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One night in the spring of 2018, when the streets of Beijing were brightly lit, Hu Weiwei walked alone on the streets, his heart full of joy.
As the founder of Mobike, she has just made a decision that shocked the industry: to sell Mobike to Meituan for $2.7 billion.
Just when everyone was shocked and regretted by this incident, what people didn't expect was that Hu Weiwei's decision not only allowed her to successfully cash out 1.5 billion yuan, but also allowed her to leave the company's mess to Meituan.
So, how exactly did Hu Weiwei create Mobike? What prompted her to let go and hand over the company to Meituan at the peak of her career?
Hu Weiwei's shared bicycle is the source of inspiration
In 1982, Hu Weiwei was born in an ordinary family in Dongyang, Zhejiang, and after graduating from university with excellent grades when she grew up, she successfully found a job as a reporter for the "Daily Economic News" newspaper.
It's just that this job is not as lucrative as she imagined, as a journalist, her monthly salary is only 3,000 yuan per month, so she has the intention of starting her own business.
After several years of hard work, Hu Weiwei has accumulated a sum of savings, and in 2014, she directly and boldly created a new media "geek car" company, which is quite good.
In 2014, when Hu Weiwei was running around in Beijing, she was stuck in a traffic jam for two hours, which made her feel very troubled by traffic congestion.
It was then that she suddenly thought, "It would be nice to have a bicycle that could be used at any time", and this thought lingered in her mind as soon as she thought about it.
(Hu Weiwei photo)
Coincidentally, when the car company was founded, in order to save costs, Hu Weiwei rented a courtyard house as an office, which could be rented out to bars at night to make money.
Once when she held a salon dinner in the courtyard, she met Chen Tengjiao, a car designer, and both of them admired each other's abilities, so they quickly became friends.
When Hu Weiwei went back and told Chen Tengjiao his thoughts, Chen Tengjiao was full of surprises, "Your idea is too good to hear of", and quickly introduced her to the car boss Li Bin to help her broaden her network.
Although Li Bin was not interested in her desire to create a bicycle program that could be rented at any time, she proposed the concept of bike sharing during the meeting.
The idea of "bike sharing" directly inspired Hu Weiwei, and she quickly decided that she must make this dream come true, and unexpectedly, she did not want to create Mobike soon after.
Hu Weiwei successfully founded Mobike
At the beginning of 2015, when the winter in Beijing was still cold, 32-year-old Hu Weiwei established Mobike Technology Co., Ltd. and officially launched the bike-sharing project.
Despite the startup's humble location, the team is driven and hopeful. Hu Weiwei said firmly: "We cannot back down because of difficulties, we must find solutions. ”
However, due to her strict requirements for products, she put forward high standards such as run-flat tires, anti-rust chains, and smart locks, which led to many suppliers being discouraged, and Chen Tengjiao in the team also withdrew.
Later, through a friend's introduction, she met Yang Zhongjie, a former Motorola engineer, and successfully moved him to join the team, and after half a year of hard work, they finally developed the first prototype car.
Although the cost of the prototype car was as high as 2,000 yuan, far exceeding expectations, Hu Weiwei's eyes flashed with hope when he saw the prototype.
(Mobike)
In the spring of 2016, orange Mobike bikes designed by Hu Weiwei's company finally appeared on the streets of Shanghai.
Hu Weiwei also made full use of social media platforms to promote her Mobike, writing on Weibo: "Mobike, change the way you travel."
Through this publicity, people's curiosity, and the idea that the bike is "eco-friendly", many people have joined the Mobike riding army.
After that, Hu Weiwei's company passed the 299 yuan deposit model, so that the company quickly returned the funds and established a stable user group.
Mobike's low cost and quick return of funds enabled it to complete multiple rounds of financing in a short period of time, and its valuation quickly climbed to hundreds of millions of yuan.
(Photo of Hu Weiwei riding a bicycle)
The success of the Mobike bicycle model made Hu Weiwei popular for a while, and many investors wanted her family to invest in the bike-sharing project.
It's just that I didn't expect that Hu Weiwei's company would face a major crisis soon after, and even caused her to have to sell her company, what is going on?
The market is saturated, the competition is fierce, and 1.5 billion has been successfully cashed out
At the end of 2017, the bike-sharing market entered a white-hot stage, and various other corporate brands of bike-sharing companies appeared rapidly, resulting in Mobike's market share being severely divided.
This incident made Hu Weiwei very anxious, but this is not over, as a large number of Mobike bicycles have been put into the market, problems such as vehicles being abandoned and modified without permission continue to appear.
However, the high maintenance costs for Mobike exacerbated the company's financial pressure.
Hu Weiwei and her team worked day and night to discuss solutions, but the funding problem was always difficult to solve, and she often looked at the ledger in the office late at night, lost in thought, and her heart was full of anxiety.
At the same time, the state began to prohibit bike-sharing companies from charging deposits, which undoubtedly made things worse for Mobike.
At the beginning of 2018, Mobike's development was in jeopardy due to the tightening of its capital chain, rising operating costs, and frequent layoffs.
(Photo of shared bike)
It was at this time that Meituan's founder, Wang Xing, became interested in Mobike, and after much deliberation, Hu Weiwei announced in April that she would sell Mobike to Meituan for about $2.7 billion.
In the face of doubts from the outside world, she responded calmly: "This is to let Mobike go further", but in fact, she has successfully cashed out 1.5 billion yuan with 9% of the shares in her hand with this acquisition, which is not shrewd.
Because, the bike-sharing industry has long been involved in life and death, and whoever touches this industry may not be able to successfully return to its original cost, so Meituan is facing a mess when it takes over this company.
And she was able to stop losses in time when the company's development was blocked, so as not to let herself suffer more losses, and at the same time, when the company's shares were still valuable, she could successfully transfer and sell her shares to obtain 1.5 billion, how to see how cost-effective.
In general, business is not so easy to do, now many companies are easy to start a business, but it is not possible to keep a business, and there are fewer people who can do Hu Weiwei who is self-aware and stops losses in time, so we have to admit her awesomeness.
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Resources
In the past two days, many people have said "windfalls"! The 299 yuan Mobike bicycle deposit charged 5 years ago is back to Lizhi.com
The second half of shared bicycles: Mobike Hu Weiwei let go ofo Dai Wei struggled to support CCTV
ofo suspected layoffs, Harrow wants to be on the top of the shared bicycle, will stage the "new Three Kingdoms"? China.com News Center
Meituan's $3.7 billion acquisition of Mobike Hu Weiwei's entrepreneurial truth is here Hunan Minsheng Network