Cicada Travels Guo Ziwei: We will never do a "zombie application"

In recent days, Ctrip officially announced the completion of the travel tools and guidebooks on the travels of the cicadas holding.

"Ctrip is a fancy to our data capabilities. On line 1.5 of the time, the cicada travels has accumulated tens of thousands of travels, and the travel notes split into structured data, users can obtain the travel guide from the data. "Talk about why will be the investment of Ctrip, Cicada Travel founder Guo Ziwei said."

Unlike other travel notes, the commercialization of the Cicada's travels is defined as relying on structured data to help the user specify the line-ahead plan, and to derive revenue from the recommended consumer projects in the planning process.

For Yu Yu travels, the favor of big companies is a good result, because the group of start-up companies are facing more and more survival pressure. "The entrepreneurial environment is getting worse, and the odds of starting a business two years from now will be below 10%." "Guo Ziwei said.

Why is entrepreneurship becoming more and more difficult to succeed? The most important reason, Guo Ziwei, is not Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and other large companies squeezed the small company's living space, but the industry channel costs are too high, all products have been unable to quickly obtain traffic, how to push are difficult to develop.

"At the beginning of last year, a 3-dollar app was introduced in iOS or Android last year, and the price was gradually raised to 5 in the first half of 2013. "Guo Ziwei revealed.

Guo Ziwei that the current mobile market only one option is a rapid outbreak, rapid outbreak can not survive, there is no alternative. In the PC era, the market can give the entrepreneurial project the opportunity to develop slowly, but there is no such opportunity in the mobile internet, channel cost is already high to unbearable, and users are also easy to lose, new creative products can easily become "zombie application."

Because of this, the cicada travels in the development of the road most let Guo Ziwei regret, is the early start of the rush to launch new products and accepted a small scale of financing.

"Don't be optimistic about the growth rate of their products, the first financing can pull more money on more money, in this respect I made a big mistake." "Guo Ziwei recalls," The Cicada travels the first money to take more than 1 million yuan, too little, if give me a little more time can get 4 million or 5 million. But at that time I was anxious to catch the national day schedule, and optimistic about the market prospects, the result of the money did not let us quickly break through the market. Because of lack of money, Cicada travels did not develop Android version, the entire download will be less than one times more. For 18 months, our products cost less than 100,000 a month. ”

"If the marketing cost more, will also get a higher market share, there are more conditions to talk about a round of financing." There is no money, there is no amount, there is no financing-this is a vicious circle, will lead to their own in the competition at a disadvantage. Guo Ziwei thinks, "Don't be optimistic about the first version of the product, even if you are optimistic about the preparation of enough money, otherwise it will become the vicious circle I said." ”

However, fortunately, in the period of financial difficulties, is to improve the mobile tourism industry chain layout of Ctrip's travels to the Cicada travel investment. Cicada travels Why choose to accept Ctrip investment instead of VC? Guo Ziwei said: "The cicada travels choose to do data rather than do the community, this road than I imagined walking more difficult." VC look forward to immediate return, and big companies more patience. ”

In addition to the pressure on channel costs, Guo Ziwei believes that another important reason many entrepreneurs fail is because the market in which they enter does not have much chance.

"From NetEase to venture out of those successful people do better have a common characteristics, in addition to strong personal ability, I really understand this thing, at the same time this part has a strong market demand." If I just rely on one of my ideas, but does not mean that I know better than others, then the chance of failure is higher. "Guo Ziwei said.

In the five years of NetEase's inauguration, Guo Ziwei is responsible for the development of NetEase albums and other products. Guo Ziwei that, in NetEase and other large companies within the success probability of entrepreneurship is also very low. For example, "big company disease" lead to inefficient, NetEase CEO Ding Lei and many departments responsible for new products more attention to their interest, the heat through the support is also less, of course, more important, in large enterprises within the enterprise, because the project leader is difficult to promise products to tens of millions of user-level, Difficult to get the company's resource support. Clearly, this is also the reason for Guo Ziwei to embark on the entrepreneurial path.