"Hello, Mr. Gu, I have long admired your name. I use almost every product of Paradise Group."
Early the next morning, at the headquarters of Ele.me in Shanghai, Zhang Xuhao, the founder of this unicorn company that would become popular all over the country, stood at the door of the company, shaking hands cordially with Gu Yun, smiling broadly.
Together, the two company bosses have an average age of only over 20 years old. They are both in their prime and full of energy, so they naturally have some similar traits.
"Is this Mr. Wen? I have long heard that the Vice President of Coffee Justice could have debuted as a star, but was blocked by his own entrepreneurial dream. Today I saw that it was indeed the case."
Zhang Xuhao walked into the reception room with Gu Yun and Wen Jue, and Sun Jiajun, who had been waiting for a long time, brought in three cups of steaming coffee.
"Come on, come on, we don't have a big place here, just sit wherever you want."
"In the past, we only killed some small local websites. Suddenly one day I found that Wang Xing from Meituan followed my Weibo, and the big boss of Paradise Group came to visit me. This feeling is really strange."
Zhang Xuhao, who just received a new round of financing at the beginning of the year, and his team are in a period of rapid expansion. He is full of energy and seems to have countless energy.
As a college student and an entrepreneur, he was not as tough as described in later interviews and news, and he seemed very proactive when chatting with Gu Yun.
"I see that your work station is quite tense, right?"
Gu Yun asked casually while sitting on the sofa.
"Indeed, we have been expanding, which is something we never thought of before."
Zhang Xuhao nodded.
Not just now, long before Ele.me moved to its new home, office workstations were already seriously tight.
The conference room that was originally not spacious has become a huge desk filled with computers, and more than a dozen marketing department staff are crowded in without distinction.
In the public cafe of Qidian Entrepreneurship Camp upstairs, Ele.me employees almost "occupied" this floor. In the lobby of the cafe, employees who came for interviews were sitting in twos and threes. In the public meeting room of the cafe, there were repeated activities.
Debriefings and meetings with employees.
"For example, in the hotel opposite, the company rents out ten rooms all year round for employees who stay up all night and work overtime."
Zhang Xuhao pointed to the hotel next to the office building and sighed.
Before the expansion, there were only thirty or fifty people in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, and there were only a few people in small cities. If there were any matters or instructions issued, the problem could be solved with just a phone call.
When it suddenly expands from a small team of 300 people to a large company of more than 2,000 people, how to manage it becomes a top priority.
After all, sales is a team that can expand to a thousand people in a short period of time, while products and technology are difficult to expand in a short period of time.
This is why Zhang Xuhao was particularly concerned about Gu Yun's visit.
As we all know, Paradise Group has countless employees. Coffee Justice alone, a company spread across the country, has countless jobs. Among them, the internal OA system that can support multi-thread management is absolutely an indispensable part.
When Gu Yun comes to visit this time, can he ask for advice on scientific management and technical support?
With business expansion, the stability of the backend from servers to systems is also under greater pressure.
The founding team of college students has to cross the river by feeling the stones and learn everything from scratch.
These are the problems that management anticipates will arise from expansion. In Zhang Xuhao’s words: Expansion is something that one is never prepared for.
"Mr. Gu, I have always been curious, how did you survive the period of rapid staff growth when you first started your business?"
In the middle of the conversation, when Zhang Xuhao was complaining about his difficulties, he finally cleverly found an opportunity to interject and asked what he had wanted to ask for a long time.
Similar to Xiaole Learning, which originated in colleges and universities in the early days, with the increase in personnel, Ele.me has also added some non-technical manpower. For example, it has set up a unified material procurement department to be responsible for activities, posters, take-out boxes and other materials.
purchase.
"In the early days of our business, we found the technical experts from Jiangcheng University to stabilize the technical backend, and we have always had a phased plan for the number of future personnel. If you have needs, you can introduce technical guidance from the Paradise Group to prevent the expansion of transactions and personnel.
There was a problem."
Gu Yun understood the implication of Zhang Xuhao's words as soon as he heard it. It turned out that the company was developing too fast and its soft power could not keep up.
"Really? Mr. Gu, we are so grateful. We will continue to expand in the next two months, which is the time for all employees to put their best efforts."
Zhang Xuhao clenched his fists. He didn't expect that although Gu Yun was young, he was so easy to talk to. He seemed very excited.
The decision to expand at this time is also related to Ele.me’s “university strategy”.
The free time after the end of a semester is just the right time to prepare for the entrance season for new students.
Ele.me, which is deeply involved in the student market, will start a new battle in the new school season.
After all, Ele.me is a student food delivery website that was once established based on Shanghai Jiao Tong University, so it has considerable experience in promoting the school.
"You are doing quite well in Jiangcheng. I think Manager Sun from Jiangcheng District is really knowledgeable about how to open up the market."
Sun Jiajun’s expansion strategy in Jiangcheng is a typical Ele.me-style route.
When you first arrive in a city, the city manager will mark the schools on the map in advance. The focus is on the number of restaurants near the school. For example, if there are 50,000 people in a school, but there is only one restaurant nearby that delivers food, it is not suitable for takeout.
.
If there are 10,000 people in the school and there are 50 restaurants nearby that deliver food, this area can be developed.
After demarcating the area, she started discussing cooperation with each family, conducted market research, and prioritized the communities to be expanded. If there were more people, multiple districts could be expanded at the same time.
Compared with schools, white-collar areas are more scattered.
For example, Optics Valley Software Park has more than 100 restaurants in the park alone, and people usually ride electric bikes to discuss cooperation.
The restaurants in the Nanhu University area are relatively concentrated, such as near Beiyuan and Time Square. They are basically on the same street. It is very convenient to go from restaurant to restaurant.
"Manager Sun is a rare female general in our company. She dares to fight and fight hard. Many men don't have the same drive as her."
Zhang Xuhao raised his eyebrows at Gu Yun, sat on the boss's chair and crossed his legs.
"By the way, I didn't know that Mr. Gu and Mr. Wen were coming this time."
As a start-up company, almost all employees of Ele.me are more accustomed to drinking coffee than tea.
Seeing that the coffee on the table had been drunk long ago, but before getting to the main topic, Zhang Xuhao took the initiative to ask.
"The Paradise Group intends to acquire Ele.me as a wholly-owned subsidiary. I wonder if Mr. Zhang can accept it?"
