Chapter 339 Creating Pinduoduo
"Boss Xie, you can be the founder!"

Walking out of the coffee shop, the noise of traffic and people on the street accompanied by the breeze came into Xie Jingxing's ears, and he was stunned for a moment.

"I think our ideas are very similar. If we want to start an e-commerce business, you are the best choice to be the founder."

Huang Zheng repeated the invitation very seriously, and then added slowly: "I know this invitation is a bit embarrassing. You can visit our company first. Our entrepreneurial team is very good."

"Now?" Xie Jingxing raised his wrist to check the time without commenting.

Huang Zheng nodded vigorously: "Our entrepreneurial team is currently quite scattered. In addition to the office in this building, we also have several businesses in other districts of Shanghai."

"Then let's visit this one first." Xie Jingxing agreed in compromise.

Huang Zheng didn't even send a WeChat message, and just rushed upstairs to his office with the investors without any preparation.

As a poor boy in college, he got to know Ding Lei, the founder of NetEase, a US-listed company, through his superb programming skills. Then, through the other party's admiration and help, he met Duan Yongping, who was living in seclusion in the US, when he went to the United States for graduate studies.

Duan Yongping, the founder of BBK and the father of VO mobile phone, was even more of a talent scout. He let the poor young man, who was just starting out, help him manage his finances, recommended him to join Google, which had just gone public, and paid a high price to have him attend Buffett's dinner.

When he was about the same age as Xie Jingxing, the poor boy returned to China with the pride of the Chinese people, Kai-Fu Lee, to re-establish Google China.

Only one year later, he became fully grown and left Google to start his own business. So far, his four entrepreneurial ventures have either ended in success or flourished.

Huang Zheng believes that even though he is not as talented as Xie Jingxing, a poor boy like him is also a protagonist in a cool novel in the eyes of the public!

So no matter who he faces, he has enough confidence to show himself and the cause he is fighting for.

"Our cross-border wedding dress e-commerce brand is in Suzhou, and the headquarters of our cross-border e-commerce services is in Hangzhou."

Walking into the company which covers several hundred square meters, all the employees in the public office area were busy with their heads down, ignoring their boss and star investor, and didn't even say hello.

Huang Zheng introduced himself: "The main business here in Shanghai is to sell good products and overseas game agents. These projects are both good and bad. They are all the results of the entrepreneurial team that I came from Ouku.com and have been working on for the past five years."

"Are these businesses currently separate?" Xie Jingxing couldn't help but feel a little curious.

After leaving Google China, Huang Zheng started his first business, a digital technology e-commerce platform called Ouku.com. The business had good momentum, but he simply sold the platform to cash out and left.

I started my second business and established a cross-border e-commerce service company, which specializes in helping overseas brands that want to enter the domestic market to operate e-commerce platforms. Its current development status is lukewarm.

As a result, he turned to start his third business, Pinhaohuo, just like those small bosses with a little wealth and good vision who want to get involved in any good project they see.

It was complicated and trivial, and Xie Jingxing felt like he was looking at a bankrupt version of himself.

“These businesses are all operated by independently registered companies.”

Huang Zheng thought Xie Jingxing was worried about the unclear equity, so he gave a detailed introduction: "In fact, at the beginning we only wanted to provide cross-border e-commerce services, but later we found that since we can sell foreign products to China, why not sell domestic products to foreign countries."

"The cost of domestic clothing manufacturing is very competitive compared to overseas. Then we decided to try making wedding dresses. We purchased them at a price of a few hundred yuan and put them on Amazon. We could just convert the purchase price into US dollars and buy them anywhere."

As he walked into the independent office, he took out two bottles of mineral water and said, "The business volume has grown very fast, accounting for half of the company's revenue in half a year. If it continues like this, it will not be good for the company's operations."

"So I separated this wedding dress e-commerce brand into an independently registered company and moved it to Suzhou, a domestic wedding dress production base. Now it is one of the top three wedding dress e-commerce brands in the world. Our cross-border e-commerce service company relies on it for financial support."

Huang Zheng optimistically said: "According to this project, we are integrating supply chain channels that specialize in overseas e-commerce markets. The same is true for the overseas game business. In the past few years, any cross-border overseas business has been easy to do."

“I plan to let the game overseas business team do the group buying e-commerce business. You can join Pinhaohuo or the game overseas business company.” He finally made a very positive and generous summary.

Xie Jingxing understood clearly in his heart that this was probably the reason why Taobao and JD.com were mocked by the public as "small rats with guns" who were bullying in their own kennels, but Pinduoduo was the only one that performed strongly in overseas markets.

There is no such thing as an entrepreneurial myth that emerges suddenly and naturally. Everything is just the result of long-term planning and accumulation.

"Ouku.com was developing well in the past few years. Why did you sell it?" Xie Jingxing avoided answering and asked instead.

Huang Zheng clenched the bottle of mineral water in his hand and was silent for a few seconds before explaining: "I went to Liu Qiangdong for a meeting that year. He was very tough. If Ouku.com continued to develop, we would be caught in endless competition, and we might not win."

"He and I are of different generations. There's no need for me to go all in like him and spend all my money to fight to the end."

He spread his arms and hands: "I think I am still young and have a lot of energy and time to look for entrepreneurial opportunities."

Xie Jingjin couldn't help but laugh. This was the founder who was too smart and had all the complicated calculations and ambitions written on his face. He had noble people to support him when he debuted and he was able to ride on the tide of the times. It was too smooth sailing.

Among the founders of giants in the mobile Internet era, if they compete under the same conditions, Cheng Wei can beat ten Huang Zhengs, and Wang Xing may be able to beat fifteen.

But every stick has its own strengths and weaknesses. From Xie Jingxing's perspective, Zhang Yiming and Huang Zheng, who are good at business thinking and dragon-slaying techniques, are obviously easier to deal with than guys like Lao Cheng and Wang Xing who are determined.

"I can help you build the e-commerce platform business initially, but I'm not interested in being the founder." Xie Jingxing refused calmly. Huang Zheng adjusted the frame of his glasses: "There's no rush for this matter, think about it again, I really think you know what we are going to do better than I do."

"If you want me to be the founder, what's the meaning of your existence?" Xie Jingxing smiled.

Huang Zheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "If it's purely financial investment, does it count as Series A financing?"

"If Pinhaohuo wants to conduct a Series A financing, Taihe Capital can also invest, but the e-commerce project should belong to the angel round, and Taihe wants 20% of the original shares." Xie Jingxing corrected.

Huang Zheng was speechless and the atmosphere became subtle. He had no shortage of money, connections or e-commerce resources. Why would he give away 20% of his old shares at a very low valuation when the project had not yet been approved?

The lion's mouth is too big to describe it, this is a robbery...

You don't even have the courage to fight with Liu Qiangdong for your life. If we were in each other's shoes at this moment, do you think I'm not as good as Liu Qiangdong?

Xie Jing Xing calmly waited for the result, trying to see who was more courageous, even though this game was not fair at all.

“Let the game overseas business team work on the e-commerce project.”

In the silence, Huang Zheng broke the deadlock and thought that it was just paying protection money.

Of course, even if you have to pay protection fees, you have to maximize your profits. He added: "Let's make an appointment to meet with the person in charge of the game team and we can discuss in detail what to do."

"No problem, I'll be in Shanghai for the next week. Taobao and Tmall have just shifted their strategic focus to give up the low-end e-commerce market. We have the right time, right place, and right people, so we need to act quickly." As expected, the result left Xie Jingxing bored.

At the same time, I feel a little emotional for no reason. Huang Zheng is indeed blessed with good luck, and he is the ultimate answer option for the survivor bias.

He thought of something and added: "By the way, let's call the e-commerce project 'Pinduoduo'."

“Pinduoduo…How long have you been following us?”

Huang Zheng's eyelids twitched. The name of the platform had been prepared in advance, and he was deeply involved in the local life war and still had the energy to make a killing. It was really a deep kindness and loyalty that he could never repay.

Without waiting for Xie Jingxing to respond, he asked again, "Will Yunshan Group merge with New Big Hungry in the future?"

"..."

"The local life sector is about ecology. Horizontal mergers and acquisitions between platforms cannot solve the problem of competition. It is necessary to vertically integrate the upstream and downstream industrial chains and use offline physical enterprises to undertake online Internet platforms to form a business moat barrier."

"I don't know whether New DAE will acquire Meituan or merge with Yunshan Group, but I can be sure that I have no interest in acquiring your Pinhaohuo."

Xie Jingxing expressed his attitude very directly. Looking at Huang Zheng who had a sullen look on his face, he felt very upset.

Now he has committed so many evil things that even a founder would be afraid that he would take over the other's nest. Zhang Xuhao, Wang Gongzi, Zhu Xiaohu, these bastards who ruined other people's reputations deserve to die!
Huang Zheng invited him to be the founder of Pinduoduo with some tentative intentions and I am too lazy to speculate, but there is really no need to worry about the good products being snatched away.

Pinduoduo is not in Xie Jingxing's strategic layout. He sincerely treats it as an ordinary financial investment, at least for now.

…………

In the next few days, Xie Jingxing completed the investment in the Pinduoduo project, acquired 800% of the original shares of its parent company, Modou Dream Game Company, for US$20 million, and assisted the project team in determining the initial development ideas.

On the other hand, he returned home to endure Yu Tong's various tortures and made final preparations for the wedding.

The wedding date is counting down, the stock market is in a frenzy of public opinion, and the public is on the verge of collapse without realizing it.

Time quickly came to June 6th, and Xie Jingxing flew to Beijing to attend the Didi Industry Alliance press conference, his last business trip before the wedding.

——Torrent Alliance.

"Didi will initiate the establishment of the 'Torrent Alliance' with the first batch of 18 automotive industry chain companies. As a milestone in the convergence and integration of the travel industry and the automotive industry, Didi will cooperate extensively with automotive industry chain companies with openness as the core to jointly develop the world's first customized online car-hailing 'D1'."

Cheng Wei spoke passionately on the stage, while the audience was filled with representatives from leading companies in the automotive industry's sub-sectors, such as BYD, CATL, Changan, etc., all of whom are members of the Torrent Alliance.

But some companies will benefit from Didi's entry into automobile manufacturing, while others will face challenges.

The era of smart cars that Xie Jingxing described to Cheng Wei a year and a half ago has taken its first step today.

In fact, at the same time, Uber China continued to lose $1 million per month in its fight for market share, and everyone present seemed to have forgotten about it.

"Now, does anyone still think that Didi will lose to Uber China?" Liu Qing whispered with a bright smile.

(End of this chapter)