Chapter 436: Do It Yourself

Zhang Qiankun clearly also realized something, extending his right hand: "You must be the Mr. Shen who spoke with me on the phone yesterday. Hello, I am Zhang Qiankun."

"Hello, I am Shen Yan!" Shen Yan reached out to shake his hand.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the two walked into the teahouse and sat down in a quiet, elegant small private room.

After the tea was served, Shen Yan went straight to the point: "Without further ado, the phone call yesterday might not have been clear enough, so I will introduce myself again. My name is Shen Yan, I am a law student at Hangzhou University, and I specialize in investing in various companies with potential."

"By chance, I came into contact with the emerging food delivery industry, which is why I contacted Mr. Zhang, as I would like to gain a detailed understanding of the operations of Mr. Zhang and Ele. me."

Zhang Qiankun's composure seemed not yet fully developed; his pupils constricted slightly, appearing somewhat surprised, while also tinged with a hint of envy.

If he hadn't just seen Shen Yan chatting and laughing with Chen Jun, he would have suspected the other party was a fraud.

Now, however, there was not a shred of doubt left.

What was certain was that the other party must come from a prominent family; otherwise, how could someone so young have so much money to invest?

Zhang Qiankun followed up with his own introduction: "I am Zhang Qiankun, a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. I founded Ele. me in '08. When I first started..."

Through Zhang Qiankun's narrative, Shen Yan gained a deeper understanding of the current state of Ele. me.

Even though Zhang Qiankun spoke flowery words and deliberately exaggerated.

Preparing to do this and that to make the company bigger and stronger.

But through these few words, Shen Yan had already analyzed the true situation to a fair degree.

When it came down to it, it was just a penniless, start-up company.

Ele. me was founded in '08, but due to a lack of funds and the lukewarm nature of the industry, its promotion process was repeatedly frustrated, and it was only last April that it officially launched its web-based ordering platform.

To this day, the delivery range is still limited to within Jiaotong University.

There are over fifty merchants on the platform, and the average daily transaction volume has broken through ten thousand yuan.

After looking at the revenue report, Shen Yan asked straightforwardly: "You founders must have discussed it; how much equity are you prepared to sell, and how much capital do you want?"

Zhang Qiankun was slightly taken aback; he hadn't expected the other party to be so direct, starting to talk about investment after only a few words and a paper report, without even conducting a field inspection.

Was this too rash!

Sure enough, those with no hair on their lips (the inexperienced) do not handle things reliably.

"Before we talk about that, may I venture to ask, what is your relationship with Chen Jun?" Zhang Qiankun asked calmly.

Shen Yan countered: "You know Chen Jun?"

"I don't know him, but I have looked into him; he is among the first batch of angel investors in the country."

Shen Yan nodded in understanding, admitting that he had business dealings with Chen Jun.

Zhang Qiankun picked up his teacup and took a sip, then feigned difficulty: "Actually, none of us are very willing to introduce capital at this time. We have finally weathered the difficulties of the initial start-up phase, the company has finally made it through, and we have gradually won the market's trust. Next, the company will expand its footprint to the surrounding areas at a rapid pace."

"Selling equity at this juncture is not worth it for us."

Heh!

Shen Yan sneered inwardly; when it came down to it, they just wanted to hold him for ransom.

If they really didn't want to introduce capital, this meeting wouldn't be happening.

"Let's speak plainly. You name a price; if the deal can be made, we'll talk, and if not, we'll part on good terms."

Shen Yan had always been decisive and straightforward, directly exposing the other party's intentions.

Hearing this, Zhang Qiankun awkwardly rubbed his nose, pondered for a while, and then spoke: "Ten percent equity for one million US dollars."

Shen Yan couldn't help but laugh. Did he look that much like a sucker?

A small start-up company, one million US dollars for ten percent equity.

Are you out of your mind!

He might have considered forty percent.

"I can provide the money, but I want 40% of the equity."

Zhang Qiankun's expression changed, and he flatly refused: "That's impossible. We can concede at most another 5%."

"I came here to talk with sincerity. I hope you won't wear out my patience."

"15% is our bottom line."

"Then let's part on good terms!"

After saying this, Shen Yan stood up and left directly.

He really didn't know how such a stubborn and self-opinionated person managed to lead Ele. me to take flight.

Perhaps it was because he was still a graduate student and hadn't yet experienced the harsh beatings of society; it would be the repeated setbacks in the future that would forge the tycoon who would later dominate the business world.

Zhang Qiankun had no intention of stopping him; it was fine if the negotiation failed.

Once the company's scale expanded further, he wouldn't worry about not being able to sell it for a good price.

Walking along the roadside, a thought suddenly occurred to Shen Yan: why not just do it himself? Having been reborn, he had to make a name for himself.

He would handle both investment and entrepreneurship.

With his influence at Hangzhou University, as long as he waved his arm, he could pull together a team more mature than Ele. me in a matter of minutes.

How to attract merchants to join?

Simple, let Compass Milk Tea Shop lead the charge. Once one shop is up and running, the other merchants on Gourmet Street would be begging to join.

How to get students to place orders?

As everyone knew, Shen Yan was famous at Hangzhou University and worth tens of millions. With him personally guaranteeing it and the school backing it, there would naturally be students, especially those little fan girls, willing to buy in.

Right! Perhaps he could even use this to incubate another payment platform.

Let's call it "Easy Pay".

Smartphones wouldn't be popularized until next year, and for now, banks hadn't realized the terror of mobile payments; setting up a payment platform wouldn't be difficult.

He would just have to talk to the banks one by one.

He would get Easy Pay deeply rooted in people's hearts before Mr. Ma, and bring in everything—utility payments, consumer credit, cash loans, all of it.

There is also an offline QR code.

With one device in hand, I can travel the world as I please.

Hahahaha!

Thinking about it, it's quite beautiful; if things go well, I might really be able to usher in a new era.

I believe that the day I charge into Shanghai with my food delivery platform, Zhang Qiankun's expression will surely be quite spectacular.

The more he thought about it, the more Shen Yan felt the plan was highly feasible, and he began to refine the implementation details step by step.

Ten minutes later, Shen Yan drove to the office building where Xiaogu Company was located on Pudong South Road.

Having not been here for a month or so, there wasn't much change; the staff still numbered over 60, only there were some extra mechanical devices he couldn't understand, and everyone was busy at their respective posts.

Everyone had a deep impression of Shen Yan and greeted him one after another with beaming smiles.

"Hello, President Shen!"

"Hello, President Shen!"

Shen Yan responded to them one by one, and when his gaze met Shen Jiaqing's, a thought was on the tip of his tongue.

But he was also a bit hesitant.

Forget it! It's better not to hire relatives when running a company, though borrowing one for a period of time is feasible.

"Brother Jiaqing, do you have any experience with website construction?" Shen Yan stepped forward and asked in a low voice.

Shen Jiaqing didn't understand why, but he still answered honestly.

"I'm fairly proficient; I mainly do software design, and I usually take on some freelance front-end work, which is website construction."

Shen Yan was immediately overjoyed: "I'm in urgent need of talent in this area right now; how about you come with me to Hangzhou for half a month? The pay is five thousand, and I'll handle things here at the company."