I can become stronger by paying salaries. I have one billion employees!

Chapter 246 The Era of Free Navigation Maps! Who the hell is this, going to such lengths?

Yanjing, Digital Valley, Didi Chuxing Studio.

Cheng Wei picked up a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Li Guangping across from him, a look of embarrassment on his face.

The environment here is extremely rudimentary. If it weren't for the novel ride-hailing model and the explosive popularity of Kuaidi Dache attracting the attention of investment banks, Cheng Wei knew that the vice president of Capital Today would never have condescended to come to his workshop-style startup base.

"Mr. Cheng, your conditions are quite tough." Li Guangping took the bottled water, his gaze sweeping over the cramped space, and joked with a smile.

Previously, Capital Today missed the opportunity to invest in Kuaidi Dache, which is now valued at over $6 million.

Xu Xin, the big boss, believes that instead of investing in the already established Kuaidi Dache, it would be better to turn his attention to Didi Dache.

Today's capital will have greater profit potential.

Cheng Wei gave an awkward laugh. Although Li Guangping's words were hurtful, he dared not refute them.

This is the first and only venture capital firm to actively seek investment in Didi Chuxing since the project was established.

If you don't have money, you won't have the confidence to speak up.

With his account balance dwindling and no further investment coming in, he had no choice but to sheepishly declare his business a failure and return to his regular job.

"Mr. Li, this is Didi Chuxing's business plan. Please take a look."

Cheng Wei pushed a thick document in front of Li Guangping.

Li Guangping smiled faintly, opened the business plan, and began browsing it as if no one else was around.

In Cheng Wei's vision, there are 130 million taxis nationwide, with daily operating revenue of up to 3 million yuan, which amounts to more than 100 billion yuan a year. Even if Didi Chuxing only takes 10% as commission, its annual revenue would still be 1000 billion yuan.

At that time, Didi Chuxing's valuation will exceed 1000 billion!
"When will Didi Chuxing be launched?" After a long while, Li Guangping put down the documents, looked up at Cheng Wei, and stared at him sharply.

"By the end of the month at the latest," Cheng Wei said through gritted teeth.

In fact, he had already realized that the outsourcing company he had contacted for 90,000 yuan was completely unreliable.

He wasn't sure if it would be able to launch as scheduled by the end of the month.

But in order to raise funds, Cheng Wei had no choice but to bite the bullet and make things up.

"Too slow! Kuaidi Dache has already entered the Luzhou market, and if you include Hangzhou and Nanjing, there are as many as 2000 million potential users within their operating area. Didi needs to speed up."

Li Guangping shook his head, his expression grave.

I want it to be fast too!

But I have no money!
Cheng Wei smiled wryly, inwardly cursing wildly.

He suffered a lot during this period because most of the people in his team were originally business people from the B2C business unit of Zhifubao and didn't understand technology at all.

The slow progress of research and development made him so anxious that he couldn't sleep for nights on end.

On one hand, Kuaidi Dache has risen to prominence, raising $9000 million and aggressively seizing the ride-hailing market in cities like Hangzhou and Nanjing; on the other hand, the nightmare of failed entrepreneurship continues to haunt him.

If he resigns from his position as general manager of Ali and fails to deliver results, not only will his former colleagues ridicule him, but even his parents and relatives will question his decision.

Cheng Wei took a deep breath and said, "President Li, I know that Didi Chuxing is at a disadvantage in terms of technology and capital compared to Kuaidi Dache, but I firmly believe that such a large ride-hailing market in China can give birth to at least two or three unicorn companies."

The implication is that although I have no money or technology, as long as Today Capital invests in me, it won't be difficult for me to secure second or third place by leveraging my first-mover advantage.

Li Guangping smiled broadly; he greatly admired Cheng Wei's frankness.

In his view, Didi Chuxing is not without its advantages. Cheng Wei and others are all core members of the Zhifubao sales team, and they are definitely experts in market development.

Just like when Ali invested in Meituan, it sent Shan Jiawei, the head of the China Supply Iron Army, to Meituan to assist Wang Xin in managing the ground sales team, thereby accelerating the market expansion.

In less than a year, Meituan's market share surged to second place in the industry.

While Wang Xin's trading skills certainly played a part, Shan Jiawei's contributions were equally indispensable.

This is another major reason why Xu Xin chose to invest in Didi Chuxing.

"How much money do you want? How much do you think Didi Chuxing is worth? What percentage of equity are you willing to give up?"

Li Guangping looked at Cheng Wei with a half-smile and asked three questions in a row.

Cheng Wei was slightly taken aback. He only wanted 500 million yuan to develop the app first, and then move to a more comfortable office.

As for how much Didi Chuxing is worth right now, he hasn't really thought about it seriously.

For a moment, Cheng Wei fell silent. After a long while, he finally answered, "800 million. I can give Today Capital a 15% stake."

“300 million for 20% equity, but can you guarantee it will be launched before the end of the month?” Li Guangping didn’t even say a word of refusal, just calmly informed Cheng Wei, leaving no room for negotiation.

Faced with the assertive Li Guangping, Cheng Wei initially wanted to use his extensive negotiation skills to communicate with him, but when he met Li Guangping's amused gaze, he immediately swallowed his words.

Losing a portion of equity is better than losing the project's survival.

Cheng Wei was quite pleased. He stood up, shook Li Guangping's right hand, expressed his gratitude, and happily accepted the investment from Capital Today.

He's desperately short of money!
Cheng Wei's former colleague, Wang Gang, took out all his savings to support his startup. If Didi Chuxing fails, Cheng Wei will really have no way to explain it to anyone.

We can't say that with 80 yuan, they didn't even manage to create an app, can we?

Fortunately, Capital Today came to his rescue!
After seeing Li Guangping off, Cheng Wei excitedly called Wang Gang: "Didi has secured funding!"

the other side.

At No. 18 Changsheng Road, more than 20 kilometers away from Digital Valley, Xiao Jun walked into the headquarters building of Gaode Map with a radiant expression.

A year ago, he was tricked by Cheng Congwu and Hou Jun and left the management center of Gaode Maps in disgrace. Now he is back.

At this moment, Cheng Congwu sat in his office with an unpleasant expression, waiting for Xiao Jun to come and hand over the reins.

Three days ago, Senlian Capital sent an appointment email: Xiao Jun will officially assume the position of CEO of Gaode Maps starting April 10th. Cheng Congwu didn't believe that such a coincidence could happen. He was certain that this Xiao Jun was the old friend and subordinate he had ousted.

However, Cheng Congwu thought about it again and shrugged indifferently.

Gaode Maps is a thing of the past; he and Hou Jun will now focus on the cultural tourism development project in Fenghuang Ancient Town.

After thinking it through, Cheng Congwu smiled and walked out, intending to let bygones be bygones with Xiao Jun.

As I approached the office area, I saw Xiao Jun walking towards me.

Compliments kept coming from all around!

"President Xiao? It really is you? We thought it was just a coincidence of names!"

"With you here, Gaode Maps will definitely be able to crush Baidu!"

"Mr. Xiao, I've booked a private room at Jingzhaoyin tonight. Let's catch up together."

As Xiao Jun walked along, his eyes swept over the people who were offering their greetings. Among them were his long-time employees who had always supported him, as well as his former subordinates who had parted ways with him and joined Cheng Congwu's group.

No one expected that Xiao Jun would quietly find a new boss and become the CEO.

"Congratulations!"

Cheng Congwu stopped and stood opposite Xiao Jun, extending his hands and looking at him with a bright smile.

It seemed she wanted to give Xiao Jun a hug like old friends.

Xiao Jun chuckled to himself, his previous anger, grievances, and doubts vanishing in an instant.

In a daze, he recalled years ago when the three of them huddled together in an office with only one electric fan, researching the creation of electronic maps and the application process for surveying and mapping qualifications, trusting each other and working hard together.

"Mr. Cheng, I forgot to say goodbye when I left Gaode last time. It's not too late to say goodbye this time, is it?"

Xiao Jun said calmly.

"No! The idea for creating Gaode Maps originated from you. I'm very happy to have it handed back to you."

Cheng Congwu responded with a smile.

Xiao Jun nodded and clapped in agreement.

Under his leadership, the surrounding Gaode employees applauded enthusiastically, witnessing the handover moment of Gaode Maps' top executive.

In the end, Xiao Jun forced himself to swallow his words and questioned Cheng Congwu.

That afternoon, a spokesperson for Gaode Maps' marketing department announced that, effective immediately, Gaode Navigation would completely abolish its fee policy.

Both electronic maps and navigation services are completely free!
This measure caused Gaode Maps to see a rapid surge in downloads on the App Store, Android app markets, 91 Assistant, Wandoujia, Tencent App Store, and Orange App Store.

In just one hour, the number of downloads exceeded 400!
This is as shocking as when Tencent Video suddenly announced it would be free and completely abolish its membership system more than a decade later.

When Baidu Maps and Careland received the news, they were completely stunned!

I've seen price wars, but I've never seen anyone start with a free strategy.

Careland is doing alright; its main business is pre-installed navigation systems for car manufacturers, and it doesn't have a B2C segment.

Baidu Maps immediately panicked!
Huang Wei, the person in charge, took out his phone and called Cheng Congwu, yelling, "What the hell is going on! Does Gaode not want to make money, and doesn't want Baidu to make money either?"

"Mr. Huang, please don't misunderstand! I'm not the CEO of Gaode Maps now, and this new policy has nothing to do with me," Cheng Congwu quickly explained.

"Xiao Jun? You mean Senlian Capital is manipulating things behind the scenes?" Huang Wei asked suspiciously.

He knew about Senlian Capital's acquisition of AutoNavi, but he didn't know that on the very first day Senlian Capital took over AutoNavi, they replaced the CEO with Xiao Jun.

"Perhaps," Cheng Congwu said with a light laugh.

With a sense of doubt, Huang Wei knocked on Li Yanhong's office door.

“Robin, Gaode Maps, as the leading electronic navigation product in the market, has now announced that it will be free. We need to follow suit as soon as possible,” Huang Wei said seriously.

When he figured out Gaode Maps' free strategy for the B2C market, his last glimmer of hope was shattered.

Li Yanhong remained silent after hearing this, his brows furrowed and a look of hesitation on his face.

Although the B2C business accounts for a small percentage of profits, it still guarantees at least 30 million yuan in revenue per year.

Previously, when he heard the name Senlian Capital, he always felt that Chen Yansen was incredibly talented, having earned billions of dollars at the age of twenty, and his business acumen was astonishing.

But at this moment, the names of Senlian Capital and Chen Yansen suddenly became particularly hateful.

Li Yanhong hesitated.

"Robin, slow down! Individual users will all flock to Gaode. Once they achieve a scale advantage, it will be several times more difficult for us to surpass Gaode in a short period of time."

Huang Wei urged anxiously.

"Let the marketing department issue an announcement!" Li Yanhong sighed and waved his hand.

Seeing that his boss listened to his advice, Huang Wei breathed a sigh of relief. After agreeing, he hurriedly went out to find the product and marketing staff to shut down the paid features of Baidu Maps before issuing an announcement.

The news that two major electronic navigation map services were offering their services for free immediately became a trending topic.

This almost completely changed the travel habits of ordinary people in China. Many people who couldn't distinguish east from west no longer got lost with the help of navigation.

Physical maps are entering their final countdown to obsolescence!
At 22 p.m. that night, an even bigger piece of news broke: Lashou.com was suspected of financial fraud, and its IPO listing plan was shelved.

"Who sent the whistleblower letter to the Securities Association? Find it for me!"

At Lashou.com's headquarters, Wu Bo was furious. The company was just one step away from going public, but who the hell was this guy who did this?

(End of this chapter)