After Lin Yi returned to China, he and his team immediately put the private car business online. While they were busy, other companies were naturally not idle either.
On August 4, Uber, which had visited Wanli, Dudu and Kuaidu, but was rejected by its brutal acquisition proposal, finally made a move and launched the "People's Uber" service in China.
It can be seen that this name is trying very hard to be down-to-earth.
The essence of this business is the implementation of the "UberX" product line in China, which is positioned lower than the ck luxury car business that Uber started from.
And the reason why Uber launched this business is not because Kalanick was happily making money from the rich without forgetting to hug the poor.
After Uber became popular, a taxi-hailing software company called Lyft appeared in the United States that had similar business but different positioning. It adopted differentiated competition and focused on economical and practical customers.
This is very popular among young people, mainly because they generally have weaker financial capabilities.
In addition, even if they can afford it, young people who pursue freedom and new trends are not very comfortable with the feeling of getting off the old-school solemn black luxury car. In the popular saying, "it is easy to have no friends if you pretend too much."
In short, Lyft's rapid development aroused Uber's vigilance, so it launched the UberX product to compete in a targeted manner.
Uber's main driver base in China was executives from Fortune 500 foreign companies, and they even viewed it as an interesting way to socialize.
Now that UberX is localized, it can be considered a large-scale entry into the domestic market. After all, there are still only a few people who can afford luxury cars.
Of course, Uber didn't just make an announcement. They came up with a generous promotion plan. However, compared with the traditional conservative approach of their domestic counterparts, their marketing methods are called "brainy."
For example, Uber will create several cases of using helicopters to pick up and drop off passengers, adding a sense of technology and future to its software, making young people think it is cool.
For another example, Uber will also invite big-name domestic celebrities to serve as drivers, attract a few customers and pose for countless photos. In essence, it is a brand endorsement.
Although Lin Yi found it boring, because ordinary passengers neither need to fly by helicopter nor have the opportunity to let celebrities drive for them, these methods have at least been widely spread on social media.
Coupled with Uber's own American aura, hipsters in big cities still like this style, so Uber's brand promotion effect is very good.
This is not to say that second- and third-tier cities are not popular, but fans there will have to wait a little longer because Uber is currently only operating in first-tier cities.
In short, Kalanick generously waved a lot of U.S. dollars and declared in a high-profile manner to all his peers in the domestic taxi market:
I'm here.
Of course, Wanli Chuxing is not the only one paying attention to Uber. Dudu Taxi and Kuadu Taxi are also obviously observing its trends at all times.
The policy communication for the private car business this time was actually a joint effort between three companies, but what surprised Lin Yi was that the second company after Wanli Travel was not Dudu, but Kuadu.
Kuadu Taxi was lagging behind in the subsidy war before. The taxi market is already at a disadvantage, and it has long been looking forward to the second battlefield.
The liberalization of the private car business this time is a great opportunity, and we are fully prepared to catch up.
Although Kuadu does not have the same halo as Uber, in terms of the size of its actions, its investment in the private car market will only be higher than that of Uber, which makes Lin Yi more wary.
What is Cheng Wei doing at this time?
Lin Yi quickly figured it out, because Liu Qing's position after joining Dudu was COO, and she also served as the person in charge of Dudu's private car business.
In other words, her position in Dudu is on par with Li Moyan who travels thousands of miles, not Liu Jianni.
But Liu Qing was also working as a CFO. When Lin Yi and Liu Jianni left the United States, they met Cheng Wei and Liu Qing at the San Francisco Airport. They obviously hadn't completed their trip yet.
Busy enough.
This also means that the owner of Tuk-Tuk Taxi and the person in charge of the private car business are both looking for money abroad at the same time. No wonder they are so slow.
"Why does Liu Qing become COO instead of CFO?"
Lin Yi also interviewed Liu Jianni specifically on this issue.
"The reason why Cheng Wei went to great lengths to invite Liu Qing to Dudu for a taxi was of course because of her background in Goldman Sachs and her family background."
"He took Liu Qing, or rather Liu Qing took him to the United States to attract investment. This also proves that Cheng Wei used Liu Qing as CFO."
"But Liu Qing obviously doesn't think so. Although the CFO can also be a partner, her intention as COO should be that she doesn't want to stop at the division of labor and cooperation between Jack Ma and Cai Chongxin, but wants to get involved more deeply.
At the business level of Tuk-hai, we have become a real manager.”
Liu Jianni stopped talking after her analysis. She was relatively familiar with Liu Qing, but their identities and roles were very different.
Lin Yi could feel her unspoken subtext.
If Liu Qing wants to be the manager of Dudu Taxi, he will inevitably share the power that originally belonged to Cheng Wei, and Cheng Wei has paid a sufficient price for Liu Qing.
Although I don’t know the equity distribution in Dudu, it is obvious that what Liu Qing got from Dudu must be much more than what Liu Jiani got from Wanli Travel.
Why did Cheng Wei give Liu Qing such a special treatment?
The MDs of Goldman Sachs are indeed very good, but that is compared to ordinary people. With the scale of Tuk-Tuk Taxi today, MD Cheng Wei, who is not even a businessman, can be ignored at all, let alone rush to ask for cooperation.
Of course it's because of Ms. Liu's excellence.
Anyway, because of his experience in his previous life, Lin has always regarded Cheng Wei as Tuk-Tuk Taxi's biggest competitor.
And now Cheng Wei and Liu Qing are joining forces. Although he has expected it, he is still very afraid of this combination.
This idea was not shared even within the management. Only Li Moyan could vaguely feel that Lin Yi was even more wary of Tuk-Tuk taxis than the menacing Uber.
Facts also proved that although Dudu was slightly slower by half a beat this time, it was not too far behind.
I don’t know whether Cheng Wei and Liu Qing have returned to China, or whether they are conducting remote operations in the United States. In short, they have launched their own private car business online closely following Uber and Kuaidu.
After that, Lin Yi turned his perspective back to Wanli Xingxing himself. Why did he suddenly discuss Cheng Wei and Liu Qing with Liu Jianni?
"The financing matter is clear."
Liu Jianni told him, "I found a major investor who showed strong interest and full confidence in the taxi-hailing industry during the early communication."
"If we can convince him, plus the results we have negotiated in the United States, this round of financing should be enough to complete."
In terms of time, this round of financing is urgent, otherwise they will need to ask Xiong Factory for help or raise an additional A2 round as Liu Jianni originally planned.
These are all second-choice options. Of course, Lin Yi is very interested in the big benefactor: