Reinventing the Millennium.

Groupon is very new, Group is a group, and Coupon is a coupon. As the name suggests, there are discounts for group buying.

It was just established 7 months ago, and it first operated in Chicago. It waited until the model improved before replicating and expanding to cities in the eastern United States such as New York and Boston.

Therefore, Fang Zhuo's evaluation of Lei Jun is sincere. At this time, he can pay attention to the foreign Groupon and think about the prospect of this model and the potential in China. It is really a "very sharp vision".

No wonder Lei Jun's investment business is doing well.

Groupon also entered China later, directly transliterated into "gaopeng.com". It mainly gathers the scale of users and then gets big discounts from merchants. The first group buying launched in the United States is to negotiate with the pizza shop next to the company to buy one get one free. , allowing the pizzeria to increase sales, and consumers get discounts.

This kind of development model is quite light. One end links merchants, and the other end links users. Through the Internet, multiple parties can get what they need, which optimizes resource allocation to a certain extent.

With the rapid development of Groupon, people of insight in China quickly began to learn, and websites such as Meituan, Lashou, and Wowo fought a wave of fierce competition in the "Thousand Groups War".

Fang Zhuo vaguely remembers that this "thousand group" seems to be not an exaggeration. There have been five or six thousand group buying websites in China for a certain period of time.

One of the reasons for this grand occasion is Google's $60 billion takeover offer for Groupon, which was founded just over a year ago.

The establishment time is too short, the expansion speed is too fast, and the purchase price is too high.

And, the business model is easy to understand, which makes many people want to copy the myth of Groupon's development.

But there probably doesn't seem to be Lei Jun in it.

Fang Zhuo thought for a second, and thought for a second, and felt that Lei Jun was really influenced by the development of Yike.

It may be that these years in Jinshan were too hard. The investment companies that Lei Jun established later were all named "Shunwei Capital", and he was particular about following the trend. Now Yike's layout in China probably prevents him from seeing the mobile phone industry. There is nothing to do with the general trend.

"Lei always intends to be a guest in China?" Fang Zhuo calmed down his fluctuating mood and asked with concern.

Lei Jun said seriously: "I do consider doing another career, not just investing."

Fang Zhuo became interested: "If we do it, what's the company's name?"

Lei Jun was a little startled, why did Mr. Fang ask about his name all of a sudden?
He thought about it carefully, shook his head and said, "I haven't thought about it yet, does Fang always think of a good name?"

Fang Zhuo sincerely suggested: "If you do it, how about calling it 'Xiaomi'?"

Lei Jun frowned, what an inexplicable name, who made the company name it.

Shen Nanpeng, who was next to him, saw that Mr. Fang was in high spirits, and felt strange in his heart, but he was a little concerned about the new exchange project between the two of them. People like Mr. Fang had obviously noticed it long ago, otherwise Mr. Lei would not have known it at the mention of it, so look……

He also opened his mouth to make a joke: "As the saying goes, a grain of rice in the Buddha's view is as big as Mount Sumeru. It is good to use the word 'rice'. The vulgar is elegant, but it is not easy for users to directly understand Xiaomi. Since this Groupon is about gathering people together, how about calling it 'Mituan'?"

Lei Jun really likes the above statement, but... are you really joking?
He shook his head and joked, "Mr. Fang, I think it's good to be called 'Yi Tuan'. If the word 'Yi' comes first, things will go smoothly."

Fang Zhuo laughed out loud.

Lei Jun also laughed, but he really thought about the name unconsciously in his heart, 'Yi Tuan', easy group, very good group, this fits the theme of group buying, um, you can also secretly rub the spirit of the Yike Department transport.

He suddenly shivered again, no, if he doesn't open the door, Mr. Fang will kick him. Gao De doesn't want money, and Mr. Fang will force his friends to give money. It is unlucky to use such a name, and it will easily bring disaster.

"There's no rush for the name, let's think about the model first and then take it slowly." Fang Zhuo's bad taste passed, he picked up his teacup, and said with emotion, "Mobile Internet will change everyone's business model, and this is one of them."

After hearing such emotion, Lei Jun became more confident in the prospect of group buying.

However, he plans to go back and think about it carefully to see how to use this kind of gameplay in China.

Mr. Fang seemed to know about the new foreign models, but Mr. Lei felt that he and Mr. Fang hadn't reached the level of a happy conversation. He hesitated for a while and saw Shen Nanpeng asking questions again, so he silently put down the idea of ​​continuing to chat about group buying.

Shen Nanpeng came from a business background and enjoyed the feeling of investing after bringing the company to NASDAQ. He and Fang always had a lot of topics they wanted to talk about.

In contrast, Lei Jun's trajectory is somewhat similar, but he still can't let go of his career thoughts, and he is not willing to be an "angel investor".

What are angel investors?

You can become a successful enterprise, but you can also become a successful enterprise, like Li Guo... Forget it.

Listening to the exchange between these two people in the president's office, Lei Jun felt a fire that had never been extinguished in his heart ready to explode in the wind, but... can he really be able to do it?

"Mr. Shen, Mr. Lei, you probably have also heard that UC rejected our Yike investment." Fang Zhuo talked about the recent setbacks, and was willing to share his ideas to collide with sparks, "I thought and thought, since UC is not willing , then we Yike can only develop a suitable mobile browser by ourselves.”

Shen Nanpeng was not too surprised, Mr. Fang, that's right, how can we always be strong?
"Just before you came, I was still reading reports on this aspect. The company is considering using Google's open source chromium to make a simple and stable browser." Fang Zhuo's focus is not on browsers, but on open source Thoughts, "After reading the report, I was thinking, Google's open source is really easy to use, Android is open source, but it makes GMS mobile services to occupy the entrance, Chromium is open source, and it successfully made Chrome."

Chromium is an open source project of Google. Developers can work together to improve it. Then Google will collect the improved Chromium and release the improved installation package. Simply understand, Chromium is the trial version, and Chrome is the official version.

The former is open source, the latter is not open source.

Fang Zhuo lamented that this practice of using open source to make successful products is not limited to Google, but many companies do this.

Shen Nanpeng roughly followed Mr. Fang's meaning, thought for a while, and said: "Last year, oh no, it was the year before last. I liked a historical drama broadcast on Mango TV called "Daming Dynasty 1566". There was a character line in it, Confucius As I said, do what you can’t do.”

Fang Zhuo smiled, knowing exactly what to say next: "It means that it is impossible to do things without asking, but asking should it be."

The direction that should be done, then do it, if it is difficult, then work together to open source.

It is hard to imagine how to go from the laboratory to commercialization and how to implement it if you can't see the benefits for a while, but if you know the future direction, you still have to invest in it if you have spare capacity.

Android is like this, Chromium is like this.

The seven major directions discussed at the annual meeting are as follows.

The same is true for the group buying we just talked about.

The three people in the office have different personalities, but they all have a tough background.

Fang Zhuo thought of foreign technology research because of the mobile browser, and Shen Nanpeng was a friend who watched the business development and was willing to be time.

And Lei Jun... His heart was shaken, and he felt a strong touch. It is impossible to do things without asking, but should we ask?
Group buying has its prospects, and even Mr. Fang recognizes this, but can he find a team, can he get involved in fields that he has never done before, and can he really replicate Groupon?

If there is really a prospect, and I am not willing to be just an ordinary investor, then I should start another career.

Lei Jun took a long breath, drank half a cup of herbal tea, and then listened to Mr. Fang talking about the open source that he wanted to try with great interest. It was the "consumer electronics", "cloud computing" and "artificial intelligence" mentioned at the annual meeting. "In other directions, we must learn from foreign open source models.

"I don't know if it will work, but it would be great if it can cultivate more talents in these directions." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "If you know what you can't do, do it. I'll write a picture later."

Lei Jun and Shen Nanpeng looked at the writing on the wall of the president's office at the same time.

They felt that today's trip was rewarding, and Mr. Fang was really kind most of the time.

Fang Zhuo is also, there is a kind of harvest after the exchange.

At noon, he said enthusiastically: "Mr. Shen, Mr. Lei, let's go, let's chat while eating. Sometimes I fly around, and I don't have a chance to communicate with you outstanding investors. I have to get drunk today." Not coming back."

Shen Nanpeng knew that was not the case, Mr. Fang communicated with excellent investors the most.

Even investors who have not communicated with Mr. Fang are not considered top investors in China.

A banquet was held at noon, and the guests of honor enjoyed themselves.

However, after a night of drinking, Mr. Lei woke up after returning to the hotel to rest. Shen Nanpeng had already boarded the passenger plane to the capital.

The sky was gloomy outside the window, and the light in the room was dim.

Lei Jun's mood was up and down, and suddenly the depression of the past few years resurfaced.

After leaving Jinshan, he had no secretary, no special car, no office, and just wandered around the country with a backpack on his back. He met many people and invested in many projects, but he always felt that he had no way back.

Lei Jun led Jinshan to go public 5 times, and finally achieved his goal as a game company. The years of fighting against Microsoft, the "elephant", also made him extremely tired, and his intelligence, creativity, and energy were greatly exhausted. overdraft.

Jinshan went public and the CEO resigned.

Lei Jun also thought about trying a mobile phone in the process of sincere communication with Meizu Huang Zhang, but once he calculated the industry layout of Yike, which is already a giant, the fatigue of facing the "elephant" hit again.

At this stage of life, there seems to be nothing but money.

Lei Jun got up from the bed, turned on the overhead light, walked a few steps, and stared blankly at himself in the mirror.

In 2009, I will be forty this winter.

Since his debut in 89, 20 years have passed, his talents have been exhausted, his passion has faded, his ideals have been damaged, and his pride and self-confidence have all faded away.

Friends say, model workers, companies say, hard work, but these evaluations are just like "hard work", like comfort, like the distance from success that is unattainable.

After trying my best for 20 years, it's like this.

Lei Jun looked at himself, thinking about those more dazzling friends, he was confused for a while, mediocre, time passed, old age is approaching, can people like me really pursue the career of life?

He stared at the expressionless middle-aged man in the mirror in a daze.

buzzing.

The phone on the table vibrated.

Lei Jun walked over numbly, and found that it was Li Guoqing who is also an angel investor now.

The call is connected.

"Hey, Mr. Lei, I'm Lao Li." Li Guoqing's airy voice came through the receiver, "Where are you in Shencheng? Come out for a drink. Hey, I have a good project this month, let's come out and chat."

Listening to Li Guoqing's voice, Lei Jun felt as if he had been slapped in the face. Even this kind of people can be so energetic, what are they doing?
The serious expression of Mr. Fang when he spoke at noon came to his mind again - it is impossible to do things without asking, but to ask whether it should be.

"Talk, Lei Jun, me, I didn't realize who my old Li is?" Li Guoqing raised his voice, his ears were already a little deafened.

"No, Mr. Li, I won't go." Lei Jun came back to his senses and refused aloud.

"What's the matter, aren't you looking for an investment project? I have something good here." Li Guoqing wondered.

"I don't vote anymore, I'm tired, I want to do things by myself." Lei Jun made a complete decision in his heart, and his brain suddenly became active, "Mr. Li, are you in Shanghai? Then come here, let's talk about what I want to do Project, you also vote."

Li Guoqing said with a smile: "Hey, Mr. Lei, Mr. Lei, I asked you to invest money, but you still want to pass my money over. It's no big deal. That's it. See you later."

He hung up the phone and looked for a suitable target again.

Lei Jun didn't mind either, and looked at the glasses again.

He asked himself in the mirror: "Are u ok?"

Lei Jun in the mirror did not answer, but only made an OK gesture with his right hand.

After a while, Lei Jun simply washed his face, grabbed his mobile phone, hurried out, and went straight to Pudong International Airport.

He is going to the United States to see and experience the model and development of Groupon in person.

……

That night, Fang Zhuo was thinking about organizational changes within the company, and was also considering launching multiple open source projects this year to drive technological development.

If three people walk together, there must be our teacher. Choose the good ones and follow them, and change the bad ones.

Liu Zonghong's number suddenly appeared on the phone screen.

Fang Zhuo said simply after confirming, "Hey, tell me."

"Mr. Fang, a music player manufacturer in Guangdong Province. Well, it also made a mobile phone last year. Its name is oppo. Its president Chen Mingyong wants to come to the company to talk about the transformation of Android phones and joining YMS." Liu Zonghong reported Condition.

"Oh, oppo." Fang Zhuo's thoughts moved, where else?

He thought for a while and said, "Let's arrange until Sunday. Oppo may not be willing to accept our YMS request."

Liu Zonghong was taken aback, and decided to urgently collect information about the company judged by the boss after hanging up the phone.

Fang Zhuo got on the phone and asked a few questions about tomorrow's meeting arrangements.

Just as he was about to hang up the phone, he suddenly asked again: "How is Mr. Wang from Weibo?"

Liu Zonghong was puzzled, what did the boss ask this question?what's called how...

He thought for a few seconds, and said, "Mr. Wang is very active on Weibo, and he can post twenty thoughts a day. If it was in Penguin's products, it should have been blocked."

Fang Zhuo smiled and said: "Wang is always passionate and not at all confused. He is suitable for social media. The fate of people is really amazing. Well, Mr. Shen went to the capital to persuade Gao De. What is the latest on your side?" Let me know as soon as possible."

Liu Zonghong couldn't figure out Mr. Fang's emotions, but he knew that the fate of the company would also be miraculous. The boss was obviously serious about Gao De this time, and even Kong Guangtou had been called to make a situation plan.

Slender and tall, Mr. Fang is a good guy.