After Lin Yi and the others discussed the matter of stabilizing the morale of the military, they began to talk about how to further develop after the new year. The first priority was of course the imminent threat of being hungry.
They used simulated attack and defense, that is, they imagined "if I was hungry, what method would I use to deal with casualties?" This way, they imagined the possible blows they would encounter for a long time, and then discussed specific plans.
After much discussion, they came to a simple conclusion:
need money.
No matter how they plan to resist, they can't conjure money out of thin air. In the final analysis, they have to have food in hand so they don't panic.
So they went to pay their respects to Professor Li Feifei.
Because the school has not started yet, this time I was not in the office, but rushed to the female professor’s house after contacting her in advance.
Li Feifei received them warmly. Lin Yi and the others would certainly not come empty-handed during the first lunar month, and everyone exchanged some auspicious words.
Professor Li's husband, a senior person working in the industry, also came over to say hello politely, and then left the space for them.
Obviously, Li Feifei had guessed their purpose, and before they had a chance to speak, she took the initiative and said, "You came to me for financing, right?"
Lin Yi and the other three are a little embarrassed. Li Feifei has always been very helpful to them. She promised to help them with financing matters years ago, but now she has come to visit them before school starts. It's a bit rude.
Li Feifei didn't mind: "No need to be embarrassed, people who really do things can't care too much about red tape."
"However, I have no good news for you at the moment. Some friends have expressed certain intentions to me. I can contact you after the year."
"In order to prevent you from being too disappointed when the time comes, I have to give you a vaccination in advance. There is still a long way to go between the so-called intention to actually invest money in you, so don't be too optimistic for the time being."
Li Moyan and Li Jianguo nodded to express their acceptance. Lin Yi knew that this matter was not that easy.
Professional investors may meet several groups of entrepreneurs like them a day, and this is when the other party is relatively reliable and can talk about something. The kind of inexplicable and incomprehensible entrepreneur can be dismissed in ten minutes.
Among so many people, very few can get their money in the end.
After all, Lin Yi has never really started a business. At most, he has some advanced insights and can barely be considered a theoretical school, so he still sincerely asks for advice: "Is there anything I need to pay attention to?"
"some."
Li Feifei patiently imparted her experience: “When meeting with investors, you need to have a good sense of proportion. First of all, you have to come up with something that interests him. It can be a novel idea, a business model that at least sounds feasible. If you can get it,
There is nothing better than developing unique skills."
"But you can't trust them too much. You must always remember that your interests and theirs are not completely consistent. It is also a very dangerous behavior to reveal all your cards to them."
"Because they can definitely find other people to do what you want to do, especially in your situation. If Baoqi doesn't do it, it's a spy sent by the opponent."
Lin Yi and the three of them could understand this reminder. Last time Liu Jianni discovered their existence at the Entrepreneurship Competition, and backhandedly informed their competitors, Are You Hungry?
Fortunately, it didn't leak too much at the time.
Looking for investment is actually a game process. If you hide too much, investors may feel that they can't see your real thing, and of course they won't be willing to invest money. After all, fraud is common in the industry.
But entrepreneurs also feel uneasy if they give too much away, fearing that they will be taught how to be a good person every minute, so they have to find a tacit balance point.
In fact, investors are more tolerant of experienced serial entrepreneurs, especially those who have had successful cases in the past, and may even pay directly just for your name.
However, that kind of entrepreneur doesn't have to worry about money in the early stage, he has investors he is familiar with, and he won't casually contact unfamiliar institutions in the market.
Li Feifei did not tell them these things, because the three here are typical "blank slate entrepreneurs", that is, unknown people.
"So you have to prepare well and think about how to sell the project. When you feel that it is almost done, you can go and meet them."
Lin Yi and the others spent a short time preparing after saying goodbye to Professor Li Feifei, mainly focusing on the business logic and competitive advantages of the website.
By the way, they also polished up the story Lin Yi compiled last time, although it was not used in the end.
Then I started to meet with the investors introduced by Professor Li. Because the company is not a school and there is no need for winter vacation, their work has already resumed.
After meeting with several companies, Lin Yi found that the things everyone paid attention to were quite different. The most difficult to avoid was the competition with Are You Hungry?
In fact, having someone to imitate when starting a business is not entirely a bad thing.
For example, in the early days of the domestic Internet industry, everyone copied the business model from Silicon Valley in the United States. When introducing it to investors, they openly said that I was the domestic version of so-and-so.
The advantage of this is that it makes it easier for others to understand your business model, and there is a comparable company there, so it is easier to compare the two and calculate the valuation.
How many users are you targeting and how much is your valuation? So what should your valuation be based on your number of users?
A simple elementary school arithmetic problem.
But the current situation of Lin Yi and others is different. They are not competing on opposite sides of the ocean, but they are directly competing for food from the same bowl.
Since it is no longer a new thing, and there is already an industry leader that was established earlier than you and is much larger than you. If everyone is racing on the same track, this obstacle cannot be overcome.
It doesn't mean that you can't invest if someone does it. In this case, everyone won't jump on it when the wind blows. It's about creating a pie that investors can eat.
Of course Lin Yi would defend himself: "Although the online food ordering market is still relatively small, the past two years have been a critical period of explosive growth, and there is room for two companies to compete on the same stage."
What he means is that market capacity is very important. Even if a billion-dollar market accounts for 80% of the market share, it is not as good as taking 20% of a 10-billion-dollar market.
This answer does not seem to be recognized by investors. In terms of industry research, they are much more detailed than Lin Yi, so there is no need for Lin Yi to teach them.
Although not all investors rejected the offer outright, they also did not agree directly. Instead, they all delayed it with "reconsideration" and "research".
Financial institutions that engage in venture capital are not stumbling giants like banks. They are very efficient, so the lack of response is a result in itself.
After running for several days and finding nothing, Lin Yi lamented to his two partners: