As one of the first batch of Renren Iron Army training camp graduates, Chi Weijie has quite good abilities. It is just that Renrengou has not yet started an all-out war, otherwise, according to his qualifications, he would be able to serve as a regional manager in other regions.

"Hello, are you Manager Chi?" Cen Lijian stood up and stretched out his right hand with a smile.

Chi Weijie looked at him warily and nodded: "Yes, what's your name?"

"Your surname is Cen, and I am currently the regional manager of Lashou.com's Shanghai region."

Chi Weijie smiled and said, "How do you have my contact information?"

Cen Lijian said: "This is not a difficult thing. I can just scan the shops in the XH area and easily get your contact information."

Chi Weijie laughed dryly: "That's right, but what's the matter with you calling me here?"

Cen Lijian didn't say anything at first, but turned his teacup around. After a while, he said, "I am shocked by Manager Chi's ability. During the store visits, many merchants gave you a thumbs up. To be honest, our company is very interested in you. Although Renrengou is a big company, it is said that it is better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a horse. As long as Manager Chi can come to our company, I will express my great welcome."

"Mr. Cen, isn't that too abrupt? It's true that it's better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of a horse, but why do you think Lashou.com can be a rival to Renrengou?"

Cen Lijian raised his eyebrows: "It seems that Lashou.com is no match for Renrengou now, but it is just the beginning after all. Who knows what will happen in the future? Manager Chi, why don't you listen to my conditions?"

"You said."

"After you come here, you can take the position of district deputy, and your salary will be three times your current salary."

Chi Weijie was stunned: "What a big deal! My current salary is about 15,000 or 16,000 yuan."

Now it was Cen Liqian's turn to be stunned. He didn't expect that the salary in Renrengou was so high. You know, a branch manager like Chi Weijie would only make 10,000 at most at Lashou.com.

After being stunned for a while, Cen Lijian smiled and said, "If you say three times, it means three times, no problem. Excuse me, if Manager Chi comes to work for us for two or three years, he can immediately buy a house in Shanghai. And how many years will it take you to buy a house in Renrengou based on your current salary level? The price has risen sharply recently. If you don't earn more, your salary may not be able to keep up with the rise in housing prices."

Seeing Chi Weijie didn't say anything for a long time and fell into deep thought, Cen Lijian thought he was persuaded and immediately continued, "In a company as big as Renren, the class structure has long been solidified, and it is very difficult to climb up. But it's different for us at LaShou. As a newly-started company, we need talents. Manager Chi, as long as you prove your ability, deputy district director is far from your limit."

"In addition to salary, you will be given stock options if you work for half a year. When we founded Lashou, we were aiming for an IPO. Once the listing is successful, you will be financially free. At that time, it's up to you whether to stay or leave. Haha, if it were me, I would probably go traveling around the world."

As if he saw the heat in Chi Weijie's eyes, Cen Lijian felt delighted and thought there was a way.

"You're not just interested in me, right? You're also interested in the people under my command."

"If Manager Chi can get the brothers from your branch to come over, it would be best if you could bring them here. I can promise that their salary will double."

Chi Weijie suddenly laughed: "You guys at Lashou.com are so rich? If you poach so many people, can you afford to pay them in the end?"

Cen Lijian waved his hand and said, "We are spending a lot of money to buy bones. We are about to start the second round of financing, so funding is not a problem."

"If you can really do what you say, I can ask for you, but I can't guarantee whether it will succeed or not."

"Ask someone you trust, and don't let the news spread to Renrengou." Cen Lijian reminded.

After leaving the hotel, Chi Weijie took a taxi back to Renrengou’s Shanghai headquarters.

Gao Songbin was already waiting in the conference room.

As soon as they met, Gao Songbin smiled and asked, "Did I promise you three times your salary?"

Chi Weijie asked suspiciously: "How did you know?"

Gao Songbin asked mysteriously, "Do you think they are only looking to recruit you?"

After finding a chair and sitting down, Chi Weijie nodded and said, "LaShou seems to be very generous. I dealt with the regional manager there as you said, and he told me to bring as many people as I can."

"Are you moved?" Gao Songbin asked intentionally or unintentionally.

Chi Weijie made a "tsk" sound.

"I say, boss, you underestimate me too much, and you also underestimate our brothers who came out of the Renren Iron Army. Triple salary seems very tempting, but it just sounds good. Not to mention how long LaShou can last in Shanghai, if it runs away, I will be forced to run with it. I don't think it will last long with the way they poach it. I dare to guarantee that when I go there, they will either sideline me and let me leave after a period of time, or their old employees will be unhappy."

"Besides, I'm one of the first employees of Renrengou. If I can hold on for another six months, I'll have the stock option quota. There's no need for me to rush over there."

Gao Songbin nodded and praised: "It's good that you understand. I'm just afraid that some people don't think so."

Chen Pingjiang is well aware of LaShou’s style of poaching people.

Those who dig others will always be dug by others.

It was precisely Lashou's style that made it unable to retain employees after poaching them, which caused even greater conflicts, and then WoWo.com followed closely behind and poached them every day.

Therefore, Chen Pingjiang asked Gao Songbin to guard against this move from the very beginning, and Gao Songbin launched the "Rectification" movement as soon as he returned to Shanghai.

However, it is foreseeable that not everyone is as clear-headed as Chi Weijie, and it is inevitable that some people will tempt with high salaries.

In this regard, Gao Songbin can only wish him good luck.

　The third update has 1.25 words, which is exactly 4 chapters with 3000 words. The update is completed today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)