Chapter 200: 199 No Deal, But Friendship Remains
“……So, the Cycling Tour Project is a project with a very promising future. On one hand, it can meet the demand for exercise, and on the other hand, it can also meet everyone’s socializing needs. Actually, in my view, entrepreneurship should choose such projects, find new demands, guide new lifestyles, and gradually change the world.”
Wei Kai felt that by adding the qualifier ‘gradually’, it was probably subtle enough. But Wang Heng just heard the phrase ‘change the world’ and couldn’t help but want to cover his face.
He felt that Wei Kai, as an entrepreneur, seemed unreliable at least at this point in time.
Wang Heng pondered and said: “In short, your business model is to design a Cycling Tour Project, recruit customers through campus promotion and network methods, then organize them to experience cycling tours and charge fees. Subtracting the costs of promotion and organization, that’s your profit, right?”
Wei Kai nodded: “That’s right, exactly.”
Wang Heng couldn’t help but ask again: “Then where do your bicycles come from?”
Wei Kai answered without thinking: “We’ll buy a batch of bicycles suitable for cycling and let customers ride them.”
This point did have a slight shadow of shared bicycles. But the entire project concept was really far from the shared bicycles that would later become popular for a time.
What Wang Heng originally thought was to invest now while fof was still a seedling, take out hundreds of thousands or even millions to exchange for some shares, and when they reached the fourth or fifth round of financing, sell off this batch of shares, and the rate of return would be even more exaggerated than speculating on Bitcoin.
The problem was that the fof right in front of him now was not a shared bicycle project.
So what should he do?
Wang Heng was very certain that he hadn’t found the wrong person; this Wei Kai was the trendsetter who should lead the capital market trend in two or three years. But this guy obviously hadn’t become enlightened yet; giving him money now would probably just be throwing it into water. Of course, it could exchange for some shares, but in a few more days, when he hit a wall and changed his train of thought, wouldn’t it be better to give him money then?
After hesitating for a while, Wang Heng said: “Take me to see your company.”
Before the words had even finished, a trace of difficulty flashed across Wei Kai’s face: “This…”
Seeing this, Wang Heng added: “I won’t probe your commercial secrets, nor look at your financial statements. Today we’re just discussing preliminary intentions, nothing too in-depth.”
Wei Kai hesitated for a few seconds and said: “But our startup company, the office space is relatively…”
Wang Heng smiled: “That’s no problem; great enterprises that change the world can come out of garages. You at least have an office now, right?”
Wei Kai gritted his teeth: “Alright, I’ll take you there!”
————
Upon arriving at fof’s office, Wang Heng realized that their current situation was even more difficult than he had imagined.
The location was an old office building, four stories. Entering the building and taking the elevator, but the elevator trembled shakily as it ascended, making one inevitably a bit anxious. After exiting the elevator and turning two corners, they saw the smallest office in the corner.
The fof sign was a plastic sticker on the door, clearly the result of some serious design, but the texture of the sticker was what it was, so it really couldn’t be considered high-grade.
Walking inside, he saw only two rooms connected to the corridor: the meeting room and the six-person office.
“President Wei is back?” One person stood up and greeted.
Wei Kai clapped his hands to attract everyone’s attention, then introduced: “This is President Wang from Penguin Group…”
Hearing the title ‘President Wang’ for the first time, said by someone else without any hint of joke, Wang Heng couldn’t help but blush a little.
No way around it, his face was still too thin; he needed to cultivate it.
————
The latest Cycling Tour Project had all the sign-ups and prepaid deposits tallied. The result was slightly better than Wei Kai and the others had expected.
Wang Heng sat in the meeting room, listening to the suppressed cheers from next door and the whispers of discussion, and roughly guessed the current situation — it might still take some time before Wei Kai hit a wall. The birth of the shared bicycle model couldn’t be rushed.
Of course, Wang Heng could also choose to bypass these people at fof and start a company himself to do shared bicycles. But he knew this business model had a fatal weakness: the further along it went, the more it needed to grab market share, and grabbing market share required burning through massive amounts of money without profit, forcing continuous courting of investors and constant financing… Entrepreneurship like that, fraught with anxiety and ultimately destined to end in a mess, Wang Heng certainly didn’t want to do.
But being an angel investor was completely different. As long as he timed the exit right, he could double the profit from the shares. What state the company was in a few years later didn’t matter at all.
Sitting in fof’s meeting room, Wang Heng sorted out his thoughts and made up his mind.
So when Wei Kai came in, he said: “Tonight, dinner’s on me; everyone go eat skewers together.”
Wei Kai was stunned: “Eat skewers?”
Wang Heng: “Yeah, drink beer and eat skewers at the same time; it’ll make chatting more enjoyable.”
Wei Kai was somewhat difficult: “But some of our partners aren’t very good at social engagements…”
Wang Heng: “Then bring the ones who are good at social engagements; I have some things to discuss with you all.”
Hearing this, Wei Kai immediately perked up.
“Alright, I’ll ask right now who wants to go!”
————
Two hours later, Wang Heng, Wei Kai, and two other people arrived at the most famous barbecue shop nearby.
Once the skewers were served, Wei Kai enthusiastically said: “Lamb waist skewers; they’re famous not just for the kidneys. President Wang, try this meat skewer; the doneness is good, right?”
“I’ve eaten it before; I know.” Wang Heng said this as he ate a skewer of meat.
Hmm, the taste was about the same as when he brought Pei Ningle here before…
At the dining table, quite a few skewers had been eaten, and a round of beer had been drunk; it was about time to discuss the main matter.
Wang Heng suddenly said: “Regarding your investment project, I personally am very optimistic…”
At this point, hope filled the faces of Wei Kai and the other two.
But what followed from Wang Heng gradually made this hope disappear.
“I personally am very optimistic, but after communicating with my superior, he’s still quite cautious. The main issue is that we’ve recently invested in Didi and are about to invest in Dazhong Dianping, plus we’ve reached a deep agreement with Jindong. So in principle, we’re not planning to launch new investment projects right now. And in his view, your ceiling is a bit too low.”
Wei Kai: “Ceiling?”
Wang Heng nodded: “How big is the entire cycling tour market? Even if you reach the extreme, how large a scale can you achieve? If you can’t answer this question well, it’s definitely no go.”
Another partner couldn’t help but say: “Do you mean… it’s fallen through?”
Wang Heng said sincerely: “My personal optimism doesn’t help; if it’s rejected from above, there’s no way around it. But we can exchange contact info; if your project changes in the future, you can always come find me to see if we can try again.”
The three entrepreneurial partners looked at each other, exchanged glances, and nodded together.
And Wang Heng felt that although he still needed exercise in terms of face thickness, his acting skills were already quite good. Clearly, from start to finish, he was the only one who wanted to invest, and he had zero interest in this cycling tour project, but he managed to act it out like this.
“You already know my phone number,” Wei Kai said with a bitter smile. “You’re right; no deal but goodwill remains. Maybe there’ll be opportunities for cooperation in the future.”
Wang Heng smiled: “I think it’s very likely there’ll be cooperation opportunities. And right now, in my personal capacity, I can also provide you some friendly support funds. About one hundred thousand in change; no need for your shares, just lend it to your company interest-free. How about it?”
Wei Kai nodded quickly: “Of course, thank you!”
————
Done… Vote please…
