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

Chapter 770 Old Fox vs. Little Fox

Don't be fooled by Luo Yang's nonchalant tone when he said those words; in reality, the muscles beneath his clothes were taut.

Vic Cohen is definitely a cunning old fox; you could easily get hurt if you're not careful.

From the next moment on, he had to remain fully focused, so he subconsciously began to tense himself up.

"Mr. Luo, let's not rush into discussing specific collaborations."

Sure enough, once the formal negotiations began, Vic Cohen's shrewdness began to show.

He smiled and said to Luo Yang, "I'm not very familiar with the shared bike project yet, such as its operating model, company size, and profit model. Mr. Luo, could you give me a brief introduction?"

In fact, even if Vic Cohen hadn't mentioned it, Luo Yang would have first given a detailed introduction to the operation of the bike-sharing project in China during the subsequent negotiations.

Cao Shuyu did conduct research on the bike-sharing project, but he was certain that this report, along with some background information on Luo Yang, was only given to Kelvin Martin.

Now that Vic Cohen has taken the initiative to bring it up, he has essentially seized the initiative in this conversation.

The key issue is that Luo Yang still has no way to turn things around.

He couldn't very well tell Vic Cohen that Vice President Kelvin Martin had a relevant investigation report, and that he could read the report before discussing cooperation.

"Mr. Cohen, this project was inspired by the sharing economy concept and benefited from the rapid development of the internet and smartphone industries, which led to the emergence of bike-sharing."

Although we lost the first round, we must not lose our composure at this time.

Luo Yang remained calm and explained to Vic Cohen with a smile, "The initial investment in the bike-sharing project was 100 million RMB, with Ling Shi Gong Group holding 70% of the shares and me personally holding 30%. After a round of financing, Sequoia Capital valued the project at 4000 million RMB and acquired 25% of the equity with an investment of 1000 million RMB."

After the first round of financing, Edifier Technology's valuation increased to 4000 million RMB, with Ling Shi Gong Group holding 52.5% of the shares, Luo Yang holding 22.5% personally, and Sequoia Capital holding 25%.

"Currently, bike-sharing companies are in talks with multiple investment institutions regarding a second round of financing, and a preliminary list of shortlisted companies has been determined."

Since we're going to introduce it, we should make it as comprehensive as possible.

Luo Yang continued earnestly, "Many well-known investment institutions, including Sequoia Capital and Tencent, as well as some independent angel investors, are quite interested in the second round of financing for this bike-sharing project. Our company is also willing to offer at least 25% equity in the second round of financing."

Although Luo Yang's expression was serious, it didn't mean he wouldn't lie.

For example, he didn't tell Vic Cohen the truth about the proportion of shares he actually gave up during the second round of financing.

Furthermore, he did not disclose the content of his agreement with Shen Nanpeng.

In this respect, Luo Yang took a risk.

He was gambling that even though Cao Shuyu reported this matter to Kelvin Martin, the news didn't reach Vic Cohen.

It focuses on a time difference in information dissemination.

Of course, even if Vic Cohen found out about this later, he couldn't say that Luo Yang had lied to him.

Because he just didn't say it out loud.
"The business model of bike sharing includes online platforms, offline operations, user payments, maintenance and updates."

Luo Yang didn't give Vic Cohen much time to think, continuing to explain the project's business model: "Bike-sharing companies build online platforms to enable user registration, ride pricing, and order management. They deploy bikes throughout the city to meet users' needs for riding anytime, anywhere. Users pay for rides online, using methods such as WeChat Pay and Alipay. Companies regularly maintain and update the bikes to ensure vehicle quality and a good riding experience."

If it's just a textual or verbal description, people who are new to bike-sharing projects will definitely have many questions.

Fortunately, Vic Cohen had recently watched a video that gave him a more concrete understanding of the project's operating model, and now, with Luo Yang's description, his understanding has actually been strengthened.

So after Sun Wei translated Luo Yang's words to him, Vic Cohen nodded repeatedly.

Even after Luo Yang finished speaking, he added some unique insights based on the videos he had watched.

For example, online payments.

In fact, Luo Yang also wanted to complain that, not to mention now in 2012, even ten years later, online payment has become the common payment method in China, while European and American countries still generally use cash payment.

There are many reasons for this phenomenon, which can only be left as a complaint.

Having discussed the business model and operating model, Luo Yang will now focus on the profit model.

This is very important. Unlike Taobao in its early days, even though its turnover reached tens of billions, it still couldn't find a profitable model, which made it very difficult for Jack Ma to seek financing in its early stages.

The reason is simple: investment institutions cannot see the project's profit model, which means they cannot see its prospects.

"There are many profit models for bike-sharing, mainly including six aspects."

The content Luo Yang was explaining was actually in the PPT being played in the meeting room. He could have explained it by projecting it onto the screen, but now he had to explain it without notes.

Fortunately, he wrote the content himself, so he was quite familiar with it and could speak about it without stuttering.

"First of all, there are deposits and rental fees. Shared bikes generally require users to pay a deposit before use and also charge usage fees. This can be said to be the main source of profit for shared bikes."

Luo Yang explained in a calm tone: "Of course, our project is currently only being implemented in universities. Because the deployment sites are enclosed, we don't charge university students a deposit, only a usage fee."

Universities are enclosed by walls, making them relatively closed spaces. In addition, the average quality of university students is far higher than the overall level of society, so factors such as vehicle theft are minimized and can be ignored.

“Mr. Luo, according to you, this profit model has not been reliably verified.”

Vic Cohen pointed out the flaws in the matter directly: "How can you guarantee that once shared bikes are launched on the market, people will be willing to pay a deposit for them?"

“Mr. Cohen, that’s a good question. We already have a fairly comprehensive solution.”

Luo Yang calmly replied, "Starting next month, we will select one or two small cities in China for a trial rollout. In addition to verifying the data collection of bike deployment in cities using big data, we will also verify the feasibility of the deposit-collecting model."

Vic Cohen was slightly taken aback, not expecting that Luo Yang had made preparations in advance.

“Mr. Luo, I look forward to your successful pilot deployment.” Vic Cohen said to Luo Yang with a smile, “This is the key to the profit model of the shared bicycle project. Its success or failure is directly related to the value of the project.”

"I don't think there should be any major problems."

Luo gave a confident reply.

What's there to doubt? He was reborn and already knew the answer.

"The second profit model is advertising. The bikes themselves are typically clean, simple, and bright, providing space for advertising and thus generating additional revenue for bike-sharing companies. These companies can earn extra income by leasing advertising space on the bikes themselves to businesses or providing advertising on electronic screens."

While explaining this point, Luo Yang relaxed and smoked a cigar.

"From an economic perspective, deployment in third-tier and above cities has a solid foundation for profitability. Therefore, the demand for shared bicycles in domestic cities is between 1000 million and 1200 million. Of course, Edifier Technology cannot capture the entire market, but as the pioneer in this field, we are confident in capturing more than one-third of the market share."

As Luo Yang spoke, he made eye contact with Vic Cohen.

"We commissioned a professional agency to conduct a market assessment, and the annual scale of our advertising business can reach around 50 billion yuan."

"Mr. Luo, it's still an unknown."

Vic Cohen chuckled and said, "After all, bike-sharing is a completely new field, and nobody knows what the future holds. Not to mention that you are the person in the world who knows the prospects of this project best. Therefore, the assessments of so-called professional organizations are not as accurate as your predictions."

As expected of an old fox.

With a seemingly joking remark, the profit model of advertising revenue was suddenly transformed into uncertainty.

As expected of the current president of IDG, he is quite adept at suppressing the value of projects.

"Yes, even I felt that the research report from the professional institution that I received from my subordinates lacked authority, let alone authority."

Luo Yang's counterattack was swift and accurate: "You need to understand that every user of a shared bike has to download and use the bike's software, which is the app of each company. What does that mean?"

He paused deliberately at this point, giving Vic Cohen time to think.

"With 1000 to 1200 million shared bikes deployed nationwide, the number of users will reach approximately 3 million."

Luo Yang smiled and said to Vic Cohen, "Even if our company only occupies one-third of the market share, it means that our company has about 1 million users on the mobile Internet platform. Mr. Cohen, not to mention the revenue from the physical advertising market, just in the Internet advertising business alone, our company's annual advertising revenue is more than one-third of 50 billion!"

Vic Cohen paused for a moment, then burst out laughing.

He didn't feel embarrassed at all. Instead, he picked up his whiskey and gestured to Luo Yang, saying, "Mr. Luo, you young people have a more open mind. If it weren't for this reminder, I would have almost forgotten the mobile internet attributes of shared bikes."

Heh, you old fox.

However, Luo Yang had to admire the old man's thick skin.

That's the business environment in European and American countries. In the early stages of reform and opening up, our country suffered a lot because we didn't understand their nature.

When our domestic companies engaged in business cooperation with them, they took advantage of our lack of expertise in this area during negotiations, deliberately presenting conditions with loopholes or traps. Once we failed to recognize these loopholes due to our inexperience and signed the contract, we suffered significant losses afterward.

Even if we realize their trap and point it out, the result is the same as what Vic Cohen just did: a laugh it off and we renegotiate.

However, Luo Yang has set a trap for Vic Cohen this time.

He deliberately used data from a professional research report to lure people in, and Vic Cohen couldn't resist jumping out to downplay the project's value.

Following Vic Cohen's advice, Luo Yang countered with a checkmate, thereby further increasing the project's value.

Vic Cohen, true to his old fox nature, tried to brush off the questioning with a drink and a casual remark, as if it had never happened.

Ha ha
It doesn't matter anyway, the whole project is just a scam to swindle money.

The meticulousness here is merely a strategic tactic; IDG may earn a little more, but Luo Yang certainly won't lose money.

"The third profit model is financial services. We plan to launch a financial services platform within the enterprise platform. By evaluating users and analyzing their behavior, we will provide them with financial services such as loans and insurance, thereby obtaining a stable source of income."

Luo Yang continued, "With at least 1 million registered users, we have a large number of financial service customers. We can even use this platform to build our own ecosystem. For example, we can select customers who like outdoor cycling from among the users, create a sports community for them, build a cycling culture circle, and establish a cycling sports brand by regularly organizing cycling competitions and other activities."

At this point, Luo Yang paused and, imitating Vic Cohen, picked up the wine glass in front of him.

"Steve Jobs of Apple was not most proud of the iPhone, but of creating the ecosystem that belonged to Apple. We will also cultivate the ecosystem that belongs to Edifier Technology. As long as we have enough registered users, and those users with relatively high daily active users, our company's APP platform will no longer be a simple bike rental software platform. After combining the characteristics of the mobile Internet and using the big data analysis function, our software platform can encompass everything!"

Luo Yang leaned forward slightly, his eyes shining brightly, and said, "This is what we need to do in the second phase. To some extent, this profit point has already surpassed the value of shared bicycles themselves. Mr. Cohen, you should know how powerful a platform with a large number of users can be once it builds an ecosystem."

Vic Cohen: "."

Sun Wei translated these contents in a trembling voice, which should have diminished the context and weakened the momentum.

However, the content of these words still left Vic Cohen speechless with shock.

"The fourth profit model is data analysis and sharing. The operation of shared bicycles requires a lot of data analysis and management. This data may be shared with other partners or companies with relevant data needs, thereby generating revenue."

"The fifth profit model is technology research and development and sales. Shared bike companies often generate revenue by developing and selling technology-related products and services, such as selling real-time positioning equipment for shared bikes."

"The last profit model is government subsidies. Green, environmental protection and energy conservation have become the future development trend. Whether it is China, the United States, or many European countries, energy conservation and emission reduction have become practical behaviors with economic benefits. It is also possible to obtain financial subsidies from local governments in this way."

Don't think this is a joke.

The year Luo Yang was hit and brought back, the average price of carbon emissions trading in China was 71 yuan/ton, while in the United States, the average price of carbon emissions trading reached 43 US dollars/ton.

Europe is even more extreme, with the average price of carbon emissions trading reaching 83 euros per ton in 2023.

(End of this chapter)