There's a popular question on Zhihu recently.
The question is: "What's it like to have a second-generation rich roommate?"
"Thanks for the invitation. I'm in Dongjiang, just got off the plane. I don't know what kind of broken invitation mechanism Zhihu has, to ask such a boring question to me. But since I'm here, I'll try to answer it."
"First, I must clarify that I don't have a so-called second-generation rich roommate. After I met 'him,' even the most awesome second-generation rich kid is trash in my eyes; I'd just smile when I see them."
"My roommate, 'he' is not second-generation rich, but first-generation rich. I definitely can't disclose his specific name and identity, but he is very famous in China, even an idol to many."
"When he first came to this school, he wasn't as wealthy as he is now. I witnessed him succeed in his entrepreneurship and reach the pinnacle of his life, becoming even more emotional about the disparity of life, and regretting even more why I didn't start a business with him then, to the point where I can't even cling to his coattails now."
"Let's put it this way: because of him, no student in our class has ever failed a subject again; teachers would pass them out of respect for him. In the college, whenever there were various competitions, as long as the difference in strength wasn't too great, participants from our class would always win first place, and eventually this even became an unwritten rule. Because of him, among all dormitories in the school, only our dorm installed air conditioning and three or four surveillance cameras."
"All those comments upstairs about my roommate wearing big diamonds, wearing a fifteen-thousand vest, or driving a supercar, seem so ridiculous to me. Shall I tell you that my first-generation rich roommate travels in a Maybach, with bodyguards clearing the way? Shall I tell you that my first-generation rich roommate often holds meetings and dines with provincial and municipal leaders? I won't even tell you that my first-generation rich roommate is a regular on the rich list!"
"Second-generation rich are just parasites; first-generation rich are truly awesome!"
Below this answer were a ton of comments.
"Is the answerer bragging? Even novels wouldn't dare to write like this."
"What's a novel? I wouldn't even dare to dream like this, traveling with bodyguards clearing the way, meeting with big leaders, hehe, truly a big talker."
"With all due respect, my limited imagination makes it hard for me to imagine someone succeeding in entrepreneurship in college, and being so awesome."
"It's not impossible... unless the answerer's roommate is Chen Pingjiang."
"Holy crap, upstairs, now that you mention it, it really is."
That's right, this answer was indeed written by Zhao Shaoyang.
Zhihu had just opened up for limited registration, and Zhao Shaoyang, bored, saw a notification and came to show off.
Although he couldn't show off his own strength, by helping Chen Pingjiang show off, he could also bask in the reflected glory.
...
During the summer vacation, the group-buying market underwent massive changes.
Just as the entire sector was ablaze with activity, with four to five thousand large and small group-buying companies emerging in just over half a year, a capital winter abruptly arrived.
Everyone knew the bubble was getting bigger and bigger.
With so many group-buying companies, investors couldn't clearly see who would last until the end, so everyone became afraid to invest money.
Companies like Renrengou don't lack money.
Lashou, on the other hand, had already gone through three or four rounds of funding.
Now, they often gave a lot of money but received little in return, clearly not cost-effective.
As for the remaining small companies, even a fool could see that it would be difficult to carve out a path to survival.
Given the current situation, Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent, just as they were about to enter the market, were immediately scared off and decided to wait and see.
24quan was the first to encounter problems, starting to delay payments to merchants and withhold employee salaries.
Originally, 24quan could have lasted a few more months, but it was Chen Pingjiang who first allowed expired group-buying coupons to be refunded, and then shortened the merchant settlement cycle, immediately causing 24quan's cash flow to become strained.
Even knowing that Renrengou was doing it intentionally, 24quan dared not not follow suit.
If they didn't follow, they would first become the target of consumer criticism, and secondly, merchants would leave.
24quan's market share was not high, but its active employees were similar in number to Renrengou, with five to six thousand people.
Exaggeratedly, even in a small city like Luoyang, there were hundreds of people stationed there.
Investors desperately demanded growth, and this kind of rootless forced fattening, once problems arose, would lead to quick collapse.
At this moment, only financing could save it!
But unfortunately, no capital dared to step in, and besides, what if they did invest money?
Wouldn't it still be unable to compete with the industry's leading websites?
In less than two months, $50 million went down the drain, and 24quan collapsed.
As if a starting gun had fired, 24quan's collapse immediately sobered up the hot-headed group-buying companies.
After unsuccessful attempts at financing, they suddenly realized their cash on hand was dwindling.
Not long after, Wowotuan began laying off employees and shrinking its business.
Wowotuan, which expanded through mergers, acquisitions, and poaching talent, exposed internal issues of executive discord and a lack of unity.
This made it completely unable to keep up with Renrengou and Lashou, and even Meituan was gradually surpassing it.
Renrengou appeared like a clear stream among its old rivals.
Having always controlled risks relatively well, they were slightly behind in terms of expansion speed, but their moats were surprisingly strong.
In this situation, Renrengou once again convened a city manager conference.
"Our rivals have finally shown weaknesses. Now is our time to sprint. When other companies begin to retract their defenses due to funding issues, it is the best time for us to expand."
"Fight fiercely for 50 days, and surpass Lashou.com in user numbers."
"Strike while the iron is hot, then wane, then exhaust. Previously, we were always left behind by Lashou in terms of scale. Now, we must sound the horn of attack and descend into third and fourth-tier cities."
...
Shen Nanpeng found Chen Pingjiang:
"Your mobilization meeting has attracted a lot of attention. Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu originally didn't intend to enter the market during this capital winter, planning to wait until the market battles became clearer. However, you've stirred things up, and those three are clearly a bit panicked; they seem to be contacting group-buying websites recently."
Chen Pingjiang smiled, having already anticipated such a situation.
For such a big pie, it would be a ghost if BAT could resist the temptation not to take a bite.
The group-buying war entered its second half.
With some group-buying websites facing problems, BAT also had to start choosing their warhorses.
Once upon a time.
Tencent once collaborated with Groupon to enter the domestic market but was tricked by the latter.
Groupon entered China merely to inflate data.
Once the data was obtained, it immediately went public, and then exited the Chinese market.
Tencent thought, how could this work?
In the end, it turned around and supported Dazhong Dianping.
Baidu also held back from making a move, but Li Yanhong feared it would be too late if they didn't enter soon, so he directly sought cooperation with Chen Yizhou's Nuomi.com, renaming it Baidu Nuomi.
Alibaba was no different; initially, they had their eyes on Lashou.com.
But Lashou.com incredibly defied expectations, demanding that Alibaba halt its booming Juhuasuan before agreeing to Alibaba's investment.
Alibaba wasn't foolish, so naturally, they didn't comply.
In the end, they redirected their efforts and invested in Meituan.
The same great battle, but with different protagonists.
(End of Chapter)