Reborn: Billionaire in College

Chapter 231 If you want to make a mobile phone, you have to recruit people first
When Renren's internal employees heard that the company was preparing for an IPO, their faces were twisted with excitement.

Now that Renren has gone public, there will be a lot more billionaires among these people.

When Alibaba first went public, it had more than 40 people on the Hurun list, and there were countless other multi-millionaires.

There wasn't much movement from the outside world, but many organizations in the circle came to the door.

Among them are management consulting companies, securities firms, law firms, and accounting firms.

Generally speaking, it takes at least half a year from starting IPO preparations to successfully listing.

There are numerous steps involved.

When starting the IPO preparation phase, you need to find an experienced IPO financial advisor, develop a IPO plan, form an internal and external team, and execute a timetable to ensure that you save time and money and that you can successfully go public. The internal and external teams include lawyers, auditors, etc. This phase also includes due diligence to evaluate the company's financial and internal control status.

IPO materials are then prepared, including documents such as the prospectus, which require detailed disclosure of information such as the company's business, financial status, management team and risk factors.

Next, apply for SEC registration and exchange listing. Submit the prospectus to the SEC for review and select a suitable exchange to submit the listing application.

The subsequent processes include roadshows, pricing, securities underwriting, depository, delivery, etc.

After a series of selections and comparisons, Chen Pingjiang chose Huaxing Capital to serve as the exclusive listing financial advisor and joint global coordinator for this US IPO.

The four joint sponsors, or underwriters, are Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Among them, Renren will take out 1% of the IPO financing amount as the basic underwriting fee for the above four investment banks.

…………

Is it harder to do business in the physical world than on the Internet?
Of course.

A good idea can give birth to an app that becomes popular all over the world.

But the entity is different, involving a large number of patents and supply chain management.

Standing at the forefront of the smartphone market, it is much easier to get started. As the market matures, small businesses will simply not be able to survive.

Lao Luo’s Hammer phone is an example.

There is no money and no channels for marketing and promotion, and the production costs are high and the yield rate is low, resulting in frequent delays and out-of-stock situations.

There is also a lack of talent, which leads to some problems with product quality and design, such as poor signal and poor battery life.

Of course, the most important thing is that there is no money.

Insufficient supply chain advantages, limited production scale, insufficient means of creation, difficulty in accumulating user word-of-mouth, and poor ecology all constitute difficulties for newcomers in making mobile phones.

Chen Pingjiang has used so many different types of smartphones that he has a clear idea of ​​the future direction of mobile phone design, but he is now entering the mobile phone industry in the dark.

There is no need to think about acquiring the company. The only companies that can be acquired now are Meizu and HTC, but they won't sell and he doesn't have the money.

Okay, let’s find someone!
…………

BJ, Google Research China.

When Kai-Fu Lee was busy in his office, his secretary knocked on the door and reported: "Mr. Li, Mr. Chen Pingjiang from Renren.com is here and wants to meet with you."

Kai-Fu Lee was stunned for a moment: "Please come in."

Kai-Fu Lee of Renren knew about this, but he was totally confused as to why Chen Pingjiang came to him.

The two businesses have almost nothing in common.

Why did Chen Pingjiang come to see me?

When meeting Chen Pingjiang, Kai-Fu Lee exclaimed: "I've heard that Mr. Chen is very young. When I saw him today, he really looked like the rising sun. In comparison, we are the setting sun."

Li Kaifu is still in good spirits now, and he is one of the people Chen Pingjiang admires the most.

He was in the late stage of lymphoma but succeeded in fighting cancer through his own efforts, which was a completely different ending from that of Mr. Joe on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

"Mr. Li is in the prime of his life. You are so polite." Chen Pingjiang walked up and shook hands with Kai-Fu Lee.

"Mr. Chen, is there anything that brings you to our company so suddenly?" Kai-Fu Lee asked curiously.

“Well, I want to make a mobile phone.”

Kai-Fu Lee suddenly realized: "I see. Welcome, welcome. Xiao Zhang, go get Dean Lin."

As the vice president of Google China Engineering Research Institute, Lin Bin's main job is to be responsible for the localization of the Android system, which has a profound impact on the development of smartphones.

When Kai-Fu Lee heard that Chen Pingjiang was going to make a mobile phone, he thought that the purpose of Chen Pingjiang's visit was to discuss cooperation on the Android system.

If he knew that Chen Pingjiang came with the intention of poaching people, he would be furious and curse. When Lin Bin came over, he was still a little confused. After Kai-Fu Lee explained the situation, he asked Chen Pingjiang in confusion: "Why does Mr. Chen also want to make mobile phones? Recently, Mr. Lei Jun also wants to make mobile phones."

Chen Pingjiang was moved when he heard this, and asked calmly, "Oh? Really? Wasn't it rumored recently that Mr. Lei wanted to invest in Meizu?"

The simple-minded engineering guy immediately responded, "Well, it seems they are indeed in contact, and they also recommended me to talk to Mr. Huang from Meizu about Android system embedding."

After Kai-Fu Lee chatted with the two for a few words, Lin Bin took Chen Pingjiang to Starbucks not far from Google Research Institute.

The information Chen Pingjiang has received so far is that Lei Jun has not yet started to poach Lin Bin, which gives him room to maneuver.

"Excuse me for being blunt, Mr. Chen, your Renren.com is doing so well, why did you suddenly want to make mobile phones? As the saying goes, every different field has its own difficulties. Mobile phones are very difficult to make." After sitting down, Lin Bin directly expressed his curiosity.

Chen Pingjiang smiled and said, "I am optimistic about the future development of smart phones, and I am also very interested in the online and offline integration model." After saying this, Chen Pingjiang changed the subject and asked, "Have you ever thought about starting your own business, President Lin?"

"?"

Lin Bin was still a little confused. Weren't we talking about why you made mobile phones? How did we end up talking about me?

"It's just a casual chat, don't be offended, Dean Lin."

Seeing him say that, Lin Bin nodded and said, "I have thought about making a music website before."

Chen Pingjiang thought for a moment and asked, "Is it the concept of a music community?"

Lin Bin was shocked: "How did Mr. Chen know this? Could it be that you guys are also planning to do this on Renren? Then my entrepreneurial idea would be blocked halfway."

Chen Pingjiang waved his hand: "We don't plan to do this, but the concept is good. It's just that this kind of thing is too small and can't fully demonstrate your strength, Mr. Lin. You can invest some money and let others do it. You need a bigger stage."

Looking at Chen Pingjiang's embarrassed eyes, Lin Bin's heart moved. He felt that Chen Pingjiang's visit might not be as simple as he said. It seemed that he was coming for him.

"You're not trying to poach me, are you?" Lin Bin didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he was also a little curious: "Making mobile phones requires strong financial support. This money is not a few hundred million, but perhaps tens of billions. Do you have it?"

"Six months after Renren goes public, I will cash out and sell off my shares, and use the proceeds to make mobile phones. Right now, Renren is already preparing for its IPO."

Just one sentence shows Chen Pingjiang's determination.

Even if we want to cash out and reduce our holdings, we still want to make mobile phones!
"Taiwan has HTC, South Korea has Samsung, the US has Apple and Motorola, and Japan has NEC, in addition to Ericsson and Nokia. What does China have? Meizu? Lenovo? Coolpad? OPPO?"

"Excuse me, these products are too ordinary. Most of them are from small factories, and their subsequent production and research and development capabilities cannot be guaranteed."

Lin Bin said: "I just met Mr. Huang Zhang of Meizu last week. Their new phone M8 is pretty good."

Chen Pingjiang smiled and took out his Meizu M8. "It's quite popular. We sold 3 units in two months. Now we have at least units. Some people even say it's comparable to the iPhone GS."

Meizu is still pretty awesome right now.

Known as the "Apple of China".

"Meizu's success has its background. The Android system is not mature yet and has not been popularized in China. Apple is now a lone rival. In addition, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have the support of telecommunications channels, so they don't have to worry about sales. The appearance design and system are almost the same."

"But how long can this situation last? Once other major domestic manufacturers react and want to make mobile phones, they can rely on software and strong publicity and promotion, as long as the mobile phones are not too bad, they can crush Meizu. But don't forget that Huang Zhang doesn't value talent, and there are even many people from his family in Meizu."

“Let me ask you, if I make a phone that is similar to Meizu’s, will consumers buy mine or Meizu’s?”

Lin Bin smiled and said, "If your products are really the same, then consumers will definitely buy yours, Mr. Chen."

Everyone is not stupid.

Chen Pingjiang has strong publicity channels with Renren and Weibo, saving money on advertising. Most importantly, Chen Pingjiang is now known as the "national husband" and has numerous real fans.

Chen Pingjiang has over 30 million fans on Renren and Weibo. Even if only 1% of them support him, Chen Pingjiang will not fail.

He has too many stigmas and labels.

After thinking for a while, Lin Bin asked: "Mr. Chen, what do you think about the future of smartphones?"

"It can replace computers in most cases. Mobile Internet is very popular. Every mobile phone is a terminal. People can watch videos, sing songs, surf the Internet, chat, shop, play games through smartphones. They can do everything that PCs can do."

Lin Bin was somewhat persuaded.

First of all, he had the idea of ​​starting a business. Secondly, Chen Pingjiang had resources and money. Most importantly, Chen Pingjiang’s idea of ​​smartphones was consistent with his.

"But if it's just you and me, we don't understand mobile phone hardware, so we can't make a good phone."

Chen Pingjiang laughed: "Since I can find you, Dean Lin, you can naturally be responsible for making mobile phone hardware. You are the most important person to me and the first person I found. To be honest, I only started to make mobile phones after you nodded. If I couldn't convince you to join, I might not even make mobile phones."

"Nokia, which dominated the market for many years, has lost its prestige, while Apple has taken the lead with the wonderful performance of the iPhone series. Samsung has seized the opportunity to move from the second place to the first-tier newcomers, while Motorola, HTC and Meizu have each dominated their own market. In this market where there is no absolute leader, this is also the best time for us to rise. If you miss this opportunity, you will miss it."

(End of this chapter)