In the rolling tide of the times, the early bird may not have the last laugh, and those who wake up later may not have a chance.
All opportunities are changing rapidly, and it is difficult to say whether opportunities create heroes or heroes create the era.
The earliest taxi-hailing software in China was not Didi, but Yaoyaoshache, which was born at the end of 2011.
It once had an absolute advantage in the Beijing market and was backed by capital such as Xu Xiaoping and Sequoia.
However, with the emergence of taxi-hailing apps such as Didi and Kuaidi, as well as the government's suppression of "black taxis", Yayao finally shut down its servers in the middle of 2014 due to being defeated by its rivals.
As one of the products that died in the taxi-hailing market, the first product that Yaoyao made was not a taxi-hailing app, but the "business car rental" that was later hotly discussed. At that time, it was comparable to Yidao on the market.
The vision of both companies is to put idle and idle vehicles back into social transportation to create market growth. However, the development process is also full of difficulties and encounters various law enforcement.
The co-founder of Yaoyao Zhaoche, the most common thing he did at that time was to go to a traffic police brigade to pay fines and recruit people. Although the CEO of Yaoyao has his own leasing company and the cars are all compliant, he still
Walking hard.
In the end, Yaoyao was forced to transform under pressure, but only to suffer the price of annihilation.
This is one of the reasons why Lu Yan came to discuss with Deputy Mayor Huang before establishing the company.
Under the high-voltage line of "illegal operations", without the support of local governments, it is really not easy for taxi-hailing software companies to develop smoothly.
Lu Yan's advantage is that he is a sports star and a well-known entrepreneur. The Bincheng government has always hoped that he can invest in some emerging industries. Companies like Meituan, Penguin, and Ali.
So after seeing the pie painted by Lu Yan, Deputy Mayor Huang immediately reported it to the leader in charge. After hearing the content, he slightly modified it and said it again.
The leaders in charge are very interested. Firstly, Bincheng's economic development is under great pressure. Last year's full-year GDP was only more than 320 billion. Although the growth rate is very high, the base is too small, and the national ranking is not generally low.
Furthermore, in the private economy, there is a lack of star companies, let alone well-known high-tech industries.
If Lu Yan could create one, it would be great.
In the next few days, the city's main leaders talked to Lu Yan several times, and they repeatedly negotiated about software industrial parks, government support, tax incentives and even mobile phone factories.
I just have one attitude, I support you, that’s fine!
But you have to invest to build a high-tech industrial park. How many companies there will be in the future is another matter. The brand must be established first. In addition, in the future, China Mobile Bincheng R&D Center, Bincheng Mobile Phone Factory, and Kunlun Chip Bincheng R&D will be built.
Center etc.
According to the final statistics, the total investment intention is as high as tens of billions.
Lu Yan didn't have any objections. Anyway, it was just an investment intention. We would decide later based on the situation. We should first get the taxi-hailing software out.
In early December, Lu Yan established Yixing Network Technology Company in Bincheng.
Then they signed an investment agreement with Bincheng and planned to invest 10 billion in Bincheng in the next few years to build the China Mobile Bincheng R&D Center, Bincheng Mobile Phone Factory, Kunlun Chip Bincheng R&D Center, and Meituan Northeast Headquarters.
A high-tech industrial park.
The choice of geographical location also went through some twists and turns. Each district wanted to introduce Lu Yan's investment into its own jurisdiction.
Finally, after many considerations, it was determined to be within the Binnan Development Zone and a certain area was designated.
These are all secondary. The key is to start a taxi-hailing software company first.
There is no need to worry about funds. In terms of personnel, Yu Shuangpeng was transferred from Meituan to serve as the company's CEO. At the same time, many key personnel were brought over to Bincheng to build a local promotion team.
In addition, his high school classmate Fan Tongguang and alumnus Liu Shiwen both left Meituan and joined Yixing.
In terms of products, the technical data exchanged by Lu Yan through the system's Tianyou module have been quite complete. It can be said that everything is ready and all that is needed is east wind.
However, just before the product was about to go online, Lu Yan discovered a very critical issue, the penetration rate of smartphones.
The young group who are most likely to become customers of taxi-hailing software have a high penetration rate of smartphones, and there are many using Ipone4, Shenzhou M2, and Shenzhou Mi.
However, among the taxi community, most still use feature phones such as Nokia. Even among private car owners, the penetration rate of smartphones is not particularly high.
He remembered that he had a boss in his previous life who was less than fifty years old. He drove a Toyota and used an old business mobile phone all year round.
Lu Yan called Rebus and asked for a batch of customized mobile phones, customized models from China, Sumi, and Yixing, with the Yixing taxi app pre-installed on the mobile phones.
It is sold to Yixing Company at the ex-factory price, and then sold at an ultra-low price of 799 to taxi drivers and people who are willing to become Yixing car owners.
Of course, the so-called ultra-low price of 799 is provided in the form of subsidies.
Taxi drivers or private car owners can first purchase a mobile phone at a price of 1,199 yuan. This is 100 yuan cheaper than the Shenzhou Corn R1 in the Shenzhou online mall.
Then, after registering as a Yixing car owner, cashback subsidies will be given based on the mileage of each order received.
Lu Yan's design is to try to allow car owners to save enough 400 yuan in subsidies when they place 40 to 60 orders, and then return it to the car owner's account.
And these car owners, after dozens of orders, are probably adapted to this model. And there are various subsidies available, which solves the problem of insufficient car owners.
As for the customers.
Winter in Bincheng is a difficult time to take a taxi, so Lu Yan personally went to the battle to advertise.
It can be said that within one day, countless netizens across the country knew that he was in Bincheng, Beiguo, and created another Yixing taxi APP.
However, one day in January 2012, it snowed heavily in Bincheng at noon. Many white-collar workers were wondering what to do next before leaving get off work.
"It's so annoying. The bus won't be so crowded later!" Zhang Xiaoyan complained in the office.
The boy on the side said: "Take a taxi, haven't you read the news? Lu Yan has created another taxi app, which is very cost-effective. It is said that it is much cheaper than taking a taxi!"
Wang Xiaoyan hurriedly asked: "How to do it? Is it troublesome?"
The boy scratched his head and smiled awkwardly: "I don't know, I don't usually take a taxi, let me see!"
After that, he took out his Shenzhou Mi R1 mobile phone, logged into Weibo first, and checked Lu Yan's Weibo account.
There is not only the promotion of Yixing Taxi, but also instructions on how to download and install it.
After some operations, the boy entered his company address and home address into the taxi app. When he looked at the estimated price, he couldn't help but said: "It only costs more than 4 yuan to get home?"
Zhang Xiaoyan kept watching and exclaimed: "It's so cheap, enter my home address and I'll take a look!"