Amoy Pawn shop Wang: 30 years old before the venture 4 times worth millions to penniless

30 years old, 4 consecutive ventures, once worth tens of millions, and lost penniless. He thought, "What have I done wrong?"

Dictation | Amoy Wang, founder of the Pawnshop

Interview, finishing | Lingwenting

When I was 30 years old, I started my 4th startup project. In the previous 10 years of entrepreneurial experience, I also did SP, mobile download tools and cosmetics dealers. This time, I was doing the selling of the pawn shop and helping them to drain the lenders from the line, so they named the pawnshop. This is similar to the current Internet finance, but we are not peer-to-peer, but need collateral loan business. At the beginning of 2013, Amoy is still in the preparatory stage, I got the Lan investment.

I am not unfamiliar with these big-name VC in China, even take investment for me, once it is very easy things. The previous three projects have VC come in, valuation, financing amount is very beautiful. But the outcome of these projects is not perfect, the last time I was Bizhai suppliers in the company, it is my most painful, the most gloomy days.

Although 10 years in the Internet business, but I did not enter any faction, experienced the joy of financing tens of millions of dollars, but also tasted the failure of the taste of penniless. It can be said that 10 years I almost made mistakes, fell into countless pits.

I'm trying to make a comeback. But the experience is so much that it will inevitably be doubted. I do not mind anyone doubting me, I did not make the grade, suspecting that I was normal. But I do not doubt that the team does not doubt me, my investors do not doubt me, I trust people do not doubt me, this is enough. You have feelings for the Phoenix Nirvana.

The pain of employing: Strong soldier is strong soldier, cannot be when will make

2002, I entered a university in Nanjing. A chance, I took a SP technology outsourcing work, in fact, is to establish a system to the user to push the weather forecast information. I made 20,000 bucks for this little job. But before the checkout, the other side said to me: "You have to register a company, a dozen money to the personal tax is too high, and secondly this system needs daily maintenance." ”

Later, for various reasons, the other side of the project to me. I applied for an SP license, which was 300,000 yuan in the first month. Mobile Dream Network to build a partnership, I got the qualification. In this way, I foot into the SP, the company called Days Soft.

The beginning of the product is a number of animation, jokes and news, basically in the school students roughly edited, and then you began to sting the charge. 2003, I began to do the phone on the stand-alone game, in fact, the red and white machine on the game makeover, but a lot of users. I caught a good time, almost open pocket can collect money, one months of revenue has a 1 million or 2 million yuan, the mouth is really going to be happy.

At that time, the smartphone has not been popularized, the so-called application distribution channel is only one, that is mobile dream net. We then summed up the promotion of three elements: from consumption, brush ranking, Mass. In order to promote, I also from a technical staff into Product manager and business operations. Talk with people, the other side saw me a doll face, some people feel so small out of the way, quite take care of me; In fact, I do not conflict with commercial operations, as the eldest brother, who is not in my head? I like to challenge myself, now I think so, willing to do things I did not do.

In the era of lack of products, our product response is not bad. For two years, I had a plan to raise money. 2005, a good university graduate in Shanghai gave me a little money, this is my first venture on the road to invest in the nature of the partner. This man called Lynch, and later founded a game company tour group, last year in a A-share backdoor listing. When he invested in me, the day was soft with five hundred thousand or six hundred thousand yuan of gross profit per month, and the team had sixty or seventy people. But companies have not developed much faster because of capital interventions. Instead, the problem comes.

I met the first pitfall on the road to entrepreneurship: management. At that time, I have No. 670 people, but I even manage what is not clear, the project has no management process, the company also has no regulatory system. The most direct manifestation is that a person who performs well can be placed in a managerial position. Instead, the company lost a strong soldier, out of nowhere. The direct performance is that the project began a large-scale delay, the outside recruit people are not satisfied, feel that the company is not professional, under the implementation of the people grumble. The most important thing is that I know all these things, but I don't know how to solve them.

I was 20 years old then, and almost all the business experience and business were groping themselves. If I had to ask my entrepreneur, there was one. I've written a thick stack of business plans to get the money, but nobody talks to me. A chance I met the founder of the Tanghaisong network. For me at that time, Pimaric is a famous figure, he took a few pages of PPT melted tens of millions of dollars. He taught me how to write ppt and how to deal with the relationship with investors.

But then, the entire SP industry began to decline. The days of the SP were almost at an end in 2006, as the Mobile dream Network announced policies to stop declaring all new games. A team of people have nothing to do every day, and I want to sell it soft. I signed a merger agreement with a Japanese company in June, and then I left the day soft.

Financing pain: Strategic investment is a double-edged sword

Just after the Spring Festival in 2007, I came to Beijing from Shanghai. Just 3GV8 (stone interaction predecessor) partner Feng Wenjie also has the mind to venture out, we two people in the North four ring of Ikea at home side eat meatballs, side discuss what to do. To do the mobile phone client is in tune with the trend, but also to attack the Symbian system, because my team is familiar with Saipan. Feng Wenjie is the CEO, I do COO, in charge of operation promotion.

The only thing that is not finalized is the specific direction of the business. Anti-Virus? NetQin has taken up a pit, 360 although there is no mobile end, but we judge this is definitely the world of giants. Browser? UC just melted tens of millions of dollars, lei all into the board when the Chairman, we do it is not suicide? What kind of ebook, we still don't see, think is small market. Finally we decided to do a mobile phone download tool, speak popular point, is the mobile phone on the Thunder, this is the thousands of feet download.

Its technical principles and thunder, in the unstable 2G network, to help users eat full network, quickly download dozens of k or hundreds of K packets. We also do software distribution, although it was not the world of smartphones, and not so many applications, but at that time is a way, mobile dream Network also let us help distribute traffic.

We did two things, and the thousand-foot download quickly broke through the Tens user. The first thing is to download the thousands of feet into the Nokia mobile phone, which is to seize the new factory mobile phone market. In addition, in order to deal with Nokia's old users and the parallel market, we do a second thing, in the domestic many download stations to advertise.

Like the PC Portal, the home page, the first screen is the main advertising competition for the popular position. One click a dime, to the user activation conversion may be two or three pieces. Of course, this figure and now at dozens of hundreds of users can not be compared to the cost of access, but for us at the time of the start-up companies, not a small amount.

I found the most worthless one location, is the download details of each application page, click on the location of the download added a small link, called thousands of high-speed download. This and when downloading something in the PC, the Thunder always jumps out to prompt you is a truth. The single click in that position is less than a penny, but the traffic is huge. Thousands of feet to download by these two means, quickly spread out the market, the user has been easy tens of millions.

When the company started we got a hundreds of thousands of Dollar angel investment, the other side only accounted for less than 10% of the shares. 2008, we took the beautiful data to finance, all of a sudden took 7 teem sheet, we often talked about several top VC, we finally selected one of them. But as soon as the deal was signed, the financial crisis came. Finally, the VC agreement was not carried out.

After a year, we got the investment from Sina. 2010, Ding Hui also came in, cast tens of millions of dollars. But as we were busy taking the money, the whole mobile market changed a lot. Symbian looks like a big market, but it's starting to go downhill. We're turning to iOS and Android. My idea is that the threshold for iOS is high, and the thousand-foot downloads can continue to dive deeper into the bottom of the technology, making tools like 91 assistants. But because we have long been able to benefit from the Nokia built-in system, other shareholders are not willing to give up the route.

Our strategic investors want to continue this business model with the thousand-foot downloads. Sina Weibo 2010 is the heyday of the time, the thousands of mobile phone manufacturers to download the built-in way to a certain extent beneficial to the promotion of micro-blog. The decision itself is correct, but it is not the best choice for the company to be invested, and a question mark needs to be made.

No corporate culture is the deadliest

I left the thousands of times when the download, there are 80 million installed capacity, seven hundred thousand or eight hundred thousand of the daily active amount. It used to be the largest download software on the Symbian system, which once accounted for 1.3% of China Mobile's data volume.

In fact, after two times, I have a deep understanding, those who make you hit the bottom, often is also to push you to the high point of Help, this help may be people, things or potential. I made the same mistake when I was doing beautiful today. But this time it almost made me penniless.

Today's beautiful start very smoothly, 2011 after the Spring Festival, the Northern lights of the millions of dollars to the account. At that time everyone was doing group buying, talking about group buying, with group buying, so I also cut from cosmetics group. This market is big enough, there is no one online company alone, I think I have a way to grab a piece of meat.

March 2011, the beautiful online today, September, the site's monthly sales of tens of millions of dollars, the second year of May, to reach 50 million yuan monthly sales. It can be said that today's beauty is like a fast-moving fish in the pool, quickly swallow the surrounding small fish. Whether it's a user conversion rate, a retention rate or a two-time purchase rate, the data has been climbing.

But when we are immersed in eating small fish, a fierce rise to find, finished, around no small fish, their own into a small fish. Monthly sales of 50 million yuan of data did not maintain how long, began to fall down. Others are desperately eating away at today's beautiful market share, but I have no way.

In order to the monthly sales from 30 million yuan to 50 million yuan, I from group buying to the online mall. At the time I felt that adding SKUs was an effective way to attract users. This decision led to today's beauty in the warehouse SKU from the most 100, expansion to two thousand or three thousand, inventory pressure suddenly increased, followed by the various costs. Monthly sales of 30 million yuan, the company only a loss of two hundred thousand or three hundred thousand yuan per month, but in order to increase the monthly sales of 20 million yuan, the monthly loss directly to 2 million or 3 million yuan.

The blind expansion of the SKU was one of the wrong decisions I made, and the decision was made at the best of the company's development. But in the final analysis, financial data is just a symptom, and the real reason is to fall on people.

Today beauty is a company without corporate culture. What do you mean? Today beautiful team execution is very strong, all the work is to complete the performance indicators, we all day to say only KPIs, KPIs, KPIs. No matter how you are, as long as your ability is strong, I will use you.

This leads to a lot of problems. For example, the company's Department of continuous wrangling, one will be for their own KPI, put all the resources in their own hands, the other people will be affected, so that the entire company damaged. But at this point I did not balance, because my eyes also see only KPIs.

A person's ability is good, but if he and the whole team is not stick, then he may be more harm to the whole team. That's what I've said before, and the ones that push you to the top are probably the factors that pull you into the bottom. The team's strongman, when the company decided to contract, and suppliers, flow wholesalers signed a lot of contracts, but I do not know this. In the end, I was the life of the debt is blocked in the company.

Now look back, I was really a bit of a quick buck. Because I always think that beauty today is old, always chasing others. When we are doing the flow of time, Poly-Mei has begun to do the brand, when we began to do the brand, Poly-Mei has begun to do marketing. We are a year behind the gathering, but the gap is great. I thought I could hold the beauty of today.

In the November 2012, the beauty of today is almost over, and I used to earn almost all of my business to pay off those contracts. Then I shut myself up at home and think about the mistakes I've made. Many nights I can't sleep, I think a lot of things, the whole people are going to collapse.

At first I thought it was wrong to use this person and not to use it. But later found that these people are the mother you Wang yourself recruit, is you set him up as a benchmark. The decisions you make are the ones you're most proud of, the best you've ever done, the most awesome.

When you think that most of the mistakes are because of yourself, that feeling is very difficult to suffer. Because entrepreneurs are paranoid and think they're right. But it is a painful process for entrepreneurs to say they have done something wrong and feel they are wrong.

Balance speed and efficiency

In fact, from the days soft to the thousands of feet to download, and then to today beautiful, I did not think of the end why I venture. Just like there is inertia in the body, but feel that they should start a business. So before the 4th venture, I wanted to figure out what I was fighting for. I am a person with strong self-awareness and learn from the mistakes I've made in the past. The rest is waiting for a chance.

At the beginning of 2013, I and angel investors thought about more than 70 directions, and finally chose to Amoy Pawnshop. Unlike before, this venture from the outset I have been very attached importance to team building, first set the standards of employing, "ability based, moral priority." Corporate culture is not shouting slogans on the line, the early core team basically decided the tone of corporate culture, and they will pass on, so the core team screening must be very strict. Today's beautiful original team screen, leaving only a small part.

Those who remain are not absolutely safe, so far, we have invited some people, some people are really very capable, we also very heartache, but no way, must go. In fact, early start-up companies have a strong ability of people is not easy, but he does not conform to team culture.

For example, some of the customer resources in the hands of the Eat, some hold a part-time mentality, some do not want to take responsibility, habitually on the head of others, these people can not stay. The company is big, these people can tolerate. But the backbone, the core of the early employees must do so. Corporate culture is also being instilled in the earliest of these people. What kind of leader will recruit the soldier in the future.

I hope that the shop is the Three Kingdoms culture. Like the Three Kingdoms period of the size of the separatist, the fate of the uncertain, may be like Yuan Shao, such as the strength of the people accidentally was also destroyed, and Liu shut down can also in the remote village reverse attack success, the decision success or failure is the belief and team.

I'm not as confused as I was before. My investors also feel that I am not the same as before, blue and Northern Lights are the first to Amoy pawn shop supporters, they are really help not to trouble investors. I am now every day and blue investors on the phone, communication business, communication mentality. Although still a doll face, but the whole person's state has changed greatly. I now have a ruler in hand, when you use a ruler to measure, things will prove your ruler, this ruler will be more and more accurate.

I have a better sense of balance between speed and efficiency than I did before, even though I would deliberately slow down. The pawn shop is a traditional industry with a long history and has not been baptized by the Internet. I from the pawn shop The least care of the goods into the hands, the use of electricity dealers to help them to sell the goods, every sell a product charge 5%--15% commission. Such a family knock down, Beijing 260 pawn in the line, more than 100 and we signed a cooperation agreement.

In fact, helping pawn shops sell the goods is only one of my additional services, a way to build trust in the early stages. My goal is internet finance. You know, the pawn shop has a trillion-dollar record of lending every year, and it has a small fluctuation, maintaining a compound growth rate of 30% a year. It's a big market if you can cut through the Internet.

This is a bit different from the current Internet finance. Pawn shops need collateral, what 3C products, gold, automobiles and other kinds of physical things can be mortgaged, even a few tons of corn, several sets of steel racks. A day's loan is no longer than 6 months. Short-term lending rates are low and fast, which is the advantage of a pawn shop.

In fact, although peer-to-peer loans look easy, the actual operation is not more convenient than the pawn shop. Many people in the country do not have credit records, and it is said that Peer-to-peer site audit is very strict, loan success rate is not generally low. In addition, the pawn shop mainly for a large number of small business owners, self-employed, rather than white-collar, so such as cement mixer, such as means of production and industrial raw materials are their baby, can be used as collateral for short-term capital turnover.

My ideal model is to drain the online user to the traditional pawn shop and collect commission from it. If you pay attention to 91 finance and 360 of the page, the pawn of the financial sector is the business of the pawnshop, I and the two companies responsible for the relationship is very good, we have a data docking. If the Peer-to-peer Web site can not pass the audit, they will be recommended to the Amoy pawn shop, see if we have other loan programs to provide. The business was not launched until December 2013, however, because the pawn shop was initially less receptive to the Internet.

But users need the Internet. For example, not every pawn can undertake all the collateral, to have the corresponding appraiser and shipping channels, they can take the corresponding business. Further, pawn shop also has lean time, in case you hold something to go, the other people's money is shining, can only run a trip. At this time they thought of going to the pawnshop.

But this is only an experiment, there is a long way to go. Now the shop to help pawn shops every month to sell the total amount of goods in million yuan. At the same time how to put the pawn firm on their own platform, but also the next point we should focus on solving the problem.