If everyone is reborn, who will work for capital?

Chapter 170 Taking on Shen Nanpeng head-on (2nd update, 6k views)

After seeing Geng Zhi off, Zhu Xiaohu and Kong Min turned around and went back to their office.

The moment the door closed, the office fell silent as the two began to ponder Geng Zhi's purpose.

"Mr. Zhu, do you think Geng Zhi came here just to catch up with you and casually mention Momo's Series B funding?" Kong Min asked curiously, holding a water glass.

Zhu Xiaohu glanced at her, a half-smile on his face, and asked, "Do you believe me?"

Kong Min frowned and pondered for a moment, then decisively shook her head: "I don't believe it. He should be able to guess that our Jinshajiang Venture Capital wouldn't bet on both [Weiju] and [Momo]."

Zhu Xiaohu nodded: "So, this kid's real intention is not what it seems."

He paused here and didn't continue.

Zhu Xiaohu knew that Geng Zhi was a drunkard, and that Geng Zhi's intentions were not what they seemed, but he just didn't know what Geng Zhi's intentions were.

Geng Zhi invited Zhu Xiaohu ostensibly to catch up, but also to discuss Momo's Series B financing.

However, during the entire chat, 20% of the time was spent discussing Dami Technology and smartphones, 40% was spent analyzing Renren.com's current situation and future strategies, and 38% was spent discussing how products like Momo and Weiju could respond to the challenges posed by Renren.com.

Only about 2% of the time was spent discussing Momo's Series B funding round.

The discussion about Dami Technology was related to a chance encounter with Arctic Capital. The topic of Renren.com was initiated by Kong Min.

All of this seemed so natural, not like something that Geng Zhi had deliberately prepared.

Seeing that his boss Zhu Xiaohu was hesitant to comment, Kong Min could only continue to speculate: "Mr. Zhu, after analyzing the situation, I feel that his purpose for this trip is most likely to ask us to act as peacemakers, to send a reconciliation signal to Li Haipeng, and to jointly confront Renren.com? He's too embarrassed to approach Li Haipeng directly, so he's using us as a pretext."

"Perhaps."

Zhu Xiaohu didn't want to waste any more time guessing, so he changed the subject, saying, "Xiao Kong, stop guessing. You immediately do a comprehensive research report on Renren.com. Not just an analysis of [Private App], but also an analysis of the Renren.com Group, Nuomi.com, and other similar companies."

"Okay, Mr. Zhu!" Kong Min replied, opening her notebook to take notes.

"I need comprehensive financial data and strategic planning intentions. If the facts are indeed as Geng Zhi just analyzed, we will contact Li Haipeng as soon as possible and suggest that he immediately launch the Series B financing," Zhu Xiaohu added.

"So, should we go with Arctic Capital for our Series B funding round?" Kong Min asked, her pen pausing on the paper.

"We'll lead the Series B round, bringing in Arctic Capital, but if the amount is really huge, we'll need to bring in one or two more institutions to join us," Zhu Xiaohu said in a deep voice.

"Understood!" Kong Min nodded emphatically, turned around and quickly walked out of the office.

Zhu Xiaohu sat alone in his office, his gaze fixed on the view outside the window.

Regardless of Geng Zhi's true motives, he will continue to support Weiju.

He then dialed the number of Li Dongping from Arctic Capital.

After leaving GSR Ventures, Geng Zhi didn't go back to the hotel. Instead, he took a taxi directly to an old Beijing-style fried noodles restaurant near Nanluoguxiang.

He arranged to meet Zhou Haoran, a reporter from CCTV's financial channel, and his apprentice Zheng Yuxi, who had recently been promoted to a full-fledged employee, at that location.

For this product launch event, Renren.com invited CCTV's Finance Channel, which appointed Zhou Haoran, who in turn appointed his apprentice Zheng Yuxi.

A while ago, Zheng Yuxi informed industry insider Geng Zhi about the invitation he had received.

The next morning, the weather in the capital was still sunny.

-

Geng Zhi led the company secretary, Lü Siyu, and Tang Yan, CEO of Mingfan Technology, to the Huamao Center in the capital.

He wanted to hold a formal briefing with the Series A investors before the Series B funding round for Mingfan Technology.

Before coming, Geng Zhi specially arranged for Lü Siyu to go to several large supermarkets and buy four bags of Dezhou boneless braised chicken.

Yesterday, I went to Zhu Xiaohu's office half an hour early and unexpectedly stumbled upon Li Dongping's visit, which also led him to discover T.

The benefits of arriving early.

So today, he made a point of arriving at Sequoia Capital more than twenty minutes early with his team.

The three of them stepped out of the elevator and headed towards Sequoia Capital's office area when they ran into Yang Dong.

He was seeing two middle-aged men in suits, looking very capable, off to the elevator with a standard business smile on his face.

One of the men was full of vigor, walking with his head held high. Geng Zhi looked at him and felt that he looked familiar. After looking at him carefully for a few seconds, he suddenly recognized him—Hong Qinghua.

However, Hong Qinghua clearly did not recognize Geng Zhi. When Zi Guang glanced at the three of them, he did not stop at all, as if he had not seen them, and walked straight past them with a hint of arrogance of an entrepreneur.

Hong Qinghua is also a serial entrepreneur. After graduating from Shanghai University, he started a series of entrepreneurial ventures and later founded Lvmama.com, becoming the pioneer of the online booking model for scenic spot tickets.

Ultimately, due to multiple reasons such as major flaws in its business model, drastic changes in the industry landscape, and over-reliance on capital injections, it eventually closed down due to huge debt problems.

Sequoia Capital also lost everything in this investment.

After seeing Hong Qinghua and the other two off, Yang Dong quickly invited Geng Zhi and the other two to come inside.

"Mr. Geng, do you know Mr. Hong from earlier?" Yang Dong asked as they walked.

"Is that Mr. Hong the founder of Lvmama.com?" Geng Zhi casually replied.

"Yes, it's Mr. Hong from Lvmama." Yang Dong suddenly slapped his forehead. "That's right, you're all in Shanghai, so it's normal for you to know Mr. Hong."

"Did Lvmama Travel Network successfully secure funding from Sequoia Capital?" Geng Zhi asked Yang Dong with curiosity.

"Uh—we're still talking, we're still talking," Yang Dong mumbled in response.

Geng Zhi simply shook his head slightly and didn't continue the topic, following Yang Dong as they walked further inside.

Yang Dong noticed that Geng Zhi shook his head slightly, but didn't ask any further questions.

In Shen Nanpeng's office.

He had just gotten on the treadmill, intending to run for fifteen minutes, but before he had run very far, he heard laughter and chatter behind him. He turned around to look while running.

"President Shen, President Geng and the others are here," Yang Dong called out as he entered the room.

Upon seeing that it was Geng Zhi and his two companions, Shen Nanpeng quickly got off the treadmill and greeted them warmly: "Oh, Geng's here! President Tang, Assistant Lü, hello, hello!"

"There wasn't much traffic today. We arrived so early, we hope we didn't disrupt Senior Shen's schedule?" Geng Zhi sincerely expressed his apology.

"It's alright, it's alright." Shen Nanpeng waved his hand with a smile, indicating that it was nothing to worry about.

Geng Zhi suddenly remembered the local specialty, turned to look at Lü Siyu, and gave her a wink.

Lü Siyu understood and quickly took out four bags of local specialties from her bag and handed them to Shen Nanpeng and Yang Dong: "President Shen, President Yang, these are Shandong Province specialties that our President Geng specially brought for you. They are Dezhou boneless braised chicken. You two can try them."

Shen Nanpeng and Yang Dong exchanged a glance, their expressions almost synchronized: their eyebrows slightly raised and their lips slightly parted.

Gift-giving doesn't seem to be a common practice in the investment world!

Everyone's talking about money, valuation, shares, and exit strategies. What's the point of giving away four chickens?

Moreover, they hadn't delivered anything before, so it felt a bit strange that they suddenly delivered something this time.

Surely they're not thinking of using four chickens to get a higher valuation, are they?

Regardless of their intentions, the two happily accepted the local specialties that General Manager Geng had specially brought from his hometown.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the five people got straight to the topic of financing.

The meeting began with Tang Yan projecting his computer screen directly from his office to sync the Momo app with Shen and Yang.

Our operational strategies and the latest data.

Tang Yan's operational strategy was explained concisely, highlighting several key data points from the latest Momo app, and these were real data points.

Shen Nanpeng and Yang Dong listened attentively, occasionally asking a few small questions.

After Tang Yan finished speaking, Shen Nanpeng beamed and repeatedly praised, "Excellent, the data is truly impressive! President Tang's brand promotion skills are truly remarkable!"

"President Shen, you flatter me!" Tang Yan feigned smugness for a couple of seconds before continuing, "The data is good, so we need to launch and complete our Series B funding round as soon as possible to support the leapfrog growth of Mingfan Technology."

"President Tang, President Geng, what are the latest estimated amounts and valuations for your Series B funding round?" Yang Dong interjected, confirming again.

Since their last phone conversation, Shen Nanpeng and Yang Dong have asked Geng Zhi's team to reassess and revise the Series B valuation. Geng Zhi and Tang Yan promised at the time that they would seriously reassess the valuation.

However, after the evaluation, the results were not communicated to Sequoia Capital.

That was the end of it, which is why Yang Dong asked again.

"Mr. Yang, after several days of careful evaluation, our company's final conclusion is: to raise $2.5 million USD, with a valuation of $2500 billion."

"One hundred million US dollars," Tang Yan answered frankly.

"No," Yang Dong said, his eyes wide and bewildered, "President Tang, after all these days of evaluation, there hasn't been a single change from what we discussed on the phone last time?"

"That's right, Mr. Yang." Tang Yan nodded solemnly, "Our assessment was very careful and scientific, and we will definitely keep it as it is."

Yang Dong was speechless, and Shen Nanpeng was also speechless.

Yang Dong shook his head with a wry smile, his expression full of utter disapproval: "In just over three months, a valuation of $3000 million to $2.5 million—this leap—it's unprecedented, not only in China, but even in the history of the American internet!"

Mr. Tang took a sip of water and calmly replied, "Mr. Yang, history is meant to be created. Just because America doesn't have something doesn't mean our country can't have it. Mingfan Technology is willing to be a creator of this history."

Yang Dong: "...

'

Tang Yan was right. Yang Dong realized he couldn't refute it, so he had to get to the point: "President Tang, your valuation logic is clearly flawed. You can't convince us."

Upon hearing this, Tang Yan continued to flip through the PPT and began to explain the plan for game co-operation.

"President Yang, President Shen, the Momo team was already poached by President Geng from Kaixin001 when it was first established. Now it is moving forward according to the initial plan, and the progress is exceeding expectations."

At this point, Tang Yan glanced at Geng Zhi at just the right moment. Shen Nanpeng and Yang Dong's gazes also fell on Geng Zhi.

Geng Zhi nodded slightly in agreement.

Tang Yan's statement was meant to show Shen Nanpeng and Yang Dong that Momo's founder, Geng Zhi, had already devised a business model from the very beginning of Momo's establishment.

Shen Nanpeng and Yang Dong were indeed impressed by this, their hearts filled with admiration, but neither showed it on their faces.

Tang Yan cleared his throat and continued his presentation: "In the early stages, the Momo app will only handle distribution. Game developers will give us a share, and we'll give the users—"

"Mingfan Technology has already reached cooperation agreements with well-known game developers such as PopCap Games and Avengers Games. In particular, a substantial agreement has been reached with Avengers Games, the company that recently developed the hit game 'Fruit Ninja'."

"In Q4 of this year, Momo's user base is expected to exceed 1000 million. Benchmarking against the conversion rate of the Japanese gaming platform GREE, monthly game revenue is expected to exceed $100 million USD — In Q2 of 2011, user base exceeded 1500 million, and monthly revenue exceeded $300 million USD —"

After Tang Yan finished explaining the game in one breath, he answered several of Yang Dong's questions.

The two second-in-commands, Tang Yan and Yang Dong, continued their back-and-forth banter.

The two top leaders, Geng Zhi and Shen Nanpeng, sat there without saying a word, as if watching a grand drama.

Tang Yan's insightful analysis of the game distribution aspect convinced Yang Dong to some extent, but he only agreed to raise Momo's valuation to $1.8 million.

Tang Yan continued flipping through the PPT, took a deep breath, and said with a slightly heavy tone, "President Yang, Renren.com has now officially announced that it will invest a lot of money to enter the market. Momo's real competitor has arrived."

Shen Nanpeng, who had been silent until now, sat up straight with curiosity, while Yang Dong was the first to ask, "Oh? Is it also a product with a similar positioning to Momo?"

"Yes, Renren's product is called [Private App], and in terms of functionality and visual layout, it's almost identical to Momo," Tang Yan said with a wry smile.

He continued turning the pages, first describing the product image of Renren.com's [Private App] for a few minutes.

He then went on to explain to Shen and Yang in detail that Renren.com was holding a press conference today, inviting celebrities such as Han Geng, Yang Mi, and JJ Lin to the event, and that they planned to spend a lot of money on online and offline marketing.

Of course, Tang Yan may have exaggerated some key aspects that are difficult to verify.

Shen Nanpeng and Yang Dong had both heard about Renren.com's foray into the stranger social networking market, but after listening to Tang Yan's analysis, they learned the details of Renren.com's strategic approach.

They originally thought Renren's strategic focus would be on Nuomi.com, but they didn't expect that Renren would also heavily invest in [Private App].

The two fell into deep thought.

Geng Zhi subtly gave Tang Yan a wink, and Tang Yan, understanding, immediately pressed his advantage: "Moreover, we just received news that Jinshajiang Venture Capital and Arctic Capital will also continue to increase their investment in [Weiju]."

"The current situation is that if Momo doesn't accelerate its financing, the window of opportunity may only last six months. After six months, Renren will rely on its massive traffic acquisition, and Weiju will rely on its penetration into third- and fourth-tier cities, putting immense pressure on Momo."

Yang Dong was the first to raise his head and nod: "President Tang's analysis makes a lot of sense. Momo's first-mover advantage is indeed at risk of being erased or even overtaken. Sequoia Capital can lead the investment with $1200 million."

Yang Dong's statement surprised Tang Yan, and a look of joy inadvertently appeared on his face.

Even the usually calm and straightforward Geng Zhi was slightly surprised.

He thought it would be an extremely difficult negotiation, but before he could even unleash his full power, the other side surrendered.

Just as the two were overjoyed, Yang Dong made a sudden turn of events: "But we have to be allowed to hold 6% of the shares."

upright:"----"

Tang Yan:

'

."

After much discussion, the valuation still didn't exceed $2 million, and the negotiations seemed to have reached a stalemate.

Shen Nanpeng was the most composed person in the room.

He already knew about the game joint operation and Renren.com competition that Tang Yan talked about, but today he learned some more data details, which made it more convincing.

He felt a mixture of curiosity and excitement.

He's waiting for Geng Zhi to step forward and talk about his newly incubated [anti-hegemony] project.

Seeing that he could not persuade Yang and Shen, Tang Yan helplessly turned his gaze to Geng Zhi, his face showing an expression of "I have done my best".

Geng Zhi knew what Shen Nanpeng was waiting for, but these days, money talks. He couldn't outmaneuver Shen Nanpeng, so he had to take the initiative: "Senior Shen, Mr. Yang. Momo is just the beginning. We are incubating a new product, an instant messaging product for acquaintances, an IM product exclusively for smartphones, a revolutionary product, a product designed to defeat QQ."

"The product."

Shen Nanpeng smiled triumphantly: "Xiao Geng, keep flipping through the PPT, I want to see your product prototype."

"Senior Shen, it's not on the PPT." Geng Zhi gave a wry smile and asked Tang Yanzhong to project a new [WeChat] image onto the screen.

Seeing that the picture was entirely in English, Shen Nanpeng was taken aback: "Huh? This is a project targeting overseas markets?"

"This is—the picture I used when I was explaining it to Ms. Liu Chiping, the CEO of Tencent." A not-too-evil, but rather wicked smile appeared on Geng Zhi's face.

Yang Dong was very puzzled and asked doubtfully, "Penguin wants to invest in you too?"

Geng Zhi nodded: "Yes, we have reached a preliminary investment agreement with President Liu."

Yang Dong was utterly bewildered: "You used this picture as a pretext for overseas operations to mislead Liu Chiping?"

Geng Zhi nodded twice: "Boss Yang is right."

Yang Dong was utterly bewildered: "President Geng, you're going to compete against QQ, and you're also accepting investment from Tencent??"

Before Geng Zhi could answer, Shen Nanpeng interjected, "Little Sheep, they only reached a preliminary investment agreement with Tencent, not a final investment agreement."

Yang Dong suddenly realized, and murmured, "—President Geng, you're so—witty—"

He originally wanted to use the word "cunning," but after thinking about it, he decided to use the word "resourceful."

"Xiao Geng, how confident are you that you can make your IM product survive Tencent's attack?" Shen Nanpeng stared intently at Geng Zhi.

"Seventy percent!" Geng Zhi answered without hesitation.

Seeing his boss answer so decisively without batting an eye, Tang Yan, standing nearby, swallowed hard and felt ashamed of himself.

After a long silence, Yang Dong broke it first: "President Geng, Tencent is the undisputed leader in the instant messaging field. Whether it's financial strength or R&D capabilities, it can easily surpass Momo. What gives you such confidence?"

Geng Zhi shook his head: "So what if penguins beat us? Penguins aren't gods. In the Battle of Red Cliffs, Cao Cao had hundreds of thousands of troops, but in the end, they still lost to the Sun-Liu alliance, which only had forty or fifty thousand soldiers."

Yang Dong was choked up, opened his mouth but couldn't say a word.

He countered bluntly, "Penguins are very strong, but have their Weibo platform been successful? Have their Paipai.com and QQ Mall been successful?"

Yang Dong was speechless and choked with emotion once again.

Geng Zhi continued, "We've been planning this for over three months, and have been secretly developing it for over a month. The progress is going exceptionally smoothly. Furthermore, we've poached a small R&D team from Tencent in Guangzhou, and they're currently processing their onboarding."

Shen Nanpeng and Yang Dong: "————"

"Mr. Geng, so you were already planning to incubate this when you first started Momo?" Yang Dong asked curiously.

"No," Geng Zhi shook his head, "I was already preparing to do this before I became a [Jiaotong University matchmaker]."

What he said was the absolute truth.

Shen Nanpeng, Yang Dong, Tang Yan, Lü Siyu:

'

With a slight tilt of his body, Geng Zhi unconsciously raised his voice and began to speak eloquently and passionately.

His first sentence was: "I strongly agree with what President Tang just said—that history is meant to be created, and we at Mingfan Technology are going to create history!"

His second statement was: "As long as I am honest and straightforward in my approach to any field, I will only strive to be number one in the industry."

His third statement was: "I took so much money from Sequoia Capital, I had no choice but to succeed."

Even though they knew that Geng Zhi's third sentence was just empty promises, for some reason, Shen Nanpeng and Yang Dong, whose emotions had been stirred, were miraculously moved.

"Senior Shen, President Yang, don't be so moved yet. All of the above is not enough. Now everything is ready, we just need the final push." ​​Geng Zhi smiled and looked at the two of them.

The emotion on Shen Nanpeng and Yang Dong's faces instantly turned into embarrassment.

"President Geng, what do you mean by 'Dongfeng'?" Yang Dong asked curiously.

Geng Zhi smiled at Yang Dong, then simply uttered two words: "Secret."

Yang Dong blinked: "This—"

"Mr. Yang, tell me, did Momo's big launch in March surprise you?" Tang Yan added promptly, "And by then, Momo already had seven or eight million users, so why would they have to worry about user acquisition?"

Yang Dong remained silent.

After talking so much, his throat was a little dry, so he picked up his water glass and took two big gulps.

Having done everything Yang Dong needed to ask, question, and lay the groundwork for, his mission was complete. He then turned his attention to Shen Nanpeng, awaiting his decision.

Shen Nanpeng pondered for a moment, then slowly spoke: "Xiao Geng, I agree with what you said, and I believe your 'east wind' is truly there—"

Before Shen Nanpeng could finish speaking, Geng Zhi interrupted him forcefully, not giving him a chance to say "but".

"Senior Shen, for our Alum Technology's Series B funding round, my first stop is Sequoia Capital. It's out of courtesy, out of friendship, and out of gratitude for Senior Shen's tremendous support during our Series A round."

"Regardless of whether Sequoia is willing to give us a valuation of $2.5 million today, we will hold our Series B bidding meeting in Beijing as scheduled in three days."

Shen Nanpeng and Yang Dong were both taken aback upon hearing this.

The former secretly kicked the latter under the table.

Yang Dong, who had just thought he had completed his mission, understood what his boss meant and couldn't help but ask, "President Geng, what do you mean by '[Series B bidding meeting]'?"

Geng Zhi also gave Tang Yan a look.

Tang Yan understood and quickly replied, "We've already reached preliminary agreements with seven firms: Matrix Partners, IDG, KPCB, Qiming Venture Partners, Yunfeng Capital, Tencent, and Xinlang. We're planning to meet and discuss things in three days. If Sequoia Capital joins, then we'll be the leader, making it eight firms in total."

P.S.: Post first, edit later.