Chapter 167: Is 5 Million Enough? I'll Give You 30 Million! (Begging for Monthly Votes)

"Brother Dong, do you think Chen Yansen will be interested in our business plan?"

Inside the conference room, Pei Yi looked at Kang Guodong and couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

Both of them were graduate students in computer science at Luzhou University of Technology.

By chance, they discovered that due to the large area of the Jade Lake University Town and the huge number of students, many people had developed a habit of ordering takeout.

However, everyone relied mainly on business cards and phone calls to place orders, which was particularly inconvenient.

Kang Guodong wanted to use his professional knowledge to integrate information about restaurants, milk tea shops, and bakeries around the university town into an online platform, creating a food guide website similar to "hao123".

But Pei Yi, a fellow dorm-mate from Shanghai, said that Shanghai already had products like Dianping, so they should instead build an order system, recruit student part-timers, deliver meals to the school on behalf of merchants, and directly profit from the delivery fee difference.

The two hit it off immediately, and KuaiPao was born!

But what Pei Yi didn't expect was that when he proposed this idea, a graduate student from Shanghai Jiao Tong University had thought of a similar concept two years earlier.

It was just that Ele. me was small at the time, attracting neither venture capital attention nor media coverage, so the two of them knew nothing about it.

Earlier this year, after Ele. me secured 1 million US dollars in angel investment from Jin Sha Ventures and hit the news, Kang Guodong and Pei Yi finally realized that what they thought was a creative business model had already been done by others for two or three years.

However, by then, KuaiPao was already somewhat famous in the university town, with over 2,000 registered users, daily order volumes fluctuating between 600 and 1,000, and more than thirty part-time college students.

Relying on delivery fee differences and service fees, and after deducting server and part-time staff expenses, they could earn over 2,000 yuan daily, making the two of their university lives quite comfortable.

Previously, the two hadn't thought about scaling KuaiPao up, but after learning about Ele. me's development history, they immediately formed the idea of expanding the scale and breaking into the white-collar market with KuaiPao.

After all, office workers in office buildings order takeout at least three to five times more frequently than college students.

But purchasing equipment and servers, upgrading the website, and hiring delivery personnel all required substantial funds.

The more than 100,000 yuan they had on hand wasn't even enough for advertising; surely they couldn't recruit dozens more college students to hand out flyers all over the streets of Luzhou?

That efficiency was far too low.

"It should work; I've studied Ele. me. Their order volume is only slightly higher than ours. If Jin Sha Ventures was willing to give them 1 million US dollars, isn't it reasonable to ask Senlian Capital for 500,000 US dollars?"

Kang Guodong said with full confidence.

But Kang Guodong overlooked one point: Ele. me hadn't received venture capital for a year and was facing the same problem of funding shortages.

"Knock, knock, knock—!"

A knocking sound came from outside the door.

"Mr. Kang, Mr. Pei, our boss has arrived." Gao Weilin pushed the door open and reminded them with a smile.

"Ah, okay." Kang Guodong and Pei Yi hurriedly stood up; their previously calm mood suddenly became tense.

The two followed Gao Weilin out the door, curiously looking outside.

An Aston Martin Rapide slowly drove in from the park entrance.

Pei Yi looked on with envy; he recognized this car model, which cost nearly 4 million upon landing, something he had coveted for a long time but couldn't afford.

Unless he sold his family's two apartments, he could barely afford it.

But if he really did that, his father might cut off their father-son relationship.

Chen Yansen got out of the car and saw Gao Weilin and two unfamiliar young men at the entrance.

"Boss, these two are the founders of KuaiPao, Kang Guodong and Pei Yi," Gao Weilin introduced.

"Mr. Chen! I am Kang Guodong."

"Hello, Mr. Chen, I am Pei Yi." The two hurriedly greeted him.

"Let's talk inside. Did you bring the business plan?"

Chen Yansen noticed the two were inexperienced, with expressions of nervousness and awkwardness still on their faces.

"Mr. Chen, we brought it." Kang Guodong hurriedly replied, and just as he was about to hand the business plan to Chen Yansen, he realized he had left it in the conference room.

"Let's talk inside." Chen Yansen said in a flat tone.

Pei Yi secretly sized up Chen Yansen; he was five or six years older than the other man, yet their achievements were worlds apart.

Among the student body of Hui'an University, Chen Yansen's fame was definitely among the top.

He founded Fox Tao at 18, sold it to Mama Ali at 19, made over 10 billion in a single year, and was a genuine business genius and billionaire.

Immediately after, he entered the mobile phone industry; after the launch of Sister Chengzi phones, in less than four months, total online sales reached nearly 7 million units, instantly becoming the most popular smartphone of 2011.

DST Capital invested 1.35 billion US dollars in Sister Chengzi Technology, valuing it as high as 9 billion US dollars.

Pei Yi felt that Chen Yansen's business resume was on a cheat-code level, even more impressive than Lei Yi of Xiaomi.

After all, at Chen Yansen's age, Lei Yi was still huddled in a dorm room coding.

The four walked into the conference room; Chen Yansen sat down first, and Gao Weilin followed, taking a seat to his right.

Kang Guodong and Pei Yi pulled out chairs and sat opposite Chen Yansen.

"Mr. Chen, this is our business plan; please take a look." Kang Guodong carefully handed over the document.

Chen Yansen acknowledged with a sound, took the document, and flipped through it casually, one page per second, reaching the last page in less than a minute.

Kang Guodong and Pei Yi exchanged a glance, feeling that Chen Yansen's attitude was perfunctory, and their hearts instantly cooled by half.

Chen Yansen was merely maintaining his daily reading habit, even deliberately slowing down his pace.

He looked at Gao Weilin, thinking: "No wonder Old Gao brought them from Luzhou; this business plan is very standardized. Although KuaiPao is small in scale, its business model is already formed."

"How much money do you want?"

This was Chen Yansen's first question, and also a test for the two of them.

Kang Guodong had originally planned to ask for 500,000 US dollars as per the original plan, but upon seeing Pei Yi frantically signaling with his eyes, he immediately changed his tune: "Mr. Chen, I want to exchange 10% equity in KuaiPao for 800,000 US dollars."

Pei Yi stared at Chen Yansen; seeing him smile faintly with the corners of his mouth slightly upturned, he guessed: Does this mean agreement?

"That's over 5 million yuan. Do you think KuaiPao is worth 50 million? Six months ago, Ele. me in Shanghai was valued at only 30 million, with a business volume more than three times yours."

Chen Yansen remained noncommittal and asked back.

500,000 US dollars wasn't even enough for him to buy a car; this remark was also another test for Kang Guodong and Pei Yi.

When meeting investors, don't be timid and afraid to make requests; as long as the reasons are sufficient, there is always room for negotiation.

If you don't even dare to ask for money, on what basis should anyone believe you can build this project?

"President Chen, I believe KuaiPao is worth 50 million. ELeMe has a higher transaction volume, but that's only because they started earlier; it doesn't mean they can go the distance. KuaiPao's greatest advantage lies in our independently developed intelligent order allocation system, which can make optimal matches based on information such as the distance between the restaurant and the recipient and the urgency of the order."

Pei Yi took over the conversation, speaking with full confidence.

"President Gao, have administration bring a computer over."

Chen Yansen, who always acted decisively, gave the order to Gao Weilin.

"Alright, wait a moment." Gao Weilin stood up and went out; when he returned, he held a laptop computer in his hand.

"President Chen, this is KuaiPao's order matching backend. It can match merchant orders with delivery personnel's service ranges to improve delivery efficiency."

Pei Yi explained while operating the demonstration.

Chen Yansen smiled; this function was too simple. To put it plainly, it just divided the Luhu University City into grids and assigned merchant orders within each grid to fixed delivery personnel.

This is what they call an intelligent order allocation system!

It barely edges out ELeMe's dispatch system, but its value is limited!

Chen Yansen looked at Pei Yi, feeling somewhat disappointed, and shook his head inwardly: This kid really knows how to brag.

"President Chen, once the funds arrive, we can also match orders by obtaining delivery personnel's GPS data according to real-time locations, and integrate Baidu and Gao De Map information to plan optimal routes for delivery personnel."

Seeing Chen Yansen's look of disdain, Pei Yi hurriedly explained.

Actually, he had optimization plans, but he was simply short on funds and manpower for R&D.

"Given you these 5 million, how do you plan to spend them?" Chen Yansen nodded slightly and continued asking.

"First, hire people, mainly operations, technical, and delivery staff, preferably former employees of group-buying websites; budget 1 million."

Pei Yi blurted it out, paused briefly, and added: "Then use another 1.5 million in funds for website and mobile application development to lay a solid foundation."

"1.5 million for expanding merchant networks and subsidizing new customers, 500,000 for purchasing delivery vehicles and thermal boxes, and the remaining 500,000 kept as reserve funds."

"Which one of you two can make the final decision? I can offer 30 million, but I want 80% equity."

After listening, Chen Yansen asked with a smile.

To him, there was no real difference between 5 million and 30 million.

But investing 30 million was undoubtedly sending a signal to the outside world that he was optimistic about the food delivery sector.

Chen Yansen wanted to leverage his own influence to push the food delivery sector a step further toward the tide of the times.

When they first met, Gao Weilin introduced the two of them, with Kang Guodong in front and Pei Yi behind; Chen Yansen immediately knew Kang Guodong was the major shareholder.

Yet whenever a difficult question arose, it was Pei Yi who stepped forward to respond.

Clearly, between these two entrepreneurs from technical backgrounds, one excelled in R&D while the other understood the market better.

Kang Guodong and Pei Yi exchanged glances; Chen Yansen's response had exceeded their expectations.

First, the investment amount jumped from 5 million to 30 million; second, the other party demanded 80% equity, which far exceeded the bottom line of both of them.

With only 20% left, wouldn't the two of them be no different from hired hands?

"President Chen, we can at most give up 20% equity." After a while, Pei Yi spoke up.

"In that case, there's nothing we can do." Chen Yansen smiled, stood up, and prepared to leave.

Given KuaiPao's current scale, it would only cost a few million to achieve the same effect; the only difference would be wasting a few months on recruitment and R&D.

Seeing Chen Yansen's firm attitude, Pei Yi suddenly panicked; the negotiation had been going well, yet suddenly it collapsed, which he found hard to accept.

"President Chen, can you give us one day to consider? We will reply to you tomorrow." Kang Guodong, who had remained silent until now, hurriedly stood up upon seeing the negotiation on the verge of breaking down.

"No problem, President Gao, treat President Kang and President Pei well on my behalf."

Chen Yansen instructed with a smile, then left the conference room and walked toward the elevator lobby.

Gao Weilin took Kang Guodong and Pei Yi on a tour of Sister Chengzi Technology.

At noon, he took them to a restaurant at the East Gate of Xuyu for lunch, after which they returned to the Technology Park.

Kang Guodong and Pei Yi returned to their hotel instead, both frowning deeply, unsure what to do.

The financing matter had taken shape, but the equity Chen Yansen demanded was too much.

Once they accepted Senlian Capital's investment, they would lose controlling interest in the company.

"Old Pei, what do you think?" Kang Guodong sat on the sofa and asked Pei Yi.

"Brother Dong, you are the major shareholder; I only hold 30% of the shares, so I'll follow your lead on this."

Pei Yi said after pondering for a moment.

"Actually, I originally wanted to agree, but I deliberately dragged it out for a day because I felt Chen Yansen was asking for too much equity."

Kang Guodong explained slowly.

"No way! Brother Dong, don't you want to be your own boss?" Pei Yi was stunned, feeling somewhat helpless.

"Right now, things look okay; we can earn hundreds of thousands a year, split it up, and in another two years we could buy a house in Luhu. But you also said before that if ELeMe starts expanding, with no money and no people, we'll most likely go bankrupt. Since that's the case, it's better to find a powerful backer."

Kang Guodong spoke his mind.

"Alright, then tomorrow morning we'll go find President Gao." Seeing that his mind was made up, Pei Yi stopped trying to persuade him.

In his view, only by working with Chen Yansen could KuaiPao develop at high speed.

If KuaiPao, under his hand, became a ten-billion enterprise like Fox Tao, wouldn't he and Kang Guodong both be billionaires?

The next day, the two found Gao Weilin and signed the equity transfer agreement cheerfully.

Gao Weilin was very happy; this was the second investment project he had completed since taking charge of Senlian Capital.

"Next week, I will arrange for two financial officers to station at KuaiPao; you should quickly secure office space and set up the company structure."

Gao Weilin, feeling uneasy, specially instructed them.

To put it plainly, KuaiPao was currently still a makeshift operation.

Since they had taken Senlian Capital's money, they had to accelerate expansion; the company also had to become formalized, especially in the financial department.

Kang Guodong and Pei Yi nodded to show understanding, and finally set off on their return journey, fully satisfied.

Two days later, Senlian Capital publicly announced an investment in a food-delivery project called "Kuaipao," with the amount reaching thirty million, though the specific equity ratio had not yet been disclosed.

Everyone in the industry knew that Chen Yansen had a venture-capital firm under his name. Apart from the earlier acquisition of Yun Speed Express, this was the first time he had invested in a new platform, and it immediately drew the attention of the venture-capital industry!

(End of this chapter)