OBS Chapter 104 Grilling over a fire
Chapter 104 Grilling over a fire
Chapter 104 Grilling over a Fire (3k views, requesting monthly votes)
As a core founder, Geng Zhi first gave a brief overview of the current situation and future plans of "Jiaotong University Matchmaker": "We now have over 3 users in Shanghai — and have held 32 events —"
"We will create a different kind of online dating website, a soul-matching platform based on big data algorithms —"
"Next year, domestic smartphone shipments will reach ———— Our mobile app will ————"
He spoke eloquently, with clear logic and detailed data. His vision for future business paths was also quite ambitious, which earned him the secret admiration of Zhu Xiaohu and Mu Yan.
Immediately afterwards, Li Haipeng, who was still wearing bandages on his head and was the actual person in charge of the offline business, took over the conversation.
He detailed the expansion data of the Shanghai white-collar market and the joint expansion roadmap to cities such as Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Beijing.
Geng Zhi outlined the strategy, while Li Haipeng filled in the tactics. Their presentations included both grand visions and practical details.
When describing their existing business and data, they generally adhered to the principle of honesty, with little exaggeration. However, when it came to future city expansion plans and online product blueprints, most of it was just empty talk.
Because they know perfectly well that once the financing is successful, the final outcome of these businesses and the weight of resources allocated to them will largely no longer be up to them.
After listening to their presentations, Mu Yan first affirmed the innovativeness of the "Jiaotong University Matchmaker" model and the team's execution capabilities in a factual manner.
However, he then changed the subject, emphasizing the fierce and brutal competition in the dating market from the perspective of an industry veteran, and pointing out the inherent challenges of offline businesses being "heavy on operations and resources," thus timely pouring some cold water on the situation and laying the groundwork for subsequent valuation negotiations.
Zhu Xiaohu's focus is more on the future.
He showed great interest in the "soul matching" app based on deep learning algorithms that Geng Zhi mentioned, and asked several questions.
Then he asked some questions about the existing business: such as user growth trends, gross profit margin per session, repurchase rate, and timeliness of opening new cities.
Zhu Xiaohu's assessment was: the data foundation is good and the growth is relatively healthy, but the current expansion pace is too conservative and lacks the potential for explosive growth.
Upon hearing this, Li Haipeng promptly chimed in, "President Zhu is right. Our offline event model is already quite mature, and lightweight features such as the purely online 'Seven-Day Couples' and 'Interest-Based Speed Dating' will soon be launched on the website for trial testing."
"The current bottlenecks are mainly the lack of manpower in the team, the time-consuming setup of the localized operation team in the new town, and the low efficiency of cross-regional site negotiations. These all require funding and resources to overcome."
Upon hearing this, Mu Yan immediately said sincerely, "The bottlenecks that President Li mentioned are precisely where Baihe.com's strengths lie. Once you receive investment from Baihe.com, you will be able to access our channel resources that cover first-tier cities, and these problems will be easily solved."
Upon hearing this, Geng Zhi and Li Haipeng cooperated by showing expressions of serious consideration and considerable interest.
The parties engaged in in-depth discussions on industry trends, business details, and future plans.
Throughout the process, Geng Zhi's composure and foresight, Li Haipeng's intimate knowledge of business details, Zhu Xiaohu's sharp incisiveness, and Mu Yan's seasoned maturity were all vividly displayed.
In contrast, aside from occasionally interjecting with a few somewhat uninformed remarks, Ma Wencai and Ma Chunmei mostly played the role of bystanders, appearing somewhat out of place in this intense and fast-paced business dialogue.
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After the first phase of business discussions concluded, the four parties entered into today's valuation negotiation and debate.
Mu Yan cleared his throat and took the lead in stating Baihe.com's position: "President Geng, President Ma, President Li, overall, we are quite satisfied with the 'Jiaotong University Matchmaker' model and team, and their business synergy with Baihe.com is also very high."
He paused briefly before giving his offer: "Based on this, Baihe.com is willing to invest 25 million yuan in this Pre-A round of financing, taking a 250% stake. This corresponds to a post-investment valuation of 1000 million yuan."
The moment Mu Yan announced the price, Zhu Xiaohu's gaze quickly swept across the faces of Geng Zhi, Li Haipeng, and the Ma family father and daughter across the table, trying to capture their subtle changes in expression.
Geng Zhi remained calm, Li Haipeng was relatively calm, but Ma Chunmei and Ma Wencai made almost no attempt to hide their disappointment.
Zhu Xiaohu immediately made a judgment: Mu Yan's asking price was far from the other party's bottom line.
"Thank you for your recognition, Mr. Mu and Mr. Zhu," Geng said with a smile. "But based on our current brand premium and financial forecasts for the next year, this valuation is quite far from our expectations."
"That's right!" Ma Chunmei couldn't help but interject, her voice rising, "The 'If You Are the One' trademark alone is worth a lot of money!"
Upon hearing this, both Geng Zhi and Li Haipeng felt a pang of anxiety.
Why would someone reveal their hand so early on?
Mu Yan's eyes lit up, and he immediately pressed on, "Mr. Ma, do you mean—the trademark for 'If You Are the One' has already been registered by 'Jiaotong University Matchmaker'? Is this the reason you were able to cooperate with Jiangsu TV?"
"That's right!" Ma Chunmei said proudly. "This is our exclusive copyright. If a TV station doesn't get our authorization, then it's infringing on our rights. Right, Geng Zhi?"
Geng Zhi could only nod helplessly, confirming Ma Chunmei's statement.
"So that's how it is!" Mu Yan suddenly realized.
The brand premium that Geng Zhi previously talked about is essentially just that he owns the "If You Are the One" trademark, which is why he is associated with the "If You Are the One" program.
No wonder she was able to secure a guest spot and more screen time from the production team—this is the "insider story" that Li Li had guessed.
However, it must be said that this trademark is indeed a very valuable intangible asset for "Jiaotong University Matchmaker", and it may be able to fetch a good price in the future.
"Mr. Geng, the trademark rights are still in your hands, right?" Mu Yan asked subconsciously. "Are there any plans to transfer them to Jiangsu Satellite TV in the future?"
"We definitely still have it in our hands!" Geng Zhi said with a smile. "Whether it will be transferred in the future or not will depend on further negotiations."
Geng Zhi did not mention that the trademark rights specifically belonged to him.
"Mr. Geng, Baihe.com is an industrial capital firm that can provide Jiaotong University's matchmaking service with local resources in dozens of cities across the country, and can also provide a traffic portal with tens of millions of visitors on Baihe.com—further enhanced by Baihe.com's offline store strategy—so the valuation offered is not low."
Mu Yan spoke eloquently, using various enticing rhetoric to depict the wonderful scene after Baihe.com's resources empowered "Jiaotong University Matchmaker".
Geng Zhi and Li Haipeng cooperated by showing expressions of attentive listening and careful consideration, as if they were genuinely evaluating these "synergistic values".
But Ma Wencai and Ma Chunmei were clearly not buying it.
Ma Wencai shook his head directly, displaying the straightforwardness characteristic of a Shanxi province boss, and complained, "President Mu, your Baihe.com is supposed to be a big company, how can your investment be so stingy? This price is a bit too low!"
His straightforwardness caused a hint of embarrassment to cross Mu Yan's face.
Seeing this, Zhu Xiaohu quickly calculated in his mind and spoke up at the opportune moment to break the deadlock: "How about this, President Mu? Your Baihe.com will lead the investment, and our Jinshajiang will follow. Both parties will jointly invest 400 million yuan, accounting for a total of 30% of the shares?"
After he finished speaking, his gaze lingered on Mu Yan's face for a moment before turning to Geng Zhi and Ma Wencai.
Ma Wencai immediately pulled out his phone, his fingers flying across the calculator. A few seconds later, he looked up, his brows furrowing even more deeply: "No way! Even at this rate, the valuation is only a little over 1300 million, which isn't even as high as what Arctic Capital offered!"
Upon hearing Ma Wencai directly compare Arctic Capital to Ma Wencai, which violated industry norms, Geng Zhi quickly intervened, saying, "Uncle Ma—we agreed to keep this a secret!"
Upon hearing this, Mu Yan was overjoyed and immediately focused his main attack on the Ma family father and daughter, who seemed easier to break through.
"Mr. Ma, Arctic Capital is a newly established firm, so they will be more cautious with their investments and certainly won't offer as much as we do!" Mu Yan said with a sly smile.
"How is that possible!" Ma Wencai's voice rose involuntarily. "They gave more than you did. They even put in US dollars, giving 6—"
"Uncle Ma!" Geng Zhi slammed his hand on the table, his voice filled with rare anger, abruptly interrupting Ma Wencai.
Although Ma Wencai only uttered the word "6" before stopping abruptly, for seasoned veterans like Zhu Xiaohu and Mu Yan, the information was already sufficient.
Since it's in US dollars and starts with 6, it definitely can't be 600 million US dollars, so it can only be 60 US dollars.
The two exchanged a glance, then both took out their phones, pretending to use calculators, but actually communicating via QQ.
[Zhu Xiaohu]: "US$60, which would most likely represent a 25% to 30% stake."
[Mu Yan]: "That corresponds to a post-investment valuation of 1400 million to 1600 million yuan. Arctic Capital, are they really that aggressive?"
[Zhu Xiaohu]: "It's hard to say. They might really dare to give it, or they might be playing a double act with Geng Zhi and Ma Wencai to inflate the price."
[Mu Yan]: "I'll test their quality."
Mu Yan raised his head, a mocking smile on his face that seemed to see through Ma Wencai's act: "Mr. Ma, honesty is the key at the negotiating table. Your performance with President Geng, while good, is inevitably a bit—low-class."
"Mr. Mu! What do you mean by that?" Ma Wencai stood up abruptly, his face flushed red, as if he had been greatly insulted. "I, Ma Wencai, have always conducted business with integrity! When have I ever colluded with anyone? I'm telling the truth!"
Seeing that Ma Wencai had been provoked by Mu Yan, Geng Zhi worried that he would reveal all the secrets of Arctic Capital, which would violate the confidentiality agreement. He quickly turned to Ma Wencai to stop him.
But the shrewd Ma Wencai didn't care about any of that.
He stiffened his neck and continued to yell, "Xiao Geng! What are you dawdling for? Show President Mu and President Zhu the emails with Arctic Capital! Let's see who's lying!"
Geng Zhi was completely stunned, staring at Ma Wencai in disbelief.
Gu Wanning, who was standing to the side, was speechless for a moment and almost sighed in despair.
Yesterday, the straightforward person repeatedly reminded the Ma family father and daughter not to violate the agreement and disclose the specific investment amount of Arctic Capital.
Ma Wencai's move put both of her clients, Arctic Capital and Gengzhi, in a precarious position.