NABC Chapter 151 Giants Enter the Game, Geng Zhi Wants to Invest in Lei Jun
Chapter 151 Giants Enter the Game, Geng Zhi Wants to Invest in Lei Jun
Chapter 151 Giants Enter the Game, Geng Zhi Wants to Invest in Lei Jun
Liao Jun, a senior R&D engineer, opened Momo (a dating app) and shared photos of pretty girls he found with Ju Shibao, a colleague in the same department.
"Holy crap, she's really pretty! Even prettier than that South China University of Technology student I saw online!" Ju Shibao's eyes lit up. "What does she do? Did you manage to flirt with her?"
"What do you mean by flirting or not?" Liao Jun chuckled, a hint of smugness on his face. "We're one in a million, soulmates! She's a junior from Beijing Institute of Technology."
"Telepathic communication?" Ju Shibao rolled his eyes. "Why don't you just say you haven't flirted with her yet?"
The two were whispering animatedly when Liao Jun turned his head, and his expression instantly froze—
The eldest brother, Zhang Xiaolong, was standing behind him, looking down at his phone screen.
He quickly put away his phone, opened his mouth wide, and then explained, "AIle, I—I—I was just—testing the new software."
Although it was during work hours, Zhang Xiaolong didn't say anything, but asked curiously, "Liao Jun, what software is that? It looks pretty simple in design."
Liao Jun was stunned for a moment.
Seeing Zhang Xiaolong's serious expression, which didn't seem like he was interrogating her, she dared to answer truthfully: "AIlen, this is a very popular social networking app called Momo."
"Momo?"
Zhang Xiaolong frowned slightly and searched his memory.
He had indeed seen several news headlines in the past two days, such as press conferences or Han Han's endorsement, but he did not click to see the details.
As someone who focuses on the product, he has always kept his distance from things created by marketing hype.
Seeing that his boss wasn't angry, Ju Shibao relaxed and quickly explained, "That's right, AIlen. It can find people nearby based on their real-time location and chat with them."
"Found nearby friends?" Zhang Xiaolong asked in confusion.
"No, it's about discovering strangers nearby," Ju Shibao corrected. "You can see everyone who uses Momo."
Of course, if your friend is using it too, they can get it too.
Zhang Xiaolong seemed thoughtful, then asked, "Liao Jun, can I try out your Momo app?"
Before Liao Jun could answer, Zhang Xiaolong waved his hand and said, "Never mind, let's talk about it later. You guys continue."
""
After saying that, he quickly returned to his office.
Seeing this, Ju Shibao quickly nudged Liao Jun and whispered, "Judging from the way our boss's eyes are shining, I bet he's going to the office to secretly download Momo."
"Huh?" Liao Jun was taken aback at first, then looked like he suddenly understood. "Looks like our boss is all bark and no bite, even if he seems upright on the surface!"
"Jun'er, you're still laughing? As long as the boss opens Momo, he can see us!" Ju Shibao said as he turned on Momo's [invisible mode] to make himself completely invisible.
[Stealth Mode] is a feature launched in the latest version of Momo, designed to meet the needs of users who want to use Momo but are hesitant to use it freely, allowing them to use Momo with confidence and confidence.
Once a user enables [Invisible Mode], that user will not appear in other users' [People Nearby] lists.
However, users will no longer be able to use the [People Nearby] feature to chat with other strangers they have never greeted.
Liao Jun was very curious, so instead of turning on stealth mode, he immediately changed his real profile picture to a picture of a husky.
After changing his profile picture, he started refreshing the [People Nearby] list repeatedly, checking if anyone within 20 meters of him had the boss's account.
General Manager's Office.
"For two introverted and poor communicators to have such a lively conversation, this Momo must have something special," Zhang Xiaolong muttered to himself.
With that in mind, he downloaded Momo and set his profile picture to his family's little raccoon cat, ready to give it a try.
But he didn't know until he experienced it, and he was shocked when he did.
The product was designed with extreme simplicity, focusing on chat and interest groups—it was so intuitive and easy to understand that it immediately caught Zhang Xiaolong's eye. What surprised him even more was that seven people within a 20-meter radius were using Momo!
Four are real-life profile pictures, two are cartoon profile pictures, and the last one is a husky with its head tilted and a silly, cute expression.
Within 20 meters of me, those are basically only people working in the Southern Communications Building!
It seems that besides Ju Shibao and Liao Jun, there are likely other people in the company using Momo!
To experience the chat window's real-time performance, Zhang Xiaolong, almost without hesitation, curiously sent a "hi" to the husky.
In less than ten seconds, the other party replied with five words: [Hello, stranger].
Cat and Dog chatted back and forth for more than ten rounds.
The chat function is very smooth, with almost no delay in sending messages, and the interface is simple and clean, without any unnecessary elements.
Zhang Xiaolong ignored the husky and continued scrolling down the [People Nearby 1] list, only to discover that there were hundreds of users within 500 meters!
If all these Momo users are real people, then most of them should be students from nearby Jinan University and South China Normal University, right?
Which major company developed such an excellent app that is so popular among college students?
Driven by a positive product experience and intense curiosity, Zhang Xiaolong promptly began searching for information about Momo.
[Straightforward], [Jiaotong University matchmaker], [Industry expert], [Mobile internet gold digger], [Starting from strangers], [Sequoia Capital's $300 million investment], [Momo free for 100 years] — these words all came into Zhang Xiaolong's view.
This product was actually developed by a team of college students — Zhang Xiaolong shook his head in disbelief and then closed the Momo app.
His interest began to wane.
Over the years, he has witnessed far too many social networking products targeting young people become wildly popular overnight, only to disappear just as quickly—campus networks, Yiyou.com, Ruolin.com—
Although those short-lived products were all PC-based, the underlying logic behind their failures was the same: once the novelty wore off, users scattered.
Zhang Xiaolong believes that Momo's popularity is most likely due to Gengzhi's hype, which capitalized on public opinion storms, Han Han's endorsement, and Sequoia Capital's investment.
Before long, the novelty will wear off, and the hype will likely drop significantly.
Who would spend all day glued to their phone, enjoying chatting with strangers?
Moreover, social networking with strangers is easily regulated. Pornography, fraud, dating—any one of these issues could cause serious problems for the platform.
"A business focused on strangers can never truly grow big," Zhang Xiaolong muttered to himself, shaking his head.
He tried to refocus his attention on the QQ Mail reconstruction, but the lingering pleasure of using Momo just now wouldn't go away.
In particular, for someone as reserved as him, it was surprising that he would greet the husky without hesitation.
This struck him as amazing.
The anonymity of strangers naturally reduces the cost of greeting people and makes them more proactive.
How many people in China are like him, Liao Jun, and Ju Shibao, who are not good at speaking but yearn for communication?
Many, many.
As he pondered, Zhang Xiaolong's thoughts began to jump between QQ Mail and the Momo app.
QQ Mail is a tool, but due to national circumstances, Chinese people use it far less frequently than Europeans and Americans. It's similar to reading novels; most users simply support the author silently, but rarely comment or vote.
One of the major goals of this QQ Mail restructuring is to increase daily active users.
If email adopted the approach of allowing users to proactively greet strangers, similar to Momo, would it awaken the silent majority and significantly boost daily active users?
Zhang Xiaolong pondered, his eyes unconsciously glancing at the nautical chart in the office.
It was a picture he liked; it showed a sailboat and a vast ocean. Next to the picture, there was a floating glass bottle—a message in a bottle.
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and an idea popped into his mind.
Meanwhile, in Pengcheng, next door, at the Digu.com office.
Digu.com is a microblogging product created by Li Song, the founder of Zhenai.com, together with Huang Xiaotao, a bigwig at Tencent, and several Tencent R&D staff. Like Wang Xing's Fanfou, it is one of the pioneers of imitating Twitter in China.
The difference between Digu.com and Fanfou.com is that Digu.com was shut down and then relaunched three months later, but Fanfou.com has been shut down for more than half a year and has not yet been relaunched. Wang Xing has also transformed his business to focus on group buying.
"Old Huang!"
Li Song, holding his phone with great interest, arrived at co-founder Huang Xiaotao's workstation.
"What good news is this?" Huang Xiaotao asked, quite surprised, as Li Song practically jogged over.
Since the 3.15 Gala exposed the chaos in the online dating industry, Zhenai.com's performance and reputation have declined significantly.
Li Song, the founder and CEO of Zhenai.com, has been summoned by relevant departments multiple times and is now fully cooperating with the rectification of the website, looking worried and overwhelmed every day.
This was the first time Huang Xiaotao had seen Li Song so happy.
"Old Huang, I've found something great! Our big opportunity has arrived!" Li Song said, showing Huang Xiaotao the Momo app on his phone.
"Oh, is this Momo, which has been quite popular lately?" Huang Xiaotao glanced at Momo and said.
"Yes, I've been using Momo every day for the past few days. I also asked my wife, and she's very optimistic about location-based products; she thinks it's likely to be a major trend in the future. You know Foursquare, right?"
Li Song went on and on about all the facts to Huang Xiaotao, finally concluding, "Our Digu.com is transforming now, seizing the opportunity—it's the perfect time!"
After pondering for a long time, Huang Xiaotao slowly said, "Brother Li, our team has the DNA of Tencent QQ, so the chat function is no problem for us. But I estimate that the LBS technology will be quite difficult and will require a significant investment in research and development."
Li Song patted Huang Xiaotao on the shoulder encouragingly, "It's okay! Although Zhenai.com doesn't have enough funds right now, I can get my wife to invest. Our team is strong, and with my wife's backing, raising more funds later will be a breeze. Digu.com surpassing Momo won't be difficult!"
Huang Xiaotao nodded: "Brother Li, as long as the funding is in place, with Momo's limited functionality, we'll easily surpass it."
Foursquare's phenomenal success did not directly ignite a LBS (Location-Based Services) craze in China, because the model was too new and the development of mobile internet in China was too slow; several products that tried to copy it failed.
However, the emergence and subsequent popularity of Momo provided a localized solution for the LBS model.
With the backing of Sequoia Capital, LBS-based product applications quickly became the hottest internet startup model after group buying. Moreover, it pioneered the mobile internet model.
More and more companies are researching Momo, including not only small startups, but also industry giants such as Alibaba, Baidu, Renren, Shanda, Xinlang, and NetEase.
Almost all companies assumed that Momo's functions were simple, its business model was clear, and it was easy to imitate.
Surpass it.
After more than ten days of continuous observation, investors such as Kai-Fu Lee, Xiaoping Xu, and Xiaohu Zhu, who believed they had a good understanding of Momo's product form and future business model, were looking forward to Momo's next round of financing while actively searching for the next "Momo" in the market.
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The LBS storm has begun, but Geng Zhi himself remains remarkably calm.
Nordic Doctor Garden.
Geng Zhi was chatting with Tang Yan on Momo.
[Tang Yan]: "I just learned that someone in NetEase's Youdao search department has started proposing to launch a product that is a direct competitor to Momo."
[Straightforward]: "Oh? Why is NetEase acting so early this time?"
[Tang Yan]: "Weibo was launched late. This time, NetEase is determined to learn from its mistakes and seize the initiative. Moreover, I heard from a friend in Xinlang that the Xinlang UC project team may be changing careers, most likely targeting Momo."
[Tang Yan]: "With so many formidable opponents, aren't you afraid?"
[Straightforward]: "With so many wolves and tigers surrounding you, and you quit your job to join Momo, aren't you scared? (Smirking.jpg)"
[Tang Yan]: "I will learn from your spirit, knowing there are tigers in the mountains, yet still venturing into the tiger's den (fist.jpg)."
[Straightforward]: "Okay, then let me tell you, the more lively the market is and the more big competitors there are, the happier I am."
[Tang Yan]: "You're sick!"
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Tang Yan: "I'm sick too!"
After closing the chat window with Tang Yan, Geng Zhi carefully read the email sent by Li Dongping and wrote several thousand words: "Boss, I received the business plan from Li Haipeng. The product is called [Weiju], which is an O020O online dating + social networking product."
"Li Haipeng is the co-founder of [Jiaotong University Matchmaker], the first company we wanted to invest in. He's a straightforward partner."
"After leaving [Jiaotong University Matchmaker], Geng Zhi created a phenomenal product called [Momo], which is now valued at tens of millions of US dollars. Its business model is————"
"Weiju's product form is similar to [Momo], but its business model is healthier. They are more in line with our investment direction."
"The other party is looking to raise $15 million in exchange for releasing 150% of their equity—which I believe is reasonable."
"Based on the above analysis, I strongly suggest that Arctic Capital consider making an investment."
After reading Li Dongping's long article of over a thousand words, Geng Zhi was slightly surprised.
In the past, I would provide him with investment projects and let him conduct research and negotiations. This time, however, he took the initiative to communicate with me.
Since Li Dongping took the initiative to suggest it, it saved me the trouble of assigning tasks myself.
Finally, he stopped seeing himself as just a pure agent—a thought to himself, a silent pat on the back.
Without hesitation, Geng Zhi replied with a short email: "I trust Mr. Li's professional judgment, and Mr. Li's views coincide with my own."
"I'm also keeping a close eye on the Momo app. The capital market is already buzzing with activity. If the Weju case is suitable, Arctic Capital can sign it as soon as possible."
"It can be an exclusive deal or in cooperation with other capital, with an investment limit of 200 million US dollars. The rest will be decided by Mr. Li."
At the end of the email, Geng Zhi added an extra sentence: "Lei Jun has recently established a company called Dami Technology in Beijing, which makes mobile phones. Please do your research as soon as possible and come up with a complete solution. Thank you for your hard work."
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