Ordinary Road 2010

This is actually a need to reconcile interests. Lin Yizao was psychologically prepared and could accept it. The car business of Wanli Travel was also prepared according to this idea.

Now that he could get this permission, he had some thoughts hidden in his heart and didn't share them with the others.

That is, even if the policy does not allow it, he does not intend to wait any longer, and will forcefully launch the car business directly.

Because there is not much time left for them.

The big deal is to pay a fine. Didn’t Tutu Taxi operate in Pengcheng with a fine?

Lin Yi's daring to do this also comes from the conviction in his heart. He knows that this is the general trend. The so-called innovation means taking a step or two more than others. What's wrong?

In any case, it was a good thing that the higher-ups agreed, and Lin Yi didn't want to take such unnecessary risks if conditions allowed.

“It’s no problem for private cars to be positioned as high-end businesses. Uber’s early success is enough to prove that there is a market demand for this service, and there are enough potential customers in major cities in China.”

The root of Uber comes from German, and the original operating tool was "elegant German cars", but when it went online in San Francisco, it still used the more common Lincoln city cars there.

If you use a high-end car, and there are additional services such as helping to open the door, then the customers are naturally not ordinary middle class, but usually the upper middle class with a well-off family or simply the rich.

Uber was so popular in the early days. In addition to the geeks in the Bay Area who are particularly welcome to the idea of ​​​​hailing a taxi with a mobile phone, its passengers are either rich or expensive.

A group of customers with status and status became loyal fans after using Uber, and then assisted the company's take-off in various ways.

This business line later developed into UberBlack, which was named mainly because most of the services provided were black commercial vehicles.

Just like the habit of many American companies, Uber’s business is also promoted from the top down, covering business lines from high-end to low-end.

They have studied these things long ago, and what Li Moyan said now is very practical:

"In the process of communicating with the regulatory authorities, I have taken the lead in establishing the company's private car business department. According to the previous plan, the first step is to start in the four first-tier cities of Jingshen, Yangpeng and Peng."

"Our teams in four cities have already negotiated with several car rental companies. They will provide vacant high-end cars and receive orders through the Wanli Travel APP. The starting price and mileage price are all significantly higher than taxis."

"Part of the driver's words are provided by the car rental company, and they can also be hired through a third-party labor service company. There is no labor relationship with Wanli Travel."

"The operation team is ready to go online at any time. We have initially selected the time of August 8, and there will be a whole set of promotional measures at that time."

"Generally speaking, it is to distribute some car trial red envelopes to users with high frequency of use, so that they can experience more comfortable models and more detailed car services. If the financial capacity is sufficient, they can be converted into car customers in the future."

Lin Yi asked Wang Kai: "How is the preparation for the product?"

Wang Kai replied affirmatively: "It has been prepared for a long time, and a new function has been added to the original Wanli Travel app. Before placing an order, a check button for choosing a taxi or a special car is added."

"In the week after the launch, the special car button will be highlighted in conjunction with the promotional activities, but it will not be checked by default for users."

Lin Yi didn't have anything to add to these step-by-step arrangements, he just reminded his senior sister:

"The taxi driver told the operation team to do a good job of comforting them. Even though we have done a lot of work, they may not understand. If the driver makes trouble, they must first prepare a plan."

After these instructions, Wanli Travel finally announced the launch of the private car service on August 8, which is the first in the industry.

Chapter 452 Opening up the Second Battlefield

As soon as Lin returned to China, he and his team immediately launched the private car business online. Naturally, other companies were not idle when they were busy.

On August 8th, Uber, which had visited Wanli, Dudu and Kuaidu successively, but its brutal acquisition proposal was rejected, finally made a move and released the "People's Uber" service in China.

It can be seen that the name is trying very hard to be grounded.

The essence of this business is the launch of the "UberX" product line in China, and its positioning is lower than the UberBlack luxury car business on which Uber started.

And the reason why Uber came up with this business is not because Kalanick is happy to make money from the rich and not forget to hug the poor.

After Uber became popular, a taxi-hailing software company called Lyft appeared in the United States with a similar business but a different positioning. It adopted differentiated competition and focused on economical and practical customers.

This is popular among young people, mainly because they are generally less financially capable.

In addition, even if they can afford it, young people who pursue freedom and fashion are not too comfortable with the feeling of getting out of the old-fashioned and solemn black luxury car. In human terms, it is probably "pretending to be too aggressive and easy to lose friends."

In short, the rapid development of Lyft has aroused the vigilance of Uber, and then it is very targeted to take out the UberX product to compete with each other.

Uber's main driver group in China before was executives of the top [-] foreign companies, and they even regarded it as a fun way to socialize.

Now after UberX is localized, it can be regarded as entering the domestic market on a large scale. After all, there are still a small number of people who can afford luxury cars.

Of course, Uber didn’t just make an announcement. They came up with a generous promotion plan. However, compared with the traditional conservativeness of their domestic counterparts, their marketing methods are called “brain holes”.

For example, Uber will come up with several cases of using helicopters to pick up and drop off passengers, adding a sense of technology and futuristic to its own software, which makes young people think it is cool.

For another example, Uber will also invite domestic big-name celebrities to act as drivers, and pull a few customers to pose for countless photos, which is essentially a brand endorsement.

Although Lin Yi found it very boring, because ordinary passengers neither use helicopters nor have the opportunity to let celebrities drive themselves, but at least these tactics have been widely spread on social media.

Coupled with Uber's own American halo, trendy people in big cities still like this kind of tone, so Uber's brand promotion effect is very good.

It’s not that second- and third-tier cities are not trendy, but fans there will have to wait a little longer, because Uber is currently only operating in first-tier cities.

In short, Kalanick waved a lot of dollar bills generously, and made a high-profile announcement to all his colleagues in the domestic taxi market:

I'm here.

Of course, Wanli Chuxing is not the only one who pays attention to Uber. Tutu Taxi and Kuaidu Taxi are obviously watching its movements all the time.

The policy communication for the private car business this time was actually a collaboration between the three companies, but to Lin Yi's surprise, the second one after Wanli Travel was not Dudu, but Kuaidu.

Kuaidu Taxi fell behind in the subsidy war before, and the taxi market is already at a disadvantage, and it has long been looking forward to the second battle.

The liberalization of the private car business this time is a great opportunity, and I am ready to catch up with all my strength.

Although Kuaidu does not have the halo of Uber, but in terms of the size of its actions, its investment in the private car market will only be higher than that of Uber, but Lin Yi is more vigilant.

What is Cheng Wei doing at this time?

Lin Yi quickly figured it out, because Liu Qing's position after joining Dudu was COO, and she also served as the person in charge of Dudu's private car business.

In other words, her position in Dudu is on par with Li Moyan who travels thousands of miles, not Liu Jianni.

But Liu Qing was working as a CFO at the same time. When Lin Yi and Liu Jianni left the United States, they met Cheng Wei and Liu Qing at the San Francisco airport. They obviously hadn't completed their itinerary yet.

busy enough.

This also means that the owner of the tuk-tuk taxi and the person in charge of the private car business are looking for money abroad at the same time, no wonder it is a little bit late.

"Why is Liu Qing the COO instead of the CFO?"

Lin Yi also interviewed Liu Jianni on this issue.

"The reason why Cheng Wei went to great lengths to invite Liu Qing to take a taxi in Tudu is, of course, because of her Goldman Sachs background and her family background."

"He took Liu Qing, or Liu Qing took him to the United States to attract investment, which also proved this point, that is, Cheng Wei used Liu Qing as CFO."

"But Liu Qing obviously doesn't think so. Although the CFO can also be a partner, the meaning of her role as COO should be that she doesn't want to stop at the division of labor and cooperation between Ma Jieke and Cai Chongxin, but wants to get involved more deeply The business level of tuk-hailing becomes a real manager.”

Liu Jianni didn't go any further after the analysis. She was familiar with Liu Qing, but the identities and roles of the two were very different.

Lin Yi could feel the subtext she didn't export.

If Liu Qing wants to be the manager of Dudu Taxi, he will inevitably share the power that originally belonged to Cheng Wei, and Cheng Wei has paid enough for Liu Qing.

Although I don't know the shareholding distribution on Dudu's side, it is obvious that Liu Qing got much more from Dudu than Liu Jianni got from Wanli Travel.

Why did Cheng Wei give Liu Qing such a privilege?

Goldman Sachs' MD is really good, but that's relative to ordinary people.With today's scale of Tutu Taxi, the MD Cheng Wei, who is out of reach, can be completely ignored, let alone rushing to seek cooperation.

Of course it is because of the excellence of Ms. Liu herself.

Anyway, because of the experience in his previous life, Lin has always regarded Cheng Wei as the biggest competitor of tuk tuk taxis.

Now that Cheng Wei and Liu Qing are joining together, although he had expected it, he is still very afraid of this combination.

This idea has not been shared even among the management. Only Li Moyan can vaguely feel that Lin Yi's vigilance against taxi taxis is even higher than the menacing Uber.

Facts have also proved that although Dudu was a little slower this time, he was not too far behind.

I don't know if Cheng Wei and Liu Qing have returned to China, or they are in charge remotely in the United States. In short, they have pushed their own car business online by sticking to Uber and Kuaidu.

After that, Lin Yi turned his perspective back to Wanli Chuxing's own family. Why did he suddenly discuss Cheng Wei and Liu Qing with Liu Jianni?

"The matter of financing is on the horizon."

Liu Jianni told him, "I have found an important investor who showed strong interest and full confidence in the taxi-hailing industry during the early communication."

"If he can be persuaded, coupled with the results of our previous talks in the United States, this round of financing should be enough to complete."

In terms of time, this round of financing is also urgent, otherwise they will need to seek help from Xiongchang or, as Liu Jianni planned at the beginning, raise an additional A2 round.

These are all second-choice options, and Lin Yi is of course very interested in the big benefactor:

"Who are we going to see this time?"

"Zhang Lei from Gaoling Capital."

Chapter 453 Be Time's Friend

Zhang Lei of Gaoling Capital is regarded as a top investor in China, and enjoys a high reputation both inside and outside the industry.

Lin started his business once or twice, and met many investors before and after. In front of Zhang Lei, the only one who can be called a big man is probably Shen Juyi from Red Mountain Capital.

There was a five-year age gap between the two men, but one place where their fates met was their admission to Yale University.

When Lin Yi saw this big guy, he was wearing a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses, which are often seen as clumsy on the face of ordinary science and engineering men.

Lin Yi didn't see the radiance of his wisdom through the lens, but only felt the majesty from the patron's father.

Another impressive detail is that although it was only a private meeting between the two parties, Zhang Lei still wore a tie meticulously, which may represent a certain part of his personality.

Zhang Lei probably couldn't guess that when Lin Yi shook hands with him, what he thought of was his scandal that hadn't appeared yet.

Logically speaking, when the wealth and status reached Zhang Lei's level, it was not uncommon for him to have some gossip with a female star.

But Zhang Lei is special, he is with a male star.

Fortunately, Lin Yi didn't desperately ask himself to verify the authenticity of this matter, otherwise he might be kicked out on the spot.

Zhang Lei gave a steady and firm handshake, and then said with a smile: "A pair of Lin, Jian Ni is my junior sister. She talked about you with me when you started your business last time."

"When you sold the website to Wang Xing before, she was still feeling sorry for you, but she didn't expect to start a new business so soon, and poached Jane herself, which I didn't even do matter."

"Although I knew you were young for a long time, I was still very surprised when I saw you. Your appearance seems to remind us constantly that young people are awesome."

It's a good sign that the boss is giving face so much, and showing a lot of intimacy between words, Lin Yi will not be ignorant of flattery.

"I have really admired Mr. Zhang for a long time. Today, I can come to Gaoling Capital to see Mr. Zhang's true face in Lushan. It can be regarded as fulfilling a small wish of a fan."

Lin Yi directly cut to the point. If today is an interview, it has officially started from this moment.

At the other end of the conference table, Zhang Lei folded his arms and asked with a smile, "Lin Yi, what do you think about the online car-hailing business?"

Of course, Lin Yi also made preparations with Liu Jianni before he came. He interfaced and said: "The online car-hailing business is essentially a reflection of the Internet's transformation of the physical industry against the background of the popularity of smartphones."

"The service he provides is to send passengers from one place to another, which is not much different from the traditional taxi industry. And our recently launched private car business also relies on existing car rental companies."

"In that case, is the online car-hailing industry worthless?"

"Of course my answer is yes."

"Through our travel platform, it makes a process with great uncertainty stable and controllable. The passenger will know whether he can get a taxi, and the driver will know whether he can pick up the customer. This is the simplest one. example, the entire transaction process has been reshaped in fact.”

"We can confidently say that the taxi-hailing software has helped drivers reduce the idling rate, helped passengers optimize the taxi-hailing process, and improved the taxi-hailing experience. This is just what we have done."

"In fact, Uber is so popular in the United States because it proposed the concept of sharing."

"People spend an average of more than 20 yuan on a private car, but most of the time it is parked at home or in the company's underground garage, that is to say, we spend 5% of the money for 100% of the time, which is a A huge waste."

"If we can further deepen and realize the concept of shared mobility, so that every seat in every car has its full value, then we simply don't need so many cars on our streets."

"There are not so many people who need to learn to drive. If travel resources can be easily rented anytime and anywhere, then owning a private car will become a backward concept."

"Of course, due to various restrictions, we can't reach that step yet, but this beautiful future vision is predictable and feasible, and it will become a reality sooner or later."

"The ride-hailing industry must have created value, which is the basis for its existence, so it will continue to develop and not die anyway."

Lin Yi’s theory is not his original creation or invention. As an investor, Zhang Lei must have come into contact with it a long time ago. He did not refute or comment, but just asked:

"Then what do you think of the future of Wanli Travel in this industry?"

This question is also expected. Lin Yi emphasized to him: "First of all, Wanli Travel has established a market leading position in the domestic online car-hailing industry, and has maintained it for a long time."

"Judging by the futile challenges of other competitors over the past few months, this position is now solid, long-term and sustainable."

"With the continuous development of the online car-hailing industry, such as the emergence of the car-only business recently, and the mobilization of more transportation resources that can be foreseen in the future, Wanli Travel will share the biggest interest cake."

"I know that Gaoling Capital and Mr. Zhang have always advocated the concept of value investment and believe in long-termism. This kind of thinking coincides with the development of Wanli Travel and the entire taxi-hailing industry."