Zhang Lei of Gaoling Capital is considered a top investor in China and enjoys a high reputation both inside and outside the industry.
Lin has started his own business once or twice, and has met many investors in total. The only one who can be called a big shot in front of Zhang Lei is Mr. Shen of Red Mountain Capital.
There is a five-year age difference between these two people, but their fates intersected in one place, that is, they attended Yale University one after another.
When Lin first met this big shot, he was wearing a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses, a prop that was often seen as clumsy on the faces of ordinary science and engineering men.
Lin Yi didn't see the light of his wisdom through the lenses, but only felt the majesty from the financial sponsor's father.
Another impressive detail is that although it was only a private meeting between the two parties, Zhang Lei still wore his tie meticulously, which may represent a certain part of his personality.
Zhang Lei probably couldn't guess that when Lin Yi shook hands with him, he was thinking about his scandal that had not yet surfaced.
Logically speaking, when one's wealth and status reach Zhang Lei's level, it is not unusual for him to make some gossip with female celebrities.
But Zhang Lei is special, he is with a male star.
Fortunately, Lin Yi did not risk his own life to verify the authenticity of this matter, otherwise he might have been kicked out on the spot.
Zhang Lei gave me a firm and firm handshake, and then said with a smile: "Let's talk about Lin, Jenny is my junior sister. She told me about you when you last started a business."
"She was still feeling sorry for you when you sold the website to Wang Xing. She didn't expect that she would start a new business so quickly and even recruit Jenny herself. This is something I have never done. matter."
"Although I have known about your youth for a long time, I was still very surprised when I saw you. Your appearance seems to be a constant reminder to us that life is scary."
The big boss is so generous and shows a lot of closeness in his words. It is naturally a good sign, and Lin Yi will not appreciate it.
"Mr. Zhang is the name I have truly admired for a long time. Being able to come to Gaoling Capital today to see Mr. Zhang's true face in Lushan is a fulfillment of a fan's little wish."
Lin Yi got straight to the point. If today was an interview, it would have officially started from this moment.
Zhang Lei was at the other end of the conference table, crossing his arms and smiling and asked: "Lin Yi, what do you think about the online car-hailing business?"
Lin Yi was of course prepared with Liu Jianni before he came. He said: "The online car-hailing business is essentially a reflection of the transformation of the real industry by the Internet against the background of the popularization of smartphones."
"The service he provides is to transport passengers from one place to another, which is not much different from the traditional taxi industry. And the private car service we recently launched also relies on existing car rental companies."
"In that case, does the online ride-hailing industry have no value?"
"My answer is of course yes."
"Through our travel platform, it makes the process of great uncertainty stable and controllable. The passenger will know whether he can get a taxi, and the driver will know whether he can pick up the passenger. This is the simplest one. For example, in fact the entire transaction process has been reshaped."
"We can confidently say that the taxi-hailing software has helped drivers reduce the empty driving rate, helped passengers optimize the taxi-hailing process and improved the taxi-hailing experience. This is just what we have accomplished."
"In fact, Uber is so popular in the United States because it introduced the concept of sharing."
"On average, people spend more than ten or two hundred thousand to buy a private car, but most of the time it is parked at home or in the underground garage of the company. In other words, we spend 100% of the money for 5% of the usage time. This is
A huge waste."
"If we can further deepen and realize the concept of shared travel and make every seat of every car fully realize its value, then we will not need so many vehicles on our streets."
"There are not so many people who need to learn to drive. If travel resources can be easily rented anytime and anywhere, then owning a private car will become a backward concept."
"Of course, due to various restrictions, we cannot reach that point yet, but this beautiful vision of the future is foreseeable, feasible, and will become a reality sooner or later."
"The online ride-hailing industry must have created value, which is the basis of its existence, so it will continue to develop and not die no matter what."
Lin Yi's theory is not his original creation or invention. Zhang Lei must have been exposed to it long ago in his role as an investor. He did not refute or comment, but just asked:
"Then what do you think of Wanli Travel's future in this industry?"
This problem was also expected. Lin Yi emphasized to him: "First of all, Wanli Travel has established its market leadership position in the domestic online ride-hailing industry and has maintained it for a long time."
"Judging from the futile challenges of other competitors over the past few months, this position is now solid, long-term and sustainable."
"As the online ride-hailing industry continues to develop, such as the recent emergence of private car services, and more transportation resources are foreseen to be mobilized in the future, Wanli Travel will share the biggest profit cake."
"I know that Gaoling Capital and Mr. Zhang have always advocated the concept of value investment and believe in long-termism. This idea coincides with the development of Wanli Travel and the entire taxi-hailing industry."
Zhang Lei smiled heartily. Lin Yi just said it in his own words, which was somewhat flattering.
Of course, these theoretical things cannot be said to be completely false, but they are too fictitious as a basis for investment decisions. As an investor, he sees them more realistically.
"To be honest, Lin Yi, Gaoling Capital is not a pure venture capital company. We usually don't invest in the stage you are at now."
"Although you won the largest market share in the subsidy war at the beginning of the year, essentially your business model is no different from Dudu and Kuadu. With the emergence of Uber, your moat is actually very shallow."
"Lin Yi, it doesn't matter whether I invest in the taxi-hailing industry or you, but you have to give me a convincing reason."
His words were considered polite. The concept of moat refers to an advantage that cannot be replaced by others. Traveling thousands of miles is still difficult to talk about.
Gaoling Capital is very different from Shen Jilao's Hongshan and other venture capital institutions, because it is not a venture capital company at all.
The company founded by Zhang Lei later became known as Asia's largest private equity fund. In other words, everyone regarded him as a PE rather than a VC.
A notable feature is that the scale of funds managed by Gaoling Capital is very large, exceeding US$100 billion.
The size of the fund is not always better, because the larger the amount, the more difficult and costly it is to manage, which may lower the overall rate of return.
Well-known venture capital institutions will not do this even if their fundraising capabilities are not a problem, because they simply cannot spend so much money if they only engage in early-stage investments.
Therefore, Zhang Lei did not limit himself to the primary market. In fact, he also had a large layout in the secondary market. The big projects that Gao Ling later managed, such as Gree and Belle, were listed companies with tens of billions of billions.
But the good news is that he is really rich.
Therefore, Liu Jianni said that if Zhang Lei is willing to spend money, the amount of financing in this round will not be a problem. Considering his usual generosity, it is likely that it will exceed expectations.